I finally just set up a template for these posts, and it didn’t take long for it to come in handy. DeMar DeRozan, eater of worlds, hunter of Bucks, changer of work flows.
Anyway, DeMar DeRozan has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, the Toronto Raptors announced Monday. Again.
This one is for the week ending Jan. 7, which saw DeRozan lead the Raptors to a 3-0 week and break the franchise record for scoring in a game with 52 points. DeRozan followed that 52-point, 8-assist game against Milwaukee up with 35 points against Chicago and then a “quiet” 20-5-4 in a rematch with the Bucks he only needed to play 29 minutes of because the Raptors ran away with things. All told, he averaged 35.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, six assists, and two steals for the week, shooting 55.7 percent overall, 55 percent on 6.7 3-point attempts per-game, and 93.3 percent on 10 free-throws per-game. He was also a plus-38 in 106 minutes.
It’s already DeRozan’s third Player of the Week honor this season, the most in the conference and tied with James Harden for the most in the league so far. More notably, it’s the eighth time DeRozan’s won the award in his career, pushing him past Chris Bosh and Vince Carter for the most in franchise history. Just another line in the Raptors’ recordbook DeRozan has decided to re-write in his own image.
For the season, DeRozan is now averaging 25 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.9 assists, just off the vaunted 25-5-5 mark. He’s shooting nearly a career-best from the floor (48.7 percent), shooting a larger portion of his shots from long-range than ever before (17.9 percent), hitting them at the highest clip of his career (36.8 percent), and still getting to the line at an elite rate (.45 attempts per field-goal). Add all of that efficient scoring up and DeRozan has the best true-shooting percentage of his career at 58.9 percent, has his best PER (24.2) if that stat is your thing, and is posting career-best assist (23.8 percent) and steal (1.8 percent) rates just for good measure. He’s significantly trimmed his turnovers since earlier in the year, too, back down to the stingy 10 percent mark that he’s hovered around most of his career.
Here's an up-to-date look at the most efficient offensive players in the @NBA. Lots of movement on both lists as Stephen Curry reclaims the top spot as the league's most efficient scorer. pic.twitter.com/IpEVnZEWw9
— Synergy Basketball (@SynergySST) January 4, 2018
Advanced metrics are enjoying DeRozan’s career year as much as more basic stats. He’s blowing away his previous best for Win Shares per-48 minutes, Box Plus-Minus, and Real Plus-Minus, and the Raptors are totaling teams when he’s on the court (plus-8.3). He ranks eight in total Win Shares, 20th in BPM-Wins, 21st in projected wins created by Blend Rating, and 27th in RPM-Wins. In other words, there’s no longer any room for the (needless) arguing about whether DeRozan’s always robust stats have an impact on the Raptors’ actual performance.
Here's an up-to-date look at the @NBA landscape. The Celtics have emerged as the league's top defensive unit with the NBA All-Star Game a little over 1 month away. pic.twitter.com/V4bVKCl169
— Synergy Basketball (@SynergySST) January 8, 2018
DeRozan ranked second among East guards in the first All-Star voting returns and figures to be an obvious All-Star selection, whether through the vote or as a coach-selected reserve. That fourth selection would put him just one behind Carter and Bosh as Raptors, too. (The same would go for Kyle Lowry, who is doing much worse in the voting and whose counting stats pop less this year but who remains a fairly obvious All-Star by most advanced metrics.)
