NBA Power Rankings, Jan. 9 Edition: A New Face At The Top

19 of 30

Jan 8, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry (7) drives to the net against Detroit Pistons guard Brandon Jennings (7) during the first half at the Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /

13. Toronto Raptors (17-17)

Last Week: 2-2
Previous Ranking: 14

Low-balling Lowry: Point guard Kyle Lowry is underappreciated, according to one ESPN Insider. Bradford Doolittle wrote: “Lowry was a controversial pick as the No. 8 point guard in the summer ranking. Since then, he’s gone out and played even better than his forecast and at present ranks ninth in the league in WARP. There have been two primary areas of improvement. Lowry is taking and making more 3s than ever before and he’s posting the lowest turnover rate of his career.” Lowry, an unrestricted free agent this summer, is being heavily pursued by a number of teams.

The Week That Was: The Raptors won at Washington 101-88 on Friday, lost at Miami 102-97 on Sunday, lost at Indiana 86-79 on Tuesday and beat the Pistons 112-91 on Wednesday.

The Numbers: 44.6% FG, 36.2% 3PT, 77.9% FT, 39.5 RPG, 12.3 TOPG (4th), 97.3 PPG
The Opponents: 42.6% FG, 24% 3PT (2nd), 75.2% FT, 46 RPG, 15.3 TOPG, 91.8 PPG (5th)

The Leaders: DeMar DeRozan 23.3 PPG, Jonas Valanciunas 7.8 RPG, Kyle Lowry 7.8 APG, Lowry 1.8 SPG, Amir Johnson 2.3 BPG, Valanciunas 18-for-28 (64.3%) FG, Patrick Patterson 5-for-9 (55.6%) 3PT
Don’t! Shooters: Terrence Ross 15-for-43 (34.9%) FG, DeRozan 1-for-9 (11.1%) 3PT