It’s easy to forget “San Antonio DeMar.’’
When discussing DeMar DeRozan’s career, it seems like he spent a lifetime in Toronto, then rolled out of the golf cart to finish off the back nine with the Bulls.
But for three seasons with the Spurs and coach Gregg Popovich, DeRozan really learned his craft, on and off the court.
“I learned so much more about myself as a player, what I was able and capable of doing,” DeRozan told the Sun-Times in 2021. “It grew me more as a leader.”
And it made him a lethal playmaker.
In his three years in San Antonio, DeRozan averaged 6.2 assists, highlighted by a career-best 6.9 assists in the 2020-21 season. He had double-digit assists 14 times that season, including a 14-assist game.
So handing out a season-high 10 assists in the Bulls’ 124-118 victory Saturday against the Pelicans was really nothing new for DeRozan.
It was old hat, actually, and much needed.
“Just being unselfish, pushing the pace,” DeRozan said. “Not worrying about mistakes we may make defensively. Understanding reads, and everybody is shooting the ball with confidence.
“It’s a testament to everybody understanding what needs to be done, the tempo it needs to be done at.”
It could be a sneak preview.
The Bulls were without Zach LaVine (right foot) the last two games, and for a second straight game — the first with DeRozan returning from a tweaked ankle — they had 32 assists.
The tempo was a bit faster in the victory over the Bucks, but DeRozan & Co. still picked their spots to put the Pelicans on their heels.
“These two games should be a blueprint of us feeding off that,” DeRozan said. “We’ve got to get hungry from here on out.”
And they have to get used to life without LaVine on a more permanent basis.
It’s not if LaVine will be traded but when. The Bulls want to move on from the two-time All-Star, and he wants to be elsewhere. There were several reports last week that there is no market for LaVine just yet, but that’s because there is no market, period. It’s the beginning of December, and most teams are still evaluating rosters and a path to the postseason.
Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas is deliberate in his moves, so a LaVine trade won’t be any different. Unless there’s an unforeseen offer made in the next three weeks, expect the LaVine drama to drag on well into January — and possibly closer to the Feb. 8 trade deadline.
Until then, however, DeRozan and his teammates have to try to get LaVine to buy into this style of play — sharing the ball, playing with tempo, less hero ball — on a more consistent basis.
At this point, LaVine needs to be all in or he’s simply in the way.
“The spirit is there, the fight is there, and offensively what is encouraging to me the last two games is we’ve scored [at least] 120 points,” coach Billy Donovan said. “A lot of that has to do with the tempo, the pace we are getting up and down the floor. I’ve been talking about that awhile, and the biggest thing is if we can sustain that. It’s the challenge.”
