Here’s Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan admiring the professionalism of DeMar DeRozan following Tuesday’s 118-113 home win vs. the Atlanta Hawks (25 points/2 rebounds/6 assists/1 steal/8-17 FG/2-3 3-PT/7-7 FT/+8 +/-).
(via Optimistic Bulls Fan):
“I appreciate him. He’s a consummate professional. The thing I love about him is he’ll do whatever he’s got to do to help the team. Just in conversations with him about us having to play faster and having him get up the floor, he always does whatever you ask him to do. I understand he is an elite closer, and he’s been that way for his career. So when the game slows down, you try to get him in areas of the floor where he can do what he does. But the unselfishness of him and the sacrifice for him for 36 minutes, 38 minutes, 40 minutes of trying to get off and advance and help us play fast, get those other guys involved, pass the ball to those guys, generate shots for those guys, and still keep his head in the game, I think it speaks to his greatness. I just told him I appreciate all he does because he’s not only closing out the game at the end, he’s also getting everybody else involved and he’s playing stylistically in a way that’s best for those guys. But to his greatness, he can play a lot of different ways, he doesn’t have to play one way. As a coach for as long as I’ve coached, you come across people that are really, really unique and special. And he’s really, really special as it relates to not only being an elite talent and probably a first-ballot Hall of Famer, he just wants to win and he can see the big picture in terms of what he has to do.
“So I just appreciate everything that he’s done for the group, for the young guys, for the team, where he’s probably given up some of himself because if you look at some of his scoring, he’s not having big first halves. But third and fourth quarter, he starts getting going, he starts reading the game. But he’s all about, ‘How do I get these other guys better? How do I make them better? How do I make the game easier for them? How do I help them?’ And for a guy his age to be thinking that way speaks to the level of understanding he has about winning, that he knows we can’t win without everybody. He can’t carry a team for 48 minutes, nobody can, he needs those guys. So, I think the confidence he instills in those guys and how he utilizes those guys is really special. I just appreciate what he does each and every day, not only in games, but even in practice and when we’re together as a team.”
