Doug McDermott "plays with an edge. He wants to be really good," says his friend and NBA veteran Kyle Korver. "He's got to learn how to deal with [Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau] every day," Korver said recently, with a laugh. "That's a lot. The thing I told him is you don't have to drive that traffic [to suburban Deerfield, the site of the Bulls' practice facility] every day now. I was like, I could go back and do either Thibs or the traffic, but I could never do both again. You don't know how good you have it."* There's a lot of things that McDermott must learn to deal with as he begins his first season in the NBA, but Korver -- along with many coaches and executives throughout the league -- believes that McDermott is up for the challenge.*
"He rarely messes up," Rose said of McDermott. "He never pushes the issue I would say. He never tries things that he can't do. He knows exactly what type of play that he wants and for me I need him because you can't leave him. He has a lot of confidence in his shot, and he works on his shot every day. So when he's open -- and I was playing with him when we were back in Chicago -- I had to tell him whenever he's open and I pass him the ball he better shoot or I'm going to yell at him every time."*
It seems like the only even semi-negative things written about McDermott are mature, sensible comments about how he hasn't played a minute in the NBA, it's only summer league, etc. Thibodeau, Rose and Korver talk about McDermott in a way that is very un-rookie-like. Oh, and other NBA rookies are also very high on McDermott. They voted him as the rookie with the best shot and placed him second for rookie of the year (behind Jabari Parker). Perhaps most surprising, they voted him second in terms of who would have the best NBA career (again behind Parker). Rookie poll
http://www.businessinsider.com/19-nba-stars-who-were-drafted-outside-the-top-10-2013-6?op=1 Certainly not the first good player not drafted at the tippy top of the draft...
Look no further than the 2013-14 All-NBA teams Noah went 9th Curry went 7th Parker went 28th George went 10th Dragic went 45th Jefferson went 15th
Luke Jackson and Jimmer Fredette were both selected #10. Tyrus Thomas was selected #4, but Pax would have taken him come hell or high water at #2. Maybe they should play the games so we can see what we got?
When you draft an older, college senior type player like McDermott, you would expect him to be ahead of the curve on all these factors than the really young players. Lower floor, lower ceiling would be the knock. You don't have to worry about the attitude, maturity, practice habits, etc, since he's a more developed individual. We'll know a lot more 3-4 years from now who the top players from this draft class are. The Bulls do need McDermott to contribute right away if they are going to be true contenders this year, so all of this is good news. We'll see once the real NBA games start, and especially when the NBA playoffs start, if he's ready for prime time this season.
At least Thomas got us one of the draft picks that got us Dougy but you talk about a whack draft. Not only could we have used LmA's 20+ ppg all these years the Bulls left Gay, Roy and Rondo on the board.
A lot of praise for Doug from the media. I read just this morning that a lot of coaches and players were impressed with him on the team USA select team.
Very well said. All of this is good news, but this is what you're supposed to get when you get a well decorated upperclassmen from the draft. I'm confident about his shooting and filling some sort of role for the Bulls this year. The big ifs are whether or not he can pick up Thibs' defensive schemes in the amount necessary to stay on the floor, and if he can withstand the rigors of the NBA season enough to still do his thing against very good teams in the playoffs. Even for a mature player those aren't guarantees.
Sam Smith says McBuckets should start at SF. http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/could-mcdermott-shoot-his-way-starting-role The view heading into the season is the starting lineup will be Rose, Butler, Mike Dunleavy, Gasol and Noah. Though the Bulls added players and have enviable depth, the potential weakness remains shooting guard as Butler is more naturally a small forward. It’s why someone like Dunleavy needs to be in the lineup to keep the floor spread for Rose’s drives. But it’s asking a lot after Dunleavy started so many games last season when his role was supposed to be a reserve. After all, with all that depth you should be nursing your players more for the post season. It also doesn’t make a lot of sense to start Rose with Hinrich since Hinrich isn’t a shooter who occupies the defense and then have Butler at small forward. None of the main front line players are three-point shooters other than Mirotic, who is, at best, a fourth forward. The ideal would seem to keep Butler at shooting guard, but pair him with McDermott to keep a great shooter on the floor and then have Dunleavy being preserved for the season by coming off the bench. Not that anyone is lobbying at this point. But Rose watched McDermott with the Select Team last week and liked what he saw.
I can't wait for the clown Stacey King to come up with annoying sayings about McBuckets and repeat them over and over and over again ever game.
OK all you McBuckets fans, here's a 3 1/2 minute mix of Dougie's summer league highlights courtesy of RealGM poster Shill. While you watch in awe, it's important to continuously repeat, "It's only summer league, it's only summer league." [video=youtube;TFIz6gyCRf8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFIz6gyCRf8&feature=player_embedded[/video]
Did you also notice all the contested 3s he made? (It's only summer league. It's only summer league...)
