No matter where he is, DeMar DeRozan stays true to his character, style
SAN ANTONIO - It's a fool's errand to try and gauge the feeling of FOMO in someone else's mind. Yet DeMar DeRozan was such a key member of the Toronto Raptors for so long - and the main outgoing trade chip that delivered Kawhi Leonard from San Antonio - that it's difficult not to think about what'll be going through his mind when he looks up at the NBA championship banner that now resides at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday.
DeRozan returns to Toronto for the second time in a Spurs uniform this weekend, leading his team in scoring (22.4 points) and assists (five per contest). The Spurs aren't the title contender they used to be, but at 16-21, they're in the hunt for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.
In nearly a season and a half, DeRozan's been what teammate Patty Mills describes as a "gamer." While he didn't want to be traded, he adjusted - as life often forces us to do. Mills used the word "professional" three times in describing what DeRozan's brought to the Spurs.
"It wasn't going to be easy for him to come here," Mills said. "And he's taken the high road on many different occasions and worked hard to be able to make himself fit in. I think the point is that he's a professional (who) can learn on the fly and adapt on the fly, which is not easy to do … professional, professional. It's a grind as everyone knows, but he's one of those guys who will just continue to show up and work hard and obviously be ready when his number's called. Which is a lot."
DeRozan's well-known work ethic also continues to rub off on the Spurs' younger players.
"We built a relationship over the summer," Dejounte Murray said. "He'll FaceTime me at 12 at night, you know he's at USC checking on where I'm at, you know if I was in Seattle at (the University of Washington) or we both just working. It's just impressive to see a dude, you know, the years (he's been in the league) to still be working like he's trying to make it to the NBA himself. It's good for everybody in the room."
Mills recognized that drive when he and DeRozan came into the league more than a decade ago.
"We worked together before, both of us, before we got drafted in 2009," Mills said. "I think it's hard during the season (for younger teammates) to capture that work ethic, but from what you can take from an in-season (worker), he's definitely it.
"For younger guys to see how to take an in-season approach, this is obviously the environment you can do so. Because at the end of the day, that's what this is all about. If we can get our young guys to understand what it takes and have that work ethic - not only on-court, but off-court. And that starts with eating the right things, looking after the body, recovering, and getting the right amount of sleep. I think that's where an all-rounded professional athlete comes from, and DeMar definitely is that."
For the first few years after being drafted by the Raptors, DeRozan practically lived at the team's old practice court. When Chris Bosh left Toronto as a free agent in 2010, a 20-year-old DeRozan boldly tweeted: "Don't worry, I got us." Each offseason after that, he invariably worked on new facets of his game with trainer Chris Farr - specifically mid-range jumpers and playmaking.
One element that's never really taken, though, is a consistent 3-point shot. And at this point in his career, DeRozan seems happy to be who he's always been. It was noted earlier this week that he's among the 27 players currently averaging 20 points per game, yet he's the only one averaging fewer than one 3-pointer per game. Jimmy Butler is the next lowest at 2.8 per game.
Late in the third quarter of a Dec. 6 game against Sacramento, Murray led the Spurs up the floor. With all five Kings hedging towards the paint, Murray flicked a pass to DeRozan at the top of the arc. DeRozan's defender, the venerable and still-lengthy Trevor Ariza, was almost screened off by teammate Harrison Barnes at the foul line, theoretically giving DeRozan an extra second of space to launch an above-the-break trey.
Predictably, that's not what happened. Instead, DeRozan gathered, and, seeking contact, drove headfirst into a rapidly formed double-team of Ariza and helper Bogdan Bogdanovic. When DeRozan lost his handle in the lane and angrily spiked the ball, he was whistled for a technical foul.
While it briefly looked like DeRozan was getting more comfortable beyond the arc late in his Toronto tenure, that outside shooting has plummeted since arriving in San Antonio. Some of that is a byproduct of Gregg Popovich's economical system (last season, the Spurs led the league in 3-point percentage but were dead last in attempts), but in 114 games in a Spurs uniform, DeRozan's shooting 21.4% from deep on 0.6 attempts per contest. In his previous 371 games with the Raptors, those marks were 30.4% on 2.3 attempts.
It should be noted, however, that DeRozan's Dec. 6 game against the Kings was his high-water mark this season from beyond the arc - he went 3-for-5 in a 105-104 overtime win.
He's hit three 3-pointers in the 14 games since.
"People act like I can't shoot 'em," DeRozan said after that game. "I just (don't always) shoot them. It ain't like I'll be 1-for-100. It's rhythm."
Rudy Gay, now DeRozan's teammate for a combined three seasons, says he wished he'd do it more.
"You miss every shot you don't take," Gay told reporters, paraphrasing an old Wayne Gretzky quote. "I commend him on (taking five 3-point attempts), that's something that he's not comfortable doing … but he can do it."
As the NBA enters another decade of pace-and-space efficiency, it became natural long ago to deride a wing player without reliable range.
But DeMar is who he is. And while he may be a millennial, DeRozan is a Gen-X throwback player, somebody who grew up in Compton, California, modelling his game on Kobe Bryant's exploits a dozen miles north at Staples Center. That he doesn't possess the step-back hubris of childhood friend James Harden or the chaotic frenzy of fellow Angeleno Russell Westbrook isn't his fault. He's still an elite basketball player, a four-time All-Star, a two-time All-NBA selection, and a man universally regarded as one of the league's solid citizens.
Three days before the Kings game, DeRozan demonstrated more of his intangibles when he drew a charge from Harden with 0.8 seconds left in double overtime to clinch a wacky win over the Houston Rockets.
"The most impressive thing about (the charge) was that it was done on the defensive end," Mills said. "And I think the reaction he got from all of his teammates was genuine and really wanted to live in that moment for him."
DeRozan, who's been open about his personal battles with mental health, is barely active on social media these days - something uncommon for a contemporary NBA star.
"To this day I always wish I had played in the '90s so I wouldn't deal with social media," he told the San Antonio Express-News' Tom Orsborn during a 2-11 Spurs run in November. "Me, personally, I hate it."
Given DeRozan's name is already being prominently bandied about ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline, he'll probably keep avoiding it.
DeRozan holds a $27-million player option for next season, and there's a sense around the NBA that these Spurs have peaked. Observers have long questioned the offensive value of pairing two mid-range specialists like DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge, and despite a statistical improvement over the last month, the Spurs' defense has mostly regressed this season.
Subsequently, trade rumors have linked DeRozan to offensively challenged teams like the Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons. If a trade materializes to the latter, DeRozan will be reunited with former head coach Dwane Casey, another casualty of the major turnover the Raptors initiated on the way to a title.
Now 30 and after 11 years in the NBA, DeRozan's unlikely to change. And while fans and critics can attack his perceived limitations, what's often not discussed by those observers is a player's value to a locker room, and the respect from teammates that comes with putting together a solid career.
"Any chance you can be around somebody that’s had such a great career like DeMar, it’s beneficial," Derrick White said. "Just watching the way he handles things day to day, throughout the season is definitely beneficial, and I’m thankful to have him as a teammate and I’ve learned a lot from my first two years with him."