Can Toronto roster be radically reshaped with orgy of picks?
As a result of the trade with the Indiana Pacers, the Toronto Raptors have a serious opportunity to shake up the roster. Coming to our town are three first-round picks, two of which will convey this June (the 2026 selection is too far away even for my speculative self to discuss). While this post barely qualifies as an intelligent guess, I prefer writing about a positive Raptors future rather than its grim present. I’ll look at two scenarios, best-case and worst-, the latter in Part Two.
As a condition of receiving Jakob Poeltl from San Antonio, the Raptors must surrender their first-round selection, unless it falls within the top six. For purposes of this section, it does. Since our team has done well in the fourth position (Chris Bosh, Scottie Barnes), let’s assume the friendly ping-pong balls drop us there. The Pacers convey their pick, which will probably be the late teens, so I’ll say #18. The final selection is a ‘least favourable’ one, which I wager will be OKC’s, and therefore #25. Let’s not forget Detroit’s second-rounder…#32? While I can easily imagine Masai Ujiri adding one of these picks as a sweetener in a deal to help our team immediately, or packaging #18 & #25 in exchange for (let’s say) #11, I’m going to discount those options and assumes he uses all four selections. If so, both sides of the draft philosophy debate, i.e., ‘best player available’ vs. ‘biggest need’, should find themselves satisfied.
Gaping holes
The current version of the Raptors is very weak in the frontcourt, particularly so after the departures of Precious Achiuwa and Pascal Siakam. The absence of Jakob Poeltl due to injury, and that of Christian Koloko because of poor health (good luck, Christian!), has left an insoluble problem. The Raptors are getting shredded in the paint. [Not that I needed a proof point, but this one dropped in my lap: in Saturday’s terrible 126-100 loss in New York, the Knicks grabbed 61 rebounds to the Raptors’ 31.] Even after Jakob returns in a week or so, there’s no depth. How else to explain, other than desperation, the sudden emergence of Jontay Porter? He’s been a pleasant surprise, and appears to have carved out a role for himself as a rotation-grade center/power forward. Regardless of whether Porter has staying power, or is a 10-game wonder, we need to grab a multi-dimensional big man. Welcome to Toronto, Alexandre Sarr. (All the names are speculative; I’m not close to being serious about draft choices yet. That said, I think the ‘best player available’ crowd will be happy with Sarr.)
That’s still not enough size, so at #18 I’m hoping Adem Bona remains unclaimed.
Our last two picks should include at least one HUG (High-Upside Gamble – sometimes the choice is a failure (Bruno Caboclo) and other times a spectacular success (Pascal Siakam)). Let’s grab Zach Edey, who’s a head taller, and a whole bunch heavier, than almost everyone in the NBA. He’s a Canadian kid enjoying a fine college career, and is a member of our national team. Roll the dice, and hope his joints can withstand the pounding, and the speed, of the NBA game.
Finally, another swingman seems in order. There are a lot of these guys, so I won’t even guess who will be drafted. Check in again about two weeks before the Draft, which takes place June 27.
Bring this crowd to training camp, have a gander at the reconstructed body of Gradey Dick, and hope the Raptors will be competitive. That’s the best scenario. I’ll cover the worst in Part Two.
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