Everything Derozan

[KeonClark]

Improving your 3-pt shot this dramatically in the middle of a season? Both in percentage and attempts/makes. WTF. Has that ever happened before? Love it.

Apparently he shoots 300 every single day including late night new years eve

[S.R.]

Apparently he shoots 300 every single day including late night new years eve

That was amazing to hear. I mean a lot of pros are described as gym rats, but 300 3's per day in addition to your regular work outs/practices, plus putting up shots with an assistant coach in the evening on NYE because there's a game the next day? That's next level.

[KeonClark]

That was amazing to hear. I mean a lot of pros are described as gym rats, but 300 3's per day in addition to your regular work outs/practices, plus putting up shots with an assistant coach in the evening on NYE because there's a game the next day? That's next level.

And he's newly single! I mean if I'm newly single and I'm getting cheques over $1M every 2 weeks, I'm hitting the town with my boys on new years eve, I'm nowhere near a gym.

I guess that's why demars there, and I'm here....*pathetic sobbing*

[Shaolin Fantastic]

If that's true that means he's taken like 30,000+ practice 3s this season...

[KeonClark]

If that's true that means he's taken like 30,000+ practice 3s this season...

Absolutely. This just reminded me to pull up some quotes from a tremendous Blake Griffin article I read awhile back

Two years ago — even a year ago — I wouldn’t have taken that three-pointer at the buzzer. I didn’t have the confidence. I’ve read articles talking about how I’ve changed my jump shot this year. It’s not that simple. I’ve actually been working on changing my technique for about three years. When your muscle memory is so ingrained to shoot a certain way, it takes years to tweak different parts of the release.

I’ve put up more than 250,000 jump shots with my shooting coach Bob Thate over the past three years in order to re-wire my brain. That breaks down to roughly 300 shots per day just on my mid-range form alone. Bob has a saying: “How do you build a mansion? Brick by brick by brick.” It’s kind of like how Apple releases versions of the iPhone. Each year we’ve worked and worked to be able to roll out a new feature of my shot.

The first and hardest thing for me was letting it go at the top of my jump and not shooting it on the way down. This is pretty crucial when you’re playing against the ridiculous length of an Anthony Davis or a Tyson Chandler. To put it in perspective, an average NBA player, even a big man like me, can knock down about 80 percent of their practice jumpers with nobody guarding them. But when you have a guy like Tyson contesting your shot, it’s a different story. You either have to lean back awkwardly or release the ball at the absolute apex to even get the shot off. It was so hard to get used to. It felt like I was going to shoot the ball over the backboard every single time when we first started working.

********

I love Bob, but we’ve put up so many shots together that sometimes I close my eyes to go to sleep and I still hear him whispering “feet together, finish high” in my ear. The man doesn’t even look to see if the ball goes in. He just stands there watching my form. It’s disturbing.

Love ya, Bob.

******

You hear all the time that a player needs to “fix” their shot or improve their defense, but what some people don’t understand is that it takes hundreds of hours to make that tiny difference at an elite level. Why? Because other guys are spending hundreds of hours working on whatever you’re trying to stop. While I’m shooting with Bob, Tyson Chandler is in a gym somewhere trying to contest shots better and make me sad. With our travel schedule, you only have so many possible hours to put in that work. So what do you choose?

*******

Everybody sees the highlights, but they don’t necessarily see how the sausage is made. Whenever people say stuff like “That guy’s a freak,” what they should be saying is, “That guy works like a freak.”

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/why-aint-he-dunkin/

[S.R.]

Absolutely. This just reminded me to pull up some quotes from a tremendous Blake Griffin article I read awhile back

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/why-aint-he-dunkin/

Don't want to get political, but Jordan Peterson said something really similar about what it takes to be at the top of your field in any area - not only do you have to be in the peak talent bracket and putting in 80-100 hours a week, it's a relative competition so you also have to be outworking everybody else. Only putting in 60 hours a week? If somebody else is putting in 90, you're falling behind by 30 hours every week. Accumulate that over a period of 5-10 years and see where it gets you.

DeMar is definitely the guy putting in 100 hours a week over a period of years and we're seeing the cumulative results. You still have to have the capacity for improvement, though. I'd think some people peak at a certain capacity in whatever area no matter how much more time they put in.

Aside from the 3 pt shooting, I've never seen DeMar this engaged defensively this often. He's downright getting into it on his man defence on some possessions, with increasing regularity. I swear hitting those 3's is putting some pep in his step. A lot of smiling after whistles, too.

[3inthekeon]

People spending so much time complaining of lack of media attention, they didn't have time to find this

https://fansided.com/2018/01/04/dema...ting-midrange/

Knowing he prefers to pull-up from mid-range, defenders have been closing out on DeRozan short for years to give themselves a better chance of containing his drive. It’s what Tony Snell does on this possession — one of the tactics he used in the playoffs to contain DeRozan — only DeRozan is now showing signs of being more comfortable taking the shot he’s being given:

and my favourite:

If DeRozan ever gets to a point where he can consistently knock down pull-up 3-pointers, he’ll be almost unguardable.

[golden]

Just my 2 cents, but I think that with DeMar not feeling the need to draw fouls on every play, which was the priority in the old system, it has helped his 3 point shot tremendously. When drawing fouls, you're trying to initiate contact and with 3's you're trying to get as much separation as possible.... that's diametrically opposed split-second decision making required at NBA game speed. If he can up the 3's, then it's a game changer for the Raps and makes roster construction that much easier going forward.

[S.R.]

Just my 2 cents, but I think that with DeMar not feeling the need to draw fouls on every play, which was the priority in the old system, it has helped his 3 point shot tremendously. When drawing fouls, you're trying to initiate contact and with 3's you're trying to get as much separation as possible.... that's diametrically opposed split-second decision making required at NBA game speed. If he can up the 3's, then it's a game changer for the Raps and makes roster construction that much easier going forward.

Absolutely. He's looking for shots he can make instead of just looking to get fouled on the attempt, which he used to do quite a bit. He's still very good at drawing contact on plays, but he's not depending on the whistle to bail him out.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

DeMar is shooting a higher percentage from 3 than Bradley Beal lol. On half the attempts but still.

[golden]

BTW, I'm taking full credit for DeMar's 3-pt shooting outburst. It started almost like clockwork when I reverse jinxed him......

LOL. We need to make more of these 'jinx' threads when we want the opposite result to happen. I'm still waiting for "Toronto Raptors will NOT win the NBA championship in 2018" thread.

"DeMar DeRozan will never be a good 3-pt shooter."

[DanH]

BTW, I'm taking full credit for DeMar's 3-pt shooting outburst. It started almost like clockwork when I reverse jinxed him......

You made that comment on December 14th.

The 9 games directly prior to that game, DeMar was 0/15 from 3.

The day after that post, he went 1 for 2, hitting his first three in nearly a month.

Including that game, over the next 10 games, he went 26/49.

Yeah, I'm on board with giving you all the credit. Maybe like 90-10, with 10 going to DeMar.

[Puffer]

BTW, I'm taking full credit for DeMar's 3-pt shooting outburst. It started almost like clockwork when I reverse jinxed him......

"Dominating... God-like."

[Shaolin Fantastic]

You made that comment on December 14th.

The 9 games directly prior to that game, DeMar was 0/15 from 3.

The day after that post, he went 1 for 2, hitting his first three in nearly a month.

Including that game, over the next 10 games, he went 26/49.

Yeah, I'm on board with giving you all the credit. Maybe like 90-10, with 10 going to DeMar.

Jinxes working like a charm this season.

Someone make a thread about how the Raptors will never EVER win an NBA title.

[S.R.]

DeMar is shooting a higher percentage from 3 than Bradley Beal lol. On half the attempts but still.

He's also at a career high on 2P% at .510. It's almost as though shifting away from those long two's actually helps, who'd have thunk it.