Raptors Big Board

[Donnie Brasco]

1. D. Williams
2. E. Kanter
3. B. Knight
4. J. Valanciunas
5. J. Vesely
6. K. Walker
7. K. Leonard
8. B. Bioyombo
9. A. Burks
10. T. Thompson

If the Raps are keeping the 5th pick, I would take the first guy available in this order. Thoughts?

PS. If we could dump Bargnani, Calderon, and Barbosa, in exchange for Rudy Gay, I think that would be right and tight.

PPS. One love

[mcHAPPY]

My board:

1. Kanter
2. Williams
3. Valanciunas (if buyout arranged)
4. Knight
5. Walker
6. Leonard (his athleticism was not good at Combine)
7. Burks
8. Biyombo
9. Thompson
10. Vesely

[JoePanini]

Hey, I'm posting again after a leaving for a short while.

My board:

1. Kanter
2. Williams
3. Walker
4. Knight
5. Valanciunas
6. Thompson
7. Burks
8. Leonard
9. Vesely
10. Biyombo

Obviously it depends on who is available. I think that in a draft like this, and the situation the Raptors are in, the best player available should definitely be drafted. We don't have any indispensable players, so drafting by position and need would be dumb. I think the only player who is 100% important to this franchise moving forward is Ed Davis, everyone else can be moved (not saying they should be)

[jeff_hostetler]

My Board O' Nine (broken up into my Big Four, then the other the players I wouldn't mind in TO):

1. Williams (trade up with Minnesota, no way he falls to 5)
2. Kanter (trade up with Utah, maybe he falls to 5)
3. Knight (there will definitely be a learning curve, but I'm impressed with his versatility, and believe he will learn well how to run an offense.)
4. Singleton [for his Glue Potential (tm)] Call me crazy, but DD/CS/ED will be a championship calibre 2-3-4 set down the line. Why I rank him so high is that he brings that elite defense without sacrificing offense. We saw what just happened to OKC, CHI and MEM (they had their elite defender on the floor, but as a result couldn't score to catch-up/pull-away). His wing defense is more valuable than the offensive skills of nearly everyone in the draft.

5. Walker
6. Valanciunas
7. Biyombo (I don't see him being another of those shot blocking bigs who never play more than a season or two. I believe he's got a high b-ball IQ and is possessed of good floor leadership).
8. Faried (I like Faried's game, but on a team already possessed of Davis and Johnson, I just don't see where he's getting his minutes. If the Raps had only one of them, I'd rank him higher.)
9. Leonard

[JoePanini]

My Board O' Nine (broken up into my Big Four, then the other the players I wouldn't mind in TO):

1. Williams (trade up with Minnesota, no way he falls to 5)
2. Kanter (trade up with Utah, maybe he falls to 5)
3. Knight (there will definitely be a learning curve, but I'm impressed with his versatility, and believe he will learn well how to run an offense.)
4. Singleton [for his Glue Potential (tm)] Call me crazy, but DD/CS/ED will be a championship calibre 2-3-4 set down the line. Why I rank him so high is that he brings that elite defense without sacrificing offense. We saw what just happened to OKC, CHI and MEM (they had their elite defender on the floor, but as a result couldn't score to catch-up/pull-away). His wing defense is more valuable than the offensive skills of nearly everyone in the draft.

5. Walker
6. Valanciunas
7. Biyombo (I don't see him being another of those shot blocking bigs who never play more than a season or two. I believe he's got a high b-ball IQ and is possessed of good floor leadership).
8. Faried (I like Faried's game, but on a team already possessed of Davis and Johnson, I just don't see where he's getting his minutes. If the Raps had only one of them, I'd rank him higher.)
9. Leonard

I like Singleton a lot, but at number 5 it's a bit too high. I think if we had a pick around 8-14 then he'd be a great pickup. Actually, I think that the Raptors should buy a pick or trade for a pick around 15-20 so that we can draft Faried.

[ceez]

id take a guy like singleton over vesely who's slated to be a top 10 pick

[ceez]

it'd be a reach, but you take who you want and is going to play best on your team

[ceez]

in conclusion, i hate vesely

[ceez]

anyways, here's mine

1. kanter
2. knight
3. walker
4. jonas
5. burks
6. biyombo
7. thompson

players i'd like to see them trade down/buy pick and get
1. singleton
2. lee
3. morris
4. brooks
5. vucevic
6. joseph

[JoePanini]

id take a guy like singleton over vesely who's slated to be a top 10 pick

Vesely is really really good. He's 6'11, quick, athletic and quite strong for a lanky guy. Unlike the stereotype of European bigs, he pretty much plays in the paint and attacks a lot. A bit like Gallinari, with more hops and a worse shooting stroke.

[ceez]

Vesely is going to be on the cover of Bust Magazine next to Jamarcus Russell

[MyMomLovesMe]

There are some good articles in that magazine about Adam Morison's stash. They have measurements from the moustache combine.

[jeff_hostetler]

Vesely can't play defense, and therefore the Raptors should have no use for him (and it's the reason I didn't list him, nor Fredette, on my board).

And let me just throw this out there: why would it be wrong to use the 5th pick on Chris Singleton, but okay for someone like Vesely? Because Vesely is a better scorer? Have people forgotten that playing defense is 50% of the game, or that looking at the list of the league's best defensive teams is basically equal to looking at the list of playoff teams? This isn't to argue super hardcore for Singleton, per se, it's more just to raise a point about what's seen as valuable these days. It's crazy to me that the highest projection for the best defender on the NCAA's best defensive team - and a player who got remarkably better on offense in his second year - tops out in the mid first round, meanwhile players like Jan Vesely, Jimmer Fredette and Alec Burks who are allergic to the concept of defense are projected unanimously in the lotto.

[ceez]

look im not going to stand around and watch you talk this garbage about my burksy like this

[ceez]

he isn't allergic to defense he just didn't have to play it much in his college scheme leave him alone