They believe that middle distance is a product of the previous NBA era and is no longer so important in this modern era. Original text: Reintroducing the Marvelous DeMar DeRozan.

Note: This article is a translation by GQ Sports reporter TYLER R. TYNES, and does not represent the views of the translator and platform

Introduction: He is considered to be the reappearance of the "Hero Ball" era of NBA, and experienced a painful transaction in his second hometown Toronto . Now he is the best terminator in the league and the leader of the Chicago Bulls' revival path.

DeRozan finally relaxed, and our conversation really made sense. The severe cold of Chicago forced him to stay at home. The treatment after training made him sore all over and could only curl up on the sofa in the mansion. This house was bought from Juanita, the ex-wife of Jordan . The black silk hairband was tied tightly to his beautiful braids, and he looked very comfortable in a sweatshirt. We've been talking about people who hate him - they have said for years that DeRozan will never be a star worthy of testing. Those who hate DeRozan think he is not good at analyzing what is happening in the league, or even isolating it from the world. They believe that middle distance is a product of the previous NBA era and is no longer so important in this modern era. DeRozan just smiled knowingly about this point of view and said, "I always hear this. I like to tell me what others can't do."

DeRozan told me that he tried to keep himself from looking back. I saw him think about it before mentioning the late star Kobe . In his friendship with Kobe, Kobe often tells DeRozan: "Be your true self - make yourself happy before doing anything is the first priority." Kobe also stressed that the most important thing is not to let anyone shake you, and never let your ideas change when you walk alone on a fantasy journey that others cannot understand, and DeRozan gains strength from these words. When he was a child, Kobe was his idol, so these words became the creed that he would always stick to. The only thing he needs to know is that the path he is on is right. If he trusts Kobe and Kobe tells him to be strong, how could he care about other people's opinions?

DeRozan said: "I firmly believe in this, which can be traced back to my moral and life view."

These broken things did not happen overnight. When he entered the league, fans thought he was an inefficient imitation of Kobe or Jordan, he was a good player, but not a great player. Among a group of talented basketball geniuses - people like LeBron , Antetokounmpo, Curry , just the name can cause a sensation - DeRozan feels like a supporting role. After all, he is used to trade Leonard chips, which happened after James eliminated him and Raptors from playoffs for three consecutive years.

In 2018, after DeRozan was traded to the San Antonio Spurs, a magical scene happened: DeRozan was angry and he changed a lot. Unlike before, whenever he lost the playoffs, DeRozan would train desperately in the empty gym alone, and he regarded this as his home. He wanted to reinvent himself, and at this stage of his career he had enough patience to do the necessary heavy work. So DeRozan learned from Popovich and insisted on an unbelievable time in a position he had never expected. Last summer, DeRozan became a free agent and he came to Windy City. To everyone's surprise, he became the closest replacement to Jordan that Chicago fans have ever seen. Since he played here, everyone has thought so.

This transformation often only happens in movies. DeRozan has an amazing score every night (27.9 points per game, 4th in the league), an incredible performance (he is now the only player in league history to score two consecutive games to win and buzzer-beater balls), a way of winning that we were satisfied with and we never expected. Now, DeRozan is the best terminator in the league, the All-Star starter, and the leader of the rising Chicago Bulls. The Bulls has regarded him as an indispensable member of himself.He is the best player of one of the best teams in the league and is the successor to Jordan – no one except DeRozan would think of what is happening now.

He said: "You can only laugh at me. When I understand how hard I work, how can you tell me what I can't do?"

DeRozan began to take me to appreciate this incredibly beautiful mansion, with a total of 5 elevators, 4 fireplaces, and a heating garage that can park for 3 cars. Even he couldn't hide his feelings as he ran wildly in his closet wearing the best Rud orange top he could buy with money. He smiled softly as he saw me staring blankly at a staircase that seemed to lead to heaven.

"Puff!" He interrupted himself and took a few seconds to restore his overly calm personality. In fact, DeRozan and everyone who knew him were waiting for this moment to come. He could say to the league with confidence: "I've said I can do it." DeRozan has been in the league for 13 years and is now in the best team of his career and he has even seen the dawn of a championship. DeRozan said it was his happiest time in years. This is very important for someone who uses basketball as a life and refuge.

DeRozan finally has a chance to fight back. Don’t think that he hasn’t seen you say bad things about him over the years. Didn’t you say I can’t gain a foothold in the modern alliance? Go fuck you. I don't have the ability to analyze? Go fuck you. Can't become the spokesperson for the new generation of Chicago Bulls? He was busy laughing and had no time to answer this question.

"Man, this is really a crazy season," DeRozan said.

DeRozan grew up in Compton, California, where temptations are everywhere, gangs, drugs, crimes, and a boy must overcome these obstacles if he wants to grow up. In no time, his life will be like other stories. In the end, he just wanted to enjoy life as much as possible.

DeRozan said: "I know very well what I live on. I know what happens when you walk on the street, and you see five or six people walking on the road ahead of you. What do you do? Cross the road and change the road? Or turn around and walk with your head down? No, to me, I always walk forward with my head held high. If you can't look straight in a man's eyes and look away, you've already shown your position."

The reality he described is that so many people are crowded between urban wars and poverty. There are new temptations every day and new tests in every corner. “If you’re in Compton, you can see these things every day, you have to work hard to find any positives you can rely on,” he said.

So what is DeRozan relying on? “It’s always been a sports,” he told me, “and it’s always basketball.” With that in mind, he found that his life can blossom in beautiful things. Basketball gave me endless fantasies and allowed me to see a future that was further than Compton. "So, he started to imitate the fuzzy Lakers game he saw on local TV. When he was six, he recreated the moment of shooting at home: a paper ball to the nearby trash can, a center foot gliding in his bedroom, imitating the great people. For a few seconds, the gunshot disappeared in his mind as if he wasn't born in Compton.

"He went through a lot and he grew up in the war zone," DeRozan's coach Chris Fal told me. "His desire and pursuit is to make his family and others live better, and that's what he's working hard and what he wants." "

Nothing can bring DeRozan so much motivation. When he was still in Compton High School, his teacher said he had no chance of leaving the city. His father Frank taught DeRozan to play basketball and asked him to imitate Gary Payton . Frank was strict with DeRozan, and he had to do so. Because if DeRozan was not ready, life would become hell, at least now DeRozan thinks.There was a time when DeRozan also hated the way his father treated him when he was a child, and it was not until later that he understood this.

"Life will not give you any sympathy," he told me. "It doesn't care whether you are sad or happy or not, and you don't care about anything. You have to be able and willing to get through everything."

If DeRozan wants to achieve something, he has to work hard. Fortunately, he was ready to do so. Life in Compton made him the embodiment of strength, the tenacity of tenacity, which made black Americans live both hard and joyful. Compton lives in his heart, pushing him forward, and the drums in his heart only allow him to walk through the world in this way.

DeRozan himself admitted: "If I do something different from before, I may not be able to sleep at night. This is what is deep inside me."

DeRozan's most likable trait is the way he discusses responsibility. No matter who asks anyone who knows him, they will tell you: No matter what the result is, DeRozan will remain loyal as always--and often, he does better than this. So, the reason why he decided to go to college was also very simple - becoming a local star at the USC . At first, he traveled between school and home every day because he didn't want to leave Compton behind—even if it was only 20 minutes away. "I never want to follow the way others do things, I only care about my own way," DeRozan said. "Although this private university, , has brought a huge cultural impact to DeRozan - a huge change compared to his past habits. "I've been going to school with gang members all my life," DeRo said in an exclaim. "Suddenly, my classmates around me changed. They were discussing borrowing my mother or dad's Mercedes-Benz cars every day. The correlation between these two worlds seems so unreal." DeRozan felt lonely in the new environment. "I don't have a common topic with them, and vice versa. I always feel like I'm misunderstood by them, being talked about by them, or they look at me in an alternative way, which is really scary."

It's not just that DeRozan can't get along with the children of the USC, but that he himself doesn't know how to adapt to the new environment. "It was a disturbing peace. In the past, you were used to the chaos of daily life. Even if you were noisy around you, you would become accustomed to it, or numb. But suddenly, you were surrounded by birds, sunshine and palm trees. "This scared DeRozan. "When you walk out and it's too quiet outside, there's a weird feeling. I'm just trying to adapt to this quiet."

To be honest, the overly calm life scares DeRozan, and staying away from the chaos makes him anxious. He said: "You have your own trauma. When everything around you becomes too peaceful, you will try to put yourself in a self-destructive mentality." DeRozan needs basketball to stop his random thoughts and calm the storm in his mind: "Basketball is everything to me, it can free me from many things and inspire my passion for the game." He began to notice that through basketball, he could go to the good schools, cities, gyms he dreamed of. Basketball also feeds his family, and family is everything to him.

He said: "At that time, I just wanted to make my family proud and happy, and that's everything I care about. If you see your family going through so many difficult and dull days, then you definitely want to be the light in their hearts."

In 2009, DeRozan spent his last season at USC, and the Toronto Raptors selected him in the first round. At the beginning, DeRozan came to and Raptors and was not understood by fans. The Raptors were just a team that was just starting out. Not only that, the Raptors are also the only team in Canada. For DeRozan, a 19-year-old, he grew up in the sunny climate of California, which he had never experienced before.Despite this, DeRozan went to the north that summer, and he was very excited and even forgot to bring his winter clothes. Fortunately, Jarrett Jack put on him a Canadian goose coat.

DeRozan smiled and said, "I have never felt as cold as Toronto. Damn, everything needs to be tried and done." He did not expect that Toronto fans would welcome him like that. For a country that prefers hockey to basketball, DeRozan is a basketball beacon. To be honest, this city needs a player like DeRozan, a player who can continue to devote himself to the greatness of Canadian basketball. The passion in his game is enough to make you forget the defeats of Vince Carter and Chris Bosh. DeRozan is a fierce scorer on the court. After coming here, he even took the initiative to recruit players to the north to see everything he has here - look at the Toronto Raptors' ambitions .

In 2012, the Toronto deal came Lowry, and DeRozan finally had a partner. Later facts showed that DeRozan not only had a partner, but also gained a very good friend. "He's very enthusiastic," DeRozan said, then smiled and said the real reason why he loved Lowry: "He's a bastard too." As the Raptors became a strong contender in the Eastern Conference, Lowry and DeRozan's efforts have received a lot of support. DeRozan is a North Philadelphia guard with a bulldog-like attitude and he naturally speaks swearing to the best players on the basketball court. He was mixed with Compton's children when he was a child, but when he grew up he became a silent killer.

DeRozan said, "We made history together."

Lowry said to me, "DeRozan is very competitive. He has been thinking about how to get better next season. Fans always doubt him, and he is constantly proving that his suspicion is wrong. Don't make him angry, he will scold you and don't care." When DeRozan is angry, he will surprise those who know him. Lowry smiled and said, "Once he yelled at me on the court, and I was as surprised as the person who had seen him angry for the first time. For DeRozan, one thing is very important, and that is respect."

About respect, you have to have enough passion to get it. You have to work hard willingly - even if you look tired, you have to make enough determination to complete them. Staying away from home allowed DeRozan to do this, saying: "Even if I don't want to work, I have to work, even if it's just to pass the time. This may be the biggest gift God has given me: being selected to play in a country where no one else wants to come except me."

DeRozan is not making a show: even if he was beaten by James in the playoffs, he really hopes that the Toronto Raptors will succeed. He hopes that Raptors fans can feel the feeling of victory, and the reason for the victory is that the team selected a hero. DeRozan said he devoted his entire body and mind to Canadian basketball.

As long as the ball is still in DeRozan's hands, he can shoot again and again no matter what it is in front of him. When he first arrived in Toronto, he was still an untrained rookie with a strong desire to shoot. Even JR Smith, a bad reputation, would recommend him to shoot less. But under the leadership of DeRozan, the Raptors have become an opponent that cannot be underestimated in the regular season, and DeRozan has also become a regular visitor in the All-Star arena. DeRozan has tasted sweetness for the first time in his life.

However the Raptors traded him.

Even the best players won't get all they want. DeRozan said: "Everyone will encounter this situation, I never feel frustrated by it, I am motivated. It is these things that have made me who I am now." In 2018, the Raptors failed to break through James's obstacle and lost to the Cavaliers for three consecutive years. But DeRozan refused to give up and walked into the gym to prepare for another attempt. Toronto Raptors CEO Masa Ujeri also assured him at the Las Vegas dinner that he would definitely come back and continue to shoot.

Later, one night in the summer of 2019, DeRozan received a call from Masa, who was traded to Spurs , and the news will be announced in the morning. DeRozan was sitting outside an burrito store and cried. He said, "That moment was like, damn, it was a very heavy blow, very heavy. At that moment I felt all the negative emotions, anger, resentment, frustration." He thought his relationship with Toronto had surpassed the contract they signed, but the relationship was slipping away from him. "I can feel all the negative emotions you can think of, and it took me a long time to understand these."

arrived on the roadside, DeRozan picked up his phone and cried loudly, and Lowry listened on the other end. Lowry told me: "He was upset and really annoying. That was my brother. Later, I didn't speak for about five minutes - just sat there on the phone with him, you didn't know what to say, he never thought he would be traded. For both of us, how to say it, it was 'damn'."

Lowry knew this very well, and he said: "The bad thing happened, but for DeRozan, he gave so much to a country, city and team that people don't want to go or stay, and poured his heart and soul into it. This thing really hurt him."

DeRozan was also sad, but the disaster did not go singularly. Around Christmas 2018, his father got seriously ill. For the next three years, he kept traveling back and forth to the hospital. DeRozan never stays in the same place: he will leave Compton, fly to San Antonio or the Spurs' playground, and then return after the game. Frank said that if DeRozan was ready for the challenge of the world, he would never waver. But no one can be ready to lose his father, right?

DeRozan's voice began to tremble, and he began to choke, and he could no longer control his emotions when he mentioned his father Frank. "At that moment, I just wanted to be a powerful person." Frank was the only person DeRozan was afraid and respectful, but now he was aging. "I want to be a psychologically strong person, I want to be the kind of person my family needs me to be, and let them keep pushing me forward."

There are endless long nights, and DeRozan has only Lowry's friendship. "Basketball is his only way out, and playing basketball is the only time he doesn't want Frank," Lowry said. Even though the Raptors won the championship without DeRozan, Lowry has not forgotten the contribution he and his brother have made to the Raptors.

Lowry said: "He has been cheering for us all the time. I chat with him every day, whether it is before or after the game. He will cheer for us sincerely because he cares about us. He is such a person." His father has been lying on the hospital bed. Lowry said: "No one knows this because he is a hero. He will not show his pain and weakness to everyone. He always bears everything alone."

To a certain extent, DeRozan's success in Chicago is the result of more than a decade of continuous reshaping himself - a forced transformation. He is indeed not perfect, but he has to do so for his family, for his friends, for the team, and for Frank. DeRozan—who was entirely on himself, just like he was in Compton when he was a kid, at USC when he was a young man, and when he first arrived in Toronto as a rookie, he didn’t even know how to wear winter clothes—begins to hone himself. Spurs head coach Popovich said after a recent game: "His eyes are always full of perseverance."

A year ago, Frank passed away. DeRozan lost his love for the sport and his favorite person. For a while, he was aimless and unsure of what else he could do.

's only thing to do is continue what he has been doing: keep struggling.

"Resilience, man, this is what I learned from him", DeRozan said it was the last lesson he learned from his father and a lesson he repeatedly recalled, "He taught me how to get through it."”

He looked up and looked ahead, as if he was back in the Compton neighborhood. “Don’t feel sorry for yourself,” he said. “What is the only way you can get through? It is to work hard to prove what you need to prove, not to others, but to yourself. "

Finally, DeRozan's three years at the Spurs were not that bad. What he learned from Popovich made him transform into an unstoppable force in Chicago. Popovich did not want to change DeRozan. He just wanted to give full play to DeRozan's advantages, improve the places he was not good at, control the positions he likes on the court, think more about his teammates, and completely reduce his three-point shooting. DeRozan said that this was the most vulnerable period of his career. If he felt that he just wanted to prove that everyone who hated him was wrong, then there was no need, he just wanted to open up a different side of himself. He didn't care how Popovich arranged him, he just wanted to win the game.

DeRozan said: "If you are vulnerable, then you will complain about a lot of things, which made me accept everything I didn't expect. I went all out and moved forward bravely. "For him, the pace of the game began to slow down. In the past, if he felt it was necessary, he would have made 40 shots in a game. Now, he has begun to learn to analyze and control the game, and more often as an organizer, trying to pass the ball in double teams. In his last season with the Spurs, he averaged 6.9 assists per game, easily reaching the highest level of his career. "The game at the Spurs opened up a comprehensive and broad world for me, making my performance even better. ”

In the summer of 2021, DeRozan became a free agent and he finally got happy again. In a game against Bulls last March, Chicago All-Star center Nikola Vucevic walked to DeRozan who stood next to the free throw line. The two players' time at USC just overlapped for a year, and many years have passed since they played together.

"You are a free agent now," DeRozan remembers Vucevic . "Let's figure it out." "It felt like a match made in heaven: Mark Eversley, now the general manager of Chicago, was he who picked DeRozan in Toronto. When summer came, they met and discussed the future. "He knew everything about me in basketball," DeRozan said. "He knew I would fit in them smoothly, and they wanted me to be myself, too." "The conversation was short. Eversley told him: "Be yourself, let's fight out and win the game." "This is what DeRozan wants to hear.

I'm watching DeRozan in this big house, thinking about his best season in his life, every night for the best team, and I find it refreshing in many ways. DeRozan helped Compton to fame, a balance-seeking man, not just for himself, but also to prove to everyone who hates him that he still belongs here. Redemption can be a fun motivation, and the 32-year-old DeRozan is unlikely to be a staid guy who just revives the magnificence of traditional basketball. His offense is full of unbelievable buzzer-beating balls, and every time he scores like saying, "go fuck you up" as a homage to his hometown.

"The only thing that matters to me right now is winning, and it's my only way," he told me. "It's my only satisfaction." ”

While we were talking, DeRozan was slowly changing clothes, taking off his sweatshirt and changing into a stronger hoodie and jacket. He tightened his headband, grabbed his backpack, and prepared to set off. At this moment, I suddenly understood why Farr liked to quote the interview with Mohammed Ali in 1975. Ali's toughest moments were always when the blow he had never expected came. Farr used this anecdote to describe how DeRozan overcomes his All-Star path. It also explains what no one expected this year because he attracted the attention of the league.

Farr believed that DeRozan was a living example: when a man was knocked down, he could stand up again. Farr said: “He made people believe that he did it.”Man, this almost shuddered me. "

Be the real self, this is Kobe's advice, very clear. DeRozan, the path you choose may eventually make you the champion. DeRozan said: "Everything what you've gone through, sometimes you have to go through failure so that you can understand and appreciate your comeback path." After tasting what failure feels like, then get back up in a sincere way – you’ll be grateful for every step you’ve taken, even those bad days. When you fail all the way, when you think you are at the top, you will be even more grateful for it all. ”

Original text: Reintroducing the Marvelous DeMar DeRozan

Compiled by: A Shuai