After winning the first 5 games of the regular season, the Raptors were on fire. Beating the Pacers, Celtics, Bucks, Mavericks and a resurgent Thunder team was no mean feat. Although it didn’t continue – the team then lost to the lowly Magic, Heat and Knicks on a less than impressive three game skid.
While there has been somewhat of an improvement in performance of late, Dwane Casey’s men still have a lot to tweak if they are to better last year’s Playoff elimination to the Washington Wizards that saw the Raptors on the end of a demoralising clean sweep.
However, with DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry at the center of most of the Raptors action thus far, if the team stays healthy they have a realistic chance of bettering last year’s form. But, where do the current roster currently stand-up against the rest of the NBA elite? Let’s use the official NBA website to see how well they are performing individually so far.
Points:
1. Steph Curry (Warriors)
2. Kevin Durrant (Thunder)
3. Demarcus Cousins (Kings)
4. James Harden (Rockets)
5. LeBron James (Cavaliers)
15. DeROZAN (RAPTORS)
21. LOWRY (RAPTORS)
Rebounds:
1. Andre Drummond (Pistons)
2. Deandre Jordan (Clippers)
2. Dwight Howard (Rockets)
4. Kevin Love (Cavaliers)
6. Rudy Gobert (Jazz)
12. JONAS VALANCIUNAS (RAPTORS)
Assists:
1. Russell Westbrook (Thunder)
2. Rajon Rondon (Kings)
3. Ricky Rubio (Timberwolves)
4. John Wall (Wizards)
5. Chris Paul (Clippers)
12. KYLE LOWRY (RAPTORS)
Blocks:
1. Hassan Whiteside (Heat)
2. Rudy Gobert (Jazz)
3. Deandre Jordan (Clippers)
4. Anthony Davis (Pistons)
5. Serge Ibaka (Thunder)
49. BISMACK BIYOMBO (RAPTORS)
Unsurprisingly the individual standings show that the Raptors rely heavily on their overall team effort than on one single player. While Lowry and DeRozan feature relatively high up in the average points per game, for blocks, rebounds and assists no Raptor features in the top 10.
For the fantasy basketball fans out there who partake in a league with friends on ESPN or even the celebrated Yahoo Sports league, featuring the likes of DeRozan or Lowry will yield consistent results across the season. However, selecting anyone else from the Raptors’ roster probably isn’t advisable just yet.
That’s why it’s useful to keep up to date with our Rumors and Trades section of the website. It takes two seconds to look at the section on your mobile and workout if you need to make any last minute trades to improve your fantasy basketball team. With mobile Internet now accessible to more and more people in North America, accessing mobile optimized sites has never been easier. Even across the rest of the world, mobile Internet has risen to nearly 20% of the global population according to Gaming Realms PLC who managed the mobile optimized PocketFruity. Thus, it’s not just Raptors fans that tap into Raptors Cage, ESPN, and Yahoo et al. to find out the latest news to utilize for their fantasy teams.
Have you got any Raptors players currently in your fantasy team? Do you plan to draft a Raptor fairly soon? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
