Toronto Raptors draft: 5 times the Raps gave up on a draftee early

The Toronto Raptors have been in existence since 1995 as an NBA Franchise, and they have seen their fair share of successes and failures on draft night. With the 2021 NBA Draft less than a week away, a trip down Raptors’ memory lane reveals several times the Raptors drafted well and then botched the development or impact that prospect could’ve had.

The draft isn’t always the surest way to develop a winning team, as it takes an astute, patient management team to recognize the talent they have acquired and employ it to maximum positive effect.

In recent years, under Masai Ujiri’s guidance, this has been the case for the Raptors, acquiring Norman Powell in 2015, mining Pascal Siakam at No. 27 in the 2016 draft, and selecting OG Anunoby No. 23 in 2017.

Two of those early selections had exceptional legendary careers, and the other two were pretty good as well. However, most of those terrific seasons were not spent in Toronto.

Here’s a walk through Raptors history examining five times the team drafted well and then ruined the opportunity.

5 times the Toronto Raptors ditched prospects too early.

5. PG Damon Stoudamire, 1995, No. 7 overall

The Raptors selected seventh overall at the 1995 NBA Draft. It was their first-ever selection, and the reaction to Damon Stoudamire’s name was negative, as he was booed on draft night after being picked behind players like Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace.

Raptors’ faithful soon grew to love Stoudamire. The 1995-96 Rookie of the Year, Stoudamire averaged 19 points and 9.3 assists per game in his rookie season, and followed that up with 20.2 points and 8.8 assists in his sophomore season.

The Raptors had a talented point guard to run their offense, but improvements elsewhere never really materialized. Neither did the winning. An ownership battle cost the organization NBA great Isiah Thomas as general manager, and it sparked an exodus of coaches and players.

Instability cost the Raptors a chance to keep Damon Stoudamire.

Two and a half seasons after becoming the star of the team, Stoudamire was included in a six-player deal, with only Alvin Williams sticking with the team beyond the 1997/98 season.

The Raptors also got two first-round draft picks in the deal, but it meant starting all over again. Stoudamire would play 12 years in the NBA, including some solid years in Portland, but the diminutive point guard known as “Mighty Mouse” could have led Toronto to great moments in the NBA.

4. C Marcus Camby, 1996, No. 2 overall

In an era when a point guard and a center were paramount to a basketball team’s success in the NBA,  Thomas had the template down pat with his first two draft picks. He followed up the “Mighty Mouse” selection with Marcus Camby, a 6-11 center from the University of Massachusettes, at the 1996 Draft.

The one knock against a young Camby was his inability to stay on the court, but he was talented. He averaged 14.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in his rookie season but only competed in 63 games. He would miss another 19 games in his sophomore season, with his scoring averaging dropping slightly to 12.1 per game.

In a short-sighted trade, the Raptors flipped Camby to the rival Knicks in exchange for an aging Charles Oakley.

Raptors acquire experience and toughness vs. youth and durability.

The trade was meant to provide the Raptors with toughness to protect Vince Carter, and initially, the Raptors’ fears about Camby’s health seemed vindicated. Camby wouldn’t start any games for the Knicks in the strike-shortened 1998/99 season on an NBA Finalist squad.

He would follow that season up, playing in only 59 games in his fourth season, starting in only 11 games. In the end, Camby wound up playing in 17 NBA seasons for seven teams (New York twice) with 9.5 points, 2.4 blocks, and 9.8 rebounds per game. He led the league in blocks per game four times, including once with Toronto.

As for Oakley, once considered the heart and soul of the Knicks franchise, he would spend three seasons in Toronto, helping the team to their first two playoff appearances ever. However, He never averaged more than 9.6 points per game or shot better than 43% from the field.

Camby was an athletic big in the middle, which the Raptors never really replaced until they drafted Jonas Valanciunas in 2011.

3. PF Charlie Villanueva 2005, No. 7 overall

When Bryan Colangelo took the reign as the Raptors general manager in the spring of 2006, he did yeoman work in rebuilding and shaping a roster left to him by the worst general manager in Raptors history, Rob Babcock.

One of his first moves was orchestrating a swap with the Bucks for a point guard, TJ Ford, in exchange for the Raptors No.7 selection at the 2005 draft, Charlie Villanueva. Of the two draft picks the Raptors had in 2005, Villanueva, if inconsistent, was the more productive and talented player than Joey Graham, who Babcock selected 16th ahead of Danny Granger.

Villanueva would go on to have an 11-year career averaging 10.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. He wound up playing for four teams, and while his numbers are not spectacular, he did produce 45 points in a March 25, 2006 contest vs. the Bucks as a Raptor.

The ramifications of trading Charlie Villanueva

In the end, the deal was bad for the Raptors. TJ Ford was already injury-prone when the deal was consummated, as recounted by ESPN here:

"“He was an inspiration to all of us when he found the will and strength to fight back from the neck injury he suffered during his rookie season,” Bucks general manager Larry Harris said. “We wish him much success in Toronto.”"

Ford would also feud with Toronto management and coaching staff over playing time, as another severe injury made it necessary for head coach Sam Mitchell to rely on Jose Calderon more.

Ultimately, Ford would play two troubled seasons for Toronto, and any chemistry that could have been built between two athletic bigs in Chris Bosh and Villanueva as both could play an inside-out game was lost. Ford never became the point guard the team needed.

2. SF P.J. Tucker, 2006 NBA Draft, No. 35 overall

In 2006 the Raptors pulled off a rare feat mining a gem, rough and raw but a gem with great potential in the second round of the NBA Draft. Tucker, a small forward, was selected at 35. Standing 6-5 and weighing 245 pounds, Tucker had the girth and strength of a big but also guard skills.

He needed work, as his rookie season stats will attest to. He competed in just 17 games,  receiving less than five minutes per game and averaging 1.8 points in that time. While Toronto would make a return to the NBA Playoffs in 2007, for the first time in five years, Tucker was not a major contributor to the team’s success.

He would then spend five years learning the game and developing his skills from Israel to Germany, with stops in the Ukraine and Greece in between. Tucker wouldn’t be denied his place in the NBA, returning in 2012 when the Suns offered him a two-year deal with a team option on the second year. Tucker has not looked back since.

Tucker has made a living defending everything from a 3-5 with consistency and is a competent catch-and-shoot player on corner threes. This year, on the recently crowned NBA Champion Bucks, Tucker shot the three-ball at 39.4%

He has fashioned a career as the consummate glue guy, a reliable substitute which is a player type the Raptors’ roster could use going forward.

Toronto had a second chance to employ the talented P.J. Tucker.

During their recent seven-year run to the playoffs in February of 2017, Toronto came calling on Tucker again, trading Jared Sullinger and two second-round picks with cash considerations to reacquire his talents for their playoff run that season. Once again, Toronto chose to let Tucker walk, as he signed a four-year $32 million contract with Houston.

To be fair, Toronto did not have a G-League franchise to try and help develop Tucker back in 2006, but they could have made a more concerted effort to keep this champion in the fold.

1. SF Tracy McGrady, 1997 NBA Draft, No. 9 overall.

Some dream scenarios infrequently materialize in pro sports. Things like an athlete playing with a relative or playing in your home city. What could have been in Toronto?

Everybody remembers the jaw-dropping feats of athleticism and skill displayed by Vince Carter in Toronto. However, had his cousin stayed loyal to the team that drafted him or had Toronto’s coaching staff recognized his greatness sooner, Tracy McGrady would have helped elevate Toronto to greater heights in the late 1990s and early years of this Millenium.

The Raptors grabbed the third of four consecutive great draft choices in 1997 at No. 9. The 6-8 small forward would spend three solid, albeit generally uneventful, seasons in Toronto before busting out as a superstar when he signed as a free agent with the Orlando Magic in the summer of 2000.

Tracy McGrady has regrets about leaving Toronto.

In a 15-year career, McGrady appeared in seven All-Star games and is without question among the top scorers in NBA history. While he is a well-decorated great of the game, even getting inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017, McGrady had regrets about leaving.

".“Something’s missing. Something’s missing. Had I stayed in Toronto, I’m sure we would have done something special.”"

Could McGrady have earned that elusive ring with the Raptors?

To illustrate what Toronto and McGrady missed out on with the craziness during their first few seasons was a lineup of Stoudamire, Carter, McGrady, and Camby at the center.

All four had long careers over a decade, and all four were good basketball players. However, Carter never played with Stoudamire or Camby, and just as things were getting good, McGrady was gone by 2000.

In McGrady’s case, the problem was playing time. Over his first two seasons, he was only getting an average of 20 minutes per game. It was under head coach Butch Carter during McGrady’s third season when his minutes jumped to 31.2 per game, and he scored 15.4 points per game in that 1999/00 season.

2000 was also Toronto’s first-ever playoff appearance, getting swept three games to none. However, McGrady’s mind was made up by that point, eyeing playing time and a chance to shine on his own away from the shadow of Carter. His six-year, $67.5 million deal with Orlando also allowed him to play in his home state of Florida.

From there, McGrady truly stepped on the gas, kicking off what became a Hall of Fame career with two scoring titles and seven straight All-NBA nods.

They didn’t necessarily “give up” on McGrady, and competing with his home state of Florida was always going to be tough, but if the Raptors went overboard to retain him, he and his cousin could’ve been one of the more special duos of the early 2000s.