Worst stretch draft pick in Raps history: Hoffa, Charlie V or Ross?

[zilby]

Far and away, it is Hoffa.

The thing with Ross and Villanueva is that there is a clear display of talent there, but work ethic is in question as well as the ability and mental makeup to truly put it all together. But now Charlie V is a very serviceable vet in Dallas and they love him there, he's found his niche in the league and is doing his thing. Ross still has the ability to put it together in the future (regardless of how many say he can't or won't).

Those two were first round picks. Yes they were a reach, but they were surefire first-rounders. With Hoffa... He was on most people's radar as a late second-rounder. Like, 50's pick. And we took him 8th. From the minute he stepped on an NBA floor, you just knew he would be a dud. Didn't have the mobility, BBIQ or fundamental basketball skills to succeed. He was big and strong, but that's about it as far as his skillset goes.

If we're looking at raw talent, Hoffa is the worst pick by a very large margin, followed by Ross, then Charlie V. If we're looking at opportunity cost (i.e. who we passed over to take this guy), I probably still put them in the same order. The way I see it (and the way literally every Raptor fan felt in 2004), losing Iggy was the biggest opportunity cost to this team because the Hoffa blunder prevented an amazing core from being formed of Carter/Iguodala/Bosh, for years to come with us. And yes, I don't think Vince would have been traded if we had the three of them together. The other hypothetical is that we wouldn't draft Charlie V in the next year, but probably have tanked for a PG in the next draft (Felton, D-Will and Chris Paul were all in the top 5).

Go think about that for a second. In a parallel universe, our core circa 2006 is Chris Paul, Vince Carter, Andre Iguodala, and Chris Bosh.

With Charlie V, there were a lot of questionable players behind him. I still would've wanted Granger, but the health issues may have prevailed in his career anyway so perhaps it's not the worst thing in the world having missed out on him.

Ross, not taking Drummond was a head-scratcher. I fully thought the Raps were in a position to go BPA as we had very few assets on the team at the time (basically DD/Val/Bargs) and needed to stockpile. Unfortunately, BC felt like the team would be ready to compete with one more piece added (Nash or Lowry) and went on positional need at SF (which is kind of really stupid considering both DD and Ross are a little undersized to play SF).

tl;dr summary: Hoffa was the worst, Ross was the second worst, Charlie V was the best of these awful picks.

[sh00n]

Hoffa by a mile. But I honestly hate Ross, so I voted for him. At least Hoffa tried, he just didn't know how to play basketball. Ross could be an amazing player and just doesn't give a ****. Huge difference.

[Raps in 4]

[DellCurry4Life]

Charlie V having no votes is kind of laughable. He is basically the same type of player as ross but he doesn't give any effort. At least Ross is working when hes on the floor. Whether it is a time filled with mental errors or not is another thing, but he is trying.

Also, we passed on Bynum as well as Granger. Not saying its the same as Drummond but it is a 7 footer who had dominated the leauge before injuries/interest

[Tortiglioni]

But the worst stretch of (consecutive) picks: Bruno, Daniels, Wright.

A round of applause for Masai, Weltman and the scrubby "director of scouting."

[artsncrafts]

What was Babcock thinking? I remember at the time turning to my friend and bursting out laughing as it was announced we picked Hoffa. Actually Raptors drafting in general is always hilarious. I did the same thing at Bruno just last year.

[dacrusha]

Definitely Hoffa.

People are also forgetting one of the big misses back in the early VC era when, just as we're breaking out, Raptors draft Aleksandar Radojević with the #12 pick in 1999... we could have had Ron Artest, Andrei Kirilenko or Manu Ginóbili.

Not superstars, sure, but a whole lot better than Radojević who was a complete waste of a pick.

[Rapz]

Hoffa by far.
Iggy still made it big last years playoffs, just imagine VC + Iggy would attract other good players, Raps could've been a dynasty...

[Morse Code]

Hoffa was the worst player by a LONG shot, but if we're judging what pick was "worst" we much consider what we missed out on. Drummond > Iggy

[artsncrafts]

Hoffa by far.
Iggy still made it big last years playoffs, just imagine VC + Iggy would attract other good players, Raps could've been a dynasty...

Raps will never have a dynasty. They couldn't make it with Tmac and VC.

[IMAN5]

Hoffa without a doubt, Iggy would have been VC 2.0 if he was here.

[ruckus]

I really hope the 15 Ross votes are joke votes. It is easily Hoffa by a mile.

[Tacoma]

Charlie V having no votes is kind of laughable. He is basically the same type of player as ross but he doesn't give any effort. At least Ross is working when hes on the floor. Whether it is a time filled with mental errors or not is another thing, but he is trying.

Also, we passed on Bynum as well as Granger. Not saying its the same as Drummond but it is a 7 footer who had dominated the leauge before injuries/interest

Disagree. CV averaged a respectable 13p/6r in his rookie year and was on the NBA all-rookie team and runner up rookie of the year. He was here only 1 year before he was traded for TJ Ford who was a leader along with Bosh in our playoff runs in 2006-08. He peaked at 16p/7r in MIL and currently playing his 10th season this year. That's a pretty good career for a 7th pick.

In comparison, Ross has done practically NOTHING. He had no business being a starter last year and getting all those minute but he was coddled by our incompetent coach because he had a hand in convincing BC to pick him at #8. It was a terrible #8 pick and EVEN WORSE extension by Masai for 3yr/$33M.

So in terms of who is worse between Ross and CV, it's Ross and it's not even close. Having said that, my vote for worse pick ever by the Raptors is still Hoffa.

[Mr Gametime]

Out of that list Hoffa easy. In 1999 the Raptors drafted an unknown Yogoslavian Center named Alexsandar Radjoevic with the 12th overal pick, missing out on favorites Corey Maggette and Ron Artest.

[wicked_crossova]

At least Charlie V had a 48pts game night as a Raptor.

Huh, I forgot about that. How ironic is that 2 out of the 3 biggest busts had 2 of the biggest single games in raptor history.

[The_Toro]

Definitely Hoffa.

People are also forgetting one of the big misses back in the early VC era when, just as we're breaking out, Raptors draft Aleksandar Radojević with the #12 pick in 1999... we could have had Ron Artest, Andrei Kirilenko or Manu Ginóbili.

Not superstars, sure, but a whole lot better than Radojević who was a complete waste of a pick.

I am so happy that finally you mentioned Radojevic, maybe the worst pick of all time.

You mention Artest, AK, and Manu, but there were a bunch of quality players picked after 12.

13 Corey Maggette
18 James Posey
21 Jeff Foster
23 Devean George
47 Todd MacCulloch

At least Hoffa played 100 games for the Raps.

The 12th over all pick in the 1999 draft, 3 games........

[Lunchpailhero1]

apples and apples...

[dTox]

This is sad but Hoffa scored a total of 389 points total in his nba career

[mintsa]

Hoffa....end thread.

[Mad Balla 15]

Put Iggy on that VC team and history would probably be a lot different in a positive way.

Agreed. That Hoffa pick pushed VC's camp over the edge especially with all the disappointment in not interview Dr.J.

Bosh/Vince/Iggy would've been a good core in the mid 2000s. They could've been contending for a top 3 spot every year in the East easily.