The Toronto Raptors have gone 3-2 since their starting shooting guard DeMar DeRozan went down with a torn adductor longus tendon, but the loss won’t spell doom and the Raps and their fans should be optimistic about the team’s outlook going forward without DeRozan. There was some worry that losing your all-star shooting guard could result in a regression to what the Raptors have been in the past. The Raptors sit atop the NBA’s Eastern Conference with a 16-5 record, and while DeRozan is still out indefinitely, there is no reason to panic in Toronto. Here’s three reasons why the Raptors should be able to maintain the pace they have been on since their strongest start in franchise history.
DeMar DeRozan Injury Won’t Spell Doom for Raptors
1) Their Depth
The Raptors boast one of the deepest rosters in the NBA. Their second unit has been a strength for them all season long. The Raptors’ bench currently ranks 9th in points per game among benches in the league, and that number will surely go up in the absence of DeRozan, with more players having to share some of the workload to replace his production. The bench statistics also fail to look at how well certain line-up combinations play together, and the important bench players for Toronto, Greivis Vasquez, Lou Williams, and James Johnson, and Patrick Patterson all fit well when put on the court with the starters. Since DeRozan has been injured, Vasquez has been in the starting line-up. While the two point guard line-up may give up a bit on defense — the Raptors have been giving up over 100 points per game since the injury — it has been effective for Dwane Casey in the past. Vasquez is a starting-quality point guard in the league and has a lot of experience and plays well alongside Lowry. The production from the rest of the bench in added minutes should be more than enough to replace what Derozan was bringing to the table so far this season.
2) DeRozan has been Struggling Early
Another reason the Raptors will be fine while DeMar recovers from his injury, is that he really wasn’t playing all that well to begin with so far this season. He has shot less than 40% from the field and an awful 25% from three point range, while averaging less than 5 rebounds and 3 assists. An issue with DeRozan is that when he isn’t scoring and shooting the ball well, he doesn’t do enough other things at an above average rate. This season he has posted a pedestrian 16.8 PER, and has not played at the all-star level that he is capable of and that we have seen. Comparatively, Lou Williams has been a better offensive player thus far, although his defense and rebounding are not at the level of DeRozan, and with he and Vasquez are playing more minutes at the two guard spot, we have seen their defense struggle. Williams is however shooting better than DeRozan and making a much more efficient 38% of his three point attempts. Increased minutes for James Johnson and Patrick Patterson, who have been much more efficient than DeRozan also, will help the Raps maintain their winning ways. The injury also provides more opportunities for Terrence Ross, who has shown that he is capable of making big shots and scoring the ball effectively. The injury may have a silver lining in the development of Ross’s game.
3) Their Soft Schedule
In the first five games since the injury, the Raptors have played just over .500 basketball, but in the coming weeks, their record should remain on par with where it has been the first month and half of the season. They lost the game against Dallas in which DeRozan initially went down, and followed that up with a pretty bad loss against the Los Angeles Lakers. To be fair, Kobe Bryant always seems to play well against the Raptors and this was no exception. Wins against Sacramento, and Utah were expected, and they lost to Cleveland in a battle of Eastern heavyweights. Last night the Raptors picked up an overtime win over the Denver Nuggets.
Up until Christmas Day, the Raptors will play eight more games. Only two of which are against teams that have winnings records, Cleveland and Chicago. Those two games once again will be measuring sticks for a team that is trying to prove it can play with the elite teams in the league, and the Raptors will be looking to avenge recent losses to both. The should be favored to win the other six games, and if they do would be at 22 wins at Christmas, and ready for a difficult stretch against Western opponents. They are fortunate that they will be able to play some bottom dwelling teams in the next couple weeks to adjust to playing without DeRozan and for Casey to figure out which line-ups are most effective in his absence. Their easy schedule up until Christmas will allow for the Raptors to hopefully build a small cushion between them and the teams behind them in the East without their starting shooting guard.
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