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DeRozan had been good, but not All-Star, during most of his five playoff games in Toronto.
Against Brooklyn in 2014, a series of seven games lost, he averaged 24 points per game in the series, but shot less than 39 percent, too. The following year, Toronto was swept by the Washington Wizards in the first round, and the DeRozan average dropped to 20.3 points per game, on a 40% shot.
DeRozan and the Raptors had their best playoff success in 2016, when they reached the finals of the East Conference. Against Indiana in the first round, DeRozan had 34 points in the fifth crucial game in a series of 2-2, then 30 in the deciding match 7. Against Miami, he was 28 and 8 in the seventh match , a Raptors of 27 points
But, from that moment, LeBron and the Cavs emptied the psyche of the Raptors.
In 16, Toronto drew 2-2 in Cleveland at the conference finals . But in the biggest match in the history of the franchise, Game 5 in Cleveland, the Cavaliers smoked 116-78. DeRozan was 2 out of 8 from the floor. And Cleveland has closed Toronto in six games.
In 2017, James averaged 36 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists in a four-game sweep of Toronto in the semifinals of the conference. East. The Cavs won every game with an average of 15.3 points per game.
And this year, of course, was the coup de grâce, with Toronto blowing a 14-point lead in the first quarter of Game 1 and a 10-point lead with 10 minutes left in the game. There was too much foolishness to be chained in the final seven seconds of regulation, with the match tied at 105, when Fred VanVleet missed a 3-pointer, DeRozan missed a setback, CJ Miles missed the setback of that miss, then missed another Rejection of his misses, and Jonas Valanciunas missed a point. Everything in seven seconds. The Cavs would then have beaten the Raptors 113-112 in OT
And that is why, as wrote the New York Times Marc Stein, the Raptors have reported around the 2018 project that their veterans –Lowry, DeRozan, Serge Ibaka and Valanciunas – were available, while none of their young core players – guard Fred Van Vleet or Delon Wright, and forwarded OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakham – were not. The Raptors were ready to give everything back to their young, if need be.
But Lowry, with over 30 million dollars a year until 2020, had few contenders. Ditto for Ibaka (almost $ 45 million on his three-year contract of $ 65 million, also until 2020) and Valanciunas (two years and $ 34 million, including a player option in 2019-20).
Who left DeRozan. But the Raptors did not believe that the Spurs were so interested. They had discussed with Philly and the Lakers (not so much Boston, but the Celtics, with their young players and their draft picks, could always be involved anytime they wanted to). Toronto was also on the list, but the discussions were stagnant. The Spurs were questioning about Anunoby, a potential clone of Leonard, as well as about another future who would continue to not be a starter
the teams always continue the dialogue, even when the commercial track is cold. So, San Antonio and Toronto continued to talk, at lower management levels, while the NBA Summer League started. It was in Vegas where Ujiri met DeRozan and DeRozan's agent, Aaron Goodwin, separately. The meeting with Goodwin, by source, was planned. Running in DeRozan at Cox Pavilion, after one of the Raptors' games, was not. Ujiri and DeRozan spoke briefly – less than five minutes.
Sources with the knowledge of each of the interviews generally concur that Ujiri said that no DeRozan trade was imminent, and that he wanted to know what DeRozan was going to do this summer to become a better performer in the playoffs. What is in question is whether Ujiri assured DeRozan that there would be no trade at all, or whether he promised Goodwin and / or DeRozan, they would be contacted if things changed. .
Goodwin said: "This is a case and more and more players are beginning to understand that they are as good as the last game they played for some of these owners, presidents and GM.Not all, but some.Some will treat a player and his family and the representation with respect, others do not even return the phone calls.DeMar to date n 's. has still heard nothing of property. "
After Vegas, Ujiri continued his trip to Africa and meeting with President Obama and Auma Obama. But San Antonio had made no progress with Philly and was still extremely reluctant to swap Leonard for the Lakers. There were not many options. And Leonard's specter traveling to the USA Basketball mini-camp this week in Las Vegas, with Gregg Popovich also present at his first official appearance as a coach of the US team, was not what everyone wanted to support.
Whatever the timing, the parties began to get closer to each other. The Spurs have abandoned their request for another choice. The Raptors included one of their young guys in Poeltl. He came together, quickly.
San Antonio had a resolution, finally. DeRozan, a class player and hard worker, will offer a powerful punch to two with star player LaMarcus Aldridge. The Spurs hope Dejounte Murray will make a big jump in his first full season as a starter, without the specter of a Hall of Famer behind Tony Parker. The Spurs will understand him without Leonard. They practiced a lot last season.
Toronto, however, begins to watch the hour. The Raptors have a sales job in front of them
They think that they are checking all the boxes in which Leonard will be interested – a strong property, an organizational purpose and infrastructure, a culture of defense, a madman. fan base, a fabulous cosmopolitan city that will not obstruct a basketball player the way, say, John Tavares. ( San Diego, a long-time journalist / columnist, Mark Zeigler, wrote Sunday that the Raptors' chances of keeping Leonard were better than people think.) His first visit, with photo smiling was a step. One million more
Welcome to the North pic.twitter.com/FWy6huVI9l
– Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) July 20, 2018
Yes, other teams have had to make tough calls on star players. Boston moved Isaiah Thomas after a MVP caliber season in order to get Kyrie Irving. Miami decided that there was a price that he did not want to pay to keep Dwyane Wade in 2016 (although he recovered it last February, after stopping in Chicago and Chicago). in Cleveland).
But DeRozan was the first star in the history of the Raptors who never asked to be traded, never had a foot out, n '# 39; has never broken the heart of Toronto by wanting to be somewhere else. He did not even participate in a free visit in 2016, almost immediately accepting a five-year contract with the Raptors. He reorganized the team that took him to the first round in 2009 and would have had no trouble playing his entire career there.
He was loyal to Toronto, who built a team around him of the best teams in the NBA. But not the best. And so loyalty had to take precedence over cold calculation. The Raptors put their fries and their essential parts in the middle of the table, not being content to be good or very good. They will either be great, or they will rebuild themselves, all on the word of a man who, unlike the 44th President of the United States, has little to say.
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Long-time NBA journalist, columnist and Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame member David Aldridge is an analyst for TNT. You can send it by e-mail here, find its archives and follow it on Twitter
The opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect those of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.
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