DeRozan stealing the show in camp
BURNABY, B.C.— In the six seasons Dwane Casey has watched DeMar DeRozan every day, the Raptors coach has gained an appreciation for the nuances of DeRozan’s game.
After less than a week of training camp here, that appreciation has gone to an entirely different level.
Maybe it was DeRozan’s run with the Rio Olympics gold medal-winning United States team or maybe it’s just the maturation of the 27-yearold’s game, but Casey says he’s seeing things he never imagined possible.
“Right now, DeMar DeRozan is a beauty to watch because he’s playing at an old man’s speed, but when it’s time to put his foot on the gas he just takes off,” Casey said before the Raptors worked out at Fortius Sport and Health here Friday.
“I’m really impressed with DeMar, the way he’s playing. Not only on the offensive end of the floor, he’s playing the best defence I’ve seen him play. His stunts, his reading on the weak side. He told on himself this summer with the Olympics.
“I’ve been preaching that five years now, six years now, and he’s doing a great job with it.”
DeRozan is, by any standard, further along than most players in NBA training camps because of the six weeks he spent with the American team.
He is also further along because he’s continually gaining insight into the tricks of his trade.
“Just experience, being able to put everything together,” DeRozan said. “Understanding how the game works completely as a whole no matter what type of player you are playing against, whether it’s a small guy or a big guy. Understanding rotations, understanding where your help is going to be. Just little things that may go unnoticed your first couple of years in the league that you cannot be told. You just got to experience it on your own.”
The Raptors get a chance to measure themselves against considerable NBA competition on Saturday when they open the exhibition season against the Golden State Warriors at the Rogers Centre (7:30 ET, TSN).
It wraps up a week of practice for a Raptors team that’s doing more finetuning than reconstruction. The only two issues of any note are integrating Jared Sullinger into the system and finding a backup centre for Jonas Valanciunas.
“Honestly, we’re a little bit more ahead of the schedule we were last year because of the changes we made the year before last year,” Kyle Lowry said.
“This year we haven’t made too many changes so I think we’re half-astep ahead offensively than we were the year before. Defensively we still have to get back to the basics.”