Toronto Raptors will have plenty of options with ninth pick in NBA draft
A good prospect could fall to nine, Toronto could trade back or acquire a player.
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The NBA draft is imminent, which mean the rumour mill is in overdrive even with three big trades already completed.
Desmond Bane, Kevin Durant and now Jrue Holiday and Anfernee Simons got moved, and the fun won’t stop there.
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Toronto Raptors will have plenty of options with ninth pick in NBA draft Back to video
The Raptors, with a wide-open East, a mismatched roster and some salary-cap concerns moving forward, would like to do something and still might.
Assistant general manager Dan Tolzman met with media Monday and reiterated the team plans to take the best player available Wednesday, despite only having Jakob Poeltl at centre and just Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram as legitimate options at power forward (Ingram is the likely starting small forward, but in his all-star season with New Orleans spent 75% of his time at power forward and has played it 21% of the time over his career, per basketball-reference.com).
Tolzman said rookie big men often aren’t ready to contribute right away, reinforcing the idea of just take the best player available.
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If the Raptors stay at nine, they should have some decent options. Few expect any of Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, VJ Edgecombe, Kon Knueppel or Ace Bailey to still be on the board, but there’s a chance at least one of scoring guard Tre Johnson, young but immensely talented point guard Jeremiah Fears, or giant Duke centre Khaman Maluach will be available.
Fears would fit a need (high upside paint finisher) for a team that only has Immanuel Quickley (injured for much of last season) and Jamal Shead at the position. Maluach would as well.
Toronto could also consider Lithuanian point guard Kasparas Jakucionis (they’ve had success with big Lithuanians before), who is not a high-level NBA athlete, but has size, nice shooting touch and a great feel for the game.
It’s also possible the team gambles on a high-upside wing like Cedric Coward or Carter Bryant, or trade down for a centre like Derik Queen or Thomas Sorber plus other assets.
If Toronto trades down, it can duck under the luxury tax. Picking at nine would leave the team just over the tax, with other players still to be signed, though they’d have all season to find a way out of the tax if needed since it isn’t calculated until the end of the campaign.
It should be an interesting couple of days.
THUNDER OUTLOOK
What’s next for the NBA Finals combatants? The champions will be the favourites to repeat next year and probably for many more moving forward.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren aren’t even in their primes yet, the salary situation is completely fine moving forward and the Thunder own a ridiculous number of future draft picks.
Plus the team will add big point guard Nikola Topic, who went 12th last year but would have gone in the Top 5 had he not torn his ACL and might have gone Top 10 this year. Topic doesn’t turn 20 until August. Cason Wallace also is only 21.
The rest of the 2020s should belong to Sam Presti’s group.
PACERS OUTLOOK
Of course things aren’t nearly as rosy for the other finalist.
Tyrese Haliburton’s torn Achilles likely means he misses at least the entire regular season. Starting centre Myles Turner needs to be re-signed, which is not a guarantee, even though he has been there for ages.
The team should still be good enough to compete for the fourth or fifth seed in the conference, but Canadians Andrew Nembhard and Bennedict Mathurin will need to step up and they’ll need something from No. 8 overall 2023 pick Jarace Walker.
The window appears closed, at least for now.
CELTICS BUSY
Finally, a few thoughts on Boston sending Holiday, a key part of two recent NBA championships, to Portland for Simons and some second rounders:
Holiday has lost a step and turned 35 earlier this month, but he’s exactly what Portland needs: A veteran winner (he helped Milwaukee and Boston to titles and was ridiculous in a massive playoff upset by New Orleans over the Blazers).
Portland took steps forward last year and wants to keep the momentum up. Simons is an eye-test star (he jumps out of the gym and can really shoot the ball) but it doesn’t really add up to driving wins, unlike the less-dynamic Holiday.
Plus, it opens the door for London, Ont.’s Shaedon Sharpe (another absurd athlete with a pretty jump shot) to become a key part of the team’s offence.
Boston has been trying to cut salary ever since Jayson Tatum blew out his Achilles. Holiday had more appeal than Kristaps Porzingis, who they are still attempting to trade away. Now the Celtics can see if Simons is a fit and, if they let him leave in free agency in a year, they still get out of the big money owed to the aging Holiday for two extra years.
A rare win-win transaction from teams that like to trade with each other — remember Portland stuck a dagger in Milwaukee’s back by facilitating Holiday to rival Boston when Damian Lillard went to the Bucks.
@WolstatSun
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