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The best of DeMar DeRozan's season.
Take a look at the amazing moments from DeMar DeRozan this season. (3:03)
8:00 AM
The United Center will be turned into a hockey rink after the Chicago Bulls' victory over the Magic. The scorer's table is removed and the outside of the stands are lined with hockey boards as DeMar DeRozan stands alone at the free throw line.
He is stewing. His voice was heard off the walls of the arena. Another miss.
DeRozan, who is shooting better than 85% from the line on the season, had an uncharacteristically poor night, finishing 7-for-13 and missing 4 of his 9 free throws in the second half. The Bulls player development coach was grabbed by the Raptors guard as he headed back to the court. On their way out, they were reminded that the crew is flipping the court ahead of the home game for the Chicago Blackhawks.
"If I have to, I'm going to shoot until the floor is gone," he said.
Nevermind that the Bulls had just collected their eighth consecutive victory, or that in the two games prior, DeRozan had become the first player in NBA history to hit game-winning buzzer-beaters on consecutive nights.
He hears his father's voice booming as he stands at the line, the clangs of equipment being hauled off around him.
"My dad used to curse at me when I missed free throws," says DeRozan after a Bulls practice a few days later. He used to yell from the bleachers. I used to be told it was a dollar every time I missed a free throw.
My dad would kill me if I missed many free throws. That's why I take it very seriously.
And so back on the floor, he shoots. And shoots. And shoots.
The Bulls game ended about 30 minutes ago. They're going to switch over to hockey.
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DeMar DeRozan is still shooting free throws after going 7 for 13 at the line.
January 4, 2022.
He wants to make 10 consecutive free throws before he can count them. He starts over if he misses one before he hits 10 in a row. He made about 250 free throws after the game, hitting 10 in a row, 25 times.
Chris Farr says that when he does something wrong, he has to correct it perfectly. "You can say we're going to shoot 100 free throws, but if it doesn't feel right, he just keeps going." He keeps going until he gets it right.
DeMar DeRozan's rise as a candidate for the Most Valuable Player.
The late-career renaissance of DeRozan is the rare sports commodity. After honing his skills as a scorer with the Toronto Raptors and a point guard with the San Antonio Spurs, DeMar DeRozan is currently leading the Chicago Bulls to the best record in the Eastern Conference and a prime-time Wednesday game against the Brooklyn Nets. The program is on the cable network, ESPN.
DeMar DeRozan is better than ever.
"DeMar's actually from Louisiana, but when you roll his thumbprint, he's actually from Compton," Farr says. They make gumbo in Louisiana. It's a culmination of everything: Toronto, San Antonio, high school, everything is coming together at the right time. He is putting everything together and leaving it all out there. You can see the results.
San Antonio Spurs coach Popovich addressed the team early in the morning of the shootaround.
"DeMar is going to be the point guard," Popovich said.
He was incredulous. Point guard? Me? Nah.
He was a scorer. He had been a scorer for the first nine seasons of his NBA career. He'd averaged 20 points per game over the course of the last three seasons. In his last season with the Raptors, Kyle Lowry was the point guard and DeRosa had averaged 5.2 assists. It wasn't like Popovich had prepared him for this before he addressed the team.
As a point guard, you have to understand everyone on the team. I can help them with their strengths and weaknesses. I could bring the best out of these players. Pop brought the best out of me that I didn't think I had before.
I was a scorer before that. I don't care if I'm 5-for-30. If I'm 15 for 30. My whole mindset was like that. How to be a good point guard. How to be a leader. The game can be dictated. Without the play, how to move. How to play without a ball. How not to let the ball go to waste.
Popovich put him in situations that were out of his comfort zone.
In his first season in San Antonio, he averaged 6.2 assists, followed by 5.6 in his second and 6.9 in his third.
He says that he wanted to take on the challenge because he didn't want to be mad about being here. You have to be efficient with everything you do. Slowly but surely, it made me a better basketball player. To combine those two things and the knowledge that came with them, I think put me in a place where I am now.
While his basketball game was rounding into form, his life off of it was in turmoil.
Frank was living in Los Angeles with long-term illnesses. Frank had been in and out of hospitals for years before he died. During his time in San Antonio, DeRozan would take a private plane to visit his father.
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"I just wanted to sit by him and watch him." He didn't know I was there when I flew home. I would sit next to his bed.
The Spurs kept it quiet, but allowed him to fly to Los Angeles whenever he wanted. He didn't have to play if he didn't want to, because Popovich urged him to go and come back whenever he could.
Even if he played on only a few hours of sleep, he never wanted his absence to become a distraction.
I would be lying to you if I said I had days or moments where I was like, "damn, is this s--- ever going to get back to some type of peace?" DeRozan says something. It was difficult to figure out how I was going to maneuver through so much emotion so I could be myself on the court.
During the NBA free agency period, he could still hear his father on the phone, helping with the decision-making process, even though he wasn't an NBA player.
When he was 10 years old, he played with Frank. Frank accidentally broke his son's lip on a play. The younger DeRozan was thrown off his game by tasting his own blood.
Frank didn't relent and gave his young son a lesson. He made it even harder for him to score. His shot was blocked by him. He was in the paint. Frank, a former football player, was a big man, and no matter how hard he tried, it was impossible. DeRozan had enough.
"I kicked the ball over the fence and said, 'Man, I don't want to play no more,'" says the player. I cried all the way home so I could tell my mom.
He was trying to show me a whole psychological approach. This happens in sports when you keep your cool. I always remember that basketball moment because it makes perfect sense to the game today. I think a lot of my calm comes from the moments I shared with him.
Before the season, DeRozan got a tattoo on his left shoulder of a portrait of his father.
Farr says that he had to heal himself. A lot of that stuff is in his possession. I think he's opening up more and that's part of the healing process. Chicago gave him the opportunity to take advantage of the softened weight on him.
He got the hug he needed when he got there.
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When the Bulls overhauled their roster during free agency last summer, only LaVine, Coby White and Patrick Williams remained from the last season's team. When news broke that DeRozan was going to sign with Chicago, LaVine got his number and sent him a text.
"I was like, 'Look, we need somebody like you on the team,'" LaVine says.
After LaVine returned to the US, he drove 90 miles to work out with his new teammate. They spent 212 hours in the gym and then sat for another hour talking about their vision for the season. There was a connection.
The two people have a good relationship. He had never had an outside scorer like LaVine, his best friend and an All-Star big man. While LaVine had ascended to make his first All-Star Game and was playing for Team USA, he lacked the playoff experience and experience that DeRozan could provide.
"I think it was the best thing for him to come here and be himself," LaVine says. I needed another guy on the team that I could count on to be there for me.
We have done nothing but lose over the last five years. I put up amazing statistics that get washed under the rug when we lose. You're not going to have that success if you're not a successful team. I don't have an ego. I don't mind sharing or DeMar DeRozan hitting game-winners. I'm happy because we're winning.
Play.
The Bulls are trying to prove doubters wrong by challenging for a NBA championship.
Billy Donovan flew to California to meet with the Bulls' new duo. Skeptics from outside the organization had begun to whisper.
Could the two ball-dominant guards work together? Is this defense bad or historically bad? Where is the shooting?
According to an survey of 10 scouts and executives around the league, the signing of DeMar DeRozan was the worst move of the season.
"Don't worry about anything, this s--- will work," he said. Everyone will be happy if we do what we're supposed to do.
He has been correct so far. Chicago has not experienced this kind of bliss in a decade. The Bulls have missed the playoffs for four straight seasons, but they are on top of the East for the first time since the 2012 season. The Bulls are on pace to win 58 games this season and are led by DeRozan, who is on his third team in five years. They were projected to win 40.
In the NBA, LaVine and DeRozan are both in the top eight in scoring. The Bulls are 13th in defensive efficiency and fourth in the league with their fourth-best offense.
In the fourth quarter, the Bulls turn their offense over to DeRozan, who has a combination of scoring and playmaking. He holds the ball for an average length of 6.9 seconds during clutch time possessions, the fifth longest in the league, trailing some of the most ball-dominant guards such as Memphis's Ja Morant, Phoenix's Chris Paul and Atlanta's Trae Young.
During clutch time, when the score is within five points in the last five minutes of a game, DeRozan is averaging 4.0 points on 57% shooting. Over the past 25 seasons, only one player has averaged at least 4.0 points while shooting at least 45% from the field during clutch time, and that is LeBron James.
In total clutch time points, LaVine is sixth in the NBA.
In the fourth quarter of the NBA season, DeRosa is second in the league in total fourth-quarter points, while LaVine is seventh. The last pairs of teammates to both rank in the top seven in fourth-quarter points were D- Wade and James for the Miami Heat and Dirk and Terry for the Dallas Mavericks.
"He doesn't fluster him," LaVine says of DeRozan. I can watch him and be like, "Oh wow, he's not worried about the score, the time or the defender." He's going to get to his spot and he's going to get the shot he wants.
DeMar DeRozan of the Bulls hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Bulls a victory over the Pacers.
If the shots he needs look like the ones that DeMar DeRozan hit to beat the Pacers and Wizards, the Bulls will trust him to execute.
He insists luck isn't the only reason for the buzzer-beatings. He says he spends a lot of time honing those off-balance moves. While working out last summer, he played 1-on-1 with his cousin and he'll allow the cousin to hack him without penalty.
When he hit the game winner in Indiana, his family group chat erupted, not with shock, but familiarity.
"That's the same shot D was making in the backyard," he said. They understand where it comes from. It's not surprising or a bad shot there. Sometimes you have to go in the trick bag and shoot an unusual shot to get it off and make it.
It's more than just off-balance 3-pointers. The patented midrange game has been elevated by DeRozan. The highest average of his career has been 48.0% from the area.
He's taking 3-pointers at a higher rate, up to 2.1 attempts per game, and converting at a career-high 35.7%.
On Wednesday, January 12.
The Mavs are playing the Knicks.
The Nets are at the Bulls.
Friday, January 14
The Warriors are at the Bulls.
The Mavs are at the Grizzlies.
All times Eastern.
You're going to get better at it if you play the piano long enough. "You will understand certain keys a little bit better, certain tones." I wanted to approach my game in that way. That was one thing I learned from Kobe. If you don't continuously get better at one thing, you will be the same player. If you improve one thing a season, by the time you are done, you have got better at many things.
Sitting on a couch in an office at the Bulls' practice facility, DeRozan looks down. He has been through a lot since the last time he was in the Eastern Conference Finals with the Raptors.
I have failed in big moments. "I've had success in big moments." The good times can't show you something that the tough times can. That will show you how to be resilient, how to be tough, and how to be calm in tense moments.
He offers an inspired rant, rattling off the chapters of adversity he has gone through over the past few years: The devastating trade to San Antonio, away from his best friend and the only NBA home he'd ever known, and playing multiple seasons through a global pandemic.
I was tensed up trying to figure out what happened. Trying to maneuver through a lot. It's like you let your hair down and let everything you've been through take over for yourself. The good, the bad, the ugly, everything you have gone through. I don't think it's a big deal. It's just peace.
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