Quote northgrantballer wrote: View Post
A possible situation to get us out of this disgusting rut is to trade something with value. As much as I love to watch DeRozan grow as a player offensivly, his defence is underratedly poor. People are always blinded by Bargnani's terrible D to realize that DeMars isn't much better. With a huge draft with lots of hype in 2012 coming up, I think it would be best for a franchise that is scraping rock bottom to roll the dice. In my idea, we would send DeMar and possibly Alabi to a team that is week but wants to be on the rise for a package including their first rounder plus some role players.
Worst Case sceneario: We make a bust with the lottery pick, however we maintain our 1st rounder.
Thoughts?
Definitely would not give up DD. Every year he has improved and he is just turning 22 in August. He is still scratching the surface of abilities. A new defense oriented coach is in place. He has the athletic tools to be a good defensive player - somebody just needs to teach him. Bargnani's OPP PER is 21.1 at C and 31.8 at PF compared to 15.7 for at SG and 12.8 at SF for DD. I do not think that is a good comparison. Worst case scenario - DeMar never improves defensively and a solid SF is drafted or acquired who is a great defensive player (Barnes, Gilchrist, Thomas) and DD takes the weaker wing. Best case scenario - DeMar improves defensively and a solid SF is drafted or acquired who is also a great defensive player.

DeMar also has the intangibles you only wish a guy like Bargnani had: personality, work ethic, desire to be great. DD and Amir appear to be evolving in to the leaders of this team. Anyone who doubts the importance of that only look at the Bosh years when there was no true leader in the locker room.

Finally, and maybe not least of importance, the guy genuinely enjoys Toronto - and who can blame him.