The Raptors' mistake in the NBA Draft is turning into a full-blown disaster
The mistake the Raptors made
Having the No. 31 pick in the draft is often thought to be more valuable than one of the final few picks of the first round; teams get a much less expensive swing at a player, and if they don't hit they can move on more quickly. In this year's draft the pick became even more valuable, because the Raptors had an entire day to consider their options and field trade offers as the draft went to a two-night affair.
As the first round of the draft concluded it looked like the Raptors had struck gold. A number of players expected to go in the first round were still on the board, including players such as Tyler Kolek and Johnny Furphy commonly mocked as high as the teens.
The prize jewel on the board, however, and the most shocking player to fall in the draft was Duke big man Kyle Filipowski. He was being mocked into the Top 10 as late as this spring, and until a few weeks before the draft seemed like a lottery lock. Leading into the draft the possibility of a small slide became reported, and it seemed that the Raptors would now get a chance to consider drafting him with the 19th pick.
That small slide turned into a large one, and impossibly, he was still available when the Raptors came on the clock with the No. 31 pick. It should have been a coup for the Raptors: it certainly would have been if Raptors Rapture was running their draft. We ranked Filipowski 14th on our Final Toronto Raptors Big Board, one spot behind Walter and by far the best player on the board when Toronto got to pick at 31.
Filipowski was such an obvious pick because of how well he fit what the Raptors needed, both in the short-term and long-term. He could slot in immediately as the Raptors' backup center, and his shooting and size made him an ideal pairing with Scottie Barnes and potentially as a more versatile replacement for Jakob Poeltl.
The Raptors did not take the obvious pick in Kyle Filipowski, nor did they leverage interest in the pick to make a trade and add other assets. Instead, they reached down our draft board and selected San Francisco forward Jonathan Mogbo.