How DeMar DeRozan has returned to All-Star form with the Chicago Bulls

Why Chicago Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan should be an All-Star: Overall scoring

I’m not old enough to have witnessed the “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s. However, every adult I speak to who was a basketball fan during that era swears up and down that they were the best team ever assembled.

In contrast, when I speak to younger fans whose most vivid memories are from the past ten years, they are fully convinced that the 2017 Golden State Warriors were the best team the NBA has ever produced. The reason why these two teams have garnered the allegiance of their respective generations can be summed up in one concept: scoring. Both teams made it look effortless.

While the Lakers may have scored most of their points in transition and the Warriors utilized half-court player movement and great passing, both teams knew how to put the ball in the basket.

The scoreboard is the ultimate measure of who’s best, and teams and players that score at will often capture the imagination of audiences. This season, DeMar DeRozan is on pace to have one of the best scoring years of his career.

The 26.8 points per game he is averaging thus far is much higher than anyone anticipated. With Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević both expected to score more than twenty points per game, it didn’t seem logical that DeRozan would get enough touches to join them. So far, he’s proven that theory to be inaccurate.

When DeMar DeRozan was traded from the Toronto Raptors to the San Antonio Spurs in 2018, it marked the end of an era. Years from now, his jersey will hang from the rafters in Canada, but for now, he has embarked on an exciting new chapter of his career.

The Chicago Bulls look poised to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2017, and DeRozan is a huge part of that. If he keeps playing the way he has thus far, he’ll make an appearance in the All-Star game along the way.