Another week, another monster scoring stretch from Toronto Raptors star DeMar DeRozan. The two-time all-star and Olympic gold medalist continued his season-long tear, averaging 34.7 points per game last week on 53.5 per cent shooting, as he led the Raptors to three straight victories, helping to bring the club’s record to 7-2, good for 2nd in the East behind Tuesday’s opponent, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In addition to putting the ball in the basket, DeRozan contributed averages of 4.7 and 4.3 assists as the Raptors defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, Charlotte Hornets, and New York Knicks.
But really when it comes to DeRozan’s hot start, it all comes back to scoring, which he’s done at a higher clip than any other player thus far— and is off to the best start to a season of any player in thirty years. He leads the NBA this season at 34.0 ppg, while his eight (eight!) 30-point games (…out of the nine total games he’s played), makes him the first player since Michael Jordan in 1986-87 to drop at least 30 points in eight of his first nine games.
It remains to be seen how sustainable this will be, but DeRozan has clearly made a conscious effort to simply focus on the elements of his game that make him one of the most ungaurdable wing players in the NBA— getting to his spots to open up his mid-range range game, and reaching the basket and foul line seemingly at will. In doing so, he’s no longer trying to force attributes of a ‘typical’ shooting guard, like 3-point shooting, which DeRozan is, smartly, shying away from more and more.
Needless to say, there’s nothing typical about DeRozan’s game, or his incredible start to the season, and this week at least the NBA is recognizing him for it.
