All-star DeRozan feels a little bit Hollywood

This weekend DeRozan is headed to his fourth all-star game along with teammate Kyle Lowry — the pair will be a part of Team Stephen. The Raptors coaching staff led by Dwane Casey will coach Team LeBron.

DeRozan, 28, heads to the break averaging 23.7 points per game (13th in the NBA), a career-high 5.2 assists per game and shooting 32.7 per cent from three-point range through 57 games.

The Raptors (41-16) own the best home record (24-4) in the NBA and head into the all-star break on a seven-game winning streak while sitting atop the Eastern Conference standings.

Casey, the first coach in Raptors history to coach in an NBA all-star game, is headed to the event for the third time in his career. He was a member of former Seattle SuperSonics head coach George Karl’s staff at the 1996 and 1998 games.

Lowry, who will also participate in Saturday’s three-point contest, is heading to his fourth straight game. raised eyebrows — the only violation ever recorded was from a contaminated supplement in the 201011 season.

Watkins, however, insisted the system, which also includes education, was fit for purpose.

“I speak to a lot of Premiership players and the testing is a deterrent because they simply don’t know when the testers are coming in,” Watkins said.

“This is not something we are overly concerned about. Since the 2004-05 season ... not a single professional player has failed a drugs test for performance-enhancing drugs. There is no systemic problem. But while we’ve done a high number of tests, we aren’t complacent.”

UKAD targets players more so out of competition than on match days. Priority is given to periods such as pre-season when players are thought to be most likely to use performance-enhancing drugs in order to improve their conditioning and assist in recovery from injury.

The amount of testing in rugby compares unfavourably with some other English sports, but Watkins insisted the comparison was inaccurate.

“They don’t start the season thinking, ‘I want to target peak fitness come the Premiership final.’ They have to play week on week,” he said. “Our strategy is rugby specific.”