Toronto Raptors All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan has started this season on fire. He is currently leading the NBA in scoring and has put up incredible performances in all of his team's nine games of the year so far.
It all started for him during the summer as he kept himself around basketball and never really got to enjoy his vacation. He represented the U.S. and was part of the gold-medal winning squad at the Rio Olympics and continued to work throughout the offseason.
DeRozan talked about how tough his summer was and discussed how much motivation he had to improve his game.
“Outside of being on the Olympic team and winning a gold medal, that was awesome, but socially, fun-wise and all that, it was really one of them summers where it was just a sickening dedication to where I had a lot of days where it was just shit.”
“It was really tough to be that self-motivated. It was all on me. It was no one saying ‘you have to do it.’ I wanted to do it.”
To put it in perspective, when the rest of his Team USA teammates start their day at 11 a.m., the 6-foot-7 shooting guard already started his, five-and-a-half hours prior to that by hitting the weight room or the pool to keep his body in tremendous shape.
And now, he is reaping the benefits of his hard work. DeRozan has been averaging an absurd 34.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. But most importantly, he is not showing signs of slowing down anytime soon, which could spell trouble for opposing teams.
When asked what his goal was during the offseason and to describe how his summer went, the USC product had this to say:
“I wanted to get stronger, but I didn’t want to be that guy that comes back heavier or bulkier.”
“I was like, ‘S–t, this is too heavy. I don’t want to be this heavy,' So I got it back down (to 220) by altering my diet.”
“This summer was the toughest I’ve had, honestly. I haven’t really talked about it but it was really one of them grinds to where I really had to push myself, but it’s just something I had to do.”
DeRozan understands that his sacrifice before the season started paved the way for him to enjoy the success he's getting right now. He also knows that he will be able to help his team more when he continued to get better last summer.
The Raptors are now poised to make a huge run for the top seed in the Eastern Conference and are looking to compete against the Cleveland Cavaliers this season. And with DeRozan playing the best basketball of his life, it makes the task even more possible now.
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