The Raptors had many players come in this season, most notably: Hedo Turkolu, Jarrett Jack, Marco Bellinelli, Rasho, Antoine Wright and Reggie Evans. I am not going to include DeMar DeRozan because I do not have any stats and any college stats would be skewed because it is a different league (college).
Hedo Turkolu was the Raptors prize free-agent signing coming from the Orlando Magic. He was part of a four-team trade which allowed us to stay above the salary cap and thus, keep our exceptions. He was considered by many as one of the offensive focal points of a finals caliber team and was usually the Magic’s crunch time scorer.
Hedo shot a .541 true shooting percentage (TS %) and .478 efficient field goal percentage (eFg %) on a usage rate of 23.0. As mentioned yesterday, the league averages for TS% and eFg% are .541 and .500 respectively. So judging from these numbers, Hedo Turkolu was a below-average efficient offensive player but Hedo’s value on the offensive end is a little greater because he is capable of being a crunch-time scorer and had a very good assist percentage (AST %) of 23%. On the other hand, he was playing with good offensive players like Rashard Lewis, Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson/Rafer Alston. So in general, I would rate him as a lateral efficient offensive player. Last year at this position, we used a combination of Jamario Moon, Andrea Bargnani and Shawn Marion. Looking at the statistics, I would rate Moon as an above average offensively efficient player, Bargnani as an above average offensively efficient player and Marion as a below average offensively efficient player*. So in general, I would rate this switch to Hedo Turkolu on the offensive end as lateral or at best small advantage over last year. The advantages of Hedo are his playmaking capabilities and crunch-time scoring but he also has drawbacks such as a lower shooting percentage at a higher usage rate.
Jarrett Jack was a free-agent signing from Indiana for our backup point guard and shooting guard positions. He signed a lucrative 4 year 20 million dollar contract that the Pacers decided not to match. He is considered a heady point guard that is capable of driving and can shoot reasonably well.
Jack shot at around average with TS% .554 and eFg% of .498 on a usage rate of 18.5 last year. These are reasonable numbers for a back-up pg/sg. His assist % is 18.6 percent, which is around the league average. This is going to be a definite upgrade over last year as Roko Ukic had an extremely poor efficiency, Will Solomon had poor offensive efficiency and Anthony Parker was below average offensively^. The assist rate was high for the incumbents but that was largely because they were instructed to just make entry-passes and not actually create on offense.
Marco Bellinelli was acquired from Golden State for Devean George and cash considerations. He is a willing shooter who is very streaky and is sometimes defensively liable. He is in the rotation, probably the 2nd or 3rd wing off of the bench.
Last year in Golden State, Bellinelli shot TS% .547 and eFg% of .524, which is slightly above average. In addition, he had an assist rate of 15.3 and a usage of 19.3. For a back up wing, these are solid numbers and offensively he will not be a liability out on the floor. He will be a slight upgrade over Jason Kapono and Joey Graham offensively#.
Rasho was acquired with the LLE from the Indiana Pacers. He was traded in part last offseason for Jermaine O’Neal. He is a capable veteran who is able to score the baseline jumper. His play is adequate but questions of speed have always surrounded him. He shot TS% .524 and eFg% .513 last year on a usage rate of 18.5. These are slightly below average numbers but reasonable for a backup center.
Antoine Wright was also acquired in the trade which sent Shawn Marion to Dallas. I have not seen him play, but reports say that he is very athletic and good defensively. Looking at his offensive stats, he was a poor offensive player with a TS% of .501 and a eFg% of .468. He would be a liability on offense when he play and would have to compensate with his rebounding and defense.
NOTE: I wrote that Antoine Wright had TS% .617 and eFg% of .518 yesterday. It was my mistake, and I was referring to his playoff advanced stats. I apologize if I misguided any readers.
Finally, Reggie Evans was acquired for Jason Kapono earlier in the off-season. He is known for his poor offensive skills, but is considered a very strong rebounding and adequate defensive force. The general assumptions are consistent with the stats as he has a TS% .325 and eFg% of .222. He is going to be a liability on offense every time he is on the floor, and his rebounding and defense will have to make up for this shortcoming. His usage rate of 17.2 and assist % of 0 may imply that he is grabbing a lot of offensive rebounds and trying to score himself. He is a player which will not have plays run for him.
I predict that the Raptors would rank around the 14-16 in the NBA offensive efficiency next season factoring in the improvements of Bosh, Bargnani, and Calderon, Ukic and the acquisitions of Belinelli, DeRozan, Jack and Wright. Hedo and Rasho are lateral moves and Evans is a definite downgrade.
I predict that the offense would rank around the league average, and as a result, the rebounding and defensive need to be Top 10 or even Top 5 if the Raptors are to make a push in the playoffs or to be considered championship contenders.
* Moon TS% .569, eFg% .553 usage% 12.6,
Bargnani TS% .559, eFg% .512 usage% 22.7
Marion TS% .523, eFg% .491, usage % 20.2
^ Roko Ukic TS% .430 eFg% .397 usage% 21.3 assist % 27.2
Will Solomon TS% .504 eFg% .478 usage% 20.4 assist % 36.1
Anthony Parker TS% .524 eFg% .488 usage% 16.3 assist % 15.7
# Jason Kapono TS% .525 eFg% .513 usage% 17.4 assist % 9.1
Joey Graham TS% .542 eFg% .484 usage% 18.7 assist % 5.0
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