Another big European appears ready to leave school early for the challenge of the NBA. Should the Raptors select Jakob Poeltl?
With the 12-month season of the NBA in full swing (“When do I get a break?”), the Draft is tonight. We’ve taken a run at a number of worthy candidates for the Toronto Raptors selection at #9. Here’s one more to add to the list of big men we’ve looked at.
University of Utah centre Jakob Poeltl was born and raised in the basketball hotbed of Vienna, Austria (I’m kidding, guys – the reliable RealGM site found precisely zero NBA players hailing from that city, or indeed that country). He’s leaving school after his sophomore season, which appears a wise decision; he’s a frequent mention as a lottery selection.
What’s been most impressive about Jakob’s college career was his remarkable improvement from his freshman season. As a sophomore, he almost doubled his scoring average to 17.3 points per game and grabbed 50% more rebounds, ending with 9.1 PG. Note his performance leapt after Utah’s excellent point guard, Delon Wright, became a Raptor. To me that shows he can contribute even with so-so teammates.
The 20-year-old Poeltl stands 7’1″ in shoes, and adds two more inches in wingspan. He weighs in at 240 lbs., which isn’t scrawny, but probably isn’t enough to handle NBA centres. He’d get beaten up by Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Cousins, Nikola Vucevic and others. Of course, as a Raptor he’s not likely to face those draft horses for at least 2 years. He needs lots of minutes on the D-League floor, and in the weight room.
Fortunately, time is on our side. We’re more than covered at centre, with a healthy Jonas Valanciunas under contract control and Lucas Nogueira providing occasional hope that he will someday be a respectable NBA player (sorry, Rapture Nation, I’ve written off any chance of Bismack Biyombo returning).
There’s another aspect of Poeltl which makes him appealing, that being his tradeability. (You’re probably thinking “Brian, we haven’t even drafted the guy, and you’re already thinking about moving him?”) Yeah, well, here it is – players are commodities to an NBA General Manager. A young, NBA-ready big man like Jakob is instantly marketable as opposed to a project player like our Bruno Caboclo. Jakob may well be viewed as the legendary Best Player Available, which would be a fig leaf for Masai should he decide to draft, then trade.
What if Sacramento has grown weary of Cousins’ petulance and wants him gone? If they dump him for a boatload of draftees like Boston or Philly has, the Kings need to backfill at centre. Maybe Jakob goes to California’s capital, and we get their anticipated #8 draft pick, none other than Jaylen Brown, the guy I really want?
What I’m saying is that once the draft is over, some teams with new players will suffer buyers’ remorse. After tonight, the Raptors will no longer have the #9 pick, but flesh and blood like Jakob. Other teams are likely to come sniffing around. Let the deal-making begin.