7 players that the Toronto Raptors gave up on too soon
By Tyler Watts
3. Marcus Camby
After winning just 21 games in their first season, the Raptors landed the second overall pick in the 1996 draft where they selected Marcus Camby.
The 6-11 big man went on to play 17 seasons in the NBA, and he had the fifth-highest value over replacement player (VORP) in his draft class behind only Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Allen Iverson, and Ray Allen. Camby was far from a bust, but he spent just two seasons with the Raptors before he was traded to the New York Knicks for Charles Oakley and Sean Marks.
Would Marcus Camby have boosted the Toronto Raptors?
Oakley was past his prime by the time he arrived in Toronto in 1998, but he did help the Raptors make their first playoff appearance in 2000 and was a key part of their first postseason series win the following year. That doesn’t excuse the Camby move.
Camby was the Defensive Player of the Year six years after Oakley left Toronto. The Raptors gave up a young talented big man, who had just led the league in blocked shots for a veteran that was nearing the end of his career. Toronto had a young team featuring Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady, and the trade worked out to some degree, but it should leave fans thinking about what could have been with Camby.