DeMar DeRozan is currently enjoying an incredible resurgence while playing for the Chicago Bulls. The 32-year-old is in his 13th season in the NBA, having been an All-Star on 4 occasions while playing with the Toronto Raptors. Since he came into the league DeRozan has been among the best players and he recently became the first ever player to hit 2 consecutive game-winning buzzer-beaters on back-to-back days.
So with all this experience under the belt, it’s hard to think of DeRozan getting awed by another player. But every player has a game as a rookie where they play against an established star and have their ‘Welcome to the NBA’ moment. DeMar was asked about this during an interview with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles on their Knuckleheads podcast.
DeRozan named Dwayne Wade as one of the players but went on to elaborate about former Blazers star Brandon Roy as the second, talking about his game and his incredible ability to score in any way he wanted to.
Miles: “When you got to the league, who was the first person to bust your a**?”
DeRozan: “First person? Two that was really memorable, was Brandon Roy and Dwayne Wade. Those two, it was the first time I felt like, ‘f**k, I’m in the league now’.”
Miles: “What was B Roy doing, that you was just like, yeesh?”
DeRozan: “It’s crazy that people don’t really talk about B Roy. He was young too, in those Portland days, but he was so f**king skilled man. Every way. From all three levels, you know what I mean? He’d take you to the post, midrange, three, pick and roll, he meeting you at the top, every facet of his game was on a different level bro. He had everything in his bag bro, he was a motherf***er.”
Brandon Roy was at the peak of his powers when DeRozan was a rookie in 2009, enjoying his 3rd year as an All-Star while playing for the Blazers. Sadly, Roy’s promising career ended at just the age of 27, when he had to retire due to the fact that he lacked cartilage between the bones of his knees. Roy remains one of the NBA’s greatest ‘what-ifs’ but he will live long in the memory of players like DeRozan who experienced first-hand just how special he was.
