With the 19th Pick, the Raptors select Ja'Kobe Walter!

[TimeForChange]

Ja'Kobe has played much better than I ever thought he would.

I hope he replaces GD in the starting lineup next year.

[TNRaps4life]

Jakobe is really nice. 2 way player. We got a steal

[PhilBlackson]

Clears Gradey…

[anotherhomer]

Ja'Kobe is a rookie that plays like a vet. A coach's dream, The "How did he fall to 19...in the 2024 draft??" Type of cat


I think Tyrese Proctor fits the mold, he's only half a year older, and has 3 years of college experience.

Proctor with our 2nd would be great. But looking like it might take a 1st now

it's clear when you watch him play he looks good

[Walid]

His production is why I'm not too worried about our lottery odds. Every year there are players in the late lottery and beyond that outperform top 10, and even top 5 picks. I'm sure Bobby and Masai will get the best player available.

[anotherhomer]

i'm still puzzled how the #19 pick in a weak draft is outperforming the #13 pick in a strong draft

[mtcan]

i'm still puzzled how the #19 pick in a weak draft is outperforming the #13 pick in a strong draft

Because it's a crapshoot and the so-called experts don't know ****.

Remember someone like Kevin O'Connor proclaiming that Mo Bamba and Killian Hayes were like top 5 talent? Like I said...they don't know **** and at best their opinions are blind speculation. No...you can't rule that a draft is strong or weak until years after the draft when you see what these draftees have become.

[dballislife]

the bench is strong next season with walter, ochai, shead, and gradey, we just missing a backup center badly

[Thaddy]

i'm still puzzled how the #19 pick in a weak draft is outperforming the #13 pick in a strong draft

Because it's a crapshoot and the so-called experts don't know ****.

Remember someone like Kevin O'Connor proclaiming that Mo Bamba and Killian Hayes were like top 5 talent? Like I said...they don't know **** and at best their opinions are blind speculation. No...you can't rule that a draft is strong or weak until years after the draft when you see what these draftees have become.

There's an environmental factor you're disregarding. It's multi faceted. Ujiri is good at picking out talent and he's laid down infrastructure in Toronto that gives these players the best opportunity to succeed. Siakam, Fred, OG, and Powell are the most notable. But then you look at Vasquez, Boucher, and other transient pieces who were also great here and we capitalized on that value. Walter marks the second time we took an injury riddled college player and got a steal.

[Psubs]

i'm still puzzled how the #19 pick in a weak draft is outperforming the #13 pick in a strong draft

Ja'Kobe was a 5 star recruit that didn't have the best freshman year in college so people stopped believing.

Well he looks like he could eventually be 1st team all defense. Also looks like a possible 50/40/90 guy.

The best of Norman Powell and Marcus Smart in 1 player?

[Psubs]

Ja'Kobe has played much better than I ever thought he would.

I hope he replaces GD in the starting lineup next year.

With the addition of Ingram, he was going to come off the bench. 100% has to be a trade.

PG IQ - Shead- Ja'Kobe
SG Ja'Kobe - Barrett - Lawson
SF Ingram - Dick/Battle
PF Barnes - Mogbo
C Poeltl - ? - Chomche

[GLF]

I remember there was a certain poster who couldn’t stop speaking in absolutes about how ain’t **** Ja’Kobe and Ochai were going to be bc of their summer league play and bc of Ja’Kobe’s bad efficiency in college. Now look at the both of them. That poster also hates RJ and didn’t think he would continue to play well and they were wrong about that too.

This is why I ignore most of the extremely negative posters. All they do is speak in absolutes like they have some crystal ball, and the moment a player has a bad stretch they give up on them (very interesting for a group of people who love tanking so much. Zero patience or grace for young players). Forever sighting inefficiency and how based on their history they’ll never be this or that. More often than not these posters get proven wrong and they just move onto the next player they want to “critique”.

I take none of them seriously, because they only ever have something to say when it’s to critique a player’s game but are usually silent when a player is playing well. When the only time you post is to “critique” and you very rarely if ever have anything positive to say about the team or a player, or very rarely if ever praise a player or the team when things are going good, to me that’s the epitome of a hater. I know the word everyone here hates to hear. But it’s true.

If they had more balance to their posts I would take what they say more seriously, but everything is just doom and gloom with them always. Boring. Oh and most of the negative posters you can tell don’t really watch the games or watch college games. They just box score watch and come on here posting stats to show how inefficient a player is without any context. It’s wild. Anyway, go Ja’Kobe! I’m so happy he’s playing well. Same for Snead and Battle. Our rookies have been great.

[mademan]

Im not sure he'll ever have an amazing bag, but he's a 3+D Plus player, where the high end of a guy like that is Derick White, who was just a top three player for a title team.

[LoveMyRaps]

Man his defense was stellar tonight.

[LoveMyRaps]

His month over month improvement is very prominent...

November: 31/16/50
December: 40/30/76
January: 40/33/67
February: 44/34/78
March: 37/40/96
April: 47/67/100

Consistent improvement over the course of the season. Continues to trend up.

[Psubs]

Im not sure he'll ever have an amazing bag, but he's a 3+D Plus player, where the high end of a guy like that is Derick White, who was just a top three player for a title team.

Ya, like Derozan. You don't think he'll develop moves over his career?

[TNRaps4life]

Read on Twitter

?s=19

[Badonkadonk]

Man everyone bringing receipts, I was afraid to look but I don't have to feel shame over this one:

viewtopic.php?p=113959099#p113959099

viewtopic.php?p=114017698#p114017698

Just looking over various comments, I think one takeaway is that people underrated team context (i.e. role on Baylor, supporting cast) too much on Ja'Kobe.

The Will Lou interview with his coach post-draft was great, didn't know that much about him before it, always good to hear stories from the guy responsible for his development at that stage.

Especially liked what he said about being comfortable leaving Ja'Kobe on an island to guard the other team's best perimeter defenders and how that was unique for rookies (particularly telling at Baylor where great D is cultural). That part has translated 100%, he has surprised ppl as a defender at the NBA level.

[WuTang_CMB]

Back to back good rookie showings for #19 picks

Podz and now JKW

[Psubs]

Back to back good rookie showings for #19 picks

Podz and now JKW

Wasn't Tyrese Maxey #19?