Deuces

Play has been much improved from the 2 spot since mid-February:

DeMar DeRozan

After a slow start to the season (including shooting only 36.7% in January), DeRozan has been playing reasonably well as of late. His true shooting for the period is just a snick above the league SG average. This, of course, isn’t overly exciting for your starter. However, he is getting to the line 5.4 times a game on the season, third most of all “2s” – behind Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade. Since mid-February, he’s getting to the line 6.0 times a game and shooting a robust 81% from the stripe.

The big hole in his game remains his three point shooting. While he was off to a hot start, he has cooled significantly – shooting only 13% since mid February. The good news is he’s not taking many, but he MUST be able to consistently shoot over, say 33%, to remain a solid starter at the 2. The league average SG shoots 35.2% from deep.

Gary Forbes

Gary Forbes has also had a number of very good games once he started to receive consistent minutes (post the Barbosa trade). A true shooting percentage of 55.3% is nicely above the league average SG. (Note: strangely Hoopdata, 82games and Wins Produced – The NBA Geek all list Forbes at a Forward and are assuming Kleiza or Butler were SG in many lineups – I don’t get it). His offensive rebound rate (ORR) of 5.8 is third highest for SG in the league (behind Tony Allen and Dwyane Wade)

Full Season Comparison

While Gary Forbes may not quite have the same spark as Leandro Barbosa, his numbers are remarkedly similar – with the exception of rebounding, where he is much better.

Questions? There is a dedicated to “Statophile Q&A” forum thread here . If you prefer to send questions privately, you’re welcome to email me at tomliston [at] gmail [dot] com or find me on Twitter (@Liston).