Few ever envisioned DeMar DeRozan as The Man for the Toronto Raptors, and during his seven years in the league's Canadian outpost, he never has been. Not really. DeRozan has been perpetually behind, or at best beside, someone else throughout his tenure. The list includes Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, Rudy Gay and now Kyle Lowry. In many ways, DeRozan has always been a glorified Other Guy.
Even as an unassuming rookie, DeRozan was eager to take on as large of a profile with the team as possible. When Bosh was set to leave Toronto for Miami in the summer of 2010, DeRozan tweeted, "Don't worry, I got us."
"It's crazy when I see that. I know that when I wrote it, I meant it. I meant it," DeRozan said. "Now was the opportunity for me, whatever it was -- I didn't know what it was -- but I just felt like it was my opportunity to take whatever it was and run with it. I didn't know exactly what it is. I'm always one of them optimistic dudes and believe in working hard. Once you sacrifice and put so much time into something, something is going to come back around for you. (I'm sure) that was real when I tweeted that. That's really how I felt."
Hughes recalled DeRozan wondering why Dwyane Wade would get calls that he would not, and the coaching staff pointed out that he was so slight that he was avoiding contact. Add that to the Raptors' patented sub-mediocrity, and DeRozan would not get the benefit of the doubt from referees.
"The maturation of his game in the post, his craftiness, getting to the line -- he's a veteran now," Bosh said recently. "It's just crazy to see."
http://www.sbnation.com/2016/2/10/10906722/demar-derozan-toronto-raptors-all-star
