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DeMar DeRozan is starting over with the Sacramento Kings

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. – When DeMar DeRozan woke up Tuesday morning with his first practice of the 2024-25 NBA season on the horizon, it finally hit him. The six-time NBA All-Star was a real member of the Sacramento Kings.

“Waking up in another (city), driving here, it really hit me,” DeRozan told Andscape after Kings practice on Tuesday. “Everything was just different. Landscape leaving the house. Drive. Realizing that rattling it, I’m trying to recollect learn how to get to the locker room once I get to the arena.

“Everything was so new and fresh that I was just trying to get my head around it. And sometimes it was good. It’s a new feeling. Everything will be new to me for the next few weeks.”

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DeRozan sent shockwaves throughout the NBA when he agreed to a sign-and-trade on July 6 that sent him to the Kings from the Chicago Bulls, forward Harrison Barnes from Sacramento to the San Antonio Spurs and guard Chris Duarte, two second-round picks and money to the Bulls . DeRozan thus signed a three-year contract value $74 million. The 16-year NBA veteran averaged 24 points, 5.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds in 79 regular-season games with Chicago last season.

DeRozan is also from Compton, a suburb of Los Angeles. By signing with the Kings, he has a 90-minute flight away from his five children, mother and other members of the family and family members in Los Angeles. This is the former USC star’s first game west of Texas in his NBA profession, which began in 2009.

“It means a lot to me,” DeRozan said of being in California. “Even one in all my daughters asks on daily basis when she will be able to come over – even a day where she could just come for a day, spend time with me and are available back. Knowing this offers her excitement. This makes me extremely blissful.

“And I definitely look forward to the moments where if something happens, if I get a day off, I can go home, see it and come back the same day. So I’m looking forward to that more than anything.”

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Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown holds a replica of DeMar DeRozan’s book.

Marc J. Spears/Andscape

DeRozan has been busy leading as much as the start of Kings training camp, promoting his book in the United States and Toronto.

DeRozan wrote about his public battle with depression, hoping it might encourage those in must seek help, including African Americans who’re less prone to seek mental health treatment. According to . DeRozan also recently spoke to the NBA’s rookie class and sent each member a replica of his book with a handwritten note.

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“It was definitely a new feeling for me because I had never experienced anything like that before,” DeRozan said of writing the book. “(I) Never expected something like this. It was the first time, but it was good because he even helped me with so many things that I realized that I had to find a way for myself and work on myself to be able to continue as a friend, father and leader. So it was definitely something I challenged myself to do. But it was hard at first.”

Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown asked DeRozan to discuss his “phenomenal” book before the first practice of the season. DeRozan spoke for about 10 minutes. Holding a replica of the book, Brown told the media after practice that each Kings player also received a replica.

Brown said mental health issues are an actual problem amongst African Americans. According to McLean Hospital in 2024, roughly 25% of African Americans are in search of mental health in comparison with 40% of white Americans. Suicide is the third commonest reason for death in 2024 for Black men ages 15 to 24, in line with the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

“He talked to the team about his thought process in writing the book,” Brown said. “During the game, he also told the team why he did it. It’s all about him and letting people know that everybody has had problems. Even though they play in the NBA, they’re still human and undergo ups and downs in life similar to you or anyone else. And it’s okay to be vulnerable whenever you’re going through (life)…

“That’s why the key words for me were ‘be vulnerable.’ In our (African American) community, you don’t cry, you don’t go to the doctor. And that’s a stigma. For him to open it up and talk to our group today and have it in the book is an amazing thing to be a part of.”

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Chicago Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan plays against the Miami Heat during an NBA playoff game at the Kaseya Center on April 19.

Sam Navarro/USA TODAY Sports

DeRozan is a proven scorer and is known for enjoying closer games. After practice, Brown told the media that he was also pleasantly surprised with his passing skills. Brown and Kings guard De’Aaron Fox also was impressed with DeRozan’s patience and efficiency when attempting to rating.

“He’s not just a scorer, he’s a basketball player,” Brown said. “I let you know, a few of the passes he made (Tuesday), I didn’t think I used to be going to get there a few times. But he never panicked when he played. He played at his own pace. He acted fast when he desired to act fast. He walked slowly when he desired to go slowly.

“He kept the defense off balance. And when someone was open, he made the right pass… The luxury of having another guy who knows how to play, who can pass, dribble and shoot – and more importantly, wants to pass – that will help us be a little more dynamic on the offensive side of the pitch.”

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Fox said: “He attracts loads of attention, especially when he has the ball. Even though he’s getting all this attention, he’s still capable of get to his spots and still put the ball in the basket. And when three or 4 guys go down, you get loads of open shots.

In addition to DeRozan, the Kings have a talented lineup that features two-time center Domantas Sabonis and Fox, a 2023 All-Star. The Kings even have a possible rising star in third-year forward Keegan Murray and proven veteran scorers Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk. The Kings broke a 17-year playoff drought by making the 2023 playoffs, but didn’t secure a return to the postseason during last season’s NBA Play-in Tournament.

The Western Conference is stuffed with potential rivals: the Dallas Mavericks, 2023 NBA champion Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors. But DeRozan says the Kings have the talent to make the Western Conference Finals. The Kings have not played in the Western Finals since 2002.

“The passion, the drive of the coaching staff, from the players to the fan base, from top to bottom,” DeRozan said. “The guys wish to win. You saw where they were two years ago. The talent that they had there and even last 12 months before the injuries. Everything is possible. I believe the way we worked (Tuesday), the confidence the guys have and the way I’m approaching this summer, going into this season, has given me the most confidence.

DeMar DeRozan shows up Good morning America, Breakfast Club AND First shot to debate your recent book, Above the Noise: My Story of Pursuit of PeaceSeptember 11 in New York.

Evan Yu/NBAE via Getty Images

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Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, who turns 39 in December, enters the season as the profession scoring leader and the league’s oldest energetic player. DeRozan is not yet one in all the oldest energetic NBA players – he is already 35 years old, but he is the oldest player of the Kings team and only one in all two players over 30 years old (Alex Len, 31 years old).

DeRozan has played not less than 74 games in each of the last three seasons. In his fifteenth season in the NBA, he also played the highest number in the league: 2,989 minutes and 37.8 minutes per game. Thanks to James’ words of wisdom on his offseason training plan, DeRozan hopes to have one other healthy season with loads of minutes in Sacramento.

“I’m grateful that I continue to do what I do at a high level,” DeRozan said. “I’m proud and I need to be unique and break this age barrier where people keep saying I’m old and slowing down. Last 12 months I led the league in minutes (per game) and I desired to play more. As for me, I just keep in great shape. I maintain my body. I get enough rest. I do nothing but loosen up with my children and jump.

“It means loads to me that I’m still playing. I like the guys who’ve played at a high level for thus long. I take a look at a man like Bron (James). It’s amazing what he does and the way he does so well. He takes care of himself. I remember one evening that summer we were playing cards and he was working on himself. This just goes to indicate why he has been playing for thus long. It’s amazing. So just steal stuff like that because you wish to have longevity and play at a high level, so other people feel that when you maintain yourself, you may play so long as you wish.

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DeRozan shall be 38 years old when his contract with the Kings expires. But will he play until he’s forty? Well, that is where he drew the line.

“No,” DeRozan said with a smile.

Marc J. Spears is Andscape’s senior NBA author. He used to find a way to dunk on you, but he hasn’t been capable of do it for years and his knees still hurt.

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Jalen Milroe can follow the Jalen path in NFL

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Star Black playmakers aren’t any longer an exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the entire football season, this series will discover the importance and influence of black QB from bottom -up to NFL.


Indianapolis-keep me, should you heard it earlier: playmaker Alabama born in Texas, who’s a stronger runner than a passerby, will probably be called outside the first round of the NFL Draft.

The playmaker was undefeated in Sec as a primary -year starter.

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The playmaker never played for the same offensive coordinator.

The name of the playmaker is even Jalen.

But it isn’t clear that Jalen hurts. This winter he was busy winning the Super Bowl MVP, and he didn’t play Iron Bowl or against Michigan.

Instead, it’s a former playmaker of Crimson Tide Jalen Milroewho last week Combine Combine tried to convey the case to the trainers and evaluators that he – like his namesake – is price being their playmaker franchise in the future despite questions on his ability.

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“I went through adversity. I saw everything as a quarterback, “Milroe said on Friday. “I played at the most difficult conference in the country. It would be easier to play at other conferences, but what I could see in Sec catapulted me that I was ready to play NFL. “

Alabama, Jalen Milroe, talks to the media during the NFL mix at the Lucas Oil stadium on February 28 at Indianapolis.

Justin Casterline/Getty Images

Departing from Katy in Texas, she originally got involved in Texas in 2019, but a 12 months later she fell to Alabama. After he was sitting behind the Crimson Tide Starter Bryung for 2 seasons, Milroe took his reins in the 2023 season. He helped Alabama survive Sec (8-0) this 12 months, won by the conference rival and two-time defender Georgia in the SEC championship, which caused Crimson Tide to the play-off collection.

But while Milroe had a big arm (his 10 yards for the test took third place in Sec in 2023), the pass was not his strong suit. For two seasons as a starter Milroe never achieved 3000 yards in one season, the first starter of Alabama, who did it because it … hurts.

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Hurts, from Houston, led Crimson Tide to the National National Championships in 2016–17, but during these two seasons were lower than 5,000 yards. While Hurts was a singular Rusher (1,809 yards and 21 sticks) at the moment, his weakness as a passerby is known for led to the spare Tua Tavailoa during the break of the national championships in 2017.

In the mix, Milroe decided that despite his pedestrian passes, he was still worthy of being a start at NFL.

He is aware of his weaknesses and swore that he worked in the ass to enhance outside being “one dimension.” He could move when his legendary trainer, Nick Saban, retired after the 2023 season, but decided to not fall off. He traveled six miles a day to ensure that that something was left in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter. He studied progression and reads after I-SNAP to lift his IQ in football.

Unlike the forecast sorts of the first round, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, Milroe threw a mix on Saturday, hoping that he would show the bands that he has mechanics to do that to the playmaker NFL. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Milroe showed strong arm strength and a very good location of sail routes, curls and it while throwing exercises, but fought accuracy on intermediate and on the routes.

“That’s so many things that I can learn more where I am today and where I will be when it comes to day 1, starting with NFL,” said Milroe before Saturday exercises. “Always be a game student, at all times attempt to develop, because it would be so many opportunities in which I can look back and say that it was the moment after I grew up as a playmaker.

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“That’s right now, I’m just trying to grow as much as possible, put my best foot forward and just look for development.”

Jalen Milroe warms up during seniors training at the Hancock Whitney stadium on January 29 at Mobile, Alabama.

Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images

Milroe was asked that he was one other playmaker in Alabama to succeed in the mix, following in the footsteps of the role (who moved to Oklahoma in 2019), Tavailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young. Milroe said he appreciates being in the company of others, but he added that it’s difficult to check him with others.

“We had different bands, we had different players around us, we had a different system,” he said.

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But when he specifically asked what he could study the journey of Hurts-from the first manager of the game after the super Bowl-Milroe master said he inspired him his companion Alabam.

“The most important thing I learned from J. Hurts is how he kept his head (I) always continued to work,” said Milroe. “He at all times raised his game, he has never been self -deserved, and all the pieces you see is great progress from him.

“And I have to applaud him as a person, he as a man, because he is definitely inspiring for many playmakers of my image, as well as many playmakers throughout the country. He leads to all of us. “

The couple isn’t completely similar. Hurts had about 20 kilos on Milroe when he was in college. Milroe has a stronger arm, while Hurts played more and not using a mistake of football: Milroe threw 17 interceptions and ate 67 bags for 2 seasons as a starter in comparison with 10 captures Hurts and 43 bags.

But they can each be changing the game when their teams need them. In a highly publicized match against Georgia at the starting of the last season, Milroe finished almost 82% of his passes on 374 yards and two appointments, adding 117 yards to the ground for the next two results.

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Milroe can also match the wounds in the so -called “Jalen-ISMS. “

“Climbing upstairs is not easy, but when you reach the top of this mountain, you will learn so many things when it comes to adversity when it comes to difficulties, things along the way,” said Milroe in a mix.

Martenzie Johnson is an older author for Andcape. His favorite film moment is that Django said: “You all want to see something?”

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Like Tommie Smith and John Carlos from 1968. Black Power Salute inspired me to find my goal

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I’d say that I grew up within the household to be sure that that me and my siblings were aware of the black history. My parents invested in the gathering of black encyclopedias. On the duvet we had a version of the Bible with Black Jesus. Our house was stuffed with books of black novelists and thinkers, and if a black document appeared, we watched it. I watched all movies made on television about Dr. King, each “Roots” and “Alex Haley’s Queen” and I sat for all 14 hours “Eyes on the reward”-as a toddler. Bless my heart.

Having said this, there have been pockets of black history, and more likely that I had no opportunity to delve into once I was a toddler. The college was where all the will for information and understanding of the combined. I attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., One of a very powerful historically black universities within the country. It was there that I met people from around the globe whose knowledge about black history differed (often depending on the colleges and the communities by which we lived), but everyone had hunger to learn more.

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One day, through the first yr, I remember one among my friends in a T -shirt by which I had definitely seen before, but I never paid attention to. There was a black and white screen printing on the shirt (what I do know now) the enduring moment on the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, where on the rostrum for 200-meter medals, Tommie Smith, John Carlos (races 1. And 3. Place Finaners) Everyone gathered a black fist in gloves while he played “Star Spangled Banner”. Peter Norman, the second place from Australia, wore a human rights badge, like Smith and Carlos.

Not only did they raise the fist of black power (although they each said it was for human rights), they received medals in black socks to represent poverty within the black community, and Smith wore a black scarf for black pride. Carlos showed solidarity with blue-wheeled employees, unpacking the jacket and wore a necklace from the beads for individuals who were lynched. Due to the state of Black America in 1968 and a continuing struggle for equality and civil rights, there have been calls to a boycott of the Games. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also killed in April this yr – and all three athletes were inspired enough to find a way to do it on the rostrum, which led to one of the crucial durable images of public protest.

I remember how I learned history and realized that on the most important scene these brave men used their moment of triumph and victory to quietly protest against the conditions of underrated communities in America. I felt strengthened; We often discuss standing on the arms of giants, however the more I got into the history of black in America, the more I spotted what number of giants there have been. In college I used to be very bad and for a while ready to burn every part that represented the establishment or any obstacle to black liberation. I felt like all those individuals who even saw their space on the planet in reference to individuals who could never give you the option to speak as heroes whose lives were to be modeled later. Especially since it was also fastidiously that putting people in front of him can often bring an enormous personal loss.

When Smith and Carlos took their position, they were booed on the stadium and ordered to be sent home by the International Olympic Committee. The athletes returned home, but they weren’t welcomed by the hero, but as a substitute of rough sleds, and even in some cases the specter of death. They were also not beloved by athletes. Two men, associated eternally in history, even have a good relationship –Carlos even claims that he let Smith go within the race Because “Tommie Smith would never put his fist in the sky if I won this race,” the claim that Smith denies.

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History ultimately has a way of rights, but it surely took a few years and realizations on the front of social policy, in order that the actions of those persons are perceived as brave and needed, not only selfish and smug.

The lessons that I learned from College and continuous reading and education I gained (my head remained within the book about black history) were one among the best advantages in HBCU. The very variety of books I learned about about which I actually have never heard of – I actually have upheld me all my life.

That is why I remember sooner or later I used to be walking around Washington, the eastern Washington market and a street seller was selling different photos of moments in black history, and he had a 40 -inch photo within the Tommie Smith and John Carlos frame. I paid for it in money and spent it across the capital of the country until I returned home. I do know that it happened in 2005 (I finished Morehouse College in 2001) because I just moved to my first apartment with no roommate and it was the very first thing that I actually have ever suspended on the wall. This picture within the frame still hangs on the wall in my home in 2025 and I used it to teach my children about sacrifice and privilege and how you may have to discuss individuals who cannot.

Teenage students of Stax Music Academy Mark 25th anniversary, black history month with a concert

The query that my youngest children often ask: “How do I know who can’t speak for herself?” Which is an incredible query. For this I answered an easy fact, pointing to the photo:

“These men have made a gesture that gave people whose most of us, including them, would never see or never know them, but on which life negatively affects the alternatives of the wealthy and the federal government. Sometimes you may have to take this chance to say something because you do not know in the event you’ll ever have such a big platform.

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Son, there may be at all times someone who cannot speak for himself, and you may have to use it in a voice, because perhaps the thing you say or a stand that can help someone you understand, live a greater life. ”

I take advantage of words that may understand a little bit higher, but I can inform you that my children have a look at this photo on a regular basis, and once one among my sons said: “These guys are heroes, right?”

I say yes, they’re. They are the heroes of the Black History.

They will live eternally for speaking, and even quietly, in solidarity with those that couldn’t.

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Panama Jackson Thegrio.com

(Tagstranslate) @Ap

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Main Treasury Official Morgan State University, Sterling Steward, died

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Morgan State University, Sterling Steward


Morgan State University announced that his older associate athletics director and tax director, Sterling Steward, died.

No reason for death was disclosed, but the college has confirmed his contribution since he was employed in December 2022.

Steward died on February 26. In Morgan State he was accountable for the event of university programs, supporting partnerships and strengthening the financial and operational success of the Faculty.

“Sterling was more than a colleague-he was a respected leader, mentor and friend,” said in a written statement by Den Freeman-Patton, vice chairman and director of inter-university athletes. “His passion for athletics and commitment to raising Morgan programs were visible in everything he did. He worked tirelessly to ensure that our sports students had resources and the possibilities of distinction, and its impact will be felt for many years. We expand our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, especially his three sons and sister when we mourn this huge loss. “

While the steward worked in Morgan, strategic growth and cooperation occurred. His work with the institutional development department helped to offer more opportunities and created lasting relationships to support sports programs.

Steward earlier he worked At the University of New Orleans (UNO) as an assistant to the college athletics director for strategic income generation. He also made stays on the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Savannah State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Kentucky State University, Eastern Oregon University and Xavier University in various roles, including for a senior consultant athletics director and sports director.

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He was from New Orleans, who received the title of bachelor and master’s degree on the University of Southern Mississippi. He won a bachelor’s degree in the sphere of coaching and administration/history of sport and his master’s degree in the sphere of sport management.

(Tagstransate) Morgan State Universiry

This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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