If there is one constant that comes up whenever anyone talks about 鈥 an NBA all-star, and the face of this era of 鈥 it is the way he carries himself: the man he has become, the personality that has emerged.
And it all started with shoes. Or, rather, the lack of them.
鈥淗onestly, I think just how I grew up. I didn鈥檛 have what all other kids had,鈥 DeRozan said. 鈥淚 remember having two pair of shoes for a whole year, a basketball shoe and a school shoe.
鈥淪omething like that, growing up as a kid, you remember things like that so whenever you鈥檙e in a position to have to work for something, you want to strive to make it better.鈥
It鈥檚 a story that speaks to DeRozan鈥檚 humility, his work ethic, the traits that have shaped him: the attributes of a man who was taught well as a child.
鈥淚 seen that with my mom and dad: My dad working continuously, my mom working, it rubbed off on me,鈥 DeRozan said. 鈥淚f you want something, you鈥檝e got to work for it. Nothing is going to be handed to you. I just got that from them.鈥
The metamorphosis of DeRozan, named Eastern Conference player of the month on Friday, has been remarkable. He arrived in 海角社区官网in 2009 as a monosyllabic teenager, amazingly polite and painfully shy. Yes, he was obviously a hard worker because he鈥檇 be back in the practice gym honing his craft long after most teammates and coaches had called it a day, but it was difficult for anyone to peel back the layers of his life.
That鈥檚 not entirely surprising for a teenager uprooted from one of the toughest neighbourhoods of Los Angeles and dropped into not only a new city but a new country; to see how far he鈥檚 come has been quite something.
He is engaging and talkative. Revealing, open and insightful. He is the go-to guy for thoughts on his team, the game he plays and himself. He is confident and lives by one rule: 鈥淚f you鈥檙e a good person around me, I鈥檓 going to cherish that.鈥
Despite his athletic gifts, his fame and his fortune, he says he鈥檚 鈥渘ormal,鈥 and wants people to know that. His parents instilled in him that sense of humility, his childhood showed him he could be happy without a lot of material possessions and that hard work would be rewarded.
鈥淚 look at myself as a human,鈥 DeRozan said. 鈥淲hether you鈥檙e in the NBA or not, I鈥檓 going to treat you the same as I want to be treated.
鈥淚 use basketball as kind of like a therapeutic release, sometimes, from all that other stuff that people don鈥檛 realize comes with playing in the NBA,鈥 DeRozan added. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more than just a game to me. You sacrifice and put so much to it that when I go home sometimes I just want to feel regular.鈥
Talk about regular: Alvin Williams didn鈥檛 know DeRozan, or anything about him, when they first met in 2009.
It was one of those routine private workouts leading up to that June鈥檚 NBA draft. The practice facility at the Air Canada Centre was filled with coaches, scouts, executives like Bryan Colangelo, and Williams 鈥 at that time working as a basketball development coach with the Raptors 鈥 was going to play a little one-on-one with the kid from Compton.
That wouldn鈥檛 be a fair fight. DeRozan was 鈥 and remains 鈥 an astonishing athlete. Williams had for years gotten by on guile and was long past his best before date. But it also didn鈥檛 really matter.
That day, Williams had his eyes opened to an array of basketball skills that DeRozan possessed, but six years later something else still remains etched in Williams鈥 mind.
鈥淚 knew how good he could be once I saw him playing, but his attitude was just so good. That鈥檚 what separated him from everybody else,鈥 the former Raptors point guard recalled this week during a stop at the arena.
鈥淗e was really, really humble and eager and wanted to learn. There wasn鈥檛 anything skill-wise that stood out to me, everyone else 鈥 Colangelo and everybody 鈥 knew about him as a player, but I鈥檇 never seen him,鈥 Williams said. 鈥淭o me, his attitude was really something else.
鈥淗e just seemed special or something like that.鈥
And DeRozan has become one of the best all-around players to ever wear a 海角社区官网uniform, a scorer 鈥 and now, an adept passer. The emergence of his game has mirrored the emergence of his personality.
鈥淗is first year, he was a volume shooter,鈥 Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. 鈥淗e worked on his passing; teams were double-teaming him in the post and that鈥檚 where he learned to do it. Now he鈥檚 brought that into his pick-and-roll game, making plays out of pick and roll, seeing his options.鈥
Last Friday in Orlando 鈥 when DeRozan drove to the basket before in the corner for the game-winning basket 鈥 Casey called a play for him, but gave him the freedom to make his own choices.
鈥淗e had two options and he read the best one,鈥 Casey said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what basketball is about. You can draw it up any way you want to but if that guy who has the ball can鈥檛 make decisions, you鈥檙e in trouble.
鈥淗e鈥檚 becoming a complete player.鈥
And DeRozan has done it, basically, through the dint of hard work: of wanting something he didn鈥檛 have, and finding the drive to overcome the obstacles. He was a gym rat and a schoolyard staple from the time he can remember, always finding ways to improve.
鈥淵ou know, it鈥檚 always one of those goals when you were a kid, you watch basketball and you try to re-enact something you see and you鈥檙e like 鈥業 want to go to the NBA,鈥 鈥 he said, adding that there was always a grain of doubt, because everyone on that court planned to play in the big league.
His hard work, and self-belief, has brought him near the pinnacle of his profession, all because he learned at a young age that if you wanted something, you have to work for it and the only limitations are the ones you put on yourself.
鈥淲ith me, I never believe when people say players have ceilings,鈥 DeRozan said. 鈥淵ou can place that on some other person. You can鈥檛 place that on me. I don鈥檛 believe in that. We always can get better at something in life and that鈥檚 how I look at it any time I get time to work out.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I tell people who ask for my advice, younger guys now is you can鈥檛 take it for granted,鈥 he said. 鈥淢e, personally, I know what it鈥檚 like to have nothing, to have to cherish one pair of shoes for a certain amount of time . . . I apply that all the time.鈥
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