Central Notes: DeRozan, Caruso, Pistons, K. Brown

The league leader in minutes played per game is a 34-year-old. The Bulls’ DeMar DeRozan is averaging 37.8 MPG, followed by 20-somethings Luka Doncic, Tyrese Maxey and Miles Bridges. It’s a source of pride for DeRozan that he’s receiving such a heavy workload at this stage of his career.

“I love it,” the Bulls forward told K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “I love the game. As a kid when you’re young, you play until your Momma scream at you and those streetlights come on. Same thing here. You love it. You try to relish in these opportunities.”

We have more from the Central Division:

• Bulls guard Alex Caruso believes this season has probably been his best from an individual standpoint, though it depends on how he finishes, he told Johnson. “We’re only 75 percent of the way through. We have to finish strong for this to be a completed sentence,” he said. “But to this point, I think it’s up there. I think offensively it’s probably my best. I think the numbers show that. I think I’m close to 10 points a game. And I’m pretty sure I’m close to 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Defensively, it’s been different for me. I’ve been guarding big wings or posts a lot more rather than lead guards. In turn, I have more blocks than I ever have and about the same for steals. That’s been a unique challenge defensively.”
• Due to a steady diet of roster moves, Pistons head coach Monty Williams has been constantly tinkering with the rotation. James Edwards III of The Athletic suggests that Williams should cut his rotation down to eight players, staggering the starters’ minutes to make it work. In that scenario, recent acquisitions Simone Fontecchio and Quentin Grimes, along with rookie Marcus Sasser, would be the only reserves getting steady minutes.
• Kendall Brown‘s rookie season with the Pacers was cut short by shin surgery. Brown, a second-round pick, has shown enough this season in the G League to get his two-way deal promoted on Monday to a three-year standard contract. “It’s been a long two years,” Brown said, per Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star. “… The reward feels so much better when the path has been hard. My path has been different than a lot of other players in my class. I was just staying the course, just staying focused. Good things don’t come easy a lot of times. This is a good feeling to finally get that done.”