DeMar DeRozan Is Currently Doing Shit For The Bulls That Not Even Michael Jordan Ever Managed To Do

Chicago Tribune. Getty Images.

Nobody on the internet or arguably the entire planet is seeing more Red right now than our friend Carl when it comes to DeMar DeRozan and the Bulls. He talked about this yesterday afternoon once it was announced that DeRozan won a very deserved Player Of The Week. 

and for my money, Bulls fans are right to talk all the shit in the world since a lot of people said giving DeRozan that kind of contract was a bad idea. Not only are they competing for a top spot in the conference, but DeRozan has fit in perfectly to the point where it almost feels like stealing. Anyone could have had DeRozan, and the Bulls saw a path to contention and they went all in. 

But if it's alright with any Chicago stoolies out there, I would like to piggy back on Carl's blog for a second. I tend to live my life by one general rule. If you find yourself doing something that not even MICHAEL JORDAN managed to do for the Bulls, we should probably talk about it. After this fairly dominant performance against the Spurs last night

to give the Bulls their 4th win in a row, we have reached that point. They remain just 0.5 behind the Heat for the top overall seed, and have a 1.5 game lead over the Cavs. You can pretty much thank DeRozan for all this considering the Bulls are still without LaVine, Ball and Caruso etc. Here's what I mean

I'm sorry, what the hell did we all just read? Michael Jordan, a player with career averages of 30.1 points and 49.7% FG% at no point in his 13 years as a Bull ever had a 6 game stretch like this. Do you know how insane that is? It's not like DeRozan is getting there by shooting a shit ton of threes either, if you wanted to maybe argue about style and era differences compared to MJ. Over these last 6 games, DeRozan is just 3-9 from three. In 5 of the 6 games, he's taken 2 or fewer 3PA. He's doing this because he's the master of the midrange. Did you know he's shooting 50.3% from midrange this season? He takes 9.3 midrange jumper a game and makes 4.7. By totals, he's 252-501. That is utterly insane. The next closest player is Devin Booker with 330 midrange FGA if you were wondering.

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You want to know maybe the craziest part of all this? He's not even in the Top 5 for MVP! Basketball Reference has him 9th. NBA.com has him 9th as well. They actually dropped him 3 spots from last week! Why does it feel like I'm taking crazy pills? The Bulls are 37-21 and DeRozan is doing insane shit on a nightly basis despite opposing defenses being able to focus solely on him.

When it comes to Michael Jordan and Bulls records, I figured everything was pretty much untouchable. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think DeRozan would do something as a Bull that MJ never did at any point in his career and I like DeRozan as a player. It's just you start throwing around the name MJ and you start talking about a different level of dominance. 

As a Bulls fan, this should excite you because nothing DeRozan is doing looks all that unsustainable. The dude has taken 501 midrange jumpers, so what, he's all of the sudden going to suck at them? I don't think so. Again, it's not like he's surviving and accomplishing all this through unsustainable basketball. He's simply getting to his spots where he knows he's comfortable and defenses have no answer for that. You can know DeRozan wants to get into the paint/midrange, but you can't stop him from doing it. Once he's there, it's curtains for you.

Will that work in a playoff series when things slow down? That's what we're about to find out.