Raptors roll over Pistons in pre-season,

The NBA cut back on the number of days of training camp and teams have pared the number of exhibition games they play and it all feels more compact. Right, DeMar DeRozan? “No. It still feels long,” the Raptors swingman said Tuesday morning. “It still feels long. But this is my ninth pre-season so it should feel long.”

DeRozan has every right to think this pre-season has been long. Even though the Raptors will end up playing only five games — down from seven or eight in any other season — an extended trip to Victoria, Honolulu and Portland was a drag.

“Seems like we’ve been on the road forever,” DeRozan said. “It feels good just to get back in front of our home crowd, our floor, our court, kinda get in our normal.”

The Raptors close out their preseason in Chicago on Friday and open at home to the Bulls next Thursday.

“These are the dog days of training camp, up and downs,” head coach Dwane Casey said.

“That’s our charge now as the coaching staff, get a sense of urgency, get things together, tighten up things, get a sense of urgency for the season, a feel for how we want to be and how we want to play during the season, the toughness, the lack of mistakes on plays and things like that.”

OFFICIAL TALK: The Raptors’ players and coaching staff met earlier in the day with Tuesday’s referees to make sure everyone was up to speed on what will be looked at more closely this year.

That includes whether or not a player in the lane who initiates contact with a defender — and flails his arms to sell the contact — is actually in the act of shooting.

DeMar DeRozan is one of the best in the league at creating contact. Doug Smith