Kyle Lowry Is the Best, but He's Not the Only Bright Spot in Raptorland

(Editor's note: Catch The Rap Up weekly at VICE Sports, where Alex Wong covers off all things Raptors. You can check previous installments here, and follow him on Twitter.)

The Raptors, at 12-9, are in seventh place in the East, a conference where 11 teams are separated by only 3.5 games. It is still way too early to start looking at the standings and figuring out where Toronto might end up (in the playoffs, is the only presumption), but having played more than one fourth of its regular-season schedule, it's time to hand out some awards for the first quarterish of the campaign.

Most Valuable Player: Kyle Lowry

Saturday's performance against the Warriors showed off the starting point guard's individual brilliance, but also illustrated just how far he might be able to carry this team by himself. Lowry scored a career-high 41 points, made six 3-pointers, handed out seven assists and added four steals, helping the Raptors overcome an early deficit and keep pace with Stephen Curry and the Warriors on a night when DeMar DeRozan shot 5-for-19 from the field.

On the season, Lowry is averaging 22.0 points, 6.2 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 2.7 steals. We already know how much heavy lifting he is capable of. His start is reminiscent of his 2014-15 season, when he was one of the top players in the league over the first two months, then started tailing off in the second half. As we talked about last week, managing his minutes will be important, but we shouldn't let last year's disastrous playoff performance deter us from embracing Lowry as a franchise player, and put the responsibility of getting past the first round of the playoffs on his shoulder—especially with a revamped starting lineup and an improved defence. He is capable of delivering those results. The Raptors just need to get him to the finish line in one piece.

Most Improved Player: Lucas "Bebê" Nogueira

I probably could have pre-written Lowry's section of this column at the start of the season and just put "insert stats here" to complete the piece. But there's no way I could have predicted Bebê would not only be in the rotation (albeit thanks to an injury to Jonas Valanciunas) but being a very capable and productive member of it.

Bebê understands his limitations, and it still feels like the game is moving too fast for him at times, but he has developed a nice chemistry on the pick-and-roll with Lowry, and has shown flashes of being a capable rebounder and rim protector on the defensive end. He brings a different look to the team, a level of energy on the floor that this team at times lacks, and the best compliment you can give to a young player who is suddenly playing meaningful minutes is that Bebê has the right intention and approach on both ends of the floor. I'm not sure you can say that with every fringe player who tries to play themselves into a rotation spot.

Also, he is in that phase of his career where speaking to the media is still a refreshing experience for him, enough so that you can actually feel his joy and excitement at finally getting an opportunity.

I just wrote more words about Bebê than Lowry in a quarterly awards column, by the way. Don't ever let anyone tell you sports is out of surprises.

Least Improved Player: Terrence Ross

Even before he missed time with a thumb injury, Ross was mired in a shooting slump after a couple impressive outings to start the season. The fourth-year guard who once scored 51 points in a game has 78 points on the season, and has made just a third of his field goal attempts and less than 30 percent of his shots from deep.

The disappointment would be more acceptable were it not for the three-year, $33 million extension he agreed to at the start of the season. The Raptors have done everything they can to put Ross in a position to succeed this season. Instead of asking him to play in a starting role at the three alongside Lowry and DeRozan, they spent money on DeMarre Carroll to fill that spot, sending Ross to a permanent bench role where he can not only focus on being a secondary scorer but also not be the primary defender for bigger and stronger wing scorers. It was a sort of an "addition by subtraction" approach with Ross' role, asking him to focus on less things and contribute less in an overall sense but hopefully provide more consistency.

As the numbers tell it, he has not delivered, and the Raptors bench—aside from Cory Joseph—has been a liability for this team that needs to be fixed soon. A lot of things could be fixed if Ross can be productive on a nightly basis.

Best Free Agent Acquisition: Cory Joseph

He's Canadian, and he's good! The Raptors are paying a backup guard $7.5 million for the next four seasons, except they also added someone to their closing lineup that can play alongside Lowry and DeRozan without stopping the flow of the offence as Lou Williams did last season, to mixed results.

Per NBA.com, in 214 fourth-quarter minutes (a number that leads the team), the Raptors have a +10.1 rating with Joseph on the floor. For comparison, Lowry is +13.5 and DeRozan is +3.7. Put it this way: for an annual price lower than what the Raptors are committing to Ross, the Raptors have a player with a higher upside and someone who already brings a specific set of skills that is on display on a nightly basis, and it feels like the best is still yet to come.

Favourite running subplot: Luis Scola's 3-pointers

There's an electricity in the building (or just on my couch, with my laptop plugged in, as I watch the Raptors) whenever he gets the ball in the corners. I trust him with that shot, and I want him to continue his remarkable transformation into a big who can stretch the floor with his 3-point shooting. Scola attempted 60 threes in his first eight seasons in the league. In 21 games this season, he's already shot 32, and connected on 43.8 percent of them. His 14 made 3-pointers are already a career high, surpassing the entire total he had coming into the season (10).

Least favourite running subplot: Raptors' first-quarter woes

The Raptors have not led at the end of the first quarter for six straight games, and their slow starts prompted Dwane Casey to suggest a potential change to the starting five earlier this week. Casey didn't follow through with his threat on Saturday against the Warriors, but the numbers are staggering. The Raptors rank 29th in offensive efficiency in the first quarter. In the third quarter, where the starters are presumably getting the same number of minutes as the first, the team is ranked second.

"We've got to figure it out," Casey said. "Our starts, whether it's getting good and loose mentally, whatever it is, getting that going where we can have that same chip on our shoulder as we come out in the third quarter. Because we're not good enough to dig ourselves a hole like we've been doing."

He's right on that, and there are huge trickle-down effects. A faster start means the team can afford to play its second unit more minutes, which might lead to playing with a greater rhythm, and would limit the minutes of the starters over the long term, keeping key players on this team rested down the stretch. In some strange way, the starters have to be better to help their own long-term outlook, and also help the bench.

Favourite Drake moment:

With honourable mention to our ambassador holding a press conference at Union Station prior to Drake Night, and his memorable visit to the Sacramento Kings locker room on the night DeMarcus Cousins yelled at everybody after a loss, I'm going with this photo:

drake reduced to blogger status in steph's presence pic.twitter.com/SUGMReyLrx
— alex (@steven_lebron) December 6, 2015