Everyone loves a good positional controversy. Arguments are built daily in the forums for power forwards that could start for Toronto, whether it be someone on the roster (Hi, Patrick!), or someone in a trade, we can’t help but argue over the options that lie before us.
Yes, the biggest reason for these arguments is the fact that the Raptors are desperately searching for a starting quality power forward, but we also just like to argue. If we can’t find an obvious positional battle such as the aforementioned power forward debate, we try and create one.
Norm vs. Ross is also popular.
Anyone want to get into another Bebe vs. Poeltl battle?
Or, if you’re feeling bold and crazy, how about a Bebe vs. Jonas argument?
Unfortunately we don’t have a good starting point guard battle/debate anymore. It’s just obvious that Kyle Lowry is Over Everything.
Just think of all the fun(?) we had with Jose Calderon debates. Jose vs. TJ. Ford. Jose vs. Roko Ukic (this was the darkest timeline). Jose vs. Mike James. Jose vs. Jarrett Jack. Jose vs. Jerryd Bayless.
We even got a Jose vs. Lowry debate for a little while, and Jose was temporarily winning the battle. He survived at least five theoretical threats to his role as a starter before King Lowry dethroned him once and for all.
I miss the fun of a good point guard debate. While there is no debate over our starting point guard though, perhaps we could soon have a debate over who backs Lowry up. So I’m going to get a jump start on things.
Delon Wright deserves a shot at unseating Cory Joseph, and may just get the opportunity.
Despite player fewer minutes per game, Joseph is shooting more, hitting a hirer percentage from the field and from the three point line, and has near identical rebounds, assists, steals, turnovers, and points as last season.
But traditional statistics don’t show the whole picture as Joseph does not look like the same player he was last season on the defensive end. What has traditionally been his calling card has been a clear area of struggle for him. Last season he was a revelation for the Raptors in how he hounded opponents. This season he is regularly getting blown past, or losing his man off ball. Something just appears to be off for Cory, and his defensive win shares has dropped from 1.7 last season to just 0.5 this season.
The Raptors meanwhile are getting ready to welcome Delon Wright back from injury, with Delon having missed the entire season after shoulder surgery in August to fix a labral tear.
Delon remains a curious prospect in both measurements and skills. It’s not very often that you find a 6’5” point guard with a tight handle, good vision and passing, a 6’7.5 wingspan, and the ability to guard smaller/quicker players.
The biggest problem is it’s tough to know exactly what Delon can bring to the table. Due to recovering from surgery we have yet to see him this season and last season saw him receive a total of 229 minutes in just 27 games played.
Most of what we have seen from Delon has come from the D-League and Summer League. It makes comparing him to Cory (played 2046 minutes last season) a very tricky endeavour. The majority of Delon’s minutes were also garbage time minutes, which helps to inflate the statistics that we do have for him.
Just for fun though, let’s compare some advanced statistics last season:
| Rk | Player | PER | TS% | 3PAr | FTr | TRB% | AST% | STL% | TOV% | WS/48 | BPM | VORP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cory Joseph | 12.4 | .512 | .188 | .297 | 5.9 | 19.3 | 1.6 | 13.4 | .082 | -1.0 | 0.5 |
| 2 | Delon Wright | 17.8 | .540 | .163 | .438 | 9.3 | 22.5 | 1.8 | 14.4 | .124 | -0.7 | 0.1 |
Delon is still on his rookie contract for two more seasons after this one, but with the Raptors currently owning two first round picks (and a second rounder) for the 2017 NBA Draft it could be a big benefit for the Raptors to explore what they have in their third string point guard.
Everything that we’ve seen from Delon indicates that he is worth a larger look, and we could be just a few weeks away from the newest Raptors’ point guard controversy.
