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Fansided

Ranking every first-round pick in Toronto Raptors history

By Raju Byfield

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 17: Masai Ujiri of the Toronto Raptors sits in his seat during the 2016 NBA Draft Lottery at the New York Hilton in New York, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 17: Masai Ujiri of the Toronto Raptors sits in his seat during the 2016 NBA Draft Lottery at the New York Hilton in New York, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Toronto Raptors
Toronto Raptors – Jonas Valanciunas. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

Jonas Valanciunas – 5th overall (2011)

As talented of a player that Jonas Valanciunas was and turned out to be, he was a major reach at fifth overall. Bryan Colangelo would have been wise to trade down and proved once again that he was mistake-prone when given choices in the lottery. There have been seven all-stars from the 2011 NBA Draft class. Six of them were drafted after Jonas. The other names the Raptors were considering at the time include Kawhi Leonard, Kemba Walker, Enes Kanter, Brandon Knight, and Bismack Biyombo.

Jonas Valanciunas was a talented big man who never quite fit with the pre-2018-19 Kyle Lowry. He showed steady improvement throughout his NBA career, but only started to realize his potential following his trade to the Memphis Grizzlies. In his 470 games with the Toronto Raptors, Jonas averaged 11.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.0 blocks on 56-percent shooting. His best season as a Raptor came in 2015-16 when he averaged 12.8 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks on 56-percent shooting.

Jonas was dealt along with Delon Wright and C.J. Miles for Marc Gasol. The ultimate payoff for the trade was an NBA Championship. However, Jonas went wild for a Memphis Grizzlies team missing prized rookie Jaren Jackson Jr., and averaged an elite 19.9 points, 10.7 rebounds, 1.6 blocks on 54.5-percent shooting in just 27.7 minutes per game.

As mentioned above, Jonas being a reach who was drafted before all-stars who were also on the Raptors radar makes his selection a bad one. The Raptors had more pressing needs at the time at both point guard and small forward. The six all-stars drafted after Jonas were Kawhi Leonard, Kemba Walker, Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, Nikola Vuvecic and Isaiah Thomas. Tobias Harris was also still available.