DeMar DeRozan has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the week ending Nov. 13, the NBA announced Monday.
Umm, yeah. You’re damn right he is. He’s the player of the entire season so far.
DeRozan joins Kyle Lowry (4), Chris Bosh (7), and Vince Carter (7) as the only players in Toronto Raptors history with multiple Player of the Week awards. The two-time All-Star also won the award in December of last season.
During a 3-0 week for the Raptors, DeRozan shot 53.5 percent on his way to 34.7 points per-game, joining Michael Jordan, World B. Free, and Tiny Archibald as the only players in league history to score 30 points in eight of their team’s first nine games to start a season. DeRozan, who leads the NBA in scoring with 34 points a night, can become the first player ever to go 9-of-10 in that regard if he can drop 30 against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.
And who’s to doubt him? DeRozan has been a house afire to start the year, drawing these appropriate comparisons to the scoring prowess of peak-Jordan 30 years ago. Just how much have things slowed down for DeRozan right now?
“It’s like Neo in the Matrix,” he said at practice Monday.
He also offered this beauty on what his game feels like overall:
I’m trying to think of a great metaphor or analogy. I’m always good with the metaphors. I’m trying to give you a good one though… I think it’s like being in your house in the dark, right? You turn the lights off and you still know where you’ve got to go. You know where the dining [room] table is, the chair, you know where’s what. You know where the stairs are at, all of that. I think at this point that’s what it feels like to me late in the game. I’m just used to it. I’m comfortable with it. And if I step on a toy or something I know I didn’t put it there.
As for defenders, I imagine it feels something like waking up in the middle of a forest with no idea how you got there. Right, Norman Powell?
We asked Norman Powell if it matters how well he guards DeMar DeRozan in practice, with the zone he's in right now: pic.twitter.com/wOB5Fa81XT
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) November 14, 2016
In addition to the boatload of scoring, DeRozan’s averaging career-highs of 4.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals while also dishing 3.2 assists. No, he’s not shooting threes, but he’s sixth in the league in free-throw attempts to help make up for it, putting his efficiency marks – a 59.4 true-shooting percentage, namely – well above-average. The Raptors have scored 5.6 points per-100 possessions more with DeRozan on the floor as a result, and any claims that his ridiculous 37.5-percent usage rate is too high can be met with the fact that the offense has needed him to shoulder this heavy a burden, and that the offense ranks fourth in the NBA thanks in large part to his hot start.
DeRozan’s mid-range shooting is likely to cool off at least a little, but the qualitative means in which he’s dominating – drives to the rim, free throws, magnificent footwork in the post, getting off tough shots late in the clock – aren’t exactly new. He’s just taken his game to the next level, and even the inevitability of regression should see him settle in as an even better version of himself, yet again.
The way DeRozan improves every season is beautiful, inspiring, and very much appreciated.
