In a Team USA Men’s Basketball scrimmage against China, Toronto Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan almost threw down a never-before-seen slam dunk: a 360 poster jam.
Yoooooo if DeRozan would have finished this!!!! #USABMNT https://t.co/QxBIwKPTdN
— NBA On Def Pen (@NBAOnDefPen) July 27, 2016
When asked whether he wished he had successfully put down the dunk, DeRozan told Def Pen Hoops that he hasn’t been thinking about this dunk anywhere near as much as the rest of the basketball world has. He’s okay with the fact that he missed the dunk. “Everything happens for a reason,” DeRozan said. “If it was meant to be made, it would have been … We were just going out there, being competitive, having fun at the same time, and it was just a reaction. I really haven’t put too much thought into it.
“We need to go out there and try to keep that underdog mentality,” DeRozan said about the Raptors’ upcoming season. “Go out there and build on what we had last year and just try to be better.”
DeRozan, who re-upped with the Raptors on a five-year deal worth $139 million earlier this month, spoke about the difficulty of having to make a magnitudinous free-agency decision. “It sucks because you gain so much interest from all the teams around the league,” DeRozan said. “You got everybody pulling at you, trying to give you a reason to come to their team, and it’s tough. Especially when you’ve been with one team for so long, you feel like you mold into that one team, that community. It’s tough.”
The main team that drew DeRozan’s interest in free agency was his hometown Los Angeles Lakers. DeRozan, who grew up a fan of the purple and gold, described joining the Lakers as an “intriguing” option. He conveyed that he was glad “just to have that option” of going to play for his hometown team and that it was not an easy decision. “It was tough, but at the same time, I know what I created in Toronto, and it was something I wanted to continue building.”
DeRozan believes the Eastern conference “got a lot stronger” this offseason. “You know the East was a lot better last year, and I think it got even [better] this year.” DeRozan is a competitor and will enjoy the challenge of taking on a tougher conference. “That’s the beauty [of] the NBA. You just want to see all the teams being competitive. You want to go into a season where you look at the standings and you don’t know where a team will land.”
The Raptors’ backcourt of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan struggled shooting the ball last postseason. DeRozan emphasized the immense difficulty players face in the playoffs. “I don’t care who you are, your shooting percentage is going to drop,” DeRozan said. Every possession matters, every possession counts. You’re not going to get anything easy. It’s a fight, and that’s the beauty of the playoffs. It’s not going to be pretty, and that’s what you’ve got to love about it – because it’s a dogfight.”
On the grand stage of the playoffs, the pressure of missing shots a player normally makes can be damaging to a player’s confidence. The key, according to DeRozan, is not letting any outside distractions get in your head. “You can’t let it get to you. You can’t let outside media get to you. You can’t let [any of those] things deter you from what you’ve been working hard for. It’s the beauty of playing basketball, is taking that challenge.”
