Why Darius Garland has a DeMar DeRozan problem

The DeMar DeRozan problem

DeMar DeRozan is having a breakout season. You don’t normally say that about a 12-year veteran but the former Toronto Raptors and San Antonio Spurs wing is having the best season of his career at 32. Now playing for the Chicago Bulls, DeRozan is scoring 26 points per game for one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.

The Bulls have joined the Cavs as one of the league’s most surprising teams, in large part because of their offseason moves. Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso have jumpstarted a backcourt that was lopsided in recent years. No longer an offense-first sieve, the Bulls are a two-way team excelling in the midst of a crazy season.

Because of the Bulls’ depth at guard and its lack of it at forward, DeRozan has played almost exclusively at power forward this season. Basketball Reference estimates DeRozan has played 78 percent of his minutes at the 4, eight percent at the 3, and a whopping 15 percent at center, likely in lineups where Derrick Jones Jr. is technically the “center” but there is no traditional big.

That is not new; the onetime shooting guard hasn’t logged minutes at the 2 since 2018-19, and it was a year further back in Toronto that a majority of his minutes came at a guard position. Cleaning the Glass says the same basic thing; 0 percent of his minutes this season came at a guard position, and 100 percent came in the frontcourt.

That should be setting up an interesting question for All-Star voters this year. With Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant locks to start for the East as frontcourt players, is DeRozan or Joel Embiid more deserving of the final starting spot? Let’s look at the early voting returns to see what fans are saying:

Wait, where is DeRozan? He didn’t even make the Top 10 in East frontcourt voting? No, he’s there…just let your eyes drift down to the “Guards” list. He leads the way with 1.5 million votes, absolutely crushing the competition. Why was he listed with the guards? Was it a typo?

Nope. That’s where the NBA has him listed: just alongside Zach LaVine, Trae Young and James Harden. You know, actual guards.

Given DeRozan’s play this season, if he was a guard (he is not) he would deserve to start, and because the NBA has told us he is a guard for All-Star purposes (he is not) he is a lock to start. He will dominate the fan vote and surely get enough love from the players and media to start, likely alongside some combination of the three above players.

What does that mean for Garland? Well, it’s a trickle-down effect. Move DeRozan to guard, and that is one fewer guard who can make the list. The 12-man All-Star team will contain six frontcourt players, four guards, and two “wild cards” so a maximum of six guards can make the cut.

Start DeRozan, and add in Young, Harden and LaVine, and your minimum guard spots are taken up. That leaves just two Wild Cards for any other backcourt hopefuls: Garland, Fred VanVleet, LaMelo Ball, Jaylen Brown, Bradley Beal, Jrue Holiday, Kyrie Irving. That’s a crowded field, and certainly a more deserving one than the frontcourt side. If DeRozan is listed as a guard, that’s one more deserving guard left off, one less deserving frontcourt player added in.