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With the acquisition of Cory Joseph many Raptors fans think that Lowry will be traded this season allowing CoJo to assume the starting role and Delon Wright to move to the backup PG spot.
Is Cory good enough to start though? There's a small sample of games he started last year that we can use to maybe get a bit of an idea of how he could perform as a long-term starter.
Cory Joseph Stats (As A Starter) 2014-15:
14 GP
34.6 MPG
13.2 PPG
4.5 RPG
3.6 APG
1.6 TOPG
56.2 FG%
44.4 3PT% (Attempted just 9 though)
75.0 FT%
118 oRTG
109 dRTG
The Spurs record in these games was 7-7 for the record which was subpar for them. However it was against an extremely difficult set of opponents and many of the losses were very close (including two 3OT losses).
These numbers look really good. Ridiculously efficient, great on the glass, and good assist to turnover ratio. Corey also put up these numbers on only 16.8% USG which is pretty low for a starting point guard, so it's possible that if given a Lowry type role (low-mid 20s USG) he could produce better boxscore stats and take a little hit to his efficiency (which would still likely leave him as a very efficient player anyway).
The question is though, how much did the Spurs system benefit him? I think it definitely helped but not as much as it helps guys like Patty Mills and Danny Green who are primarily stand-still shooters offensively. Cory is a slasher and creator. He was only assisted on 44% of his shots last year which is much less than Mills (68%) and Green (82%), and actually even lower than DeMar DeRozan (45%), so he definitely doesn't rely on others to create shots for him.
Then we all know how good he is on the defensive end. So to be honest I think he could be our starter long-term and dare-I-say it possibly even become an upgrade over Lowry considering that he has the size, strength and speed to be a stopper defensively as well.
Is Cory good enough to start though? There's a small sample of games he started last year that we can use to maybe get a bit of an idea of how he could perform as a long-term starter.
Cory Joseph Stats (As A Starter) 2014-15:
14 GP
34.6 MPG
13.2 PPG
4.5 RPG
3.6 APG
1.6 TOPG
56.2 FG%
44.4 3PT% (Attempted just 9 though)
75.0 FT%
118 oRTG
109 dRTG
The Spurs record in these games was 7-7 for the record which was subpar for them. However it was against an extremely difficult set of opponents and many of the losses were very close (including two 3OT losses).
These numbers look really good. Ridiculously efficient, great on the glass, and good assist to turnover ratio. Corey also put up these numbers on only 16.8% USG which is pretty low for a starting point guard, so it's possible that if given a Lowry type role (low-mid 20s USG) he could produce better boxscore stats and take a little hit to his efficiency (which would still likely leave him as a very efficient player anyway).
The question is though, how much did the Spurs system benefit him? I think it definitely helped but not as much as it helps guys like Patty Mills and Danny Green who are primarily stand-still shooters offensively. Cory is a slasher and creator. He was only assisted on 44% of his shots last year which is much less than Mills (68%) and Green (82%), and actually even lower than DeMar DeRozan (45%), so he definitely doesn't rely on others to create shots for him.
Then we all know how good he is on the defensive end. So to be honest I think he could be our starter long-term and dare-I-say it possibly even become an upgrade over Lowry considering that he has the size, strength and speed to be a stopper defensively as well.
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