DeMar DeRozan over Stephen Curry for All-NBA second team? Not so fast

Head-to-head comparison

As tempting as it is to compare the overall body of work the two top-10 2009 draft picks have put together in their nine seasons, it’s irrelevant to do so due to the varying degrees of their teams’ successes and one conference being home to one of the best players ever.

Their placements on these sacred lists reflect only their production during the 2017-18 season so that’s what we will focus on.

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First, let’s do the responsible thing and look at their surface-level stats before getting a little more technical:

Curry: 26.4 points per game, 6.1 assists per game, 5.1 rebounds per game, 1.6 steals per game, 3 turnovers per game, 2.2 fouls per game, 32 minutes per game 

DeRozan: 23 points per game, 5.2 assists per game, 3.9 rebounds per game, 1.1 steals per game, 2.2 turnovers per game, 1.9 fouls per game, 33.9 minutes per game

From the looks of these numbers, this appears to be an open and shut case, right, Dub Nation? If you’re on the side that agrees with this, it would behoove you to keep that magnifying glass out.

As solid as Curry’s stats are, he only played in 51 games, which broke his five-season streak of playing in 78+ games. DeRozan, on the other hand, appeared in 80 games, his best since the 2012-13 campaign when he played in all 82 contests.

You hear that? That’s the sound of Toronto fans thinking the pendulum has swung back in their favor. Yes, it helps DeRozan’s argument since he played in more games but it also allows more margin for error to critique.

In terms of league-wide rankings, DeRozan ranked in the top-10 in free throws made (461)/attempted (559), top-15 in points per game and top-20 in total assists (417). Meanwhile, Curry lead the league in true shooting percentage (.675) and free throw percentage (.920), and finished fourth in player efficiency rating (28.2).

It’s no secret that both guys aren’t exactly Kawhi Leonard-esque in terms of two-way dominance but, when it comes to offense, they are absolute forces. This season, it’s clear that what Curry lacked was volume while DeRozan lacked efficiency, areas that the other made up for, respectively.

If you take away the volume and don’t account for outside variables like rest, though, and just stack DeRozan’s first 51 games next to Curry’s season, DeMar has averages of 24.6 PPG, 5.2 APG and 4.1 RPG, 1.2 SPG, 2.3 TOV and 1.9 PFPG.

Advantage? Curry. Next slide…