Toronto Raptors mailbag: Who should they draft, plus Masai Ujiri's future

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The second part of this week’s Toronto Raptors mailbag keys on the upcoming draft, which is somehow just about here since it’s June out of nowhere. What happened to May? That sure didn’t feel like an early summer.

Toronto is hard at work getting to know prospects as the draft process enters the final stretch. The NBA Finals are about to start and Canada’s best-ever basketball player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, can become the first Canuck to be the best player on an NBA champion if his Oklahoma City Thunder can keep rolling. They’ll be facing Pascal Siakam and the Indiana Pacers  in a great contrast of styles: Smothering defence against frenetic offence. It should be fun.

And how about Siakam winning Eastern Conference Finals MVP. I never got the whole end to the Siakam in Toronto saga. They should have just paid him and kept him. He’s really good and players that talented don’t come along that often, not to mention homegrown ones. Anyway …

If you missed Part 1 of the mailbag, which had a lot of trade talk, it’s here.

From Various people: “Do you think the lottery was rigged, because it sure as hell seemed like it was!!!”

RW: No. It’s a lottery, weird things happen. We saw Atlanta win with minuscule odds last year, the New York Islanders and Utah Whatevers make massive jumps in the NHL lottery this year and the days of lotteries going mostly chalk are long gone. There are too many security procedures in place for it to be rigged.

I simulated the lottery 25 times on Tankathon and Dallas only moved up twice, to second and to fourth (Toronto moved into the Top 4 several times).

Dan: “With the East not having many great teams, what do you think is the likelihood the Raptors attempt to upgrade their talent with a large-ish trade or two? I’m thinking trading a youth or two for a solid big makes sense for this group as currently constructed.”

RW: That kind of happened already with the Brandon Ingram trade and it didn’t cost any young roster pieces (a first-round pick and a second-round pick went out with Bruce Brown and Kelly Olynyk). Could more consolidation happen? Absolutely, but I would expect the front office to see what it has for a few months before doing anything. The whole group wasn’t together for many games last year and Ingram didn’t play for the Raptors at all.

For luxury tax reasons they might need to explore what they could get for Ochai Agbaji and even RJ Barrett and eventually, if either Ja’Kobe Walter or Gradey Dick separate themselves from the other (as I’ve said, my money’s on Walter), one of them could be on the move. But, again, don’t see that happening for a while. My best guess is Toronto either makes a major deal before the season starts or nothing. League insiders have speculated there will be a flurry of trades league-wide.

B.Viddy @B_Viddy: “Do you know why the Raptors gave up on Dalano Banton after only 2 seasons? It’s not like he stunk the joint out. His departure seemed somewhat sudden, like they made no effort to retain him. Did they perhaps feel he was too distracted playing at home?”

RW: Yes, I’ve actually reported previously that a couple of people who would know had told me when Banton signed with Boston that playing at home hadn’t been great for him and he could thrive elsewhere. It didn’t work with the stacked Celtics, but he’s had some nice stretches in Portland. It’s too bad he didn’t get to have a long tenure with the Raptors, but he’s definitely still an inspiration to kids from his area, as he’d hoped to be.

Steve: “Are you rooting for OG or Pascal? Or perhaps Shai?”

RW: My rooting days are behind me, but I cheer for the best story. That would be SGA winning the title. He can cap his MVP win and Oklahoma City’s 68-win regular season with a remarkable Finals to really become a household name in Canada and beyond. People are still sleeping on Shai a bit too much.

I enjoyed covering both Pascal and OG, so happy to see them thriving but don’t think the Pacers or Knicks have any shot of winning more than a game against this Thunder juggernaut. And since many think OKC might have to unload Montreal’s own Lu Dort, the all-world defender who also shot 40% from three in the regular season, to keep its payroll under control moving forward, all the more reason to want to see the Thunder win now. I covered fellow Montrealers Joel Anthony and Chris Boucher winning titles (whether they actively participated or not, they got the rings) and Khem Birch just won EuroLeague. Dort would join them.

Darrell Samuels: “Given (MLSE president Keith) Pelley’s comments regarding (outgoing Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan) Shanahan – where do you see the future of Ujiri within the MLSE umbrella?”

RW: Many are thinking this will be Masai’s last season with Toronto. I’m not convinced. Yes, the organization appears to be phasing out team presidents, but Ujiri could surely be grandfathered in if he wants a new deal. You can bet Rogers will want him to take a pay cut though, since the Raptors have basically done nothing in recent years and the championship is a while away at this point. Ujiri badly wants to bring another title here, but even with the East being way worse than the West and likely to stay that way with Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper joining teams in the West, the Raptors are presently nowhere close to competing for anything more than maybe squeezing out a first round win if they can play the third or fourth seed. Maybe.

Masai has kids that have only known life in Toronto. Would he want to move his family at this point, or maybe see what happens on one more deal and go from there? I’d bet on the latter, but he’s not saying one way or the other.

adarcmage.bsky.social: “How likely is another reset if they don’t make the playoffs and what does Masai’s future with the team look like either way?”

RW: To add on to the prior question, if they somehow miss the playoffs (lose in play-in or don’t make it in all), then I could see Ujiri not coming back by mutual decision. But I just can’t see that happening if they stay reasonably healthy. The East stinks, Toronto is more talented than all but maybe five teams in the conference.

How would they even reset again? Let Jakob Poeltl walk in free agency for nothing and deal RJ Barrett maybe? If things go wrong Ingram wouldn’t have much trade value. No, they’re pretty committed to this group for now.

40 & Dunking? @MidlifeVertical: “Thomas Sorber or Carter Bryant?”

Dan: “Who do you think the Raps should draft? Or perhaps should they trade the pick for talent?”

RW: Don’t think it makes sense to trade the ninth pick for an established player because it would likely put them into the luxury tax. They still have a tiny bit of flexibility for now and I’d actually consider going the other way, like trading Agbaji for an expiring contract and a pick in the late teens (otherwise they could lose him for nothing, or would be into the tax).

As for who to take, I really like Jeremiah Fears, but he probably doesn’t make it to Toronto’s pick. Ideally they’d get someone who has a chance to be a star, but more likely they’ll be angling for a rotation piece. Bryant could be that, maybe Collin Murray-Boyles or Khaman Maluach or Kasparas Jakucionis one day. I’d consider trading down and picking up an asset or two as I am intrigued by a bunch of prospects considered out of the lottery types (like Sorber, Rasheer Fleming, Nique Clifford, or Cedric Coward). I’m no draft expert, but coming away with a big wing or power forward and a backup centre like Sorber or Ryan Kalbrenner or Maxime Raynaud could set the Raptors up nicely.

Would Brooklyn give Toronto 19 and 26 and 36 for 9 and 39? What about Atlanta dealing 13 and 22 for 9 and 39 or OKC giving 15 and 24 for 9 (though Ujiri and Sam Presti have never made a deal during their long careers)? Might Ujiri tempt his close friend Jeff Weltman of Orlando with 9 for 16 and 25? There are some possibilities if Toronto likes multiple prospects and if all of its top choices are gone by nine.