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The Chicago Bulls have been home to their fair share of stars over the years. And despite their lack of playoff success in the past two seasons, they have a few stars lining the roster right now. Zach LaVine, Niklola Vucevic, and DeMar DeRozan are all All-Star-caliber players leading the charge in Chicago.
DeRozan recently spoke with former NBA player Iman Shumpert on his podcast, “Iman Amongst Men.” He talked about Dwyane Wade, another former Bull, and how he partially modeled his game after him. DeRozan credited Wade, noting that he always had to keep up with him when they faced off against each other. (H/t Shandel Richardson of Inside the Heat)
The two stars faced off plenty of times. DeRozan talked about how the two played the same position and how he had to keep up with Wade.
“I was a two,” DeRozan said. “I always had to deal with D-Wade. He was a [expletive], fast quick.”
After that, DeRozan went on to add Wade’s skills to his game.
“That’s where a lot of my game started to come, using the pump fake from D-Wade, getting to the midrange, picking your spots, using your athletic ability, getting downhill,” DeRozan said. “Seeing D-Wade so much really made me feel like, `shit, I’ve got to add a lot of this aspect to the game.”‘
Nowadays, DeRozan is arguably the best mid-range shooter in the league, and one of the only players who uses the shot as his go-to method of scoring, so it’s unsurprising to hear the respect he has for Wade.
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