"There is no point in saying DeMar DeRozan is the next 'this' or the next 'that,' any more than this Toronto Raptors season was meant to be judged at any point other than at its conclusion.

But let's just say this: in a city whose hockey team has turned the phrase "first-round draft pick" into an expletive deleted (or, at least, expletive traded to Boston) the progress of DeRozan, last year's first-round pick, is notable. That he has been able to refine his game – to do a better job of handling the ball in tight quarters, make nice wide runs down the wing and increasingly find his mid-range jumper – while becoming enough of a factor that he has separated himself statistically from the bulk of the sophomore pack, is all to the good.

DeRozan is for the Raptors in many ways what Luke Schenn is to the Maple Leafs: the guy you'd like to think will really be something when the team can make it count.

What does it say that DeRozan's sophomore season compares favourably with numbers put up by other athletic wing players in recent seasons? Just that it appears all the positive character traits that his coach and general manager and teammates say he possesses – Raptors television analyst Jack Armstrong calls him a gym rat – are translating into improvement. It's nice that DeRozan hits the practice court at night to work on his shooting with assistant Eric Hughes; better yet that it's making a difference. "