Dinos & Digits: DeMar DeRozan is reaching peak Vince Carter levels

Welcome back to Dinos & Digits, a column where we dive into the box scores and find five interesting or strange Raptors statistics and put them on front street for discussion.

We like to explore a mix of both individual player and team statistics, ranging from raw box score numbers to some interesting and funky advanced metrics. The goal is to present the numbers without too much opinion attached, leaving those debates for the comment section.

OK, let's get down to it. Here are this week's interesting digits:

DeMar DeRozan is averaging 27.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.1 steals per game this season, while shooting 46.5% from the field, and posting a 24.0 player efficiency rating (PER).

In Vince Carter’s best season as a Raptor in 2000-01, he averaged 27.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.5 steals per game, while shooting 46.0% from the field, and posting a franchise-record PER of 25.0.

Why are we not talking more about the similarities between DeMar’s line this year and the peak of Vinsanity?

The main differences in the two lines are that Carter has the definitive edge in three-point accuracy (40.8% to DeRozan’s 25.7%) and blocks per game (1.1 to 0.2), while DeRozan has Carter beat in free throw percentage (84.9% to 76.5%) on 1.9 more attempts per game (8.6 to 6.7).

The Raptors have a 104.2 defensive rating since the All-Star break, ranking 10th in the NBA.

Their defense has improved (they’re 16th on the year at 105.7), but the offense has dropped off dramatically. Their 104.9 offensive rating ranks them 19th in the Association since the break, as compared to their fourth-ranked 109.9 mark on the season as a whole.

In terms of net rating, their 4.2 mark on the year is still the best in the Eastern Conference and fifth in the whole NBA, but their post-break rating of 0.6 is the seventh-highest mark in the conference and 16th in the league at large.

The Raptors are shooting 30.9% from three-point range since the All-Star break (28th in the NBA), as compared to 36.2% on the season as a whole (tied for 14th with the Houston Rockets).

The poor three-point shooting has stuck out with Kyle Lowry on the sidelines and Terrence Ross playing in Orlando.

Norman Powell (30.0% on 2.7 attempts), Cory Joseph (29.6% on 2.5), DeMar DeRozan (26.9% on 2.4), P.J. Tucker (23.5% on 1.5), and DeMarre Carroll (16.7% on 3.0) have collectively shot 25.8% on 11.3 threes per contest over that span.

Serge Ibaka has been the team’s best long-range weapon since the break (36.7% on 4.5 attempts), while Delon Wright (35.7% on 1.3) and Patrick Patterson (34.2% on 3.5) have been the only other reliable shooters from beyond the arc.

Since the All-Star break, the Raptors have had a -10.6 net rating in Jonas Valanciunas’ 238 minutes on the floor, as compared to their mark of 9.4 in his 290 minutes on the bench.

That on/off differential of 20.0 points per 100 possessions is by far the largest on the team over that span.

During the 136 minutes that Cory Joseph and P.J. Tucker have been on the floor together this season, the Raptors have had a net rating of 23.1 (115.7 offensive rating, 92.6 defensive rating).

There’s not much of a conclusion you can draw from the pairing of a point guard and a combo forward, but that’s still a very interesting statistical nugget.

Considering how P.J. Tucker’s 3.9 on-court net rating compares to his -2.7 off-court mark, should the Raptors consider starting him over DeMarre Carroll?

All stats courtesy of basketball-reference.com, NBA.com/stats, and statmuse.com.