Getty Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan reacts during a game against the Brooklyn Nets.
Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan had his best game in a month on Sunday against the Washington Wizards. In 35 minutes on the floor, the six-time All-Star scored 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting while adding six assists and a pair of steals for good measure.
Meanwhile, the Bulls outscored their opponents by 29 points when DeRozan was in the game — the best mark on the team by a college mile.
So, naturally, reporters had a veritable bonanza of questions for DeRozan following Chicago’s 102-82 win at the United Center. They weren’t the only ones who flanked the baller at his locker, however. Rookie point guard Dalen Terry was there, too, interrupting the scrum to fire off a question of his own.
The question: “Can you sign this for me, please?”
Bulls’ Rookie Dalen Terry Asks DeMar DeRozan to Autograph His Drawing
Dalen asks for DeMar’s autograph on a drawing of his headshot
Their relationship >>>
CHGO Sports’ Will Gottlieb captured video of the exchange between Terry and DeRozan. And to classify the interaction as one for the annals would almost be selling it short.
In the clip (embedded above), you can see DeRozan’s eyes clock the approaching Terry as the fledgling floor general attempts to insert himself into the scrum. Before Terry could utter a word, though, the cagey veteran fired off a preemptive, “Leave me alone.”
Not to be deterred, Terry made his request and then repeated it multiple times in a pleading fashion, even as DeRozan came back with a “Don’t start.” Turns out, the Bulls’ youngest player wanted DeRozan to autograph a drawing he had done of the team’s leading scorer (or, more specifically, of his PR headshot).
In the end, DeRozan reluctantly took the picture and signed it, even as Terry requested that he make out it to his “favorite son” while adding affirmations like “Daddy loves you.”
Of course, DeRozan shares a special relationship with the Bulls’ youth contingent, specifically Terry and former No. 4 overall pick Patrick Williams. Earlier this month, Terry had this to say about his unique bond with the 33-year-old:
Me and Pat are Deebo’s sons. Obviously I’m the youngest one, he calls me the little baby…
He just tries to mess with me… He calls me his baby. He calls me his son. When I’m around him and his actual kids, he refers to me as, ‘go get your brother.’
Just before the All-Star break, the 20-year-old Terry scored a season/career-high 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting and added seven rebounds and six assists during a losing effort against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Bulls Given Wild Descriptor by Analyst
Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale looked at every team in the NBA and attempted to sum up the current state of each club using just one word for a recent feature. And the word he settled on for the Bulls wasn’t exactly complimentary in nature.
Unless you’re of the opinion that chaotic is a nice descriptor. Wrote Favale:
This Chicago Bulls team makes exactly zero sense…
Franchises with more self-awareness and foresight would have stripped down the roster or at least reoriented at the trade deadline. The Bulls fomented more chaos by doing absolutely nothing. In doing so, they committed themselves to a non-direction. They’re just a fringe play-in team wandering along the bottom of the Eastern Conference’s middle.