"A lot of people who say that don’t understand basketball": DeMar DeRozan tears into Chicago Bulls fans asking for complete team overhaul

DeMar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls had another struggling campaign last season after going 40-42 in the regular season and losing in the play-in tournament.

DeRozan is entering his third year with the Bulls, but still, the team has been unable to become a legit title contender in the East.

Thus, it doesn't come as a surprise that Bulls fans ask for changes and want the franchise to go into a rebuild and shake the roster up. But the All-Star guard/forward disagrees with that and doesn't think a rebuild would guarantee a return to the top for Chicago.

"I think a lot of people who say that or suggest that really don’t understand basketball at all, in my opinion. You can think that’s an answer or that’s a route. But there’s no telling how long that route is going to even last. That route doesn’t necessarily always work in a timely fashion that you may think it will take," DeMar DeRozan said in an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda and Mark Medina.

"With that, it’s hard to find and create talented players like the players that we already have assembled. We made a lot of mistakes. It’s not only on the players, but the coaching staff as well to be able to correct the mistakes that we have because we weren’t far off at all with the mistakes that we’ve had.

"If we correct those, give us back the 10 to 15 games that we should’ve had last season. That changes the whole dynamic of everything. It’s always easy when something goes bad just to say, ‘Scratch it.’ But you really don’t know where you’ll end up from there. So when I hear people say that, it lets me know and understand that they don’t understand basketball at all."

DeMar DeRozan has won 80 of the 150 games he has played in a Bulls uniform, but he has seen no success with Chicago so far.

Last year, he posted averages of 24.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg and 5.1 apg in 74 games. However, he remains optimistic in the Bulls' ability to go all the way.

DeMar DeRozan believes the Bulls can 'accomplish it all' this year

The Chicago Bulls kept their Big Three together after re-signing Nikola Vucevic and decided to give another chance to DeRozan, Vucevic, and Zach LaVine to guide the franchise to a deep playoff run after many years.

The Bulls didn't make a lot of moves this offseason and, most significantly, didn't cover the gap that Lonzo Ball's long-term injury has left on the backcourt line.

With Alex Caruso still unable to lead the way as a point guard, this gap has hurt the Bulls ever since Ball went down with an injury in January 2022.

However, DeMar DeRozan is confident in his team's chances to turn things around this year and believes the Bulls can 'accomplish it all'.

"I think we can accomplish it all. From a lot of mistakes we had and ups and downs last season, it’s about understanding that and knowing how to correct that. That will make us even better than we were last season. We were pretty good, but we were too inconsistent," DeRozan told Medina.

"I think addressing a lot of the flaws that we had last season come next week in training camp will be the start of that. How much we correct that will determine how good we can be. I definitely think we can be extremely good."

DeMar DeRozan and the Bulls hope to be healthy and in a position to challenge for the title as they open their training camp next Tuesday, October 3.

The Bulls will open their regular season campaign with a home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, October 25.