The Toronto Raptors used their 2023 lottery pick to draft Gradey Dick 13th overall. Dick shot 40.3% on almost six 3-point attempts per game in his lone college season. The Raptors had finished their season 28th in 3-point percentage, sinking just 33.5% of their 32 attempts per game, and desperately needed some more outside shooting.
Dick was supposed to address that problem, but his shot never quite translated to the NBA. He was an average shooter in his first two seasons, but nothing more, and he really struggled defensively. So, he ultimately fell out of the Raptors’ rotation last season and was sent to LA in the trade that brought Kawhi Leonard back to Toronto.
While he has a chance to revive his career with the Clippers, using a lottery pick on Dick turned out to be an absolute bust for the Raptors, and other teams probably paid attention to that. Sam Vecenie wondered on the October 21 episode of the Game Theory Podcast whether draft failures like Dick would dissuade teams from picking similar prospects early in the draft in the future.
“These guys that are shooters only…Maybe not shooters only, but so much of their value being tied up in shooting—you could look at Jett Howard, you can look at Gradey Dick, you can look at two guys that were cut yesterday in Dalton Knecht and Walter Clayton—it just feels like right now, that is where there seems to be a real inefficiency in terms of where teams are taking these guys and what their value has become,” Vecenie said.
He added, “I just wonder if teams are going to be a lot more hesitant on somebody like Braylon Mullins at UConn this year…than what they were just a few years ago.”
Drafting one-dimensional prospects is always risky, even when you desperately need the one skill they promise to excel at, and the Raptors learned that the hard way.
The Raptors took a very different route this year
The Raptors didn’t have a lottery pick this year, but they still got a pretty good selection with the nineteenth pick. They still needed 3-point shooting, especially in the frontcourt after losing Sandro Mamukelashvili in free agency.
Allen Graves promises to address that issue eventually. He shot 41.3% from deep at Santa Clara. But Graves is much more than just a potential 3-point threat. Most importantly, he is a promising defensive prospect and a strong rebounder. He missed both of his 3-point attempts in his Raptors debut, but he still scored five points, got three blocks and one steal, and grabbed four offensive rebounds.
Graves can hopefully help with the Raptors’ 3-point shooting, but his value is not primarily tied to his outside shot, and that is a significant difference between him and the players Vecenie was talking about. While fans should have patience with the 20-year-old after just one college season that he spent as a backup, there is plenty of reason for excitement. He fits the Raptors’ system and identity well.
Now, he just needs to prove that he can contribute against tougher opponents than the young, inexperienced Chicago Bulls.
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