Derozan interview on ESPN, Tues 10pm EST (TONIGHT!)

[dunk_a_roo]

[visionquest]

Watch on YouTube

[AK47MVP]

Can't wait for Spurs Raptors game and Leonard shutting Demar down.

[MEDIC]

Ive always been critical of Derozan but i HOPE within the next couple interviews or quotes he gives, theres an apology that follows for how he's acting now. He's looking to get booed in the city that gave him everything at this rate.

I don't think people should turn on him for this tbh. Its pretty normal for players to be mad at management when they get traded, especially when they didn't want to be traded

But it shouldn't be "normal". Again, be professional since you're working for a professional business. Masai did what hes paid for and brought in a better player on accolades alone. Masai is supposed to make the team better, not do what Derozan wants. He can be mad and frustrated behind closed doors, wouldn't hold it against him, but once he goes public, gloves are off.

I expected more from Derozan the man. Im very disappointed. I wouldn't boo him myself, but i wouldn't blame others if they did. Have some appreciation for the millions of dollars you get paid to do something you love.

This has been Derozan's M.O. since he was drafted. Loyalty.

I can't understand how any of you are shocked by this or expected something different.

[SurgeIblocka]

What DD fails to forget, Masai wasn’t shopping DD specifically so he didnt need to tell him anything. Spurs wanted Derozan for any deal to take place for Kawhi,and hence why it happened. Maybe Masai’s original offer was for OG and picks or other players and he had to put DD in to get the deal done. You only tell your star player hes being considered in trades when you are absolutely certain you will trade him, if not the spurs then somewhere else or when you star player has requested a trade. Of the Kawhi deal didnt happen Demar wouldnt have been traded, especially not for picks and less players as Masai has said hes not going to rebuild or tank.

[vaff87]

I'm gonna laugh so hard when Lowry throws Casey and DeMar under the bus for the playoff struggles in his typical passive aggressive manner. Man's tryna escape when Dellascrub busted his ass

Lowry was more than adequate in the post-season this year. He had a TS% of .650, for one thing.

I'm well aware of that. 14 he was solid and this year he was good. We can ignore the other years in between

He dealt with quite a few injuries in the playoffs in those years. The worst was 2015 with the back injury. He was brutal the entire second half of the season because of it.

FVV sucked in the playoffs this year, because he was hurt. You gonna rail against him?

[HeadtopChunes]

I don't think people should turn on him for this tbh. Its pretty normal for players to be mad at management when they get traded, especially when they didn't want to be traded

But it shouldn't be "normal". Again, be professional since you're working for a professional business. Masai did what hes paid for and brought in a better player on accolades alone. Masai is supposed to make the team better, not do what Derozan wants. He can be mad and frustrated behind closed doors, wouldn't hold it against him, but once he goes public, gloves are off.

I expected more from Derozan the man. Im very disappointed. I wouldn't boo him myself, but i wouldn't blame others if they did. Have some appreciation for the millions of dollars you get paid to do something you love.

This has been Derozan's M.O. since he was drafted. Loyalty.

I can't understand how any of you are shocked by this or expected something different.

It was never gonna be a clean breakup.

[h4rrison]

Watch on YouTube

[SharoneWright]

I don't think people should turn on him for this tbh. Its pretty normal for players to be mad at management when they get traded, especially when they didn't want to be traded

But it shouldn't be "normal". Again, be professional since you're working for a professional business. Masai did what hes paid for and brought in a better player on accolades alone. Masai is supposed to make the team better, not do what Derozan wants. He can be mad and frustrated behind closed doors, wouldn't hold it against him, but once he goes public, gloves are off.

I expected more from Derozan the man. Im very disappointed. I wouldn't boo him myself, but i wouldn't blame others if they did. Have some appreciation for the millions of dollars you get paid to do something you love.

This has been Derozan's M.O. since he was drafted. Loyalty.

I can't understand how any of you are shocked by this or expected something different.

Maybe that's his problem. He needs to be more of an assassin. Masai/MLSE and him ain't blood.

He wasn't adopted. He signed a (tradeable) contract.

[bboyskinnylegs]

i wish execs can be blunt. imagine ujiri simply said "i didn't think derozan was good enough to get us to the next level and we are getting a much better player in return",

Masai's quotes from the presser:
04:38:

“We’ve been doing this for how many years? You can’t keep doing the same things over and over again. When you get a chance to get a top-five player — which doesn’t happen very often — you have to jump on it. We’ve built it as much as we can. This opportunity came up for us and we had to jump on it.”

12:38:

“I hate to be defensive here,” Ujiri said, “but I can also say that when I came here I gave them a chance. I could have done anything I wanted. I could have let the coach go, traded players. I’m hoping that they rode out on a high horse. I feel proud of them and what they did.”

Watch on YouTube

[Slo]

Can't wait for Spurs Raptors game and Leonard shutting Demar down.

I wanted to make a joke how dont waste Kawhi on DD as you can hide someone else on him.. but then i couldnt find someone whos weak OG, Siakam, Danny Green, Delon... Good God this will be fun!!!

[Risk101]

After having a performance like he did against the cavs and this being his last official play with the Raptors I honestly wouldn't have been surprised about any trade. In fact I would be expecting it. Sorry Demar but your play on the court is what garnered the reaction you got from Masai.

[Volcano]

- Playing hard, doing what's asked of him and trying to win is his job, every player does it..does he think he's the only one?

- Working hard and improving is mutually beneficial to himself. It got him his contract and endorsement deals. He still has everything he worked hard for. He's not leaving his "talent" or money behind in Toronto. The Raptors sacrificed more, making him the face of the franchise and fans had to sit through 9 years of bad IQ.

- Him "making the team better" didn't really show. He likely thinks he played a huge part in Toronto's wins when he probably comes in third behind Lowry and the Raptor's depth based on regular season (made us worse in playoffs). So what Ujiri said wasn't BS, DD just has a blind perspective of himself.

[SurgeIblocka]

“ Just let me know thats all i axe”

Well Masai certainly did axe you DD

[Lucky 24]

What's with the mood lighting? Chris and DeMar about to get busy.

[alienswon]

Watch on YouTube

4:25

[VinBaker6]

Here's the full interview transcript. Not quite as bad as I thought after that Lewenberg tweet.

http://kwese.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24184139/demar-derozan-dishes-trade-toronto-raptors-san-antonio-spurs-nba

[C.Boshly]

I love Demar Derozan always will.

Theres a Spurs forum for that.

Anyone bashing Demar in this thread most not be following Raptors for very long. He was the main piece of an era that completely overhauled our culture and brought some success to Toronto basketball.

U r a bum and Demar is the best Raptor ever. Put some respect on his name u hobo.

I think the most overlooked aspect of this whole debacle is the danger of the person in charge of personnel moves developing personal relationships with team members. Although this is commonly cited as a one of our Uriji’s strengths it can obviously have negative repercussions such as like we are seeing with Demar who obviously feels personally betrayed. I blame Ujiri for not being able to avoid this ugliness but ultimately no one is remembering this 6 months from now.

[MavCarter]

Yall being sensitive as hell bruh dd said nothing wrong. Some of the quotes our media tweeted made masai’s presser seem harsher than it really was so I kind of understand where he’s coming from tbh

[DUBmental]

Watch on YouTube

4:00

Best news I heard all week.