The Toronto Raptors have to find their long-term replacement for Jakob Poeltl, a seven-footer who can take on the full-time role at center in a way that Colin Murray-Boyles likely cannot. Their ideal target is dominating opponents in the NCAA Tournament: Michigan center Aday Mara.
It is no secret that the Raptors want to move on from Poeltl, having shopped him for every available star player or starting center on or off the trade market at the deadline. The only reason they didn't trade him away was that they also had to find a team willing to take on his lucrative long-term extension, one the Raptors offered for no defensible reason last summer.
The Raptors need to replace Jakob Poeltl
Trading him away means replacing him somehow, of course. That could be accomplished by bringing back a star-level center in the deal, as Toronto attempted to do by targeting the likes of Anthony Davis and Domantas Sabonis. Each of those players come with concerns of their own, of course, and their own massive contracts.
Including Poeltl in a trade for a player at another position would make more sense, but that means backfilling the center position. Colin Murray-Boyles has been everything the Raptors hoped he would be as a rookie, but he likely doesn't have the size to survive full-time at center -- even if he starts, the Raptors need someone with the size and paint presence to go up against the behemoths in the league.
Replacing Poeltl could turn out to be a simply endeavor if the Raptors use their first-round pick to scoop up the perfect next man up. And one just so happens to be playing across the lakes in Ann Arbor, Michigan - and he is absolutely dominating the college ranks right now.
Aday Mara would be the perfect Poeltl replacement
If Toronto is looking for size on the interior, it's hard to get bigger than Mara: 7'3" tall, 255 pounds, with a massive wingspan and over mitts for hands. He fills up the paint and patrols every inch with his imposing presence on defense. He is long and reacts quickly, allowing him to block shots with impunity and deter countless others from ever being attempted.
On offense, Mara is not a play creator but he is an exceptional play finisher, with underrated touch inside. He scores in the post, off of offensive rebounds and especially as a roll man lumbering into the paint with a slam dunk on his mind. And his passing is effective both at the elbow in the half court and as a sparkplug for transition opportunities on the defensive glass.
In the NCAA Tournament Mara has been as good as ever, blocking seven shots in just two games and shooting 15-of -22 from the field. Most impressively, he is averaging 5.5 assists per game as he dices up defenses unsure of how to stop Michigan's freight train of an offense.
Mara won't be able to play 35 minutes per game in the NBA, and his defense in space will need to see improvement. Even so, he looks like the kind of player who will end up ranking much higher than his draft slot in five years, especially if he goes to a team ready to maximize his skillset.
The Raptors could draft Mara in the first round and have a plug-and-play option to replace Jakob Poeltl whenever they are able to move on from him. Mara and Michigan have as many as four games remaining to continue impressing NBA teams in their quest for an NCAA Championship, and then the path will be paved for the Raptors to draft their man.