Do you know what’s scary? Looking at the list of players your team could’ve drafted and realizing the actual player drafted was a complete bust. The Toronto Raptors do have a few of those…
With the Toronto Raptors officially in the offseason, and the spooky month of October getting closer. There is no better time to review the most haunting draft picks of Raptors history. It’s undeniable that every team has gone through its fair share of bad picks.
Believe it or not, even with the Toronto Raptors’ recent success in the draft, they have had some questionable picks in the past. And although there’s not as much as you might think — nowhere near the number of bad picks the Sacramento Kings had — there is still three that still to this day that could’ve been a lot better.
Now let’s go way back to the 1999 draft.
3. Toronto Raptors selected Aleksander Radojević with 12th overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft
The Toronto Raptors had two picks in the first round here. They had the Denver Nuggets draft pick at five where they selected Johnathan Bender who was then traded to the Indiana Pacers for Antonio Davis. And then their disappointing pick, Aleksander Radojević, who was picked 12th.
Radojević did have some upside. He was a 7 foot 3 center who was a good rim protector and showed good offensive skill. In his last college season prior to the draft, he averaged 15.4 points, 9 rebounds, and shot 61 percent from the field.
However, drafting a big man has always presented great risk and that is what happened here. Radojević suffered a torn ligament in his left knee forcing him to miss most of the remainder of the season. His second season wouldn’t be any better, after failing to get back in shape and still fighting injury, Radojević failed to register any playing time.
He was ultimately traded in the middle of his second season to the Denver Nuggets for pretty much nothing. He would never actually play for Denver as he battled injuries and would get traded one last time before he decided to play in Europe.
It wasn’t a particularly strong draft, but there were many more choices the Raptors could’ve gone with that went on to have nice careers.
- Notable lottery picks in the draft available at 12: Corey Maggette, Metta World Peace, James Posey, Andrei Kirilenko
Pretty much anything besides Frederic Weis would’ve been a better pick. Even if they did trade that player, there is no way the return would’ve been as low as it was with Radojević.
- Aleksandar Radojević with Raptors: 24 minutes, 3 games, 7 points total