2012 Draft Thursday, June 28th: Raptors select Terence Ross

[Apollo]

i think we should make a Raptor's draft big board..that we can use to debate and evaluate the NCAA talent. This team needs a wing player that can score and play the 2 or the 3..a paul george..type.

Great idea. We could, for example, ask everyone give their top five or ten players and then you could take a tally to see the results.

[ceez]

Sounds like fun

[mcHAPPY]

Damian Lillard better than Jimmer Fredettte?

Not sure how many people are aware of Lillard but you will soon enough.

He is the PG for Weber St. Like the Jimmer last year, he is a senior.

Lillard's stats through 15 games/senior year:

34.0 mins
26.3 points
7.7-15.7 fg, 3.7-7.7 3pt, 7.3-8.1 ft
48.9% fg, 47.4% 3pt, 90.9% ft
5.9 rebs
3.6 ast
1.1 stl
0.3 blk
1.9 to
1.89 ast:to ratio


Jimmer's stats in 37 games/senior year:

35.8 mins
28.9 pts
9.4-20.7 fg, 3.4-8.5 3pt, 6.8-7.6 ft
45.2% fg, 39.6% 3pt, 89.4% ft
3.4 reb
4.3 ast
1.3 stl
0.0 blk
3.5 to
1.22 ast:to ratio

[Joey]

Not sure how many people are aware of Lillard but you will soon enough.

He is the PG for Weber St. Like the Jimmer last year, he is a senior.

Lillard's stats through 15 games/senior year:

34.0 mins
26.3 points
7.7-15.7 fg, 3.7-7.7 3pt, 7.3-8.1 ft
48.9% fg, 47.4% 3pt, 90.9% ft
5.9 rebs
3.6 ast
1.1 stl
0.3 blk
1.9 to
1.89 ast:to ratio


Jimmer's stats in 37 games/senior year:

35.8 mins
28.9 pts
9.4-20.7 fg, 3.4-8.5 3pt, 6.8-7.6 ft
45.2% fg, 39.6% 3pt, 89.4% ft
3.4 reb
4.3 ast
1.3 stl
0.0 blk
3.5 to
1.22 ast:to ratio

He was just named the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week by the US Basketball Writers Association.

Dudes definitely got game.
Not bad for someone from a school I've never heard of ...

[ceez]

He short and white?

[Apollo]

Boy is this board going to shit a brick if the Raptors end up taking a PF because that's the best player available. I can see it now, ESPN ripping Colangelo a new one for taking another PF while boos rain down from the ACC and beer cans bombard televisions from coast to coast.

[planetmars]

Boy is this board going to shit a brick if the Raptors end up taking a PF because that's the best player available. I can see it now, ESPN ripping Colangelo a new one for taking another PF while boos rain down from the ACC and beer cans bombard televisions from coast to coast.

If we can get Anthony Davis, I'll be over the moon happy. That guy is going to be a beast!

[stretch]

He short and white?

6'3" and no. He's number 1.

[mcHAPPY]

Not sure how many people are aware of Lillard but you will soon enough.

He is the PG for Weber St. Like the Jimmer last year, he is a senior.

Lillard's stats through 15 games/senior year:

34.0 mins
26.3 points
7.7-15.7 fg, 3.7-7.7 3pt, 7.3-8.1 ft
48.9% fg, 47.4% 3pt, 90.9% ft
5.9 rebs
3.6 ast
1.1 stl
0.3 blk
1.9 to
1.89 ast:to ratio


Jimmer's stats in 37 games/senior year:

35.8 mins
28.9 pts
9.4-20.7 fg, 3.4-8.5 3pt, 6.8-7.6 ft
45.2% fg, 39.6% 3pt, 89.4% ft
3.4 reb
4.3 ast
1.3 stl
0.0 blk
3.5 to
1.22 ast:to ratio

Damn, I meant to include player profile links to ESPN.


Damian Lillard ESPN page


The Jimmer's ESPN college stat page

[Apollo]

If we can get Anthony Davis, I'll be over the moon happy. That guy is going to be a beast!

I'm thinking more along the lines that they don't get the #1 overall pick. I should have stated that.

[mcHAPPY]

Boy is this board going to shit a brick if the Raptors end up taking a PF because that's the best player available. I can see it now, ESPN ripping Colangelo a new one for taking another PF while boos rain down from the ACC and beer cans bombard televisions from coast to coast.

I'm thinking more along the lines that they don't get the #1 overall pick. I should have stated that.

I don't worry about that unless they pick 1 or 2. If they pick 1 or 2 that certainly makes things a little interesting to say the least (Drummond and Davis).

At 3 or lower they are going to have choices and opportunities that few could, at this time and in my opinion, argue.

For example at 3, Barnes would not be a stretch. MKG would not be stretch at 4-6 given the other candidates are Robinson, Sullinger, Perry Jones. I am not sure any of those players are considered better than MKG or Barnes. If they pick in the 7-10 range, you're going to have Quincy Miller, Brad Beal, and Jeremy Lamb.

The other thing is it is still early. It was only this time last year that the buzz started about Derek Williams. Two months of NCAA ball and March Madness still to come will change a lot of opinions I am sure.


Actually, I think I might have gotten away from your point. If BC picks another PF, let the Kahn comparisons begin! It will certainly be interesting to see what moves come after. I think BC will have a good opportunity to trade down in this draft with teams like Utah having 2 picks (their own and GSW protected 7) and New Orleans (their own and Minnesota) should he have a pick higher than those teams and it is not 1 or 2 (like 3-5 range). And there are teams with 2 picks but lottery protections (Sac with their own and top 10 CLE & NJ with their own and top 14 protected HOU). And then there are teams with 2 picks which might not be top 10 - BOS with their own and Clippers and LAL with their own and DAL.

[planetmars]

I'm thinking more along the lines that they don't get the #1 overall pick. I should have stated that.

Okay yeah I get your point now.. that will definitely cause an uproar in Raptor land.

I like the idea of drafting best player available, and if Bryan thinks the best guy is a PF regardless of need - then I think that shows balls. It does mean that there will be a lot of guys on the chopping block (Buh-bye Ed!)

[Maleko]

Scott Howard-Cooper: Kentucky's Michael Kidd-Gilchrist now being mentioned by NBA teams as possible No. 1 pick. A longshot, but what a move up the draft boards. Twitter

That would be a slight problem since we likely won't be top3-5 in this coming draft.

[Shantz]

That would be a slight problem since we likely won't be top3-5 in this coming draft.

There seems to be a lot of grief about us not finishing high enough to get a top pick. This despite our obvious lack of depth and the fact that our schedule, despite now just finishing the busiest stretch, is now entering a stretch where the opponent strength gets that much tougher.

Who won the draft last year? The Cavs won when they had the second best odds to get the top pick...but it wasn't with their pick that they won. They won using the Clippers pick which had the 8th best odds of winning. If you go back to 2005, the average winner of the draft lottery finished 5.8 last in the league. Just because weighted odds are in play does not guarantee anything, we saw that first hand last year when we were all (originally) devestated to drop a spot.

So far this season we have been carried by Bargnani, Calderon, and Amir. Any of them go down for a little while and we are in trouble. If Calderon goes does how bad would our offense look at that point? And if Bargnani's MRI shows something bad today, what does that mean for the upcoming stretch? We are not out of the bottom of the league yet anyway.

My point is that we do not know where we are going to finish yet; and even if we did, the Draft Lottery changes things drastically. If MKG does become a top two pick we can not say at this point in the season that he will be out of our range.

[thatpeterguy]

So...who exactly is going to be our saviour in the 2012 draft again?

Most Raptor fans seem to be resigned to the idea that we must suffer through this year to draft our star player of the future. You know, the one that will do all the things Bargnani and Derozan can't. If you are building a championship team, I believe Bargnani could be a legit second option and Derozan probably no better than the third option. So this leaves us waiting for that alpha male scoring wing with that killer instinct we have been missing since Wince left us.

Well, over the past couple months I have been scouring the mock drafts and I really can't see anyone in the top 10 that would fit that description. If PG is one of our most pressing needs then you can forget about drafting a top tier point guard. The top rated point guards are projected to go around the 15th spot and none of them are anything you would describe as a sure thing. SF is an an even more pressing position as evidenced by the corpse of Rasual Butler starting for us and even at that position there are no promises. Harrison Barnes seems to be the favourite of most Raptor fans and I love his game but does anyone see that killer instinct in him? The scouts certainly don't as he is described more as a Sean Elliot type than a Dwayne Wade. So are we sure he is going to all that much better than Derozan? I have no doubt he would be a nice piece to add to this puzzle but is he going to be anything more than a second or third option on a championship team? MKG, Terrence Jones and Perry Jones are other small forwards that all fall into this same category.

I am all for adding another young asset but the idea of tanking to grab a player that we have been missing is a faulty one at best. Some of these players but turn out to be all-stars and most of them will be at least solid contributors to their respective teams but I do not see any of them being in the top tier franchise player level. I say it is more important to try to build a winning culture here and draft wherever fate leaves us as the top 15 are all solid and there isn't much of a gap after Drummond and Davis come off the board. Now, you could talk me into drafting Drummond or Davis and then trading away one of our bigs for a wing but I doubt we will be bad enough and/or lucky enough to be in one of the top two spots.