Sportsnet magazine preview: Forget LeBron. Forget Kobe. Raptors superstar DeMar DeRozan is the hardest-working man in the NBA.
Thud. Squeak. Swish.
The sounds of basketball echo through the cavernous gym at Merritt College in Oakland Hills, Calif., accompanied by guttural grunts and audible gasps for air. They’re coming from DeMar DeRozan, just a few short months removed from his lone college season.
DeRozan slams the ball off the ground just past half-court, crosses over an imaginary defender and sprints to the basket, straining against the rope tied firmly around his waist.
“Get strong!” A deep voice repeats the phrase, stern but encouraging. It belongs to Chris Farr, the man on the other end of the rope. This is Farr’s city, his show, his workout. He’s been tasked with raising DeRozan’s game in preparation for the 2009 NBA Draft; with opening DeRozan’s eyes to what it takes to reach the next level.
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“Hard work,” Farr demands. DeRozan obliges, sprinting the length of the court in mock transition again and again. On the wing, Farr crashes against him like a lineman in the trenches—no pads in sight. DeRozan absorbs the blows before breaking to the hoop. He collects his dribble and rises for a jump shot, touching down and immediately moving to a new spot on the floor. Farr chucks a new ball into his hands before the last one has even reached the rim. It goes on like this, a series of non-stop drills that ends with more wind sprints, dribble moves and, when the tank seems completely empty, at least a half-dozen acrobatic dunks to cap it all off.
After a few sessions with Farr, DeRozan learned he needed to clear his schedule for at least half a day afterwards. When the workouts were over, he’d sit, stunned. He couldn’t do anything; couldn’t think, eat, talk, drive. Nothing. It was, he says now, a kind of tired he’d never felt before. More than an hour after the workouts ended, DeRozan would still be sitting in a plastic folding chair on the sidelines, regrouping—trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.
Read more of the story in our October 27 issue, available in our tablet edition, and on Next Issue and newsstands October 16.