YouSaid · the spoken record

DeMar DeRozan

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58

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2024-09-12

most recent

2024-09-12

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1

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1. “We live in such a nickpicking world to where you show a flaw, people want to kind of tear you down in that sense. And, you know, it makes it scarier for people to be able to come out and really express what it is that they're going through.”

   2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

2. “That's exactly what it is. And I think. That's why I really try to just bridge the understanding and the gap and have these conversations to be able to build the dialogue so people could see and have an understanding when it comes to all this, you know, because one, at the end of the day, we are all humans. And just because this person may be in this position or whatever it may be, it's a lot that comes with it. You know, at the end of the day, we still humans we still got emotions. We still got feelings. And in a moment, we may seem indestructible. But a lot of times, you know, people would be surprised what a lot of their favorite athletes or people they look up to really go through a lot of things that they try to hide behind because they may not be strong enough or be shameful enough to have the courage to really speak out on what exactly is that they're going through because now”

   2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

3. “Love it. People like Kaylin Clark are the ones that could bring What they all deserve to the league. And that's one thing I don't understand when an eight get involved. It's like, you know, if this one person could take us over the top, let's embrace it. Let's be competitors, but also let's embrace it because what's happening here is a special moment that we don't get a chance to really witness. So I just can never understand the hate. You know, and that goes with whoever's playing. It's like if this one person can take us over the top and bring us this much more attention, let's build behind this as best as we can. Still compete, but it don't, you know, the hate, the hate behind it, I just don't understand it.”

   2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

4. “It's such a skillful. Way that they have to do everything, you know, and that's how I watch the game's really intelligent. And skillfulness that they bring to the game that makes it exciting for me, the things that they're able to do. You're not going to see no 360 ducks and everything, but you see how smart and competitive these women are. And it's a fun thing to watch.”

   2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

5. “That's the cool thing that makes it fun because she don't care about me. She wants Angel Reese sign card. She want to just a couple of weeks ago, you know, I work out with Juju Watkins. And, you know, I made sure I got a signed jersey for both my daughters for him. That's the cool thing for me that make me the cool dad. So definitely love it.”

   2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

6. “I love it. You know, I've always been a big fan of women's basketball even now, especially with my oldest daughter, she loves basketball. When I first had her, I had her around basketball every single day, every single moment. So to see, you know, the women's taking a step, like they step and it's fun, it's exciting to watch, you know. I wish more people give the women the credit that they deserve because the talent that they bring in, you know, and it's always been there. You know, I'm glad it's finally coming along, but it's always been there. And they deserve everything that's coming their way. It's exciting, you know, to watch, to be a part of, you know, I'm even trying to collect, you know, the women trading cards for my daughter.”

   2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

7. “Planet in G League. I used to drive down to their games and support them. And he used to mean so much to them that it brought the best out of them. And that's what team is all about, honestly.”

   2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

8. “Yeah, that's the beauty of team sports, and that's the beauty of, you know, when you look at any type of sports, the guys who come together. Closest is the ones that go furthest because you don't feel alone. The team, especially the teams in Toronto, we had such a bond with every single person on the team that was bigger than basketball. Like we care, we honestly cared about everybody's well-being in the sense of making sure when we came to work, like putting a smile or making the next person feel good, laugh, comfortable, you know, compassion. We wanted the best for one another. We pushed each other. We figure out each other flaws to try to, you know, create strengths for each other. It's so many small detailed things that went into those teams that made it special that I never forget, you know, even to this day, the relationship I have with a lot of those young guys are special. You know, it's times I went to a couple of guys like a Norman Powell or Freddie or Pascal. These guys.”

   2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

9. “Without a doubt, the compassion, he put so much in perspective bigger than basketball, which allows you to give your all to him so easy. It's incredible, the capability he has with that. Most of it, it's not even basketball. As great as he is with basketball, it's so much greater with everything else he do because that's the ability he have to get the most out of you because he give compassion, empathy, accountability, understanding, you know, and the knowledge that he brings with it as a human being makes everything else easy. It unlocks something that's bigger than just basketball, honestly.”

   2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

10. “He'd get mad me telling the story because he never wants any type of attention from all those type of things. And that just shows you the type of person. You know, he is. But to me, that's something I always have to talk about and mention because that was that embodied who Greg Popovich is.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

11. “Do what you got to do. And literally, I hung up the phone with him probably two minutes later, I heard her knock at my door and it was popped. You know, he just came in, gave me a big hug, cried with me, sat on the couch. And, you know, he just gave me words that I don't think nobody else could have gave me. For him to show the empathy, the compassion, the love, how he embraced me in that moment. You know, I felt like I felt like I known him my whole entire life. You know, it meant the world to me more than anything because, you know, for him to do that, you know, I never forget he walked in my room and he didn't have no shoes on. Nothing you could just, you could tell he just got out the bed and, you know, that was a special moment that always hold dear to my heart. And the crazy thing about pop is pop, he up.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

12. “Pop, it was pop. It was literally, I was trying to figure out, honestly, in that moment when I got the call that he passed, I called the chim, Brian Wright from San Antonio's birth. I really didn't want to make it a thing or, you know, be a distraction to the team in any type of way. So I called the GM and told him, you know, that, you know, I got to figure out how to get home. I'm going to try to get a plane and leave as soon as possible tonight. He said, man, whatever you need help with, like.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

13. “Talk to him like this. And at the time, he was in such bad shape. He really couldn't talk back. But I remember the day my mom just told the doctor, sit the laptop up in front of him. I see my mom sit there for, you know, eight, nine hours just having a conversation with him knowing he couldn't talk back to the point to where, you know, obviously the laptop must have died or something. It used to be that for days where, you know, we had a mean time where, you know, the nurse would sit up the computer and we could just kind of just literally just like how we are now on a laptop and talk to him. And, you know, that was. Was a very rough time because you just want to be able to find some type of closure and clarity, at least being by someone you care for so much side and not to be able to have that. That was tough.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

14. “Yeah, nope, nobody can see him. And I think that was the most hurtful part of it because, you know, when he went in, I think he was probably in the hospital for about almost two months before he passed. It was over two months. And I just remember, you know, I just remember certain moments to where we had to.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

15. “Short. I think that's the big thing just making it in arm's reach just as much as people may think all the negative things are so close or in reach. We got to make the positive, helpful things just as accessible as anything.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

16. “Was the thing for me because I started to search and use it in different ways and help find myself in a competitive mindset, how to channel a lot of energy towards things that's important. Understanding when I feel this way what to do, how to deal with it. So it's definitely a challenge in its own right. And it was one thing. It took me a while to kind of embrace. I mean, I'm still going through it. It's still a struggle now because there's still new emotions that, you know, that you're going to be met with that you got to figure out.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

17. “It definitely was a challenge at first because I pushed back at it for a long time, countless times, I'll be completely honest. I always tell people, you know, sometimes it don't work the first couple times. And you can't go into it thinking it's just going to solve everything. And I think for me, that's what I thought going into it, thinking, all right, one or two times I'll be completely fine. It's more of a journey and a process of understanding and learning a new found university that you kind of join it in a sense.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

18. “Yeah, I think that was the turning point for me when you realize in that moment of how many people felt encouraged, enlightened, a relief, not feeling alone. In that moment, when I realized that that's when it really kind of hit me and showed the power of being able to express vulnerability and talk about it, what it could do, not just for yourself, but so many other people because we all go through so much that we hold in feeling alone, feeling like it's nobody else that probably understand it or aren't going through it. So when I seen that, you know, it made me realize. Was bigger than just me and how I could be a part of this thing to be as helpful as possible, not just for myself, but for people in general.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

19. “My mind, I'm going to just wake up and feel better tomorrow and go out by my day. And I wake up, you know, to countless missed calls Texas, trying to get clarity on what exactly that meant in such a worry that was, you know, Kind of Being put out there about me. And that's exactly how I felt. But it was a new day and I was more so like, all right, yeah, that's how I felt last night. That's how I feel most of the nights. But, you know, nobody never see it. No, I didn't know it was going to take the turn that it took, you know, because in that moment when I tweeted, it just wasn't self-emotion that I put out there”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

20. “Yeah, you know, just like movies, how, you know, I become relatable with a lot of movies. I'm a big music person as well. And, you know, I remember during that night, I was just kind of listening to music, kind of searching for the right emotions of what exactly it was that I was going through. And, you know, when I heard those lyrics, it hit home for me exactly how I felt. And, you know, I was so isolated that night I didn't want to talk to nobody. I didn't want to be around nobody. I was just coming to myself. And those words kind of like set with me very heavy. And, you know, I took it to Twitter and tweeted it. And I put my phone down and, you know.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

21. “Yeah, for sure 1,000% because some of your strongest people revert to some of our carry the darkest of demons that becomes a battle to fight by yourself if you just try to fight it by yourself. It's tough.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

22. “One of them was he expressed about, you know, he wished everybody was rich so they could realize money isn't everything. Money doesn't solve everything. And that hit so hard for me because I've been feeling that way forever when, you know, I remember being one of those people too. Like, man, I can't wait till I get to NBI against money. Everything will be fine. And then it don't work that way. You see a guy like a Robin Williams that had it all. He was one of the greatest actors and comedians. And, you know, he committed suicide for a lot of stuff he was carrying. And you don't dress it and you don't get to it. It's a really painful thing. And, you know, money don't solve that at all. So when I heard Jim Carrey say that it kind of hit home.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

23. “Yeah, it's so crazy because I feel like all my life I kind of been in search for emotional and mental understanding outside of my own. So I used to always pay attention. Like I said, this goes back to the stories of me just always talking to the guy in the neighborhood that was always set out from the liquor store outside on the corner was like. I had empathy for the struggle and wanted to understand the struggle because in a sense I feel you. And as I got older, you know, guys like Jim Carrey and guys like Robert Williams, we think they make us laugh and make us feel good, but it's such a more in-depth thing that's going on personally. Jim Currie put an emotion in words that kind of hit.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

24. “Just professional wise, emotionally, I was so engulfed into it with my personal life and everything. So everything to be shifted and got to figure it out was tough.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

25. “Yeah, you know becoming, you know, I was 19 when I was drafted, embraced in a whole new, not just city, whole new country. No. Coming a father, growing older, going through all the ups and downs of winning progression as a player, being there nine years, it really shows you that time really would fly. You got to learn to appreciate the moments more than anything because just like that, it could be taken away from you. And that kind of what it felt like. I put my all into everything I had there because in my mind, I don't know nothing else about changing teams. I didn't want to change teams. That was the only place I wanted to be. So to have that kind of be taken away from you in a place that everything, your adulthood was built on was there. It kind of hurt about it in a sense because, you know, emotionally, not.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

26. “Yeah, and that was a new loss because, you know, you're so used to losing at the time for me. I was so used to. You lose somebody, you know, he never gonna speak to them or see him again. So having teammates, you get so close with. And then in a moment, you think that's supposed to last forever. You're not even considering the business of it. You don't even understand nothing of the moment that you're living in. And, you know, season in and all of a sudden six players that you was close with, not on the team the following year. You kind of become confused by it because now, you know, as years go on, you start to realize like, you know, I only could get as close to you as my job and allows me to because it's a good chance we may not be teammates. You know, and that was kind of like a newfound understanding that I kind of had to adjust to when I got in league because, you know, it's hard just opening up being with somebody every single day.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

27. “And it was everything I needed from the standpoint of me Understanding how to become a true professional work, be disciplined, and just really focus in on what matters. And that's all I did my whole first year, understand how to just really fend for yourself because I always had family members around me whenever I needed something. And it kind of put me in that solitude to understand, you know, you got to grow fast if you want to understand everything.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

28. “Yeah, that transition for me was very necessary. It was needed. I couldn't ask for nothing else just because it completely takes you out of your comfort zone. It takes you away from, you know, everything that you knew and placed you in a place where you kind of start completely over. And you got to kind of learn for yourself. Because, you know, one thing if I had a bad day when I was in college, I still would go home. I still would stay in competent. I still was around my comfort zone. I still was going around, you know, my neighborhood. I still was going around these same places that I'm comfortable with with something went wrong. Now I'm placing a whole nother country where at that time nobody close to me could go because nobody had a pass. Support. So, my whole first year, I was by myself.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

29. “Yeah, yeah. And I think that's a lot where a lot of my imagination comes from is being able just to watch movies and have a different insight on just the environment that I was kind of growing up in. And, you know, just like basketball, movies was a way for me to escape and, you know, put myself in, you know, certain characters or certain moments. Or, you know, if it was a superhero movie finding the confidence from watching, you know, you know. Christopher Reed playing Superman. You name it. I was always big on that. It just gave my mind that hour, that two hours, three hours to kind of escape my reality.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

30. “Walls of videos to the ceiling of every movie you could think of. We had every movie. He used to copy every movie we used to watch and we used, I'm telling you, it was movies everywhere. It was the craziest thing, man. Looking back on it, it was the wildest thing. Because just imagine just a wall of black tapes with just the white laminated laminated titles of every movie. It was crazy.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

31. “Vego early, but he always made me get the newspaper, look at the Times, and he'll try to time it up so we can see multiple movies in a day. So he'd get ticket for one movie, and we'll leave out that movie theater, go in another one. And that was always our thing. I thought it was the coolest thing for me because I used to look forward to those. I used to look forward to going to the movie, the movie store on a Friday and renting a movie. We used to copy the movie and we used to laminate it, put the title on it. We used to take the movie back before Sunday, before Monday. You take it back on Sunday, you don't get charged the full weekend. And I used to always look forward to doing stuff like that. But he was very big on movies, man. I used to watch movies all day from movies from 70s, 80s, 90s. Like, that was, that was our thing.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

32. “Yeah. Listen, everything was to a point to where I probably seen every movie. You know, that was one thing. Me and my dad always did. We went to the movies every weekend. We used to go to the movies at the time. I didn't know you couldn't do this, but I remember.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

33. “And it's so crazy that even now, I still go back to SC now and work out. And I didn't realize, like, you know, Compton is only 20 minutes away. At the time, it felt like It was in another country because I just remember my first day going to SC and I was terrified of just feeling intimidated. I never felt intimidated walking through no neighborhood, nothing in Compton, but I never forget when I walked on campus. You know, it was very overwhelming feeling because it was so new. You're around an environment that you wasn't used to that you never seen. You didn't grow up in. And it felt too comfortable and too safe. It gave me that eerie feeling like on the movies where they walking in the middle of nowhere and it's too quiet. That's kind of how I felt. And it took me a while to adjust to that.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

34. “So all you know how to deal with aggression was aggression. You know, if you didn't have an outlet towards that, you know, it'll lead you down the wrong direction, you know, whether you drink, do drugs, or willing to try anything that doesn't fit you. And basketball was everything for me. It gave me a way to escape, to let my aggression out on. It made me just feel free top to bottom.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

35. “1,000%. If it wasn't for that, I don't know where it would have been because, like you said, it's like all I knew was aggression growing up. Whenever it was around a group of people, everything you seen, it was always aggressive, aggressiveness, aggressiveness. You hear people arguing outside all the time. It never was a calm moment that, you know. You could just sit in. You know, a lot of my calm moments always came at night when it was time to, you know, lay down. But even with that, so many of the thoughts have come up that I had to deal with as a young kid.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

36. “Yeah, yeah. He played football. He definitely was an athlete. He used to push me, especially to my breaking points a lot of times. I remember one time he busted my lip and I got so mad. I threw the ball and I just stormed to the car and I was so mad. And I just remember him sitting in the car telling me, you know, you see how quick you get mad and you quit, life gonna throw a lot of stuff at you and is you gonna quit? You always used to ask me stuff like that And it drove me to be even a more of a competitor because I never wanted to quit after that once he you know he put in those terms because you know he kind of showed me how to use my aggression on the court not use it as an excuse to quit”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

37. “Yeah, he was, you know, my dad used to work so much. So it was always big for me. When I was young, he always used to take me to the parks and plays. And even, you know, looking back on it, knowing I know how tired I'd be when my kids want to go to the park. So I can only imagine how he felt taking me to the park. But that was always a big thing for him was we used to drive around park to park, you know. where nobody was outside and he had just let me go out there and play we had played shoot around nonstop you know sometimes to the sun go down and you know that was big one”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

38. “Yeah, to this day, I still do it. It will forever be a habit of mine. No, I even got a rented joke with my kids when they can't sleep at night. I always tell them, like, if you don't go to sleep, I'm going to take you to the moon. They don't understand why I said, but to me, it always revert back to my dad. So to me, that's still very, very, very instrumental to me because no matter on my worst days or my best days, whenever I could go outside and see the moon, it kind of put everything in perspective for me, especially if things was going bad, you know, looking at the moon always, you know, symbolize that it's more to the world than just whatever I'm complaining about in that moment. You know, and that was something that was always major for me to keep, you know, in a sense, keep pushing.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

39. “Pain and hurt she went through from losing her brothers to gang violence to losing close friends to when I was 16, you know, she lost her mom and six days later, she lose her dad. So, you know, it was always a disciplined approach I took whenever I went outside to understand that I had to make it back in the house because I didn't want to let my parents down.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

40. “1000% and even growing up, I remember it being a joke or being made fun of when you hear the stories about me getting teased in the sense of like, oh, you got both of your parents. Like, he used to be a bad thing that was kind of portrayed growing up because most people didn't have that. Most people didn't have it. Most people didn't have neither one of their parents. So they felt neglected. So they'll take their pain and emotions out on you for having both your parents. So for me, having both my parents was very instrumental because for my dad's point of view of how tough he was on me, I looked at it from my mom's point of view too of understanding like all she cared about it was if I walk whenever I walk out the house, just make sure I walk back in the house. And that was one thing I always wanted to honor with my mom because I see so much.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

41. “It made sense why he was so tough on me. To steer me away from when I was out there by myself to make the right decision because one thing I do give my dad, you know, he allowed me to grow. He just instilled in my conscience to right from wrong and don't follow what the next person was doing. If it don't seem right, don't do it”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

42. “I needed to understand how to maneuver through tough moments in my life because they was going to come, you know, and that was one thing he always used to preach to me was how to be a hard worker, a listener, a competitor, take whatever I say serious, have morals, have a drive, and don't be a follower. That was one thing he always used to tell me. Don't be a follower. Don't do what everybody else out there was doing. And he gave me a subconscious to know when I was in certain moments in my life, especially young, that if I didn't understand something, I know if it was right or wrong, if it was wrong, stay away from it, you know, and that helped me a lot because I never wanted to let my dad down. So he used to play on my conscience a lot because I knew I would have to deal with if I had to go back and express my wrongs. My dad.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

43. “Yeah. And I used to hate it. I used to hate it when I was young. One, because I didn't understand it. But he was definitely tough on me. And as I got older, you know, the appreciation of him being tough on me, whether if it was with sports, with school, or just, you know, with life. All I ever wanted was just to, you know, have fun and, you know, be a kid with my dad, but he always looked at it from the standpoint of the world wasn't a nice place in a sense. And if I wanted to be able to make it out.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

44. “Short even when he got out of jail, you know, he had a kids program after school program where inner city kids went to and was able to learn how to work in a studio, learn how to do different activities, whatever it may be. It was kind of after school program for all inner city kids. And part of it was a basketball program that he had too that we was able to go to and be a part of and compete, have a team, work out, have a gym to go to, play, and kind of keep you out of, you know, from that three o'clock to nine o'clock. Yeah. Time span from Monday through Friday where you have idle time to easily get distracted. You know, we had those moments to go to the gym and do all these other activities. So that was big. I think I was in middle school when he got out of jail and was able to do that.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

45. “Family, my uncle, one of my uncles that was a gang member, he ended up getting killed. And it kind of, I remember it just took a hit on the family, devastated the family. And at this time, Chico kind of stepped in and was a part of the family in a sense of, you know, we not knowing what activity he was in, but he came in and took care of the family in a way that was big, you know, financially, you know, in a moment. We didn't know he was at the time a drug dealer. But he just came in and took care of the family. And that was big at that moment because we leaned on my uncle, my uncle Kevin, heavy at that time. And, you know, when he died, it was a big loss. You know, I just remember being a kid and basically all the Compton kind of just like shut down for the funeral. And, you know, we was kind of.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

46. “Mind, but at the time when it happened, I couldn't process it. So it was just sitting on my conscience by the time I lay down, go to sleep. You know, it's kind of like them scenes in a movie where you have those flashback moments and you see everything so vivid. And, you know, I used to suffer from that a lot of, you know, not fully understanding a lot of moments that I went through that. No kid with an undeveloped mind should have to go through.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

47. “Yeah, you know, all of it obviously stemmed when I was a kid. I just remember times where the worst thing can happen. I just remember being a kid just sitting there showing no emotion because one, I couldn't process exactly what was going on. I didn't understand what was going on. I just know something extremely bad that I wouldn't want to happen to me happen. Over time, you know, you start to see certain things and it take you back to those moments of when you've seen, you know, if it was, you know, someone getting shot of death or whatever it may be. And it plagues on your mind, on your conscience and your subconscious. It started to do that to me a lot as I got older and got older because a lot of these things that I seen, one, I never talked to nobody about it. You know, I'm just internalizing it. It's on my mind.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

48. “I forever will understand what it's like growing up, you know, not having much, not having nothing, losing people that was close to you, you know, seeing somebody getting shot, hearing gunshots, understanding when you hear gunshots, how to get on the floor, normalizing that, knowing that, you know, when you hear sirens, you know if it's the fire trope or if it's a police car. A lot of those, you know. Emotions that went on. And the more you kind of internalize and hold that in, it'll play on you as you get older. So it was always big for me to always want to express and kind of make myself vulnerable to shed that light because we all go through something and don't hold it in because that's when it becomes detrimental.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

49. “If I go to route day, obviously the route he took didn't work and I didn't want to end up here. But I used to really listen to those guys more than anything because they had an insight on, you know, a lot of things that put them in a place that they was in, you know, rather being an alcoholic or a drug addict. You know, it was so much that I learned from those type of people because of the pain that they, you know, had to go through that they never shared they coped it with doing all the wrong things. So for me, you know.”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

50. “1,000%. And I see it now because, you know, I always was a kid that was sitting listening to, you know, the older guy in the neighborhood that you see standing outside the liquor store or on the corner. You listen to the stories that they talk about. You know, and for me, I always was a kid to always wonder why you're standing out here or why this or why I always had those wide questions when I seen a lot of those guys. And it made me realize like,”

    2024-09-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 593 — DeMar DeRozan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source