DeMar DeRozan Reflects On Rookie Season

[Built Ford Tough]

I'm not going to post the entire blog of his but I will post bits and pieces of it. I highly recommend that you read the entire thing though as it was a good read, at least in my mind it was.

 

On hitting the rookie wal

 

There was a period where I went through what y’all call the rookie wall. Nothing was going my way and that was tough for me. Chris Bosh really helped me out with that. He told me you can’t let your last game affect your next game. You have to learn how to brush it off and keeping going. He told me he went through the same thing. He really helped me out a lot with that.

 

On his relationship with Sonny Weems

 

Coming into the league, people told me year in and year out that you’re going to have different teammates. That guys can be here one month and cut the next. I didn’t know what to expect, but I didn’t expect to find a friend like Sonny. Sonny is my right hand man. This is basketball, but at the end of the day, Sonny is still going to be there for me through anything. We do everything together here in Toronto. From going out to eat to going to the gym late night to get shots up, I think we push each other and that’s a positive. I see him working hard and it makes me want to push myself that much harder. It’s funny because, it’s like we’re family now. His brothers, they know all of my people. I talk to Sonny’s mom, it’s a family thing. He’s going to come out here, come to the house and work out. Before the summer is over I gotta get out to Memphis to see what he’s doing out there.

 

On his plans for getting better

 

As most of you know, Sonny and I worked with our assistant coach, Eric Hughes all season. We call him our second dad. He really takes care of us, he keeps us on the right path. Sometimes, we drive him crazy but he tolerates us and that’s what makes him such a good person. He just wants to see us get better. This summer, I’m going to work out with Eric and my trainer who trained me last year. I want to look at all of the stuff I didn’t do well this season. Defense, especially at the wing position, I need to get better at that. That’s the area we as a team need to get better. I’m going to get better, get stronger, really understand the game more. I’m thinking of going to the Bahamas before my real intense regimen begins again, but shoot, I can’t stay out of the gym. I can’t sit around the house all day, I’ve been going to the gym to get up shots anyway.

 

On his future

 

I’m excited because, I’ve been through a whole year of a season that I was trying to get used to. Now that I know what to expect, knowing that finally, I’m in a stable position, it’s going to be easier. The last three years I went from high school to college to my first year in the NBA and it was a tough adjustment. Now, I’m in a stable position and I know what I’ve got to do.

 

Let’s wrap this up because I’ve probably talked more in this one blog post than ya’ll have heard from me all year. To sum up my rookie season, I want to look forward. I tell you, my next year will be 100 times better.

 

http://rookiechronicles.com/2010/05/demar-derozan-blog-wrapping-up-my-rookie-year/

 

Even though he was up and down during his rookie season and didn't progress as much as I thought he would this season, I am still pretty high on DeRozan. I don't think he is going to be a star or anything like that, but if he can improve defensively while continuing to develop his offensive game (jump shot, adding range, creating off of the bounce, playmaking, etc...) I think that he can become a good starting shooting guard in the future.

 

It is ultimately going to come down to how hard he works on his game, and judging from everything that I have read about him over the past 2 years, he seems like the kind of player who will put in the work and effort in the gym needed to elevate his game.

[Check my Stats]

I love the fact that he is a gym rat, if he can continue to get better in his areas of weakness (jumper, handle, defense) I think he could be a very solid player, an Andre Iguodala type of guy is something I have heard thrown around and I can agree with that somewhat.

 

I would love for him and Sonny to be our SF/SG duo of the future, would be nice to have some athletic guys there for once, both, especially Demar, are going to continue to get better. The bright spot to me if CB4 leaves is I expect Demar to blossom with more room for error and getting more consistent minutes since we will suck lol.