How The Raptors Can Be Creative This Offseason

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May 17, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Toronto Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri represents his team during the NBA draft lottery at New York Hilton Midtown. The Philadelphia 76ers received the first overall pick in the 2016 draft. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /

2. How To Make The Most Of The 9th Draft Pick

Whether or not a trade involving Ross occurs, the Raptors have the rare luxury have having the 9th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft (thank you Andrea Bargnani and James Dolan!). The major need that must be addressed with this pick is the power forward position, as the Raptors were regularly exposed at that position all year.

It just so happens that this year’s draft features three potential prospects who are projected to be available at the 9th draft spot:

Marquese Chriss
Domantas Sabonis
Jakob Poeltl

Any one of these individuals would fill an immediate need for the Raptors and keep them competitive. Assuming Masai were to have pulled off the Ross-Noel trade, the Raptors depth chart would look as follows:

PG — Lowry/Joseph/Wright
SG — Powell/Joseph
SF — Carroll/Powell
PF — Noel/Patterson/[Prospect]
C — Valanciunas/Noel/[Prospect]

All things being equal, we’ll assume that there’s no change to rookie scale contracts outside of the first 5 picks. That would put the 9th draft pick at around $2.3 Million to $3 Million. That would put the Raptors at approximately $68.8 Million in committed salaries.

Here’s where we truly put Masai’s creativity to the test.

Next: Free Agency Wizardry

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