Changes to Raptors won’t be dramatic
DeRozan says any talk of massive ‘culture change’ is simply overblown
TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan has heard the talk and he wants to set the record straight.
According to the longest serving member of the Toronto Raptors, anyone talking about or expecting huge changes to how the team plays basketball is basically talking through their hat.
To hear some of he media types tell it, DeRozan says, there are going to be wholesale changes in terms of how the team approaches the game next season. That, he says, is factually untrue.
“I think the media kind of blow it out of proportion, like it’s going to be something dramatic, like a complete, dramatic 180-degree change,” said DeRozan, who was back in Toronto helping out with the Raptors’ Basketball Academy at Humber College on Tuesday. “It’s not that at all. It’s just more so locking in and understanding what it takes to win from every single position. Everyone just knows from our failures, (it’s about) guys stepping up and being better leaders, not just me and Kyle (Lowry) but everybody. I think once we lock in and everyone holds themselves accountable, everything else will come around perfect. That’s all it is.”
The talk of a “culture change” began when president Masai Ujiri took to the podium after the season and, in looking back at the just-completed campaign, suggested change was coming. He used that phrase “culture change” and the media jumped on it.
DeRozan didn’t disagree when it was suggested more ball movement might be demanded this season, but he did indicate the anticipated level of change by many outside the team is completely out of whack with the reality of the situation. The offence is still going to run through himself and Lowry. That is not going to change.
Then there’s the issue of his own game. There is video evidence — and he willingly copped to it — of him hitting 64 per cent of 700 consecutive threes he took as part of his workout Monday night before Tuesday morning’s camp with the kids.
DeRozan confirmed the numbers are legit and that he’s been working on his game — and, as anyone who knows him even a little bit, that’s par for the course in any off-season for the Raptors star.
But any perception of him having a love affair with the three-ball is — like the coming culture change we keep hearing so much about in Toronto — being overplayed in some corners.
While it’s true he’s invested in improving that part of this game, it’s not the focus of his off-season.
As with every off-season, the focus is on getting better, and that just happens to include working on those shots from behind the arc.
“My focus is always coming back better,” DeRozan said. “It’s never just one thing. It’s something that I always pride myself on. I’ve never understood when guys say I’m going to come back better at just this one thing. I’m just going to come back better, period, overall. That’s been my approach this whole summer. Come back better.”
DeRozan said the three-pointer is just another element of his game, one he admitted he’s felt capable of doing. But it’s an area he just never really went to because of the success he’s had within the offence without it.
“I’m not even really adding it,” he said. “I just never really shot it because I always felt like I didn’t need to shoot it.
“It’s there when I need it. I don’t have to think about it. People always say I can’t do it, but I just never really wanted to do it, because I always felt like I could do everything else at a high level.”
Featuring it a little more in his game is certainly not out of the question, even this coming season, but talking to DeRozan, you get the impression you’re not likely to see him camped out behind the threepoint line on a regular basis just yet.
But DeRozan is self-aware enough to know that eventually that time will come when he does need it, and he’s not about to get to that point, only to realize he hasn’t put enough work in on that part of his game.
“I’m going into my ninth year” DeRozan said. “I want to be like Vince (Carter) when I slow down. Then that’s when it comes to shooting threes and play a long career like that. If you want to call it going into my prime or whatever, that’s something I want to have in my bag. I’m not getting any faster. I’m not jumping any higher, but everything else can get a lot better.”
DeRozan has already had a full summer of basketball and it’s not about to let up. He’s been playing in the Drew League in Los Angeles, paid a visit to Las Vegas when the Raptors were there for Summer League, and has been working out quite a bit with fellow L.A. native Norm Powell in between all that.
His workout crew in L.A. will grow with a number of the Raptors joining he and Powell when he returns later this week.
Until then, it’s get a workout in wherever his schedule happens to take him, and continue to get better.