The NBA and Toronto Raptors announced Thursday that Raptors rookie guard DeMar DeRozan will face-off against sophomore guard Eric Gordon of the Los Angeles Clippers in a nationally televised slam dunk competition – the NBA All-Star Dunk-In – to determine one of the participants in the Sprite Slam Dunk contest at All-Star Weekend.

DeRozan was taken by the Raptors with the ninth pick in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft. The product of USC has started all 39 games, averaging 7.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in 20.3 minutes.

This one-round dunk-in competition will be held during halftime of the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam on Friday, February 12, and fans will determine the winner by voting via SMS text message and at NBA.com. Voting polls will open at the beginning of the event and close two minutes after the final dunk. The player with a higher percentage of overall votes will advance to participate in the Sprite Slam Dunk event on All-Star Saturday Night. The NBA is scheduled to announce the other three contestants Monday, January 18.

Each participant will have two dunks each, with an one-minute time limit to complete each dunk, with an NBA referee on hand to judge whether a dunk is considered a made or a missed dunk. At the discretion of the referee, television instant replay may be consulted for clarification of rules compliance.

The NBA All-Star Dunk-In will air live on TSN, which will televise the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam (7 p.m. ET) from American Airlines Center in Dallas.

TSN’s coverage of All-Star Weekend will continue Saturday from American Airlines Center in Dallas with All-Star Saturday Night (8 p.m. ET), including the Sprite Slam Dunk contest, and will conclude Sunday from Cowboys Stadium with the 59th NBA All-Star Game (7 p.m. ET).

The Sprite Slam Dunk and T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam are part of NBA All-Star 2010, which also includes the Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout; Taco Bell Skills Challenge; Haier Shooting Stars; NBA All-Star Jam Session presented by adidas; and the 59th NBA All-Star Game.

Wassup Blog Fam? I know I’ve been telling you about my draft videos for a minute, but here’s a video of some of the footage I captured on my flip cam at the 2009 NBA Draft. Check it out and tell me what you think. God Bless.

—T-Will

Fans: Be sure to check out Terrence on Twitter and Facebook.

DeMar: Checking out new Gatorade bottles honoring MJ going to the hall if fame. Pretty sweet. Gotta love Be like Mike. Guy here says those MJ Gatorade bottles are limited and drop in a few weeks. Keep an eye out.

Terrence: Have you seen those new Gatorade MJ bottles? Got an early look an they are SICK. Going to try to get myself a set of all 6.

If you were wondering what exactly they were talking about, here’s a look at the bottles:

Gatorade is introducing the special edition bottles To commemorate Michael Jordan’s induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame in September. You can read more about the special edition bottles here.

AltRaps from Raptors Republic
DeRozan has already experienced somewhat of a rollercoaster ride in Toronto. If there is one thing that always shocks rookies or free agents when they come here is how passionate the fans are. If people hear or see one slight against the city or the country, it’s game over. Prior to DeMar coming to work out for us, there was talk that he had no interest in coming to play in Toronto, so he wasn’t going to accept a workout invitation. He was still looked at as a possible pick, which prompted us to poll our readers asking what to do if he was available at 9. 215 wanted us to draft him anyway, while 106 wanted us to choose someone who “wanted to come here”. Of course, he eventually did come for a solo workout. While here he stated he loved Toronto and it was like a mini NYC. We poll again and, this time, 87% of readers want him over the other 4 possible choices listed by Colangelo. Needless to say, we wanted DeRozan.

During the live draft chat last night, leading up to #9, the feeling was still strong. When his name was announced, the chat went beserk with excitement. Were there detractors? Sure, myself amongst them. Heading into a season where you want to re-sign an allstar, is taking a flyer on a kid that most think will take 2-3 seasons to blossom really that great a move? Then, he twittered about bringing Air Canada back to Toronto and the kid endeared himself to even the hardest of hearts. That one statement alone made it into almost every story today. In a draft where many expected some movement from Raptors brass, we walked away with just one pick, but a pick that has actually fuelled desire for this season to start, whereas a few weeks ago it was looked at with some dread, wondering what Bosh would do.

Personally, I worry for anybody being propped up so high. As stated earlier, we are a passionate city about athletes and we take what media say to heart. If they pump DeMar up to be the second coming of Vince, people will expect that. A few bad showings early on will quickly yield a backlash against him. There are already rumblings that he could be a starter early in the season and I think that might be too much pressure on him. I’d rather see him eased in as the 7th or 8th man and have him show he can provide some promise in small spurts as opposed to stretching him 30-35min a game.

The DeMar era is off to a fantastic start in the eyes of Torontonians. He is the apple of our collective basketball eye and we are hoping he is a solid start to the continued rebuilding of a division champion.

Holly MacKenzie from The Score
They say you have to face your demons to conquer them completely.

As any Canadian knows, the ghost of Vince Carter still haunts Toronto. On June 25th, 2009, Bryan Colangelo made the move with the 9th pick that said “no more.” No more being tripped up on the past, caught up in bitter memories and wishing for what might have been. With the selection of DeMar DeRozan from USC, the Raptors are staring down their VC demons straight on, drafting a player who is just as athletic, just as exciting and certainly as charismatic.

Sometimes before you can move forward, you need to go back.

In this case however, it’s just time to keep it moving. DeMar knows how to do this better than anyone. Growing up in Compton, he has weathered every storm life threw his way. As young boy grew to young man, basketball skills were honed to go along with athleticism that astounded, resulting in a steal at No. 9 with more potential and upside than anyone else in the draft pool this year.

Coming into this season there are a few things the Raptors needed from their draft pick.

The first was athleticism. Anyone who has seen DeMar’s 38.5-inch vertical in action knows that this is a given. The second was a slashing wing who can get to the hoop. He has the explosiveness to leave defenders in the dust and Toronto will learn quickly just how well acquainted he and the rim are. Desperately needing aggressive defenders, DeMar’s long arms and quick feet will serve as the prototype for the type of player Marc Iavaroni wants to mold. Add in a 19 year old that understands the importance of intangibles, little things like rebounding, effort, loose balls and heart and Jay Triano has found his first official protégé.

With a youthful excitement that belies all of the trials and tests he has endured along the way, DeMar DeRozan has made it. What Raptor fans need to know is, making it into the league is only part one of his dream. The second part involves showing and proving that he not only belongs in it, but can shine alongside the best.

In the moment that DeMar slipped on that Toronto Raptors hat with ease, tugging down the brim, face beaming with joy, he found a new home. Just as he embraced the city as a little New York, Toronto Raptors fans embraced their rookie and the beginning of something new — with just a touch of familiarity — was born. No need in looking back, the future is suddenly looking very bright on the other side of the border.

Franchise from RaptorsHQ.com
When DeMar DeRozan’s name was called on draft night, I was slightly annoyed.

Not necessarily because of the pick by the Raptors, although I did prefer Terrence Williams and Jonny Flynn, but because I actually missed the
moment.

Instead, I was frantically pushing my way through the Madison Square Garden faithful to make it to the NBA Media Area.

This was no easy task, as just as I saw an opening in the throng and was about to make my move, Golden State snatched Stephen Curry from the arms of the MSG faithful and well, all hell broke loose.

It wasn’t until after DeMar had been picked that I finally got free to see just who Bryan Colangelo had selected, and a few moments later, I got my chance to speak with the newest Raptor.

As previously mentioned, I wasn’t a huge fan of the DeRozan option at first. Yes, his upside was far superior to anyone else in the draft. But
the same could be said in the past about the likes of Gerald Green, Harold Miner and Rodney White. Statistically, he certainly didn’t jump out, and having scoured the college basketball landscape last season, it was only in his final few games at USC that he truly looked like a player worthy of a lottery pick.

On top of this, the Raptors are currently faced with a situation where if they truly want to keep franchise-piece Chris Bosh, they need to win now, and to do this, need all the help they can get be it via the draft or free-agency. Therefore I wasn’t sure if drafting a player who may take
several years to develop was the best way to address this “win now” mantra.

However upon speaking with DeMar, it’s not hard to see just what the Raptors sees in him as a prospect. He’s very mature, seems dedicated to his craft, and is truly excited about the opportunity presented to him in Toronto. Comparisons to Vince Carter have been bandied about but meeting him off the court, in many ways he seems to be the antithesis of Carter and his “laugh it off as no big deal” demeanor.

In addition, given the team’s current needs at the wing spots, he’ll have plenty of time to get up to speed, and he’s got the athleticsm and drive to help speed up the process.

However as we know, the NBA draft is hardly a sure thing, and perhaps DeRozan never achieves the heights of Carter or McGrady in terms of
on-court performance.

Maybe he doesn’t even become a fan favourite like JYD or Alvin Williams.

But based on what we’ve seen so far, and the fans response to his arrival, he seems to have two feet firmly planted on the right track.

We wish him the best of luck (can’t wait to see him live in Summer League), and who knows, perhaps in a few years fans will have forgotten all about the original Air Canada thanks to DD.

Last night was a big night for Patty Mills, DeMar DeRozan and Terrence Williams. Patty was drafted by the Portland Trailblazers, DeMar was selected by the Toronto Raptors, and Terrence is now a New Jersey Net. Each player is now headed out for press conferences with their respective new teams.

In the next couple of days we’ll be bringing you reaction from each team’s bloggers, as well as behind the scenes footage of the draft from each of the players. Each guy was armed with their own flip cam for draft day, so they probably all have some great behind the scenes footage for us. Congrats again to Patty, DeMar and Terrence for making it to the big leagues.

—RookieChronicles.com Staff

Terrence Williams

DeMar DeRozan

Via DraftExpress