Tim Leiweke and Wiggins

[Axel]

Randle scares me a little. If I'm picking someone after Wiggins, Marcus Smart is my choice.

[Kuh]

If they could land Wiggins, keep JV, Amir, Fields, and Hansbrough, they would have ...

The paradox is that if you keep JV, Amir, Fields and Hansborough - and play them - you are likely going to win too many games to get a Wiggins. To get all five on one team, you need to trade for a worse team's draft pick.

[ceez]

Outside of Wiggins i think i like Exum next best.

Jabari Parker is going to be really good, i think. Reminds me of paul pierce. everyone makes a big deal about his athleticism but dude probably has the highest basketball iq and offensive game since durant. he's a hates to lose guy too, which is one of the biggest things i look for in prospects.

hates to lose>>>>loves to win

[isaacthompson]

Yeah, other than the "Canada" factor, this shouldn't be so Wiggins-specific.

[Joey]

Randle scares me a little. If I'm picking someone after Wiggins, Marcus Smart is my choice.

Smart is definitely going to be something special.

[magoon]

A few points:

1. Minnesota has been hamstrung by exceptionally bad management (drafting Ricky Rubio, Jonny Flynn AND Ty Lawson all in one single draft) and worse they've had terrible luck with injuries - last year should have been a competitive year for them but Rubio, Pekovic and Love were all out for long stretches. Even with all of that, though, they've still managed to get to a place where now they are a serious threat in the West - not quite contender-level, not yet, but definitely the tier below. (Which says something about the likes of Charlotte's management, I guess.)

2. Wiggins, Smart, Exum or Parker are all potential franchise players for the Raps. (I agree that Randle is a little worrisome in a few respects.) If we can get a first pick in the #1-7 range and then a second first-rounder in the 10-16 range, that's one of the first four plus one of (probably): Glenn Robinson III, Semaj Christon, Mitch McGary, Dario Saaric or maybe even Andrew Harrison if he drops a bit. Any one player from the first list combined with any one player from the second list is a MASSIVE influx of talent, potentially team-changing. Philly has already planned for this - they have their own pick plus New Orleans', which should fall in the 14-19 range. Phoenix has the same gameplan - their own pick plus Washington's (protected top 12, but Washington should be in the 12-18 range) plus Minnesota's (protected top 13 but Minnesota should fall in the 14-20 range) plus Indiana's (probably 25-30, but they can combine it with the Minnesota or Washington pick in a trade on draft night to move up if they really want somebody).

Our own pick plus Cleveland's, Milwaukee's or one of Charlotte's picks would probably be enough if we do a proper rebuild this season.

[psrs1]

Although chances are slim, a bubble team like Detroit might be convinced to provide their pick in exchange for Gay (for example), the chemistry fails miserably or a season-ending injury happens, and their playoff goals turns into lotto reality.

But we would still be dependent on lottery balls...we will lose lottery and be right back at the same point minus Gay and/or DD.

[Nilanka]

But we would still be dependent on lottery balls...we will lose lottery and be right back at the same point minus Gay and/or DD.

You don't need to "win" the lottery to come out of this draft a winner.

[mcHAPPY]

But we would still be dependent on lottery balls...we will lose lottery and be right back at the same point minus Gay and/or DD.

You don't need to "win" the lottery to come out of this draft a winner.

Nilanka nailed it.

[NoPropsneeded]

What if we keep this team and just look for a team that wants to unload a late lotto pick? we already have like what 2 first rounder this season

[white men can't jump]

What if we keep this team and just look for a team that wants to unload a late lotto pick? we already have like what 2 first rounder this season

Well, we only have one actually. The only extra 1st we have so far is the 2016 one we got in the Bargs trade.

[NoPropsneeded]

Well, we only have one actually. The only extra 1st we have so far is the 2016 one we got in the Bargs trade.

Ah damnn. I thought it was 2014, oh well

[white men can't jump]

Just thought I'd throw this out there for everyone.

You don't need to be the worst team to win the lottery. Breakdown....

Worst - 4 times
2nd worst - 4 times
3rd worst - 7 times (most)
4th worst - 1 time
5th worst - 5 times (2nd most)
6th worst - 3 times
7th worst - 2 times
8th worst - 1 time
9th worst - 1 time
10th worst - 0
11th worst - 1 time

It's a lottery for a reason. Teams have gotten lucky many times, and the worst team has gotten lucky very few times. The historically best spots to be in have somehow been 3rd worst and 5th worst, because it really is just dependent on chance. Basically, you don't need to aim for the bottom, just make sure you're not really in the playoff race, since you can figure probably 2-3 teams per conference will aim for the playoffs and miss.

So yeah, the Raps don't necessarily need to totally gut their team. They just need to change enough to drop out of the playoff race, and ideally end up among the worst 5 or 6 teams.

[CalgaryRapsFan]

You don't need to "win" the lottery to come out of this draft a winner.

The other point is that if MU were to start moving players for draft picks (even mid-late 1st round picks), he could then look to bundle those picks (either multiple picks or a pick & player) for a higher pick. Basically a 1st wave of trades could leave the Raptors with multiple 1st round picks, but he could easily look to use those picks (and players and/or future picks) to move up in the draft, even on draft night. It doesn't have to be a single-step process of acquiring an additional lottery pick(s) in the upcoming draft.

[planetmars]

Just thought I'd throw this out there for everyone.

You don't need to be the worst team to win the lottery. Breakdown....

Worst - 4 times
2nd worst - 4 times
3rd worst - 7 times (most)
4th worst - 1 time
5th worst - 5 times (2nd most)
6th worst - 3 times
7th worst - 2 times
8th worst - 1 time
9th worst - 1 time
10th worst - 0
11th worst - 1 time

It's a lottery for a reason. Teams have gotten lucky many times, and the worst team has gotten lucky very few times. The historically best spots to be in have somehow been 3rd worst and 5th worst, because it really is just dependent on chance. Basically, you don't need to aim for the bottom, just make sure you're not really in the playoff race, since you can figure probably 2-3 teams per conference will aim for the playoffs and miss.

So yeah, the Raps don't necessarily need to totally gut their team. They just need to change enough to drop out of the playoff race, and ideally end up among the worst 5 or 6 teams.

And this only takes into consideration the teams that won the first pick overall. The lottery also decides who will pick 2nd and 3rd.. and if you look back in history there were a lot of teams in the bottom part of the lottery that also "won" by moving into 2nd or 3rd.

The Raptors for example were the 3rd worst team going into the 2011 draft, but ended up picking 5th because two other teams won the lottery.

As long as the Raptors are outside of the playoffs and closer to the 5-9 range there is a good chance they will get in the top 3.