DeRozan is Greatest Raptor All-Time
The Year So Far
Coming off a second all-star berth in his adopted hometown of Toronto and a gold-medal winning summer with team USA, DeMar DeRozan has hit the ground running.
DeRozan was recently named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week after averaging 34.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.3 assists.
He, Lowry, Bosh and Carter are the only Raptors to win it twice and that’s undoubtedly the pantheon of Toronto basketball greats in some order.
He also became the fourth player ever to score 30+ points in 8 of the first 9 games and the first since Michael Jordan in 1986.
In addition to leading the NBA in scoring at 33.2, DeRozan is second in Player Efficiency Rating (PER) which is beyond impressive considering his high volume usage thanks to a ridiculous 51% shooting so far.
“Sometimes you don’t want to do it but a lot of things need to be done when you least want to do them.” @Demar_DeRozan is #NeverFinished. pic.twitter.com/DALcdO6h9i
— Spalding (@Spalding) November 16, 2016
The Quote
“He’s playing with unbelievable confidence and he gets to the line a lot,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr on the prospect of matching up with the league’s leading scorer. “Any good scorer gets to the line a lot and he’s scoring at a high level, making shots, posting up, most nights he seems to have a size advantage using his strength and his body and he’s been brilliant.”
Projecting
It won’t be long until DeRozan officially becomes the longest-tenured Raptor and in the first year of a five-year extension he’ll set an almost unbeatable mark. VIEW ALL DEROZAN STATS.
DeMar is now second all-time in Raptors games played with 531 surpassing Jose Calderon. It will take him 11 more games to pass Morris Peterson for most games in a Raptor uniform.
DeRozan also only needs 792 minutes to pass Bosh for most time spent on the floor. At his current average he’ll need 22 games to pass that mark.
He’s also put the ball in the bucket at a team-best rate needing 139 more made baskets to pass Bosh, and he’ll lead the franchise in attempts even sooner than that. He’s averaging a fairly unsustainable 12.5 baskets per game and if he keeps that up it would only take him 12 more games.
He’s 387 free throws behind Bosh and at 7.7 per game it would take 50 games and happen before season’s end.
In terms of overall points he’s long passed Vince Carter and trails Bosh by just 507 points. At a league-leading 33 points per game he’ll only need another 16 contests to become the franchises all-time leading scorer.
Which is all to say DeRozan will soon be the record-holder of most of the Raptor franchises statistical milestones.
Conclusion
He’s the right player for this team at the right time and his commitment to the organization has been rewarded with a massive $139 million contract.
Where others sulked out or didn’t make their intentions clear to Raptors’ brass nearing the end of their tenure (name names in the comment section!), DeRozan’s commitment has been much-needed for an organization keen to prove they can hold on to their big-name players.
Not only has he delivered on his promise to come back to Toronto and lead this team, he’s playing the best basketball of his career.
With many Raptor milestones sure to fall between now and the end of the season and four more years after that it’s fair to say we’re looking at the greatest Raptor of all-time.
“I am Toronto” was DeRozan’s declaration, and he’s not far off.
