The Raptors are in an enviable draft situation this year and next, with two first-rounders each time. Do we draft and develop, or use those picks as trade sweeteners?
With the calendar moving inexorably towards March Madness, I thought a glance at what’s happening in U.S. college ball is due. I don’t particularly care about teams (whether UCLA or Duke or North Carolina wins is moot), just individuals – which ones should the Toronto Raptors consider drafting? Or should our team pick an international player, as Masai Ujiri did with Bruno Caboclo, and Bryan Colangelo did with Jonas Valanciunas and Andrea Bargnani?
Last year at this time, I nosed around at the picks I expected to be still on the board when the Raptors were at the podium with the #20 pick. This time the situation is markedly more interesting for our team. There’s at least a 50-50 chance of Masai Ujiri being able to grab a lottery selection, as a result of the ever-accommodating New York Knicks taking Andrea Bargnani off our hands in 2014. We also have our pick, which has been #20 the last two drafts and is likely to be in that vicinity again.
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The downer we need to face: this draft is shaping up to be a very poor one. There seems little debate about who’s #1. LSU’s Ben Simmons has been the choice for several months. After that, the excitement dissipates rapidly. But the NBA trade deadline of February 18 will be long gone by June’s draft day. What to do?
The Raptors’ brains trust needs to draw a conclusion, soon, to a simple question – are we buyers or sellers, or neither? Masai Ujiri doesn’t have to make a decision for several more weeks, during which time the team will make the decision for him to some extent. In the volatile Eastern Conference, the Raptors find themselves sitting in second place, which sounds comfortable but really isn’t. What if our team is still a top-four seed in a month? Assuming DeMarre Carroll is in full health for the second season, the rotation should be competitive.
The Raptors’ schedule between now and trade deadline breaks down neatly into two chunks, the first being a comfortable 7-game homestand against so-so opposition which starts on Monday night against Brooklyn, and the second a frantic 5-game road swing. All of a sudden, it’s All-Star weekend in Toronto (how many quiet chats in hotel rooms will be taking place then, with virtually all the NBA’s General Managers in one city?) and then dealmaking ends the following Thursday at 3:00 PM.
If the Raptors tumble down the ladder, and are life and death for a playoff spot, the situation would be bleak. Consideration would have to be given to a teardown, i.e., being sellers, with DeMar DeRozan being the prize trade asset.
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Conversely, if the Raptors can climb into the thirties in wins by the second week in February, Masai will need to act. The team will be too good to leave untouched – yes, that thought makes sense.
There are a bunch of disappointed teams who are going to be sellers looking for buyers in February – the Pelicans, Suns, Bucks, Nets, and Hornets, among others, are all performing well below expectations. If Masai can use one of our draft picks and a rotation player or two to pluck a veteran power forward, the playoffs could prove most entertaining.