"DeMar DeRozan said a couple of things Thursday you won't hear too often from a professional athlete.

He professed to enjoy two-a-day workouts and downplayed the financial aspect of the Raptors picking up the option year of his contract.

While veteran teammate Jarrett Jack called the gruelling pair of workouts the team has been going through the first few days of camp a necessary evil, young DeRozan said he actually looks forward to them.

"We play 82 games, this is what it takes," DeRozan said after the morning session at the ACC.

"I think it's good for us, it definitely helps us."

But it wasn't always that way for DeRozan. Things were different at USC.

"I hated it in college, I'm not going to lie. It's way harder in college," he said.

"Coach (Tim) Floyd ran me to death."

The Raptors had until Halloween to pick up DeRozan's option, but they did so a month early, in part, to make a statement about DeRozan's importance to the club going forward.

"I wasn't expecting (general manager Bryan Colangelo to tell him now), it came out of the blue."