After a rough start to the season, the Toronto Raptors have won their last three games in a row, although they remain under .500 for the time being with a 5-8 record.
Although it looks like things are starting to turn around, the season so far has definitely raised some questions for Nick Nurse and company to figure out.
Surprisingly, though, one unlikely Raptors player leads the entire NBA in an advanced stat that tries to evaluate a player’s total contributions to winning.
Per Basketball-Reference, Chris Boucher ranks No. 1 in win shares per 48 minutes, leading such players as Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and Anthony Davis. (Curiously, all big men.)
Per Basketball-Reference, win shares per 48 minutes is defined as “an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player per 48 minutes.” As the back-up to Aron Baynes, Boucher doesn’t have the same workload as the other players on that list, although many fans have been encouraged by his start to the season and hope to see him in a bigger role.
Like any other advanced stat, this should be taken in context, and it obviously isn’t to say that Boucher is on the same level as players like Jokic or Embiid. For example, the Raptors have been hesitant to play Boucher in certain matchups, such as against bigger and stronger players.
Still, though, it’s encouraging to see that Boucher has had such a positive impact whenever he’s been on the floor, and perhaps it’s a sign that he can thrive with more playing time as well — the Raptors chose to cut third-stringer Alex Len on Tuesday.
