NBA games of the week: All-Star Starters

Sunday, Jan. 28: Los Angeles at Toronto, 6:00 p.m. ET

All-Star starter: DeMar DeRozan

DeMar DeRozan became a sort of basketball obsession with me last season, and usually basketball obsessions are spawned from frustration. DeRozan is so good offensively. How had no one gotten through tho him that he needed to extend his range? Why hadn’t he?

He feasted on midrange shots and was subsequently dubbed as someone who, since he took so many, was considered an elite player from inside the arc. That led me down a philosophical rabbit hole on what the word elite actually means (Is Joe Flacco elite?) and useless thought experiments like that.

Thankfully, I no longer have to do that because DeRozan has finally started shooting 3-pointers. He’s already attempted 140 in 44 games, which is the second most attempts in a season in his career. And he’s made 48, which is also the second best in his career. His 34.3 percent shooting from beyond the arc is the best of his career.

If you skipped to this section without reading the ones before it, I’m high on this Raptors teams. They have a top-five offense and a top-six defense, if you’re into to that top-10 contenders thing. If they can keep this level of production up, is it possible they’re the Eastern representative?