DeMar DeRozan has been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week, the Toronto Raptors announced Monday.
The Raptors were led to a perfect 4-0 week by their three-time All-Star, with DeRozan averaging 26.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, six assists, and 1.5 steals while shooting 56.6 percent from the floor. He capped the week with a tremendous 33-8-6 performance against Washington on Sunday, pushing his season averages to 25.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.6 assists.
He’s scoring at a career-best true-shooting percentage despite a usage rate above 30 percent, nearly matching his career high in PER, and shooting a higher volume of threes without sacrificing free throws. The only part of his statistical profile that’s changed for the worse is a small uptick in turnover percentage that’s been made up for some by career-best assist and steal percentages. DeRozan-and-bench units are even performing better than they have in recent years, a testament to his improvement as a facilitator. The Raptors have a higher net rating with DeRozan off the floor, owing to the solid play of the bench against opposing second units, and the Raptors are outscoring teams by 4.2 points per-100 possessions when DeRozan’s on the court, the best individual net rating mark of his career.
All of that is to say, DeRozan’s off to a terrific start once again this season, helping lead the Raptors to an 11-5 start with the No. 3 offense and No. 4 net rating despite a road-heavy early slate.
At this point, I really should just have a template set up for this kind of post, as it’s DeRozan’s sixth time earning the nod in the last three seasons. That puts him just one behind Vince Carter and Chris Bosh for the most in franchise history.
