Former Toronto star says LeBron James in the East was the only thing stopping them

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He’s said it before and DeMar DeRozan is sticking to his story.
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The former Toronto Raptors star believes he would have led the franchise to an NBA title if he hadn’t been traded for Kawhi Leonard and it seems like you can’t change his mind on that fact.
DeRozan, the Raptors’ all-time leading scorer in points and games played, told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith this week that he believes the 2018-19 Raptors still would have won it all had they not traded himself, Jakob Poeltl and a draft pick for Leonard, a two-time NBA Finals MVP, and starting guard Danny Green.
“The only person we couldn’t beat was LeBron (James),” DeRozan told Smith. “That’s exactly what happened. And I felt like we were down from the year before, we just needed one more piece to push us over the top. And that piece happened to be LeBron going West. I didn’t get to see what would have happened… I have no doubt in my mind the same outcome would have happened,” he said.
James, who led his Cleveland Cavaliers to three straight wins over the Raptors, including two sweeps, left for the Los Angeles Lakers after the 2017-18 season.
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Only Allen Iverson and Luka Doncic averaged more points than James in their regular-season meetings against the Raptors, who scored 27 points per game against Toronto in 60 non-playoff games. Only Iverson averaged more than James’ 31.1 points against Toronto in the playoffs.
The final sweep included DeRozan being benched for the final 14 minutes of Game 3 (which ended with the Raptors going back up with DeRozan sitting and James hitting a ridiculous one-handed game-winner) and his ejection late in the third quarter of Game 4 after committing a flagrant foul out of frustration.
It was the last game for DeRozan and head coach Dwane Casey as the Raptors.
But DeRozan’s confidence has helped him get this far. It’s made him one of the NBA’s most devastating scorers, a three-time All-NBA player (two second-teamers) and a six-time All-Star. So perhaps it’s no surprise that he thinks only James held his Raptors teams back.
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Toronto went 4-2 with DeRozan in the playoffs against non-LeBron opponents, winning the last four non-LeBron series of his time in Toronto.
However, unlike Leonard, a two-time NBA Finals MVP with one of the most impressive resumes in sports history, DeRozan has traditionally played worse in the playoffs than he did in the regular season. He shot 41 percent as a Raptor in the playoffs, compared to 45 percent in the regular season.
DeRozan had said before his trade to San Antonio that he was ready to improve his defense and help the Raptors move to the next level.
In an interview with new head coach Nick Nurse just a week before the deal, Nurse told Postmedia how he challenged DeRozan.
“I wouldn’t make those comments if I thought he was turning away from them,” the nurse said. told Postmedia at the time“We sat down, he was on the edge of his seat and he was like, ‘What do you have for me?’ I said, ‘Well’… and I start and he finishes my sentence, ‘I know, I’m better than that, I want to work on it.’”
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From there, Nurse gave DeRozan a plan, adding: “I don’t expect you to be Bruce Bowen (by) Game 1, but by the time the playoffs start, we’ve got to have you (on defense) because there’s no place we can hide you,” Nurse said.
“He’s totally fit, he’s got the physical ability, he knows what he’s doing. We have to make a long-term plan and stick to it a little bit.”
A week later, all of that became moot and DeRozan never got a chance to prove that things had changed.
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DeRozan would have had to step up his game considerably to help the Raptors beat the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round in 2019. That Sixers team was loaded, and the Raptors were only edged out by Leonard’s signature shooting (not to mention his 34.7 points and 9.9 rebounds per game in the series).
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Toronto then had to beat a great Milwaukee Bucks team and the Golden State Warriors, with Leonard doing much of the heavy lifting, although he slowed down a bit toward the end of the run.
Only James and Michael Jordan have scored more points in a playoff year than Leonard, and he also provided top-notch defense and rebounding.
DeRozan returns to the spotlight with the release of his new memoir Above the noise, which was co-written with Toronto sportswriter Dave Zarum.
The book details his youth in Compton, California, his struggles with depression and his desire to speak openly about it, as well as his basketball career.
“I’m just trying to reach out to anybody who feels alone, more than anything,” DeRozan told The Canadian Press in a recent interview. “Anybody who feels alone, who feels like the struggles they’re going through are too much. I show them that it’s possible to get through it, and I also encourage them to be vulnerable and find strength in that vulnerability, and show them that it’s an ongoing journey.”
Now 35, DeRozan is about to enter his 16th NBA season and first with the Sacramento Kings.He is ranked 31st in the NBA scoring rankings. (just behind Steph Curry and sixth among active players. He has a chance to crack the Top 25 later this season and possibly move into the 15-20 range.
DeRozan will discuss Above the noise to a event in downtown Toronto Friday.
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