NBA: 12 best big 2’s at the start of the 2019-20 season

11. DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge

The fact that neither of the San Antonio Spurs’ stars shoots 3’s (almost unheard of in today’s NBA) and they’re still a playoff lock in the west is more of a testament to Gregg Popovich’s genius than anything else but with that being said, DeRozan and Aldridge can still ball.

DeMar is still one of the top shooting guards in the league and despite having any real semblance of a 3-point stroke, he’s still an incredibly versatile scorer. He’s the master of the mid-range, has a decent in-between game, is a crafty finisher and we still occasionally see bursts of the explosive athleticism he was known for when he first entered the league.

And contrary to his early years in the league, DeRozan has a much better all-around game and he actually set career highs in rebounds and assists in his first campaign in San Antonio.

His improved playmaking definitely helped him mesh better with LaMarcus Aldridge who remains one of the most lethal pick-and-pop bigs in the game. It seems like year after year, he grows more comfortable in the Spurs system and he has the type of game that you’d expect to age gracefully.

As long as he still has his automatic turnaround fade away, there’s going to be a place for him in this league.

Both these guys have shown flashes from beyond the arc in their careers and I feel if they can each up their volume and efficiency slightly (around league average 35-36 percent on 2-3 attempts per game) then that will not only take their respective games to the next level, it will also help shift the Spurs offense into another gear.