Toronto Raptors: The Raptors should consider drafting these prospects

There are many questions the Toronto Raptors’ management will have to address in the 2020 off-season.  One big question is what to do with the 29th overall draft pick at the 2020 NBA draft.

The NBA Finals are well underway, finally, and the Toronto Raptors failed to return that stage in which they earned the 2019 NBA Championship. It wasn’t a bad season by any stretch for the Raptors bowing out of their potential title defense in a second-round seven-game series won by the Boston Celtics.

The Raptors have significant questions that must be solved with signings, trades, or draft picks to fill holes in their roster. One of the first and perhaps most serious considerations determining what the Raptors’ management team does is the salary cap. The cap either provides flexibility to make the necessary transactions or handicaps a team’s player movement depending on how much of it they have committed in long-term contracts.

Then, there is the year that has been 2020. With the season postponed back on March 11, 2020, due to COVID-19 and then resuming on July 30, 2020, in a bubble, in Florida, the NBA’s 30 franchises have lost gate, concession, and merchandise revenue. Before COVID-19, the NBA salary cap was projected to rise to 115 million, with the luxury tax level reaching as high as 139 million.

If the cap drops, as it did in 2002, general managers across the NBA will need to find cheap, temporary solutions to roster flaws. In the Raptors case, it may mean not re-signing Fred VanVleet, Serge Ibaka, and Raondae Hollis Jefferson. The 29th draft pick at the 2020 NBA Draft becomes intriguing. Instead of just moving it for cap space, it could fill a pressing need for the lineup. The 2020 NBA Draft is scheduled for November 18th, 2020.

Currently, the Raptors need depth or size in the frontcourt, a big guard who can defend and shoot three’s, and a consistent scorer.  The following are three prospects in the 2020 NBA Draft who could help the Toronto Raptors.

Froncourt size: Zeke Nnaji pf/c 6″ 11 University Arizona

The Toronto Raptors are likely to re-sign center Serge Ibaka who just had perhaps his best season in the NBA. It may be a short-term deal. However, with Marc Gasol considering returning to Europe to play for Barcelona, the Raptors are left with the undersized Chris Boucher and last year’s second-round draft pick Dewan Hernandez in the backup center role.

There is chatter the Raptors could have some interest in Montrezl Harrell, but that means spending cap space for a player who should easily more than double his previous season’s stipend of six million. Also, even a one-year deal for Serge Ibaka could costs the Raptors 28-30 million. At #29, in the NBA Draft, Zeke Nnaji at six feet, 11 inches could be available cheap as a backup center.

According to nbadraft.net, Nnaji grades well in rebounding, post moves, size, and jump shooting. Even with a diminished Marc Gasol, this past season, the Raptors were only 11th overall in the Association rebounding the basketball and were just 21st overall scoring points in the paint at 45.9.

Nnaji, provided he is NBA ready, could provide the Raptors with consistent scoring around the basket.  Marc Gasol’s shots per game average fell off from a career average of 11.3 to just 6.3 per game in 2020, and the Raptors as a team attempted 42 percent of their field goals (37 per game) from three-point range making 37 percent of them (14 three’s per game).  If you combine Toronto’s 18.2 points per game from the fast break with the 42  points, they earn on three-pointers, which is approximately 60 of the 112.8 points Toronto averaged per game for 13th overall this season.  The Raptors had epic stretches failing to score at times.

A consistent presence in the paint could have swung the Boston playoff series Toronto’s way. Zeke Nnaji could help restore balance to Toronto’s roster by providing a constant inside force.  He shot 57% from the field this season for the Arizona Wildcats and averaged 16.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.

Draft Elijah Hughes six-foot six-inch shooting guard Syracuse Orangemen

Irrespective of how Fred VanVleet’s free-agency turns out for the Toronto Raptors, the organization needs to address the lack of size they struggled within 2020 at the guard position. No one can question the heart and ability of both Fred VanVleet and Kyle Lowry bu their lack of vertical length and wingspan hurt the Toronto Raptors defense.,

This concern might be a moot point had things worked out with the team’s 2015 first-round pick Delon Wright. However, Wright, at six feet six inches, could defend well but was a reluctant three-point shooter and could not stay healthy during his time in Toronto playing in just 172 games over three and half seasons.

Elijah Hughes, a six-foot-six shooting guard with the University of Syracuse, could fit the bill.  He is a player who can shoot, has good ball-handling skills, a good jump shot, and is athletic. He is expected to go 32nd overall in the draft to the Charlotte Hornets so that the Raptors could make this pick.

According to nbadraft.net, Hughes’ strengths include:

Hughes is a smooth athlete with nice explosiveness, capable of finishing above the rim when he gets an opening … Polished ball skills … Effective in the open floor as well as playing in the half-court … Has solid scoring ability and versatility … Shows quality ability to break down opponents off the dribble, and has some decent wiggle in ISO situations … Understands how to set up opponents with change of speed, hesitation moves … Drives the ball well and has touch when he can’t complete plays with dunks.

The Raptors’ final possession of 2020 is why a player like Elijah Hughes is intriguing in the draft.  After several stationary dribbles, Fred VanVleet took a step-back three-pointer, which he seemed to give a higher than average arch to as he needed to get the shot over the defender.  With a player like Hughes, he would be able to shoot over the top of most guards.

For his part, Elijah Hughes, a junior, averaged 19 points on 34 percent shooting the three and 42.6 percent from the field overall in 2020 for the Syracuse Orangemen.

Draft a consistent scorer Tyler Bey six-foot-seven pf

The Toronto Raptors need consistent scoring.  They get plenty of points off of their defense, on the fast break, and from three-point shooting as well. When those open threes are not available, and the team is forced to set up in the half-court, they seem to struggle.

The second-round series against the Boston Celtics illustrated this concern several times. Once Boston’s coach Brad Stevens had the time to devote to devising defensive schemes designed to stopping Pascal Siakam combined with little to no offense from Marc Gasol, the Raptors could not overcome their offensive inconsistencies.

Game 5 of that series was perhaps the most frustrating illustration of this concern.  The Raptors turned the basketball over five times in the first 8:53 seconds of the game. They also only shot 2/15 from the field for 5 points in their first 18 possessions and scored only 11 points in the first quarter.

There is also the classic double-overtime win Toronto secured in game six of the same series to tie the series 3-3 and force game seven.  While they won 125-122, the Raptors failed to score a point in the final 4:24 of regulation time.

A player with the pedigree of Eric Paschall, whom the Golden State Warriors drafted last year, would be a bonus for the Toronto Raptors. Tyler Bey may fit the mold, or he could turn into another OG Anunoby.  Anunoby is outstanding defensively, but his offensive skills leave you wishing he would do more.

In Tyler Bey’s case, if the Raptors drafted him, he is a six-foot-seven power forward with some offensive potential. He has averaged 13.6 and then 13.8 points per game for the University of Colorado each of the last two seasons. However, in year three at the Collegiate level, his scoring leveled out. If he can improve on his offensive skills, he could be a younger star that provides Toronto with that consistent scorer they need.

While Bey didn’t take many three-pointers in 2020 (he made 13/31), he shot it at 42 percent.  He was also a 54.5 percent from the field on the season.  When you also realize he stole the ball 1.5 times per game and averaged 1.2 blocks per game, visions of Tyler Bey and OG Anunoby defending wing players on the perimeter flash before your eyes.

Tyler Bey might have been hindered offensively by his college team’s philosophy of playing the game, but his skill set is one that would fit the Toronto Raptors identity just fine.