DeRozan first experienced basketball as an artifact on …

DeRozan first experienced basketball as an artifact on videotape. His dad worked for the Compton Cable Company and had access to a dual-tape recording machine. He could insert a VHS tape in one slot and a blank tape in the other and copy the original. He brought home dozens of movies and TV shows and, most importantly, decade-old NBA games to show his son. DeMar sat on the living room floor, surrounded by stacks of tapes, entranced by Magic Johnson and Julius Erving and Alex English. They weren’t relics of the past to him. Somehow, in grainy footage, they felt immediate. Watching their faded glory days was as energizing as a live game. “You just see the passion,” he said. “It felt like research back then. Knowing your history of the game.”

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DeRozan first experienced basketball as an artifact on videotape. His dad worked for the Compton Cable Company and had access to a dual-tape recording machine. He could insert a VHS tape in one slot and a blank tape in the other and copy the original. He brought home dozens of movies and TV shows and, most importantly, decade-old NBA games to show his son. DeMar sat on the living room floor, surrounded by stacks of tapes, entranced by Magic Johnson and Julius Erving and Alex English. They weren’t relics of the past to him. Somehow, in grainy footage, they felt immediate. Watching their faded glory days was as energizing as a live game. “You just see the passion,” he said. “It felt like research back then. Knowing your history of the game.”

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: DeRozan first experienced basketball as an artifact on …