"The shoes on DeMar DeRozan's feet at the Toronto Raptors' first preseason game on Wednesday will be as flashy as his dunks. Red, black, yellow? He isn't naming the colour just yet.

But his strut – not the wild shoes he's promising to wear – is what's really drawing attention to the 22-year-old as he enters his second NBA season.

Head coach Jay Triano said DeRozan's increased confidence is the natural byproduct of hard work. His teammate and buddy, Sonny Weems, says he's "come out of his shell" after his rookie year.

But DeRozan, for his part, said the swagger he developed growing up in Compton, Calif., never left. "You could always tell a Compton person from an L.A. person. Everybody's swag was different. How you carried yourself was different.

"It was an adjustment last season but I think a lot of games I really did play well. I think my Compton swag was out there."

As a McDonald's All-American playing for Compton High, and later with the University of Southern California, DeRozan dominated games in part because he was bigger, faster, more athletic than most of his opponents. In his rookie season with the Raptors, the 6-foot-7 shooting guard started in 65 games and averaged 8.6 points a game, was skilled at drawing fouls, but he wasn't always consistent."