Matt Moore, writer for Ridiculous Upside, Hardwood Paroxysm, and NBA Fanhouse is an expert on everything D-League related. After seeing the post about the training camp signees, he sent us a scouting report of what he saw in DerMarr during his time with the Austin Toros.:
After watching him last year in Austin, here's the book on where he was at last year.
- Tentative to drive, often pulls up for ill-fated three.
- Solid on defense, his time on the pros is evident, and his learning curve is short
- When he gets motivated and isn't hesitant? He's got flashes of swagger.
- Those flashes burn out after getting shut down by someone more athletic or more physical.
- Can guard multiple positions with his size.
- Trigger finger, trigger finger, trigger finger.
- He's coachable when he feels like it. It's not that he's totally unresponsive, but if he doesn't believe in what you're selling? T-R-O-U-B-L-E.
- He's actually pretty good in the open floor and doesn't force it. He's been around, so he's got some confidence.
- He has a shooters touch, but he doesn't always know when to rein it in.
- Listen to me very, very closely. Take him and Blatche and put them as far away from one another as humanly possible. I recommend some sort of laser grid in the locker room [Editor's Note: Would a taser grid work as well? I know where I can find one of those.]. Same with Stevenson. In fact, just go ahead and keep him away from everyone but Caron.
Many, many thanks to Matt for that excellent write up. My gut reaction after reading that is that Dermarr won't have any problems fitting in here, which may or may not be a good thing.