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

[Baarignani]

In all honesty it's tough to feel bad for someone who gets 27 mil to play a game that most of us would play for free so when players use the word sacrifice it's very cringey to me. I understand that he feels misled by MU, but he needs to open his eyes and realize no GM would have told him before the deal was finalized, especially when there were 3 other teams ahead of us at the time.

Demar, be happy with what you have and what you've accomplished in life. Be thankful to the organization that gave you the opportunity and the city that embraced you and move on man.... you are making us and yourself look bad with this pettiness.

I agree. Too bad he said the organization, city and fans sucked. He really made himself look awful. All he needed to do was thank everyone and say the only problem he had was Masai not telling him about the trade.

[EFF3KT]

ESPN had an agenda. Demar fought back by being outspoken about our city, fans, ownership. It all falls on Masai and I see where Demar is coming from.

I'm gonna miss the dude as he truly loved this city, fans, and franchise. We had to take a step forward and I don't regret the decision Masai made. But damn... his passion for the Raptors franchise is something you rarely see and I'm not sure when we'll ever see something like this again.

[lambo23]

I think DeRozan just would have liked more honesty. Masai said he wouldn't be traded. That's just a snake move honestly to then trade him days later after saying he wouldn't be.

[MavCarter]

" OnE THiNg PlaYers Txted ME and Said the raptors NO tHank DD in press RElease"

Did the spurs thank anyone in their press release? Stirring the pot ass bitch ass chris haynes. Thank you's are better suited on their own. He's a member of the media he knows this, btch ass is trying hard to sht on the raptors

[maternal85]

I think DeRozan just would have liked more honesty. Masai said he wouldn't be traded. That's just a snake move honestly to then trade him days later after saying he wouldn't be.

Honesty starts with himself. He can't get it done come playoff time. Why is he surprised he got traded ? He had no deals days prior then got an offer he couldn't reject. Not hard to understand.

[MavCarter]

I think DeRozan just would have liked more honesty. Masai said he wouldn't be traded. That's just a snake move honestly to then trade him days later after saying he wouldn't be.

What did you want him to do if he thought a deal was unrealistic with the spurs? He talked about next season with DD and dd interpreted that as he wouldn't be traded. People really need to stop pushing this false narrative that MU went to DD and told him "im not trading you" when he really had a deal done with RC buford in his blackberry and was just waiting a couple days to announce it for the LOLs

[Danny1616]

The interview was fine for the most part except for him taking it personally that he got traded.

He seems to think Masai is blaming him for everything here but the reality is that this was a rare opportunity to get arguably the best two-way player in the league when his value was at his lowest.

Unfortunately for Demar he was the guy who could make that deal happen.

He has to look at why did the deal and say he will try to prove that we screwed up and that he'll become better then Kawhi eventually.

[Godson21]

I don’t remember Isaiah or Blake getting interviews after they were “betrayed” by their organizations. BSPN just wants to put out a negative vibe around our team.

[Topher]

Demar said that the player needs to do what makes him happy. But what about the team?

[lambo23]

I think DeRozan just would have liked more honesty. Masai said he wouldn't be traded. That's just a snake move honestly to then trade him days later after saying he wouldn't be.

What did you want him to do if he thought a deal was unrealistic with the spurs? He talked about next season with DD and dd interpreted that as he wouldn't be traded. People really need to stop pushing this false narrative that MU went to DD and told him "im not trading you" when he really had a deal done with RC buford in his blackberry and was just waiting a couple days to announce it for the LOLs

The trade doesn't happen overnight my guy. It's in the works for weeks. Masai told DD at summer league that he wouldn't be traded. If Derozan asks, just say all options are open as you know since it's a business.

Don't need to be a snake about it. This is where Demar is hurt

[MavCarter]

I think DeRozan just would have liked more honesty. Masai said he wouldn't be traded. That's just a snake move honestly to then trade him days later after saying he wouldn't be.

What did you want him to do if he thought a deal was unrealistic with the spurs? He talked about next season with DD and dd interpreted that as he wouldn't be traded. People really need to stop pushing this false narrative that MU went to DD and told him "im not trading you" when he really had a deal done with RC buford in his blackberry and was just waiting a couple days to announce it for the LOLs

The trade doesn't happen overnight my guy. It's in the works for weeks. Masai told DD at summer league that he wouldn't be traded. If Derozan asks, just say all options are open as you know since it's a business.

Don't need to be a snake about it. This is where Demar is hurt

Trades don't happen overnight but trades also fall apart and don't happen a majority of the time. We were 4th in the spurs pecking order why on earth would MU think a deal was imminent or even going to happen?

[Hackett]

Derozan is starting to annoy me, making us look so bad. He wasn't treated badly, in fact his abysmal performances over the last 3 years caused that.

sacrifice? whaaat sacrifice??

Just wow... some of the fans are really out to lunch. The Management of the team after this loss was atrocious, stab wounds to the most committed members of the team. The ones that gave the most were the ones that were thrown under the bus.

Nothing will come of this trade. These moves will be remembered as some of the worst in franchise history. Up there with trading away Vince Carter in his prime for chump change.




As a player I would never play for a team managed this way. As a coach I would never want to work for Masai. He is a snake. We will get what we sow. We talk about how important it is for players to carry themselves a certain way, how important loyalty is, and than BAM we fire coach Casey during the franchise's best performance and COY honors, we make an example of OUR MOST COMMITTED PLAYER in front of the entire league.

No way in hell will Kwahi trust the snake that runs this franchise. Why should he? We are going to have to clean house to get rid of this awful stench that Masai brought on to this organization. Kwahi will have Derozan's back.


Some of you are optimistic, but that will fade... because we showed clearly how we reward commitment to this team and that will catch up to us.


Masai, talks about respect, but he doesn't seem to think it applies to his moves and actions and all he has done was slither this off season. Just another African con man. All talk, and very little substance.

[Chandan]

Derozan is starting to annoy me, making us look so bad. He wasn't treated badly, in fact his abysmal performances over the last 3 years caused that.

sacrifice? whaaat sacrifice??

Just wow... some of the fans are really out to lunch. The Management of the team after this loss was atrocious, stab wounds to the most committed members of the team. The ones that gave the most were the ones that were thrown under the bus.

Nothing will come of this trade. These moves will be remembered as some of the worst in franchise history. Up there with trading away Vince Carter in his prime for chump change.




As a player I would never play for a team managed this way. As a coach I would never want to work for Masai. He is a snake. We will get what we sow. We talk about how important it is for players to carry themselves a certain way, how important loyalty is, and than BAM we fire coach Casey during the franchise's best performance and COY honors, we make an example of OUR MOST COMMITTED PLAYER in front of the entire league.

No way in hell will Kwahi trust the snake that runs this franchise. Why should he? We are going to have to clean house to get rid of this awful stench that Masai brought on to this organization.


Some of you are optimistic, but that will fade... because we showed clearly how we reward commitment to this team and that will catch up to us.


Masai, talks about respect, but he doesn't seem to think it applies to his moves and actions and all he has done was slither this off season. Just another African con man. All talk, and very little substance.

Hey, derozan is trash. Deal with it.

[traps#10]

Where was Isiah Thomas’ and Blake Griffin’s ESPN interview after their trade?

I sense a certain agenda being pushed out from the American media...

[Morse Code]

So happy DeMar is gone. His self entitlement and lack of accountability for his failures always infuriated me. Now this? This is like a high school girl getting dumped for a supermodel and he's trying to throw shade cuz he's hurt. **** off.

[Hackett]

Hey, derozan is trash. Deal with it.

You will have to deal with the trash, because that is where this team is headed after Khwai takes care of his own, just like he should.

[Truthrising]

Derozan is starting to annoy me, making us look so bad. He wasn't treated badly, in fact his abysmal performances over the last 3 years caused that.

sacrifice? whaaat sacrifice??

Just wow... some of the fans are really out to lunch. The Management of the team after this loss was atrocious, stab wounds to the most committed members of the team. The ones that gave the most were the ones that were thrown under the bus.

Nothing will come of this trade. These moves will be remembered as some of the worst in franchise history. Up there with trading away Vince Carter in his prime for chump change.




As a player I would never play for a team managed this way. As a coach I would never want to work for Masai. He is a snake. We will get what we sow. We talk about how important it is for players to carry themselves a certain way, how important loyalty is, and than BAM we fire coach Casey during the franchise's best performance and COY honors, we make an example of OUR MOST COMMITTED PLAYER in front of the entire league.

No way in hell will Kwahi trust the snake that runs this franchise. Why should he? We are going to have to clean house to get rid of this awful stench that Masai brought on to this organization.


Some of you are optimistic, but that will fade... because we showed clearly how we reward commitment to this team and that will catch up to us.


Masai, talks about respect, but he doesn't seem to think it applies to his moves and actions and all he has done was slither this off season. Just another African con man. All talk, and very little substance.

Hey, derozan and Casey are trash. Deal with it.

.

Fixed.

[whysoserious]

Chris Hayes went in to that interview with the purpose of exploiting Demar's emotion and tried to make the interview go a certain way looking to make Toronto looking bad. He didn't do any follow-up on certain statements when it was positive about Toronto but he tried to keep pushing it back to the snaked/lied to angle.

Hayes is a troll of a reporter. He was throwing shade on the Kawhi/Toronto angle before it even got serious. And now that he saw an opening in a specific situation to slam Toronto further.

As for the interview and Demar's responses. I think for the most part they are fair. I think the conversation he and Masai had, there's so much grey area to what was discussed. Demar can look at things from his perspective and see it differently than Masai and there's nothing wrong with that. He's also a very emotional dude in general, dealing with some depression issues he shared with the world earlier this year and dealing with serious health issues for his father. It was a convergence of events that is leading to this response from Demar. I think he could handle it better than he is right now but I'm not going to strongly hold it against him.

I'd rather remember that this kid came to Toronto, made it his home, repped the city every chance he could, showed his loyalty to the organization and city. Love the fans. Set the culture for this organization (dude used to go to G League games here to support the young guys) and he deserves to be remembered fondly by the fans regardless of how this all played out with his departure.

[ruckus]

The interview was fine for the most part except for him taking it personally that he got traded.

He seems to think Masai is blaming him for everything here but the reality is that this was a rare opportunity to get arguably the best two-way player in the league when his value was at his lowest.

Unfortunately for Demar he was the guy who could make that deal happen.

He has to look at why did the deal and say he will try to prove that we screwed up and that he'll become better then Kawhi eventually.

It's hard to fathom but most high-level professional athletes don't really have that sense of self-awareness that enables them to see where they fit among their peers. 100% in Demar's mind he thought he could be like Dirk, lead the Raptors to the 'ship, retire a Raptor and have his jersey up in the rafters, possibly a statue as well. To me, it's understandable that he took the trade personally.

[dillio]

Did the people that are trashing DeMar actually watch the video? Apart from the couple of soundbites, he wasn't overly negative/critical and every time he talked about Toronto, Canada, or the Raptors, his voice choked up a little. How can you watch/listen to that interview and be mad at the guy?