Recently there's been some chatter on the topic of the Raptor's
starting point guard. Kyle Lowry suffered a tricep injury last week against the
Trailblazers and for the second time this season, Calderon has been given a shot
at the starting spot. He's made about as good of a case for himself as one can.
But it might not be enough.
Jose has been involved in a lot of trade rumours as of late, and
quite frankly he is the Raptors biggest trade piece. There are a few teams out
there(mainly the Lakers) who could use his services (though with Steve Nash
coming back, that could possibly be the worst defending PG combo in the NBA).
If Bryan Colangelo wants to acquire that long
awaited legitimate stating SF he'll likely need to deal
Calderon/Bargnani together to get that.
When you compare the two players from a numbers perspective, the
two aren't that far off. Jose is averaging 10.1 points per game, 7.1
assists, 2.4 rebounds, and 42% FG. Lowry is averaging 15.8 points per
game, 5.8 assists, 5.6 assists, with a slightly worse 40% FG. When the
Raptors acquired Lowry, he was advertised as a guy who was going to
be a bulldog on the court, rebound the ball exceptionally(for a 6'0 tall
guard), and score the ball. He's been almost exactly what fans have
wanted as a PG, minus a few poor games where he has seemed almost disconnected. When he was 100% healthy, he was by far
the best player on the court for the Raptors. Jose has had some huge games, but
has been inconsistent off the bench. When starting, he is averaging a
double-double and has looked amazing. He's been hot during the Raptor's three game winning streak, averaging 18.3 points and 7.6 assists during the stretch.
Even Dwane Casey has now come out and said "We'll cross that bridge when we get there", when asked about Lowry's return. It's unfortunate that both players need
to start to be effective, because Lowry and Calderon could be a great 1-2
punch.
No matter how you look at it, it seems we have yet another point
guard tussle here in Toronto. Calderon has beaten T.J. Ford,
beaten Jarrett Jack, and beaten Jarryd Bayless. Time(and Dwayne
Casey) will tell if he can take down Kyle Lowry.
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