The Toronto Raptors’ newfound success may take them out of consideration for the Jalen Greens, Cade Cunninghams, and Evan Mobleys of the world, but when it comes to mid first-round picks, remember that team president Masai Ujiri has been able to spin gold out of less. The Raptors draft board will likely focus on mid-round prospects because of this
It’s still too early to think where the Raptors’ team record will find itself by the end of this crazy season, but if this past month was any indication the Raps should be picking anywhere from 15-25.
Those worried about the lack of star power to be found later in this draft clearly have not been paying attention. 2021 is a loaded year for NBA prospects whether they’re slated to go in the lottery or not. Not to mention the growing list of deep draft talent that’s taking over the NBA.
Since 2016, non-lottery draft picks have made up 35% of All-Rookie team selections. This combined with the 8 non-lottery all-stars that were voted in last season proves imperially that there is certainly top-level talent in the Raptors’ draft range. Toronto should look to the mighty Big East Conference to find some help.
These 3 Raptors draft targets from the Big East could help Toronto
James Bouknight, SG, UConn
This sophomore from UConn may be slight in stature, but he has great length at the point guard position standing 6’5 with extendo-arms. As an athlete he’s not incredibly fast, he doesn’t really erupt to the rim but more glides and floats in mid-air. The potential for a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander style finishing game is there.
His greatest strength? This man is one of the best scorers in the nation. He’s got nice soft hands which are elevated by slithery finishing style.
This score-first mentality could help the Raptors, whose offense has been known to come and go throughout the game. Picking Bouknight would also be great Lowry insurance if K-Low decided to leave Toronto in free agency. With or without Lowry, Bouknight would inject a little juice into the offense.
There aren’t a lot of guys every year who can create the way he can, but the key to Bouknight’s NBA success might be this; can he learn to facilitate for others at the point, or can he put on enough weight to play the two?
As it stands now he’s sort of caught in the middle of the two positions, and while the NBA is always moving away from those positional designations, he has to give a team more options. Bouknight will need to round out his game, or his body, to be effective.
On defense, he suffers from a lot of the woes that plague slighter guards, like getting pushed around, bullied on switches, etc. When it comes to pure perimeter scoring he may be the best prospect this year.
The jumper’s great, the creation is great, the weird twisting, slithering, squeezing, dribble style is great, it’s all great. He just needs some footnotes to go along with his strong core talents.
Projected: 9-18
Player comp: Shake Milton, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander