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

[Chr1s1anL]

Of options most likely at #8, i think i like Lamb or Lillard best

+1

[OntheGo]

@ 8, I feel as if PJ3 would be the right choice if Barnes/Lamb are off the board... the lower our pick the less risk there is with taking him. IF he pans out, he has the potential to be a legit star and possibly even a superstar.... maybe this is the time for us take a swing at a homerun instead of trying to hit a single... I'm not remotely interested in Sullinger, Henson or Marshall... Lillard is enticing however.

[WJF]

I am waiting to hear some results from Kendal Marshal workouts, if he shows an improved jumper and solid foot speed, this guy could be an Andre Miller/Mark Jackson, and have a very good NBA career....not bad for an 8th pick.

[Quirk]

+1

another +1 for Lillard here. T Jones is my next choice, if mkg, beal and barnes are gone.

[The Coach]

Chisholm's thoughts on the draft

In what has become an annual tradition we take a look at five season-ending areas of interest (The Backcourt, The Frontcourt, The Coach, The GM and The Draft) with regards to the Toronto Raptors as they close out their lockout-shortened campaign. With the club looking to ease back into the Playoff picture next season, how this team is reshaped this summer will see a radical shift away from youth acquisition and towards luring veterans to Toronto. For now, though, let's look at who the team already has and how they factor into the club's not-so-distant future.

THE DRAFT

If Bryan Colangelo and Dwane Casey get their way, this will be the last time the Raptors are batting around options for a lottery pick for some time. Friday's coin flip broke the end-of-season tie between the Raptors and the Golden State Warriors which gave Toronto possession of the eighth slot in the draft, which in all likelihood is where they will be selecting on June 28 since that leaves them with pretty poor lottery odds. That is, of course, if they are the ones making use of that pick on draft night.

The Raptors have three options to sort through between now and the end of June, each bringing with them the usual risks and rewards. The first is that the Raptors go through the motions, bring players in for workouts and then take one of those players on draft night. The second option is to explore trading the pick to get a higher selection (probably by including another asset) or a lower selection (probably netting another asset in the process) to better position themselves to acquire who they want on draft night. The last option is to trade out of the draft altogether, something that the Raptors have not done since they sent their pick to Indiana in 2008 as a part of the Jermaine O'Neal trade. Let's break down each option individually.

USE THE PICK

Unless the Raptors get lucky on lottery night, the seventh pick basically takes Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Bradley Beal, Andre Drummond, Thomas Robinson and Harrison Barnes out of the equation for Toronto. The club would likely also be reluctant to bring in a big man like Jared Sullinger, Tyler Zeller, Terrence Jones or John Henson considering their logjam in the frontcourt is about to get worse with Jonas Valanciunas coming over next season.

That leaves Weber State point guard Damian Lillard and North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall in Toronto's viable range. Lillard is a scoring guard, the second-highest scorer in college basketball this season (24.5 ppg) who also possesses the second-highest PER (33.58), he shot 41 per cent from three and his quickness would make him a great change-of-pace guard off of the bench behind Jose Calderon. Marshall is basically Lillard's opposite. He's not a scorer, but he's one of the best passers in basketball. He's garnered comparisons to Andre Miller, and his playmaking ability is truly the kind of talent that makes everyone he plays with better. If Toronto is not enamored with the idea of taking a point guard in the draft, then the next two options come into play.

TRADE UP OR DOWN

If the Raptors fall in love with one of the guys mentioned above that are out of their range they could try packaging their pick with an asset to move up a couple of slots to make it happen. This is basically what we call the "How Much Do Other Teams Covet Ed Davis or James Johnson Conundrum". Packaging the eighth pick with one of those two players basically represents Toronto's best chance of moving up on draft night, but how attractive that package is remains to be seen. It's almost inconceivable that such an offering gets Toronto into the top-three, but you have to figure that four, five, six and seven could be options, especially since it's unlikely that the Raptors would target Drummond or Robinson, which could allow a team ahead of them to get their guy, get him cheaper, and pick up another asset in the process.

So who would the Raptors be targeting in such a scenario? Well, possibly Barnes, but probably Beal. Beal is a great shooter at the two-spot, can play some point in a pinch, rebounds effectively and can create his own offence. He could be a tremendous asset to Toronto in a James Harden-esque role, that kind of pseudo-starter whose all-around games gives opposing benches fits. If the Raptors could create a scenario where they land Beal on draft night it would stand as a pretty successful coup on their part.

If they can't move up then perhaps they look to move down. They could target one of the aforementioned point guards or perhaps a shooting guard like Jeremy Lamb, Austin Rivers or Terrence Ross. The goal would be to snag another asset in such a move, probably a dependable veteran that could help them in a Playoff push. Just remember that they aren't looking for any more projects; if they are taking on players they are only taking on players who can play effectively today.

TRADE OUT

That would also presumably be the condition under which they would trade out of the draft altogether, too. While there are some intriguing names in their draft range, a team with the Playoffs on their mind may simply not find a guy that they fall in love with before June 28. Rather than force themselves to fall in love with someone, they may just extricate themselves from the draft altogether via trade.

There are plenty of teams that would love to get their hands on a top-ten pick in this draft, and the Raptors could possibly leverage that want into a valuable asset on draft night. Danny Ainge is known to love this draft and nearly traded Paul Pierce at the deadline for a pick. Brooklyn sends their pick to Portland if they don't get into the top three in the lottery, so they may be shoppers. Milwaukee looks about ready for an overhaul and may want another lottery selection to play with.

Determining the price of a pick is always a tricky business, but last year the Pacers sold their fifteenth pick to San Antonio for George Hill, a guard that Gregg Popovich adored and no one thought they'd trade. There is real and unexpected value to be gleaned from selling a lottery pick, and for a team looking towards the Playoffs fans should not discount the very real possibility of Toronto moving their pick along to get closer to their post-season goals.

The real key here, as it will be all off-season, is that the Raptors looked poised to make moves with a focus on now, without taking tomorrow out of the equation. However, as they look to the post-season they know that there won't be as many on-court minutes available to develop a guy that isn't producing at an NBA level. It's not that they are turning their backs on developing for the future, it's that they are realistic about the opportunities available to play and don't want to waste a pick on a guy that can't help them. They may well use their pick, or they may move it up, down, or out of the draft, but know that whatever they do with their selection it will be in the name of bettering the roster.

We'll have a much better idea of the team's options after the lottery next month, so until then sit back and enjoy the Playoffs. There will be plenty of time to sort through the draft in the weeks to come.

So if we stay at the 8th spot... which of these three options do you prefer? (Use the pick, trade up or down, or trade out)

I have a feeling we will be trading out based on CoCasey's talks about adding veteran players. Ideally I think the best way for this team to continue to build is to draft stars, which probably means you have to "trade up"... especially after reading that depressing review of the last bunch of players taken at the 8th spot.

[NoPropsneeded]

Use the pick on a pg or one of the two Baylor SF's

[Maleko]

Use the pick on a pg or one of the two Baylor SF's

Trade down for these plus an asset.

[octothorp]

It'll really depend on what the pre-draft workouts show, but right now I'm leaning towards keep. There are so many guys who are close to being solid picks, but have a couple holes in their game. Can either of the Joneses show they can play SF at an NBA level? Does Casey feel he can get Marshall and Lillard playing defense at a high level? How's Miller doing with his ongoing ACL recovery? Is his explosiveness back to its pre-ACL-tear level? Right now, I'd be tempted to keep the pick and go with any of those five that can sufficiently answer those questionmarks in workouts.

[ceez]

Trade up or take Lillard/Lamb

[Chr1s1anL]

Trade up or take Lillard/Lamb

BC never trades his top10 picks. I agree that it seem like Lillard and Lamb would be the front runners but with PJ3 right behind him. If you look at all of BC's pick he always goes with high upside and potential.

[ceez]

Agree but it seems him and Casey are going to gun for a player that can help right away rather than down the road

[Puffer]

Trade up. Into the four spot. They will find someone there who can help them this year. And will improve for the 2013-12014 season and beyond.

Next season is only step one in the teams transformation. Getting a pick who can help the team get into the play-offs by doing a solid job coming off the bench and improve over the next two years to help them go deeper, on a rookie salary is what they should be looking at. I think with what they have in JV, what they can get in free agency, a pick in the top four this year and what they can do by improving current roster with a full training camp will put them into the play-offs.

Withj improvements to JV's game and this years pick, plus next years pick and any magic BC can work over the next two seasons, they are solid play-off contenders looking at the second round.

[MangoKid]

If we stay at the spot we're at, I'm all for Lamb. He can shoot the rock and he'll be a defensive terror.

[Mediumcore]

At this spot I would like to see them go after pj3. It's a bit too high to go after Lillard and Lamb isn't that much better than DeMar. PJ3 has the potential to be a closer in the NBA which the Raptors need.

[MangoKid]

At this spot I would like to see them go after pj3. It's a bit too high to go after Lillard and Lamb isn't that much better than DeMar. PJ3 has the potential to be a closer in the NBA which the Raptors need.

So Lamb likes to play D and is a good defender, fits better into what the Raptors are doing, yet we should draft someone who's not at all interested in playing D in Jones? I don't get it.