The Toronto Raptors are building the foundation of their team on two pillars. One is a two-way point gorward whose combination of scoring, passing and defense is unique in the league, both now and historically. The other is a diamond in the rough ready to shine in a new location.
For all that the Raptors seem to be all-in on Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley, however, that doesn't mean that the rest of the world agrees. Taking off the rose-and-black colored glasses can be difficult, and untapped potential they see in a young player may be unattainable hopes and dreams in the eyes of a more objective observer.
Bleacher Report attempted this big-picture approach when they recently undertook an exercise to compare every young star across the league. Rather than redraft a single year's draft class, they pooled together five draft classes: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
That's five years worth of No. 1 pick, 70 lottery picks and 150 first-round selections. It's an ideal way to measure young players against one another. In picking 30 total players they went through the next generation of NBA stars.
Victor Wembanyama went first overall, just ahead of Anthony Edwards and the Tyreses, Haliburton and Maxey. Then Ja MOrant, Paolo Banchero, Zion Williamson and Chet Holmgren all went off the board to fill out the Top 8.
Where did the Toronto Raptors' young stars land?
The No. 9 pick is where things became personal for Toronto, as the Atlanta Hawks took Scottie Barnes in this redraft. That made him the first member of his draft class to be selected, ahead of Alperen Sengun (who went 10th), Evan Mobley (13), Franz Wagner (14) and Cade Cunningham (15).
That communicates the reality about the 2021 draft class: there is currently not a superstar talent, and it's a tight competition at the top. It's notable, though, that Barnes leads off the group.
Barnes made the All-Star Game last season, the first member of his draft class to do so. He has been a strong offensive player with his scoring and passing, and this year significantly improved as a shooter. He's also an impact defender as a weakside rim protector and turnover generator. He may not be the best offensive player from his class, nor the best defender, but he's near the top of the list on both sides.
It's surprising to see him go behind Zion Williamson, who has been incredible when available but has significant injury issues and has been a sieve on defense. Chet Holmgren is a more scaleable fit on more teams, but he can't be the primary star in the way that Barnes is.
Another step this season from Barnes could see him move even further up this list.
Barnes was not the only player to show up on the list, however. Immanuel Quickley was taken 20th overall, just after Darius Garland and ahead of Jalen Green and Trey Murphy III.
Quickley was targeted by the Toronto Raptors in a trade this past season because of his excellent two-way play in a backup role the past few seasons in New York, and he was able to maintain his efficiency in a larger role once landing in Toronto.
The onetime Kentucky point guard signed a lucrative new contract this summer and will need to continue to improve to be worth it, but he has certainly done that to this point in his career.
Conspicuous in his absence is RJ Barrett; most of his draft partners such as Ja Morant, Zion Williamson and Darius Garland were selected, but not Barrett. He has at times shown All-Star promise but at others been truly bad, and while he played extremely well down the stretch he didn't end up going in the Top 30 of the redraft.
Toronto doesn't have a plethora of young superstars, but they do have a deep stable of players; what they turn into is hard to predict. The best-case scenario, however, is a dynamic young core on which they can build a contender.