The NBA’s Best Kept Secret: All-Star DeMar DeRozan Just Getting Started

DeMar DeRozan is currently in the midst of his best season as a professional basketball player. Quietly, the former Trojan has stepped up to the proverbial plate in his fifth year with the Toronto Raptors, and has developed into the outright go-to guy on a team that has longed for a leader on the court for years.

Despite the career-high numbers and the All-Star selection, DeRozan’s value as one of the legitimate top shooting guards in the league continues to be overlooked. DeRozan isn’t hiding his true talent and abilities. In fact, it is the opposite, as his stock as one of the NBA’s best shooting guards is kept secret by a small-market–in NBA standards–and by a team in the East not named the Heat or the Pacers. The truth is that DeRozan’s improvement and worth simply falls through the cracks in a league driven by large markets and commercialized franchises.

Regardless of how or why DeRozan’s game is underrated, this does not seem to be in the mind of the man himself. DeRozan is a “team-first” type of player, which was ever so present in his recent chat with former three-time NBA champion Rick Fox for the American Express Off Court segment on NBA.com. When discussing his first time selection as an NBA All-Star this past February, DeRozan deflected the individual merits and credited the help and work of his teammates in Toronto for getting him the invitation to New Orleans. He also made the following remarks to Stephen Brotherston about his teammates earlier this season: “As long as we are winning, we got 15 faces as long as we are winning. I’m not into (being) an individual, whatever I do I have to thank my team for it as well–for my success–because we are all in it together.”

However, let’s breakdown the individual improvements that have accelerated DeRozan’s game. He accredits his commitment to his overall game in the offseason for the rise in his numbers. Offensively, he is playing with more confidence than ever, which has continued to accumulate with the more experience he has as a pro. For example, from February 25 to March 2, DeRozan scored 30-plus points in each contest for a three-game stretch. In January, he went off against Dallas for a career-high 40 points.

With the trade of Rudy Gay this past December to the Sacramento Kings, DeRozan had the opportunity to step in to be the outright go-to guy for the Raptors. He grabbed that chance by the horns and has not disappointed. As the young leader of the squad up north, DeRozan maintains his focus to set the offensive tone from the opening tip to the sound of the final buzzer. Setting the offensive tone for DeRozan typically means using his athleticism to generate energy on the floor, creating for his teammates to get easy buckets or displaying aggressiveness in order to take advantage of the defense.

Let’s take a moment to break down DeRozan’s superb numbers this season. First, he is averaging a career-high in scoring (22.7), which is second-best among shooting guards–behind James Harden–and ninth overall in the NBA. He is also averaging a career-high in minutes per game (38.0), which is again second-highest among shooting guards–behind James Harden–and fourth-highest overall in the NBA.

In his NBA.com interview with Rick Fox, DeRozan discussed how he has learned through his experience in the league how important it is to get to the free throw line. Therefore, part of his game has been developed to use his aggressiveness to attack the rim and try to get opponents into the penalty at a faster rate. You can see this focus come into fruition this season, as he only trails James Harden–which isn’t surprising since Harden mostly lives at the charity stripe–among the league’s shooting guards for free throw attempts per game (7.8).

Keep reading to see how his jumper has improved…

While DeRozan is not a three-point shooter, he is taking more shots from distance this season (2.9 per game) and is seeing those attempts splash through the net at a higher rate (a career-high 30.5 percent). His increase in shot attempts per contest is another source of evidence that proves he has transitioned into Toronto’s go-to guy, as his attempts have increase by three additional shots per game (18.1) from last season.

His commitment to his overall game is the explanation behind his additional career-highs in steals (1.1), rebounds (4.4) and assists (3.8) per game. He has the fifth-highest PER (18.61) among shooting guards, the third highest Value Added (280.7) among shooting guards–should be second best as Goran Dragic has played most of the season as a point guard–and the second-highest usage rate (26.7) among shooting guards. By the way, each of the aforementioned advanced stats are all career-highs.

The Raptors have made great progress this season. Toronto is arguably the best story coming out of the East, since the success of Miami and Indiana isn’t surprising. They have gone from a team that allowed Kobe Bryant to score 81 points to a team that is currently playoff-bound and filled with young, raw athletes. Asked by Rick Fox in his NBA.com interview of what has changed mentally for him in his fifth year in the majors, DeRozan replied, “Mentally, just the matter of fact of getting tired of losing.”

At the forefront of this progress is a 24-year-old who was drafted after a one-and-done season at USC and tasked to be the athletic face the Raptors once had with Vince Carter and the leader they needed when Chris Bosh left for South Beach in 2010. DeRozan credits himself as being a student of the game, which is a sentiment echoed by Raptors head coach Dwane Casey.

Casey told NOW Magazine, “He’s a basketball junkie…He’s a basketball nerd. That’s what it takes to make a good player. You could ask Michael Jordan about any game. In this league, you have to be a student of the game, and that’s what DeMar is.”

The Raptors have one of the best pools of young talent this season, which features a core of Kyle Lowry, Terrence Ross, Jonas ValančiÅ«nas and DeRozan. But there is no mistake: DeRozan is the face of the franchise. While the Raptors probably won’t go the distance in the East in the immediate future, the overall future looks bright for the NBA’s Canadian team. The secret is out–DeMar DeRozan is now a legitimate top tier shooting guard in the NBA. Spread the word.

*All statistics provided by ESPN.com

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