DeMar DeRozan has been clutch since joining the Spurs

I don’t think a close game goes by where I don’t hear somebody mention that DeMar DeRozan is not clutch and should not be the player with the ball in his hands down the stretch. I suppose we all have reasons for our beliefs, and we all have different definitions for what constitutes as clutch, but what do the numbers say about DeRozan’s ability to close out games?

We will look at this season’s numbers for a brief moment, but since we are still dealing with a small sample size, I will extend our search beyond this season to get a better feel for how DeRozan compares to both his teammates and other teams’ star players.

The NBA defines a clutch situation as any game where the teams are separated by five points or less with less than five minutes to go in the game. These parameters can be modified, but let’s start with their generic definition of “clutch.”

These statistics are still suffering from small sample size syndrome, but DeRozan’s field goal percentage is second best on the team in the clutch, and unlike somebody like Rudy Gay (who has been very efficient in his own right), DeRozan has the ability to distribute to teammates if needed. He’s also hit 10 of 11 free throws and has knocked down 2 of 6 shots from beyond the arc, which is already one more three pointer than he knocked down in the clutch during the entire 2019-2020 NBA season.

Dejounte Murray is a nice insurance policy as a secondary playmaker on offense, but his dribble and court awareness still isn’t where it needs to be in order to be trusted with the ball in his hands down the stretch. It’s perfectly fine if your belief is that trial by fire is how the Spurs should be approaching this season with the youngsters, but the Spurs are trying to make the playoffs, so a full on youth movement doesn’t appear to be in the cards.

Last years’ numbers are a better indicator of who should be handling the ball down the stretch of close games.

DeRozan connected on 50 percent of his shots last season and had an incredible 26-4 assist-to-turnover ratio. We will dig into how those numbers compare to his colleagues in a bit, but suffice to say those are fantastic numbers. He struggled at bit at the line last season, but when comparing it to his career, that seems like more of an outlier than an inability to connect on free throws down the stretch.

DeRozan’s biggest knock has been, and likely always will be, his inability to knock down shots from distance. This does have a negative effect on his true shooting percentage, but I don’t think it means the ball shouldn’t be in his hands down the stretch. The only time I get frustrated to see DeRozan with the ball is when the Spurs absolutely must have a three pointer. Defenses know he’s extremely unlikely to pull up into a three so they are able to play lanes when he drives to the rim knowing that he’s looking to pass. But beyond that corner case, he was pretty great for the Spurs last season.

To me Derrick White would be the obvious candidate to take over as the main ball-handler in the clutch, but he’s injured right now and struggled in this role last season, especially shooting the ball. His 11 assists in limited possessions is promising, but again, he’s not available for the Spurs at the moment.

There’s not a whole lot of negative things to say about DeRozan’s play last season, and that holds true even in close games. He did miss a few too many free throws for my liking, but his field goal percentage was fourth out of all players in the NBA who took at least 60 shots in clutch situations. His 26-4 assist-to-turnover ratio was easily best in the NBA. He only went 1 of 5 from distance the entire season, but we know this is a limitation.

DeRozan has been an above-average player down the stretch of close games for the past four seasons and has continued to improve each season with the Spurs. DeRozan clearly outperformed many players down the stretch of games who are held in much higher regard around NBA circles than that of DeRozan. I’m not saying DeRozan is a better player than Luka Doncic or LeBron James, I just feel his game is worth defending against his many detractors.

There’s no doubt that DeRozan used to be a high volume, low efficiency player, but he’s not the same player he once was. We’re all so enamored with seeing our youngsters improve upon their weaknesses that sometimes we forget vets still have the ability to improve as well. While I certainly enjoy watching players who can hit a step back 30-foot shot to win a game on the final possession, it’s a disservice to DeRozan to fault him for one aspect of his game that he’s yet to master. He’s still found ways to make winning plays for the Spurs, and last I checked, there’s nobody else on the Spurs’ roster at the moment capable of making such plays, at least not consistently.

Final thoughts

This notion that DeRozan is not clutch down the stretch of close games is, quite frankly, an outdated take that needs to be reevaluated. He has his limitations for sure, but he’s efficient inside the arc, is solid from the line, takes care of the ball better than almost anybody in the league, and his ability to find teammates has improved dramatically since joining the Spurs. His field goal percentages do drop as the game gets closer to its conclusion, but that’s true of almost every player in the NBA.

The majority of NBA games I watch involve the Spurs so it’s only natural that I’m more critical of the Spurs’ players. What I need to realize is if I’m seeing every play of the Spurs but I’m only watching the highlights of other teams, I’m not seeing the whole picture. I’m comparing apples to oranges.

Sometimes I like to think of it in terms of a golf tournament. They usually only show the players at the top of the leaderboard, and those players are on the top of their game for that particular week. I see player after player making 8 foot putts like it’s automatic, but then when I look at the stats, I see that PGA players only connect on putts of that length half of the time. If I watched those players all the time, including those times they are scrambling just to make the cut, I’d see that it’s not always automatic, even for those at the pinnacle of their particular sport. We’re all human after all.