Toronto Raptors: Every Top 10 NBA Draft pick in franchise history, ranked
By Ben Fisher
No. 7: Marcus Camby (No. 2, 1996)
The 1996 draft was historically loaded. That meant that some clubs came away with franchise-altering stars like Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant, but it also meant that others made disastrous decisions that would haunt their organization for years. By selecting Camby second overall, the Raptors didn’t draft an All-Star or a bust.
In Camby, Toronto drafted an elite rim protector who would go onto win Defensive Player of the Year honors and lead the league in blocks on four occasions. His 230 blocks as a 23-year-old in the 1997-98 season remains a whopping 79 more than any other Raptor has ever recorded in one year.
Pick Evolution
NBA Twitter would lose its mind if a team dealt a young, hugely promising interior defender for a 35-year-old limited big man, but the 1998 off-season trade of Camby for long-time New York Knick Charles Oakley was never really seen that way.
In Oakley, Toronto landed a key component of the club’s identity during the Vince Carter years, even if Camby acquitted himself perfectly well in New York.
Hindsight Pick
Take your pick. Bryant, Ray Allen, Steve Nash, Stephon Marbury, Peja Stojakovic. Heck, even Jermaine O’Neal or Shareef Abdur-Rahim. The ’96 draft class is always discussed among the best ever, so while Camby and later Oakley was a perfectly fine draft outcome, it could’ve been better for the Raptors. At least they didn’t draft Todd Fuller.
No. 6: Tracy McGrady (No. 9, 1997)
With the ninth pick in the 1997 NBA Draft, Isiah Thomas drafted McGrady. T-Mac remains this low on the list, however, because instead of turning in a Hall of Fame career as a Raptor, he fled at the first opportunity and joined the Orlando Magic in a sign-and-trade deal at age 21, becoming an all-time ‘what if?’.
McGrady’s Basketball Reference page will no doubt bring a tear to the eye of Raptors fans. After three years spent adjusting to the NBA game in Toronto, he went back home to Orlando and instantly started a four-year stretch in which he averaged 28.1 points per game and kick-start a string of seven straight All-Star appearances. Oof.
Pick Evolution
With no negotiating leverage owing to a restricted free agent who wanted out, the Raps had to settle for a distant 2005 first rounder than was five years away from being conveyed (the immortal Fran Vazquez would be selected with a 12th overall pick that had made its way back to the Magic).
Through some wheeling and dealing, that pick was ultimately attached to a trade that reeled in the popular Jerome Williams. While the addition of the Junkyard Dog offers something of a soft landing, it certainly still would’ve been preferable to keep the budding seven-time All-Star and two-time scoring champ.
Hindsight Pick
It’s a credit to the under-rated drafting prowess of Thomas that the closest thing you can find to a ‘miss’ is second-round steal Stephen Jackson, who still finished with nearly 6,000 fewer points than McGrady. Would’ve been nice for more than 2,122 of them to happen here, though!
No. 5: Damon Stoudamire (No. 7, 1995)
The good part of Damon Stoudamire’s legacy in Toronto saw the scrappy, under-sized point guard surprise many – including fans of the then-expansion club who wanted UCLA’s Ed O’Bannon on draft night – by earning Rookie of the Year honors and serving as the first face of the franchise.
The sad part, however, came two-plus years and 151 losses later, as the Raptors shipped a disgruntled “Mighty Mouse” out of town at his request. During that 16-win 1997-98 season, Stoudamire was shouldering a massive load as the primary point guard and go-to scoring option and wasn’t yet getting much help from Camby or McGrady.
Pick Evolution
You could argue that the trade demand worked out better for the Raptors than for Stoudamire. While the Portland-bound point guard would never realize his previous statistical highs with lower usage rates, the club turned him into Kenny Anderson (who was flipped for Chauncey Billups), Alvin Williams, Kevin Willis, and ultimately Morris Peterson.
Hindsight Pick
Kurt Thomas had a long NBA career and Michael Finley developed into an All-Star. Otherwise, it was pretty slim pickings with Kevin Garnett, Rasheed Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse, and Antonio McDyess already off the board.