Toronto Raptors swingman DeMar DeRozan has been on a tear to start the season. The seven-year pro out of USC has scored 32 or more points during all four starts in the young season, including a couple of 40-point gems against the Detroit Pistons and most recently the Washington Wizards.
DeRozan is currently the NBA's scoring leader with 36.3 points per game, so it comes at no surprise that his teammates are eager to see him continue the hot trend.
“It's unreal, but it's almost like we expect that from him now,” Raptors forward Terrence Ross told Josh Lewenberg. “I feel like he's going to average 39 the whole season.”
“Every shot he puts up, you know he's going to get fouled or he's going to make it. There's really no way you can stop that.”
Ross described what makes DeRozan so special as a player even without the need to make three-point shots (he only has one through four games). The 6-foot-6 shooting guard has become one of the renaissance men of the lost art of the mid-range shot, along with the likes of Evan Turner and Shaun Livingston.
“At the midrange, for him to be as efficient as a big man is unreal,” said Ross. “Its hard to think of any other player thats doing that.”
Even former teammate James Johnson, now a member of the Miami Heat, has nothing but good things to say about the Raptors shooting guard.
“I'm super proud of him,” said Johnson, who used to guard DeRozan during practice and scrimmages. “DeMar's got 198 moves and I don't think I have no credit to take for none of those moves.”
The Compton native will lead his 3-1 Raptors against the Heat on Friday at the Air Canada Centre.
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