Raptors Mock Draft: Experts all over the map on which player Toronto should pick

The Toronto Raptors finally realized the full pain of their mistakes. Doubling down on a group of players who were not dominant together and all headed for free agency was a mistake at the time that they traded for veteran center Jakob Poeltl, and it's even more of a disaster after the NBA Draft Lottery pushed the Raptors back to the eighth pick and therefore sent the Top-6 protected first to the San Antonio Spurs.

Yet there is still hope for the Raptors in the 2024 draft class, as they own the 19th pick courtesy of the Pascal Siakam trade and the 31st pick from the OG Anunoby trade. That gives them a couple of bites at the apple to find another piece to add to their young core.

In the days since the Draft Lottery many draft analysts have posted a new mock draft reflecting the updated order, with the Atlanta Hawks at No. 1 after their surprising leap up the board. Most of those mock drafts even go for two rounds, so it's possible to see who they see the Raptors taking with both the 19th and 31st picks.

Let's do a round-up of the players mocked to the Raptors, broken down by position. We'll begin at guard, where a specific Big East player is being frequently connected to the Raptors and generating a lot of buzz in the last few days.

Mock Draft Roundup: Which guards are the Raptors taking?

Kyle Boone of CBS Sports has the Toronto Raptors selecting Providence guard Devin Carter with the 19th pick. Carter is impressing scouts at the NBA Draft Combine and is a premier example of a two-way guard, a hard-nosed defender with the athleticism to excel who is also an accomplished scoring threat and ball-handler. Another Kyle, Kyle Irving with Sporting News, also links the Raptors to Carter, and highlights that Carter's physical brand of defensive and competitive fire fit the Toronto culture like a glove.

Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer goes in completely the opposite direction for the Raptors with the 19th pick. Instead of a proven, two-way point guard in Carter, he has Toronto selecting USC guard Isaiah Collier. One of the top players in his high school class and a candidate to go No. 1 overall early in the cycle, Collier has a ton of natural talent and a sliver of upside to become an All-Star shot creator.

He also could easily be a ball-hogging disaster on defense who struggles to earn a bench role. O'Connor writes "at this point of the draft, Collier's upside is too much to pass up on for the Raptors, who aren't quite ready to compete deep into the playoffs." It's not unreasonable to suggest the Raptors should ply the long game and take a low-percentage swing for the fences; it does seem questionable to think that Collier is the right player to take that swing on after his dreadful freshman season.

Many mocks have the Raptors taking players with size at 31 (more on that shortly) but Christopher Kline at Fansided.com has Ajay Mitchell of UC Santa Barbara landing with the Raptors in his mock draft. The 6'5" guard has excellent size for a point guard, great basketball instincts and was a scoring machine this past season for Sana Barbara. There's a lot to like about Mitchell's upside to be a long-term contributor in the NBA.