Working by Fifties-era family clichés, DeMar DeRozan is the on-court dad of the Toronto Raptors.
While the team has been on an individual-by-individual tear so far this year, DeRozan's been the exception. He's taken a slight dip in form.
His greatest influence has been as a disruptor – creating opportunities for others – and through his reassuring presence. He's there to make everyone feel safe.
That would mean Kyle Lowry is the mom. He's the one who makes sure people are in the right place at the right time. When it all goes to hell, Lowry is the one who fixes it.
The pair of them aren't just the heart of the Raptors family, they're all the vital organs. Without them, this team is stripped of its swagger and leadership and gets bullied on a nightly basis.
This is why DeRozan's absence for the next little while isn't a blessing in disguise, it's a blessing, full stop.
DeRozan tore a tendon in his groin over the weekend. It's the first serious knock of his professional career.
It's a tricky sort of injury. It's not pernicious. It shouldn't stalk him for months like a hamstring, but the timetable for return varies a great deal. The Raptors are currently saying there's no estimate. Behind the scenes, club officials expect they'll have to do without DeRozan for the middling amount – a month.
Since this is a Toronto-based team we're talking about, let's get the local ghost story out of the way straight off – there isn't going to be any playoff collapse in our future.
The East was scary bad last year. The Hawks got in with 38 wins. It's worse now. Forty-five victories would've got you the Atlantic Division, and that's worse this season by several amplifications.
If Toronto plays .450 basketball from here until April, it wins the Atlantic and takes home court into the first round of the playoffs. If the Raptors get beyond that, we're into unmapped territory. So why worry?
The regular season should still be a lot of fun, but it doesn't really matter any more. Its only function is as preparation for the postseason. Everything has to be viewed through that lens.
DeRozan is young and tough, but he's already got a lot of hard miles on him. He's led the team in minutes played – and by huge margins – for the past four seasons. He spends the off-season working out like he's got exercise-based OCD.
The salutary results have shown in his game, but there's been no pause built in for rest. This coming month might be the most sedentary in DeRozan's life since infancy.
From the perspective of April and beyond, that's a good thing. He'll have ample time to consider his currently stalled progress, rather than try bulling his way through it. He can watch tape, listen to wise counsel, sit quietly in a corner and ruminate. He'll have time to begin really thinking about basketball.
At 25, DeRozan is reaching the point every fully arrived star eventually gets to – when the game begins to tilt away from the physical and toward the mental. This can be the start of of that.
He'll have plenty of time to work himself back into top form once he returns.
The enforced absence also gives the team a chance to let go of the pool's edge and see what the deep water feels like.
It isn't a simple function of who starts where in DeRozan's place. It's a mathematic question. How does coach Dwane Casey split up DeRozan's nightly minutes (33), shots (16) and – hopefully – free-throw attempts (eight) amongst the squad?
Meet the beast with many heads. James Johnson gives them the energy, defence and smoulder. Lou Williams takes the shots. Greivis Vasquez unbalances opponents with his lunging style. Tyler Hansbrough provides his Tyler Hansbroughness.
All of them together can mimic the constituent parts of DeRozan's game. Nobody can replace him.
Because without DeRozan, this is an entirely different team. It's something much less. And therein lies the opportunity.
This is a month in which Casey and general manager Masai Ujiri can re-evaluate everything they're thinking going forward. Take DeRozan off the floor, and everyone else is exposed. You can ask yourself a lot of searching, short-term questions under that sort of pressure.
How close is Terrence Ross? Can Jonas Valanciunas be a pillar, rather than an escape valve? Is Williams for real? What's Patrick Patterson's ceiling? Is Johnson ready to lead? Can Vasquez handle the pressure of being a regular and a go-to?
These are all issues that DeRozan, Raptor Dad, obscured. As good as he is, his greatest talent might be camouflaging his teammates' shortcomings. Now they have to deal with them – metaphorical children becoming men.
Based on what happens, Casey can decide whom he really trusts, and let him tinker with combinations so that he can protect DeRozan for the rest of the regular season. Ujiri can decide whether he needs to add or subtract before the deadline.
The faddish line in today's NBA is that execs are always seeking better information. DeRozan's absence provides the Raptors with a data dump.
This also has major ramifications for the future. DeRozan is an untouchable going forward. He's earned it with his play and loyalty. At the end of the 2015/16 season, he gets a max contract. It's as good as done.
Everyone else is on some sort of bubble. So who do you like? Who proved they were more than their numbers at a time of need? Bottom line: Who wanted to take the bit?
Under Ujiri, the Raptors are thinking three, five, seven years out. DeRozan may be the only consistent thing through all of that time.
Still, it's a fickle business. Things change fast.
A smart manager doesn't just want to know what the operation performs with his top employee bossing the show. He needs to know how it will stand up without him.
Cathal Kelly