DeMar DeRozan enjoyed a career year for the Toronto Raptors last season and solidified himself as one of the best scorers in the league.

He averaged a career-high 27.3 points and led the Raptors to the second round of the playoffs.

Putting up those huge offensive numbers didn't come as a surprise to many people but the manner in which it came definitely did.

Throughout his career, DeRozan has always been reluctant to shoot three-pointers and he very rarely attempted them last year.

He was arguably the most lethal mid-range shooter last season and did most of his damage from the spot where he was most comfortable on the floor, as well as the free-throw line.

But with the current NBA being dominated by the three-ball, the Toronto star made the decision to work on his outside game during the summer and his team has been reaping the rewards this campaign.

It made sense for the shooting guard to expand his game and add another weapon to his arsenal to be able to spread the floor and create more scoring opportunities.

So far this year, he’s attempting 3.2 per game and making 1.2 — which are both career highs, according to Basketball-Reference.

In an interview with Michael Pina of VICE Sports, the three-time All-Star said he made the decision to take more threes to help his teammates on the court.

“If Kyle runs a screen-and-roll, him and JV [Jonas Valanciunas], my man’s gotta make a decision. Are you gonna leave me now or are you gonna go help?” DeRozan said.

“So it gives us opportunities to be able to get an easy screen and roll to the big, a dump off pass, so I think it’s more so for everybody else as well. That’s me wanting to be better not just for myself but for my teammates as well.”

This is backed up by his career-high five assists per game which shows that he's willing to feed the open man when he draws the attention of the defence.

It'll be interesting to see if the 28-year-old continues to let shots fly from beyond the arc but head coach Dwayne Casey certainly thinks so.

“He’s always had the green light to [shoot threes] but he always had that crutch of getting to his sweet spot. But now he’s more comfortable,” Casey told VICE Sports.

“Right now teams probably don’t think it’s for real. But I’ve seen enough in practice and in summer times working with him to know that this is for real, and he’s got to continue to do it.”

The team has benefited from it hugely as they are second in the east with a 29-12 record and are looking like a legitimate threat to the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers.