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The Chicago Bulls paid a hefty price to acquire DeMar DeRozan in the offseason, sending Thaddeus Young, a first-round pick, two second-round picks and Al-Farouq Aminu to the San Antonio Spurs as part of a sign-and-trade deal. DeRozan got a three-year contract worth around $82 million to come to Chicago.
A number of critics panned the move because of both the contract handed out to DeRozan and the assets given up in the sign-and-trade. However, he has shown so far this season that Chicago did the right thing by targeting him and doing all it could to lock in his services.
This was especially evident in Monday's game against DeRozan's former team, the Toronto Raptors. With the Bulls floundering and on the verge of blowing a 20-point second-half lead, DeRozan made a number of clutch plays to help earn a 111-108 victory. Chicago moved to 4-0 for the first time since 1996-97 with the win.
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On the latest episode of Blue Wire's Cash Considerations podcast, Ricky O'Donnell explained the importance of DeRozan's presence:
“Big takeaway from this game is just the calming presence of DeMar DeRozan late in the fourth quarter. Obviously, this was a big emotional game for DeRozan. … DeRozan had a lot of pressure on him going into this game … and he truly rose up to the occasion. … The Bulls would have been toast in this game without DeRozan. Not to get to hyperbolic with it, but DeMar DeRozan was straight up doing some Michael Jordan shit in crunch time.”
DeRozan will become even more important now with Zach LaVine dealing with a thumb injury. LaVine is going to try to play through it, but if he struggles and/or misses time, DeRozan will have to pick up the slack.
Listen to the full Cash Considerations episode here:
Cash Considerations: A Chicago Bulls Podcast is part of the Blue Wire Podcast Network. The pod can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts.
