Everything Christian Koloko

[DanH]

We need to stop obsessing on borderline NBA caliber players.

He was a solid backup C his rookie year. That's not borderline.

That aside, welcome to the offseason, I guess.

[golden]

We need to stop obsessing on borderline NBA caliber players.

Agreed. It gives us more time to talk about the elite defensive potential of Koloko.

[planetmars]

Oh yeah, Koloko's defensive rating was elite in his rookie season. That's why him getting those blood clots was such a bummer, not just for him and his health but for the Raptors. He has the potential to be an all-defensive type of big. A Tyson Chandler type.

[golden]

Oh yeah, Koloko's defensive rating was elite in his rookie season. That's why him getting those blood clots was such a bummer, not just for him and his health but for the Raptors. He has the potential to be an all-defensive type of big. A Tyson Chandler type.

I remember checking out his college stats on draft night and seeing this.

Some Koloko PAC-12 advanced stats:

ORTG: 127.3. (1st)
DRTG: 88.6. (1st)
PER: 28.0. (1st)
Blocks: 102. (1st)
BLK %: 10.3. (1st)
TS%: .661. (1st)
WS/48: .250. (1st)
Box +/-: 10.5 (1st)

We have a more athletic Rudy Gobert, with shooting potential, on a rookie scale contract. This is a great pick.

Same conference as Evan Mobley.

[LJ2]

We need to stop obsessing on borderline NBA caliber players.

This post makes me sad because it reminds me of how many potentially non-NBA caliber players we have right now and how much more talent I had hoped the Raps would have extracted from the Pascal trade. I think Koloko has a pretty good shot at being a rotation player if he can stay healthy, but lots of questions about most of the new additions to the team. Preseason can't come soon enough.

[planetmars]

This post makes me sad because it reminds me of how many potentially non-NBA caliber players we have right now and how much more talent I had hoped the Raps would have extracted from the Pascal trade. I think Koloko has a pretty good shot at being a rotation player if he can stay healthy, but lots of questions about most of the new additions to the team. Preseason can't come soon enough.

Well the Raptors are in a rebuild. This is what that looks like. We haven't been here since before Masai took over the team as he's always had DeMar and Kyle. And then Pascal, Fred and OG.


I suspect the Pascal trade was mostly to create cap space flexibility. The 2026 pick is still there too and we don't know where it ends up. I'm not a fan of the trade either but there were not many other bidders.. and as we've seen from this offseason teams are generally shy about giving a lot of money to non super stars. We still have to give Walters a chance and he was also acquired through that trade.

The team is jumping on Scottie's back and bringing in guys that compliment him. Gradey and Ja'Kobe are shooters. Mogbo is his bestie. Shead and Mitchell provide defense at the point of attack so Scottie doesn't have to do that. Kelly is a stretch big. Ochai is also a defensive wing type that can provide defense at the point of attack (but still feels raw).

Koloko is a young big with all defense potential that missed a season in the NBA. We can't say much about him because he hasn't really developed much. But it would be a shame to lose him as well.

[Primer]

This post makes me sad because it reminds me of how many potentially non-NBA caliber players we have right now and how much more talent I had hoped the Raps would have extracted from the Pascal trade. I think Koloko has a pretty good shot at being a rotation player if he can stay healthy, but lots of questions about most of the new additions to the team. Preseason can't come soon enough.

I don't know why people are still fantasizing about a better return for Pascal. No one is even willing to trade for Ingram and he's a pretty damn similar player value wise. We got the best deal possible for a non superstar that wants to be paid like a superstar.

[TomAmnot]

I don't know why people are still fantasizing about a better return for Pascal. No one is even willing to trade for Ingram and he's a pretty damn similar player value wise. We got the best deal possible for a non superstar that wants to be paid like a superstar.

Yup. One step at a time, gotta be patient. I think the real moment where we will be more able to judge about all of this is next trade deadline, as weird as it sounds. This is the moment where we will really see where they are going and what they will have been (is that good english?) able to do to get in that new direction.

[LJ2]

Well the Raptors are in a rebuild. This is what that looks like. We haven't been here since before Masai took over the team as he's always had DeMar and Kyle. And then Pascal, Fred and OG.


I suspect the Pascal trade was mostly to create cap space flexibility. The 2026 pick is still there too and we don't know where it ends up. I'm not a fan of the trade either but there were not many other bidders.. and as we've seen from this offseason teams are generally shy about giving a lot of money to non super stars. We still have to give Walters a chance and he was also acquired through that trade.

The team is jumping on Scottie's back and bringing in guys that compliment him. Gradey and Ja'Kobe are shooters. Mogbo is his bestie. Shead and Mitchell provide defense at the point of attack so Scottie doesn't have to do that. Kelly is a stretch big. Ochai is also a defensive wing type that can provide defense at the point of attack (but still feels raw).

Koloko is a young big with all defense potential that missed a season in the NBA. We can't say much about him because he hasn't really developed much. But it would be a shame to lose him as well.

Oh for sure, but I guess I was picturing rebuilding with a few more higher draft picks like Walter and less of the Mogbo, Shead, Carlson and Chomche types. Just not a lot of high end prospects like I had hoped we could have gotten in the Pascal trade. Fingers crossed a couple of those guys turn into good players.

[planetmars]

Oh for sure, but I guess I was picturing rebuilding with a few more higher draft picks like Walter and less of the Mogbo, Shead, Carlson and Chomche types. Just not a lot of high end prospects like I had hoped we could have gotten in the Pascal trade. Fingers crossed a couple of those guys turn into good players.

We got 3 picks from that Pascal trade.. one was flipped for Ochai and Kelly. The other was used for Walter. The third we will get in 2026.

The problem is our own pick was sent to the Spurs from the Jak trade. Hence the whole angst behind trading for Jak in the first place.

But yeah the only tradeable player we got back was Brown. And he's still on the team. Maybe gets flipped again. Who knows? But yeah the prospects we got back are going to end up being Walter and whoever we get in 2026.

And then in 2025 we'll have our own pick from that draft. And in 2026 we right now have two picks.. our own and the Pacers pick again.

Need to hit on a few of those to move this team up a notch. Or hope someone like IQ/RJ or Dick break out into all-star caliber players as Scottie becomes an all-nba caliber player.

[Primer]

We got 3 picks from that Pascal trade.. one was flipped for Ochai and Kelly. The other was used for Walter. The third we will get in 2026.

The problem is our own pick was sent to the Spurs from the Jak trade. Hence the whole angst behind trading for Jak in the first place.

But yeah the only tradeable player we got back was Brown. And he's still on the team. Maybe gets flipped again. Who knows? But yeah the prospects we got back are going to end up being Walter and whoever we get in 2026.

And then in 2025 we'll have our own pick from that draft. And in 2026 we right now have two picks.. our own and the Pacers pick again.

Need to hit on a few of those to move this team up a notch. Or hope someone like IQ/RJ or Dick break out into all-star caliber players as Scottie becomes an all-nba caliber player.

Ochai is also one of the prospects we got back. For better or worse, he was a former lotto pick in the middle of his 2nd season, that's a prospect by any definition of the term.

[planetmars]

Ochai is also one of the prospects we got back. For better or worse, he was a former lotto pick in the middle of his 2nd season, that's a prospect by any definition of the term.

True, although I've really soured on him since SL. At this point to me he's just on the roster until his contract expires.

[golden]

Ochai is also one of the prospects we got back. For better or worse, he was a former lotto pick in the middle of his 2nd season, that's a prospect by any definition of the term.

He went from prospect to suspect.

[Primer]

True, although I've really soured on him since SL. At this point to me he's just on the roster until his contract expires.

SL was definitely not great. That said, solid defense and hitting open corner 3s is all we need from him, so I'm still cautiously optimistic we can get that this season. Definitely a make or break year for him.

[WJF]

Getting back to Koloko. I had to go back and look at his season highlights and stats as I don't recall being overly excited about him after to 2022/23 season. I was not sold on him as the starter of the future or anything like that. What I see is a nice rim running big with solid defence. He's a lob threat on offence but provides no range on a jumper. He as the ability to switch on pick and roll coverage and his back line shot blocking is good. If he's ready and we re-sign him, I'm OK with him as Jakob's back-up. I do feel that Chomche has more future upside than Koloko and want to make sure his development is not stunted.

If Koloko is able to come back and is capable of handling significant minutes, a Poeltl trade at the deadline would be option without taking to big of a step back.