We’re back with part 2 of the Raptors Player Stock Game. We left off last week with the final breakdown for all of the starters. To see those breakdowns and to get a full refresher of the rules and what the hell is going on here, check out Part 1.
Cory Joseph:
Cory Joseph’s consistent job of leading the bench unit has masked to a degree his second half regression in shooting. The emergence of Norman Powell and the return of Terrence Ross’ confidence have also both contributed to a big reduction in 4th quarter minutes for the Joseph-DeRozan-Lowry lineup that we saw a bunch of earlier in the season. When Joseph’s surging stock price hit it’s mid-season high of $20 it was due in large part to some gaudy 3 point shooting numbers. I was buying CoJo stock in bulk because I believed in that shot. Oops. Joseph’s jumper came crashing hard back down to Earth, as he finished the season shooting 27% from deep, the worst mark since his rookie season. His drives to the rim help buoy the bench offense and he’s contributed with 3 assists and nearly 1 steal per game to go along with 8.5 points per game, but just as the market overreacted to his strong first half, it’s going to swing back the other way in overcorrecting.
Old Price: $20 New Price: $12
Terrence Ross:
This whole silly game started out of the idea that, when seemingly everyone in Raptorland was out hard on Ross in the summer and even more so early on in the year, I was calmly holding on to all of my Terrence Ross stock. I made a game for the entire roster and wrote 4 articles all out of the initial desire to be heard on record that I still had faith in Ross. VINDICATION! Your boy was right about your boy Ross, and if you played this stupid little game all season and kept ahold of—or even better—bought Ross stock, you made make-believe money. Woohoo! Ross closed the season shooting 39% from deep and a career high 43% from the floor. He transformed from tentative to shoot in the first quarter of the season to being a borderline gunner for the second unit. He’s increased his minutes down the stretch, especially his time on the floor late in games with Lowry and DeRozan in the absent Carroll’s spot. If not for the emergence of Powell, Ross would have probably played even more. Ross has been driving to the basket, looking for his own shot off the dribble and been the most assertive that we’ve probably ever seen him in a Raptors uniform night in and night out. He’s scored more points this season on less shots in fewer minutes than a season ago. He’s not an all-star, but he’s gotten better and been reliable. The market rewards reliability.
Old Price: $8 New Price: $18
James Johnson:
Well, the voices clamoring for JJ to play and decrying Casey for not giving him minutes have really gone away. Johnson saw some opportunity with Carroll out of the lineup for so long and he just never looked quite as engaged as a year ago. His 3-point shot was better this season, but at 30%, you’re not exactly celebrating that. His 48% from the floor was solid, but his 57% from the FT line was a subsequent let down. Johnson demonstrated himself this season to be a matchup guy. He’s someone you can take a chance on if you need something off the bench, but you don’t want to rely on him for something meaningful. He can still get to the rim seemingly at will with his methodical half speed drives and he contributes. But he’s not playing with the starters because he’s been notably outplayed by Powell and Ross. He’s battled injuries this season, and maybe that’s why he hasn’t looked like the guy that had comment sections on fire last season, but injuries matter in the stock game.
Old Price: $7 New Price: $5
Bismack Biyombo:
Biyombo continues to be a steal at his price in both real life and this nonsense exercise. He’s averaging career highs in both points and rebounds with 5.5 and 8. Teams have gradually started to figure out how he squeezes the Raptors’ spacing on offense, but he’s also turned into a real rim-running pick and roll weapon. His defense continues to be an important force, he’s been better with his fouls and he gets fouled more going for offensive rebounds than anyone I can remember ever having seen before. If you bought in on what you saw in the first half of the season, you’re happy with everything you’ve continued to see.
Old Price: $10 New Price: $12
Norman Powell:
Is there a Raptors fan out there who hasn’t developed a raging sports crush on Norman freaking Powell? He’s been unreal since the moment the Raptors started giving him real minutes a few weeks ago. He’s shooting 40% from deep on 2 attempts per game, he’s pushing the ball in transition, he’s either spotting up in the corner or cutting to the basket when his man plays off of him, which opposing teams have been choosing to do, and capitalizing on seemingly every opportunity that he gets. He’s got explosive highlights and he’s brought energy to the team, especially in pushing the ball in transition, that’s been huge. He gets caught trying to jump screens on ball handlers early sometimes and isn’t always in place defensively, but both of those things are more or less universally true of rookies. His defense on the whole has not been a problem at all, which is not often true of rookies. Let me know when you find a reason to believe that Powell isn’t legit, because I can’t find one. Normcore!
Old Price: $1 New Price: $15
Everyone else like Bebe, Bruno, etc finish the year where they started at speculative $1 prices. Jason Thompson came to the team after the last round of buying and selling, so we’re not including him. If you had any Anthony Bennett stock than you lose all of it and the rest of your money too, for being a damn fool and making the rest of us feel sad. So, here’s the final list of prices per share for the roster:
Lowry $80
DeRozan $75
Carroll $1
Scola $17
Valanciunas $25
Joseph $12
Ross $18
Johnson $5
Biyombo $12
Powell $15
At the halfway mark of the season, if you were taking my advice your potfolio was up 29%. I then sold all of my DeRozan stock, because it turns out that I’m wrong about a whole bunch of things in life. I also cashed out all of my Carroll stock, so at least I’m rewarded for my pessimistic view on life for once. I spent that money on Lowry, which paid off, on Joseph, which costs my future kids their fake college tuition fund, and on Powell, which was a huge boon.
My 13 shares of Kyle Lowry made $260!
My Joseph stock lost $208 of value.
I made $70 sticking with Valanciunas.
I made $125 by sticking with my dude Ross.
I lost $15 on Scola and $20 on Johnson.
My year long bet on Norman Powell paid a handsome $210 in value.
That’s a total of $422, on top of the $434 I made in the first part of the season. $856 of value from a $1500 investment. That’s a 57% return on investment. We’re all going to be fake rich! Sure, it helps when most of the team continuously improves all season long, and maybe this is a bubble in Raptors history. But let’s anybody throw shade on our shared sports happiness. The Raps won 56 games, it’s playoff time and we all made make believe cash! Hope you had fun playing. Go Dinos!
