After thousands of years of snow and ice deposits on the North American continent, the magnificent five Dalian Lakes have been formed. On this land surrounded by lakes, Toronto, the northern part of the American continent, stands. This city with four distinct seasons has become a symbol of Canada under the wind of Lake Ontario.

Basketball has been booming in Toronto in recent years, and Canada's largest city is home to the NBA's only overseas team: the Toronto Raptors. For Canadian fans, the Raptors are their "Toronto National Team." After Vince Carter left the Raptors that year, the team ushered in the talented power forward Chris Bosh of the '03 golden generation, Bosh led the Raptors to the playoffs twice, but could not get past the first round. In 2010, Bosh left Miami, and James formed the Heat three giants of the league at that time, and the Raptors, who had just improved, once again fell into the trough of reconstruction. However, the dark years will eventually pass, the Toronto Raptors in the low tide ushered in their new dragon king, the teenager from California - Demar derozan.

On June 25, 2009, the annual NBA draft was held at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City, the Toronto Raptors selected demar derozan with the ninth overall pick in the first round, and the athletic shooting guard from the University of Southern California has since opened a new chapter in his career.

"From the first day I came to the Raptors after I was drafted, the outside world branded the Raptors with this label: everyone wants to leave, no one wants to stay here, no superstars want to play for the Raptors. My attitude and mindset from day one was that I wanted to change people's perception of Toronto."

Derozan bounce amazing, explosive strength is very strong, is one of the best violent buckle in the United States university. He has superhuman physical qualities, is a good offensive player, his mid-range shooting is outstanding, has a killer instinct, professional attitude is excellent, full of effort, willing to defend, good at fast break, good inside finish ability. However, defense is a major obstacle to derozan's progress toward superstardom, his feet are not quick enough to move, and his judgment is lacking.

In addition, most Raptors fans know that derozan is a poor 3-point shooter, averaging 1.8 shots per game on 33.8 percent shooting. However, the 3-point ball is only a small part of the jump shot, derozan is a throwback player, in today's 3-point popular league, he is attached to the mid-range shot, is also affectionately called by many Chinese fans, derozan in 16 feet to the three-point line (commonly known as large two points) shot proportion as high as 24.7%, the percentage of 35.9%, His big two-point shot is similar to Houston Rockets guard James Harden's three-point shooting percentage, and derozan's scoring efficiency is clearly low in direct comparison.

But it is commendable that since derozan entered the league, he has been improving, every time the end of the season, he will spend a long time to study his video, and strive not to let go of any mistakes, from the failure to find their own need to improve, and gradually grow into the league's top shooting guard. Last summer, derozan worked hard on his 3-point shot, and his hard work has paid off. In the recently concluded 2017-18 season, derozan has greatly improved both his 3-point percentage and the number of 3-point shots made.

Before deciding to leave the Cavaliers, lebron James had been an insurmountable mountain in the East, leading his team to the Eastern Conference championship for eight consecutive years. In the past 3 seasons, derozan led the Raptors and James led the Cavaliers in the playoffs have met, the Raptors have failed to win the final victory, and in the 3 round series, the Raptors only won two games, two consecutive years by the Cavaliers 4-0 sweep out... Although derozan has lost games over and over again, he has never run away, even though he does not see a path to a championship with the Raptors. Because of his loyalty to the team, he stood up again after the failure, not caring about the past gains and losses, only hope to be like his idol Kobe Bryant for the fans to write "1 person 1 city" warm story.

In the summer of 2016, derozan jumped out of the contract to become a complete free agent, including the Los Angeles Lakers and many teams are beckoning to him, but he never wavered, nor made excessive demands to the management of the Raptors, and signed a new contract with the team for five years and 139 million dollars, at that time derozan did not think too much, He has only one idea, that is, to stay in the Raptors for a lifetime to play and win a championship with the team, even if only by his own efforts, he will not back down.

However, life is not always satisfactory, and the team has repeatedly achieved good results in the regular season over the years but has never been able to go far in the playoffs. Last season, the Raptors played an excellent regular season, with a win rate of 72% to sit on the throne of the Eastern Conference, so that they have a home-court advantage over any team before the finals, and the Cavaliers have experienced a turbulent season, Kyrie Irving left Boston, the team's personnel is not fixed, Kevin Love's condition is worrying, Tristan Thompson's form is good and bad, The bench is not stable, and the team has intermittently transmitted the contradiction between James and coach Tyronn Lue, which can be described as a house leak every night. By the end of the regular season, the Cavaliers had only 50 wins, ranking fourth in the Eastern Conference.

Everyone has a lot of hope for the Raptors and a lot of fear for the Cavaliers. The Raptors beat the Bucks with Giannis Antetokounmpo 4-2 in the first round of the playoffs, while the Cavaliers battled through seven games and played the entire series to beat the Pacers. Whether in terms of strength or preparation, the Raptors and Knights face off, the Raptors have an absolute advantage. The Cavs surprised everyone, and even if someone thought the Raptors would eventually lose, they wouldn't have thought they would lose four games in a row. After the season, the Raptors' front office, led by Maai Ujiri, realized it was time to make some changes.

On July 18, 2018, the summer drama "Where's Leonard Going?" came to an end when the SAN Antonio Spurs finally reached a deal with the Toronto Raptors in which the Raptors sent demar derozan, Jacoby Purtle and a protected 2019 first-round pick to the Spurs in exchange for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. The deal was completed in the first time without a winner, which is extremely rare in NBA history, the Raptors seized the opportunity to get the league's top 5 superstars, but also lost the darling of the North fans, the team for nine years as long as the star derozan.

In nine seasons with the Raptors, derozan was named to the NBA All-Star team four times. Played 675 regular-season games for the Raptors ranked first in the history of the Raptors, scored 13,296 regular-season points ranked first in the history of the Raptors, rebounding in the regular season reached 2,739 ranks fifth in the history of the Raptors, assists in the regular season reached 2,078 ranks third in the history of the Raptors, steals in the regular season reached 655 ranks second in the history of the Raptors, He has averaged 19.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 0.97 steals in 34.1 minutes per game in his career. Without a doubt, derozan is the most loyal player in Raptors history and deserves to be the number one player in team history.

The Raptors management had told derozan during the Las Vegas Summer League that the team would not trade him, and when derozan knew he was being traded to the Spurs, he was angry and said on social media, "I can't believe them when they are told that it is such a thing and it is such a thing, this sport has no loyalty, Get nothing, and send you away too soon." In the days since the deal was completed, derozan has been in a state of extreme frustration.

Life is full of drama. "This is what life is really like." Derozan was all-powerful and invincible on the court, but in private he often felt lonely and anxious, and depression made him suffer. During the NBA All-Star Game at the beginning of this year, derozan publicly revealed that he was suffering from depression on social networking sites, facing the camera, derozan was not shy, "No matter how invincible we look, we are all normal people, we all have that feeling, sometimes it will break you down, it seems that the weight of the world is on your head."

As an outstanding player, derozan has devoted all his time and energy to basketball and family, both of which are indispensable to him. Using every second at his disposal to become a better player, a better father and a better son, he has seen too many tragedies in his hometown of Compton, where life has overwhelmed so many people. He had promised himself that he would never let that happen to him.

When people talk about athletes, they tend to talk about their skills and values, often ignoring that they are human and have their own emotions and thoughts. Doug Smith, a veteran reporter who has covered the Raptors for more than 20 years, said this after the deal was completed: "Competitive sports are beautiful and cruel, and good things don't always happen to good people, and that's the cruelest part of reality." And what we need to do is always remember these good times, they deserve to be kept alive by us. Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Chris Bosh, the list goes on and on. But when people think of 'King in the North,' derozan's name pops up."

Perhaps the only thing that makes fans happy about the deal is that derozan finally came to SAN Antonio Spurs, where his former Raptors teammate Rudy Gay, the NBA's greatest active head coach Gregg Popovich, and the NBA's nearly 20 years of considerable team culture and championship heritage, derozan is expected to welcome a new life here.

Recently, when visiting a show derozan said he was ready to put on the Spurs jersey for the new season, "Emotionally, when the deal happens, your mind starts to flow all the emotions." It took a long time to calm down and figure out that it was time to move on." Reflecting on his Raptors career, derozan added, "We earned respect, not just as players, but as a team, as an organization."

Romain Rolland once said that there is only one real heroism in the world, and that is to love life after recognizing the truth of life. Those who seriously live, the heart to the sun, the eyes have light, always in the trivial difficult life, open a flower of hope.

No matter what, life is a battle, smile at the challenge.