Harden, DeRozan bonded

TORONTO — Raptors All-Star DeMar DeRozan tossed out his opinion that James Harden ,a longtime friend from their Los Angeles days, should have won the MVP last season as if it were a given.

This season, DeRozan said Harden is “a lock.”

“He should have won MVP,” DeRozan said. “He had the ball in his hands the majority of the time.”

Asked if there is any question about Harden winning it this season, DeRozan said: “No. He earned it. The things he’s been doing all year is incredible. I think he’s a lock for it. He deserves it.”

Told DeRozan called him a certainty for the MVP, Harden said that meant a lot to him, especially coming from DeRozan.

“That’s like my brother,” Harden said. “He’s playing at an all-time level, too. He’s out there killing. He has his team in the No. 1 seed in the East. He’s doing extremely great things as well. Just to hear it from him, especially with the level he’s playing at now, means a lot to me.”

DeRozan and Harden were born a few weeks and miles apart in Los Angeles and began playing with and against one another at 12 years old. They have trained together in the offseason for years.

“I knew him when he didn’t have a lick of hair on his face,” DeRozan said. “It just came about, man. We’ve grown. We talk about it a lot, to where we never thought we’d be in a position that we are today. To be able to have that type of conversation with a guy that you grew up with, that you went through every stage with, it’s definitely crazy to see.”

Mbah a Moute’s keen influence

When Rockets forward Luc Mbah a Moute went to dinner with the Raptors’ Pascal Siakam on Thursday, he felt emotions that he called “special” as he thought not only of how far Siakam has come, but that he had a role in it when Siakam began his career in Cameroon.

“It’s pretty special,” Mbah a Moute said. “We had dinner last night, just kind of sharing memories, still. To now be on the court, playing against him, seeing him on the same court, is hard to explain. You have these different feelings in life. You make it to the NBA or something like that. But when you know you were part of someone’s success and you were able to facilitate that somehow, it’s a different feeling.

“All those kids, Joel (Embiid), Pascal, my brother (Roger Moute a Bidias, who plays at California), Landry Nnoko (who is in the G League), even kids who haven’t made it to the NBA but graduated and have gone to my camp, to have a feeling you were part of their success is unbelievable. It’s a great achievement. I’m proud of what they’ve done. Pascal has had a great year.”

Siakam said he had just started playing basketball when he went to Mbah a Moute’s camp with friends more as a curiosity than to start a career.

“It’s great to see a guy from Cameroon, someone you looked up to, to play against each other,” Siakam said. “Went to his camp years ago. It’s great to see him.”

Tucker’s attitude toughens Raptors

Rockets forward P.J. Tucker played in 34 games with the Raptors, including 10 playoff games, last season.

But he left an impression, with his influence so great the Raptors said his time in Toronto helps.

“P.J.’s toughness in a short period of time rubbed off on us,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “He’s one of the toughest competitors. Real tough. He’s not a fake tough. He doesn’t announce it or anything like that. He goes out and gets it done. You’ll see some bone-crushing screens … and corner 3s. That’s what he does. He had an excellent run with us. He helped us with the Milwaukee series. There’s a lot of respect and love for P.J. He left a toughness factor with us that should be everlasting.”