First that article/mention is just speculation, not a rumor. Not saying you are claiming it was, just wanting to clarify that for anybody else coming along.
Second of all, its just tossed out there without any real consideration of the salary implications. After Vlade's work this summer we are fresh out of expendable contracts, and while DeRozan is not on an impossible deal, it would take more than Ben to make contracts match.
Thirdly, normally think when you're a bad team you flat take plus talent trades, for an in prime All Star no less, whenever they are presented. But in this particular case you would have been hard pressed to come up with a guy less likely to help. DeRozan's value is as a volume scorer, and all our volume scoring is already claimed and accounted for. He's not a 3pt shooter, has never been efficient -- his TS% the last 4 years has been .503, .523, .532, .510. he and Rudy already famously teamed in a terrible stagnant inefficient mess that actually let us land Rudy here, where he's been better. He's not a noted defender, although they have been better defensively as a team than we have. he has developed some ability to distribute, so that could help. Playing next to a pure pass first PG like Rondo could help. But its not going to give him the 3pt range we desperately need, nor make him a stopper, nor keep him from draining shots from better offensive options in Cuz and Rudy. So overall if such an opportunity were to arise, I'd be more interested in working the phones and seeing if a 3rd team couldn't be involved to give us something closer to our own ideal fit, while the 3rd team in need of volume scoring took DeRozan.
