Demar Derozan: Deebo

On August 7th, 1989, Demar Derozan was born in Compton, California. Derozan is a 4x All Star and a great player in the NBA today.

Derozan went to college at USC for 1 year (2008-09). He got drafted to the Toronto Raptors with the 9th pick in the 2009 draft. The Raptors team had Chris Bosh, Hedo Turkoglu and Marco Belinelli. They went 40-42 and missed the playoffs. Chris Bosh lest the team in 2010 to join the Miami Heat. Then the Raptors started to rebuild. Kyle Lowry joined the team 2012 via trade. Derozan made his first All-Star Appearance in 2014. Then the Raptors started to make progress in the East. In 2015, they were the swept by the Washington Wizards. In 2016, they beat the Pacers in 7 games, they again beat Miami in 7 games, but lost to Lebron James and the Cavaliers in 6 games. In 2017, they beat the Milwaukee Bucks in 6 games, but lost to Lebron James and the Cavaliers again, this time in a sweep. In 2018, they won 57 games, clinching the 1st seed. They beat the Wizards in 6 games, then lost to Lebron James and the Cavs again in a sweep. They had lost the 10 games to the Cavs, and been dispatched from the playoffs 3 years in a row by the Cavs as well. The Raptors needed some changes. They fired Dwayne Casey, and they traded Demar Derozan away for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. After being with the team for 9 seasons, he had just been traded. Derozan had been informed that he was not being traded, but then was traded in the following days. What a back stab. Derozan went to the Spurs and had a decent year, not scoring as much as usual. They got the 7th seed in the Western Conference and challenged the #2 seed Nuggets to a 7 game series they eventually lost. In 2016-17, Derozan’s best season, he averaged 27.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals. Those are really great numbers, but those numbers did not convert into playoff success. That was the main reason that he was traded. But you have to fell bad for the man. Overall, Derozan is a 4x All Star, All NBA 2nd Team (2018), All NBA 3rd Team (2017), Pac-10 Tournament MVP (2009), Pac-10 All Freshman 1st Team (2009), McDonald’s All-American (2008), First Team Parade-All American (2008).

Derozan is a great scorer, but he could not get it done for the Raptors. He is one of the players who may not win a NBA Championship in their career. But, nonetheless, Derozan will continue to make the best of his situation with the Spurs.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of This Day In History, please leave a comment on which player I should do next and on which day.