Every year, Sports Illustrated releases their ranking of the top 100 players in the NBA, and every year there are at least a handful of players who are unhappy with where they landed. This year, DeMar DeRozan placed 46th on the list, up from No. 61 last year — a pretty significant jump on the heels of an Olympic gold medal and the Raptors’ first-ever Eastern Conference Finals appearance. But it wasn’t enough for DeRozan.
FOH. 46
— DeMar DeRozan (@DeMar_DeRozan) September 16, 2016
#ProveEm...
— DeMar DeRozan (@DeMar_DeRozan) September 16, 2016
NBA players are among the most competitive people in the world, so it’s only natural that they take exception to rankings like these. But 46 is pretty reasonable for DeRozan, and SI‘s Ben Golliver and Rob Mahoney always put a ton of thought and research into this list, so you can’t accuse them of not having their reasons for ranking players where they do. Best-case scenario: this is motivation for DeRozan to have another big year in Toronto.