![]() You can’t get too excited because you win a few games. “We’re not getting too high and we’re not getting too low. Like almost everyone else, he’s grinning, but he never fully takes his eyes off the practice happening around him. I get DeRozan for a few minutes on the side of the court. (Casey would call that run “a testament to him, his toughness and his mental growth as a player.”) The Nets led by as much as 10 before DeRozan went on a tear to end the third quarter scoring seven straight points in a row. DeRozan was the game’s leading scorer, again with 26. But it’s probably because they’re winning, and they won the night before, 96-80 against the Brooklyn Nets. Maybe the mood is this relaxed every Sunday. Media relations director Jim LaBumbard tells him to respect his elders, and for that LaBumbard gets Valanciunas’s body sweat rubbed on him. Second-year centre Jonas Valanciunas is joking around with Raptors staff, putting a white-haired man in a headlock. I have to do what I can to help this team win.”Įleven days later at a Sunday practice, everyone is loose and smiling. If they need to lean on me in the fourth quarter, I have to pull through. ![]() Of his own impressive final quarter, he concedes, “I understand my team needs me. Quietly but confidently (the former is natural, the latter’s come with time), DeRozan addresses the media, focusing his responses on his teammates and teamwork and team, team, team. On this night, in an impressive 95-82 victory over the conference-leading Indiana Pacers, he’s the game’s highest scorer, with 26 points. Then he turns and faces the room, signalling the scrum of reporters to gather around. He pulls on a shirt and finally a black hoodie emblazoned with a maroon and gold University of Southern California – his alma mater – logo. Facing his locker in the circular media-access portion of the Toronto Raptors locker room. The year got off to a hell of a good start.Īfter their January 1 game at the ACC, DeRozan pulls his pants on one leg at a time. The Raptors kicked off 2014 at 14-9, and are, barring disaster, headed for the post-season for the first time in six years. That they could go on a three-game losing streak and still recover. More importantly, it’s the first time in a long time (since the 07-08 season, to be exact) that it feels like this upswing isn’t fleeting. Their winning percentage might seem modest, but it’s good enough for first in the Atlantic Division and third-best in the Eastern Conference overall. At the All-Star break, their record is 28-24. The Raptors are having one of their better seasons. In this league, you have to be a student of the game, and that’s what DeMar is.” ![]() You could ask Michael Jordan about any game. That’s what it takes to make a good player. He casually asked the then third-year player if he’d seen a particular game the previous evening. “He is a basketball junkie,” says Raptors head coach Dwane Casey, currently in his third year with the team.Ĭhatting after practice one day, Casey recalls an early DeRozan encounter in an ACC elevator. But ask DeRozan almost anything about the game and his answers are instantaneous. I’m not the first basketball fan to leave Antonio Davis off the too short, too obvious mental list of the franchise’s finest players: Vince Carter and Chris Bosh (Tracy McGrady, too, but he wasn’t an All-Star in Toronto). “Only… the third Raptor?” I ask without thinking much. Making conversation, I offer a “Congrats on All-Star” between flashes. At the All-Star break, he’s averaging 22.4 points (10th-best in the league), 37.7 minutes (fourth-most), 4.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists.īecause of these stats, and the Raptors’ solid play of late, DeRozan spent last weekend in New Orleans. He is also, at five seasons, tied with fellow Angeleno Amir Johnson as the current longest-serving player. Does he mind taking his shirt off so we can see his tattoos? Sort of, but he hesitantly agrees to be shot from the back.ĭeRozan is the Raptors’ captain and leading scorer. The Toronto shooting guard doesn’t ham for the camera, but he’s kind of a natural – or, more likely, he’s accustomed to how this works after a lifetime of being photographed. On the set of his early February NOW cover shoot, NBA All-Star DeMar DeRozan is soft-spoken, obliging and easygoing. THE TORONTO RAPTORS play the Cleveland Cavaliers Friday (February 21), 7 pm, and the Orlando Magic Sunday (February 23), 6 pm, at the Air Canada Centre, from $49, TM.
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