DeMar DeRozan was named an all-star starter for the first time in his career. He’s been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week a Raptors-record four times. He’s had six games of 40 or more points. And he’s been a reliable, big-minutes presence for a Toronto Raptors team that’s won despite injury and some ugly stretches of play.
The high-volume shooting guard is also posting career highs in points, rebounds, field-goal and free-throw attempts, and player efficiency rating.
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It goes without saying he’s having a great season, and likely his best to date.
But where does it rank among the best individual seasons in franchise history?
Since the Raptors’ inaugural year in 1995–96, there have been four seasons recognized with All-NBA selections: Vince Carter in 1999–00 and 2000–01 (third- and second-team, respectively), Chris Bosh in 2006–07 (second) and Kyle Lowry in 2015–16 (third).
Lets compare DeRozan’s current season to the ones mentioned above to see where he stacks up in a few different categories (chart functionality courtesy of Sportsnet’s Naoko Asano; click on the top of each column to re-sort by stat).
TRADITIONAL STATS
| PTS/G | REB/G | AST/G | ST/G | BLK/G | FG% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeMar DeRozan, 2016–17 | 27.2 | 5.3 | 3.8 | 1.1 | 0.2 | .467 |
| Kyle Lowry, 2015–16 | 21.2 | 4.7 | 6.4 | 2.1 | 0.4 | .427 |
| Vince Carter, 2000–01 | 27.6 | 5.5 | 3.9 | 1.5 | 1.1 | .460 |
| Vince Carter, 1999–00 | 25.7 | 5.8 | 3.9 | 1.3 | 1.1 | .465 |
| Chris Bosh, 2006–07 | 22.6 | 10.7 | 2.5 | 0.6 | 1.3 | .496 |
This is incredibly close. DeRozan is having the second-highest points-per-game season in franchise history with 27.2, and it’s just 0.4 points off Carter’s mark from 2000–01.
But that Carter season also boasts a steal and a block per game, and more rebounds and assists than DeRozan’s current one. Carter also took far more threes (5.3 per game compared to 1.7), which accounts for his lower field-goal percentage.
Lowry (high-water marks in steals and assists, as you’d expect) and Bosh (ditto with rebounds, by a mile) put up great numbers, but they’re not quite as solid across the board as those from Carter’s signature season.
Edge: 2000–01 Vince Carter
ADVANCED STATS
| PER | WS/48 | TS% | ORtg | DRtg | BPM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeMar DeRozan, 2016–17 | 24.0 | .166 | .552 | 113 | 110 | 0.9 |
| Kyle Lowry, 2015–16 | 22.2 | .196 | .578 | 115 | 104 | 6.8 |
| Vince Carter, 2000–01 | 25.0 | .208 | .551 | 114 | 104 | 7.0 |
| Vince Carter, 1999–00 | 25.7 | .182 | .543 | 112 | 105 | 4.6 |
| Chris Bosh, 2006–07 | 22.6 | .174 | .577 | 112 | 104 | 2.6 |
This is where the argument for DeRozan takes a hit — largely because advanced stats really don’t speak well of his efforts on the defensive end.
(And if Lowry’s current season hadn’t been cut short by injury, which effectively disqualifies him from these grander conversations, DeRozan wouldn’t even be having the best individual advanced-stats season on the 2016–17 Raptors.)
In the chart above, DeRozan finishes last among his award-worthy peers in win shares per 48 minutes, defensive rating and Box Plus Minus.
On the other hand, PER — a stat that took a long time to come around on DeRozan as it rated him below league average the first four seasons of his career — has him in the middle of the pack.
Meanwhile, however, Carter’s 2000–01 season claims top spot in PER along with WS/48, BPM and even tied for top spot in DRtg.
Edge: 2000–01 Vince Carter
ACCOLADES
| ECF POW | ECF POM | ASG | ASG START | ALL NBA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeMar DeRozan, 2016–17 | 4 | 0 | √ | √ | TBD |
| Kyle Lowry, 2015–16 | 2 | 1 | √ | √ | 3rd |
| Vince Carter, 2000–01 | 1 | 0 | √ | √ | 2nd |
| Vince Carter, 1999–00 | 2 | 0 | √ | √ | 3rd |
| Chris Bosh, 2006–07 | 2 | 1 | √ | √ | 2nd |
DeRozan’s four Eastern Conference Player of the Week awards stand out here, but so does his lack of a Player of the Month award. That said, given the fact that he just won a weekly award in March the monthly one has to be at least a little bit in play.
DeRozan’s stats in March: 24.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists on 46.5–per cent shooting. Nice stats, but not quite as nice as Boston guard Isaiah Thomas‘s (27.1/4.7/1.8/46.5%).
Also, the Raptors are tied for fifth-best record in the East in the month with Miami (behind the Bucks, Celtics and Wizards), so DeRozan will likely need a strong individual showing versus Charlotte and Indiana as well as a couple wins to have a shot.
That said, given the fact many expected Toronto to fall off a cliff without Lowry, many voters may grade on a curve and give DeRozan double credit for the success his team did have in March.
The other thing still in play is the all-NBA team spot. Given the fact that DeRozan shares a position with Russell Westbrook and James Harden, first-team is just not a possibility.
That leaves four spots (two second-team and two third-team) for a glut of deserving guards on playoff-bound teams, including: DeRozan, Thomas, Stephen Curry, John Wall, Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard.
So while second-team is a possibility, third-team isn’t exactly a guarantee. Somebody’s going to get screwed here.
As for the other Raptors seasons we’re looking at, Bosh’s 2006–07 season is in the lead due to the fact that it ticks every box while edging Lowry’s 2015–16 season by nabbing a second-team spot over the latter’s third-team.
But as noted above in the DeRozan discussion, this thing isn’t over.
Edge: Bosh/TBD
TEAM SUCCESS
| TEAM WIN% | |
|---|---|
| Kyle Lowry, 2015–16 | .683 |
| DeMar DeRozan, 2016–17 | .608 |
| Vince Carter, 2000–01 | .573 |
| Chris Bosh, 2006–07 | .573 |
| Vince Carter, 1999–00 | .549 |
It felt like this was worth noting, but so many other factors play into team success that it shouldn’t get an equal share in overall voting. Still, Lowry deserves credit for his role in the franchise’s all-time-best 56-win season in 2015–16.
Edge: Lowry
FINAL VERDICT
As impressive as he’s been, DeRozan isn’t having the Raptors’ best individual regular season ever… yet. For the moment, that title belongs to 2000–01 Vince.
But there are still seven games to go, and if DeRozan finishes as hot as he started — through the season’s first seven games he was averaging 34.1 points on 53.3–per cent shooting — anything’s possible.