Official Raptors 2011 NBA Draft Thread, Part 3

[Kevin Willis]

for once in our forsaken franchise history, i think we're in a damn good position to actually take the good ol BPA. our frontcourt has depth, despite having two gangly international youngsters as our only "true" centres. with the addition of JJ we're actually pretty big and burly and reasonably skilled once Kleiza gets back. Demar is a legit starting 2-guard. Barbosa noice off the bench. Jose a great vet PG.

you really can go any direction. we all know that the addition of a point guard is the easiest way to change the direction of our team. we also know we still need a star wing to go with DD on the wing. we also need to get big and tougher inside.

i'm confident we come out with a guy that can be an effective rotation guy in the top 5. we can afford to add talent to any position (though I'd avoid small wing players).

i have no doubt that a Kanter/Bargnani/Davis/Amir would be a top 8 eastern big-man rotation. I think Barnes will become a great-shooting SF. i'd love to see if Perry could be molded into a defensive specialist at the 3. Irving would revolutionize the team. T-Jo gives us even more size at the 3. Jonas gives us a top big man rotation.

also, anyone else think that Kanter will come into the league with a well-developed shooting game? Enes really strikes me as guaranteed value. he'll be coming in with an NBA body, NBA rebounding ability, and a refined post game. i don't think he's undersized in today's NBA (a Kanter/Bargs combo is far from undersized) and I'm not concerned about the knees of a young player who gets a year of training to get his body right.

I have this feeling we're going to move up in the standings with good play and in the end the best choice will be Kanter. Irving may end up being a pipe dream, but Kanter isan't a bad consolation prize.

[Rude Boy 1]

Summary: THERE ARE NO CENTRES 2012 in the top 10, not even the top 20. However there are 2 pgs in the top 5 and one at 11 and one at 14. Therefore, I think it would be instinctive to draft a centre in 2011 like Kanter, especially since we most likely will miss kyrie anyway, wait for jose to have his expiring contract, and draft a pg in 2012(lets say teague who is jeff teagues brother and supposedly incredibly better).

So you draft a potential bust for fear that next year his position won't be available?

We have needs all over the court! its always best play available when you're rebuilding.

[God Squad]

Summary: THERE ARE NO CENTRES 2012 in the top 10, not even the top 20. However there are 2 pgs in the top 5 and one at 11 and one at 14. Therefore, I think it would be instinctive to draft a centre in 2011 like Kanter, especially since we most likely will miss kyrie anyway, wait for jose to have his expiring contract, and draft a pg in 2012(lets say teague who is jeff teagues brother and supposedly incredibly better).

So you draft a potential bust for fear that next year his position won't be available?

We have needs all over the court! its always best play available when you're rebuilding.

LOL Please explain to me how Kanter is a potential bust? Cause I always thought everyone from the draft can be a bust. It's really hit or miss with a lot of these young guys.

[sunny]

great article on Dwill

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/s ... id=6171215

[DreamTeam09]

I really would like to see Kanters measurents. I wanna see like 6'11 w/o shoes, 7 foot wingspan with a 30+ inch vert. Hes the player in this draft who we would definately have to do our homework on. Although Darko is a decent player, I want more upside outta Kanter and right now thats who I have him pegged as. The draft would've had to playout really bad for us for me to take him. If he were to fall to like 8-10 and we eneded up like 5-7 then I would be ok with trading down for him + assets.

[Rude Boy 1]

Summary: THERE ARE NO CENTRES 2012 in the top 10, not even the top 20. However there are 2 pgs in the top 5 and one at 11 and one at 14. Therefore, I think it would be instinctive to draft a centre in 2011 like Kanter, especially since we most likely will miss kyrie anyway, wait for jose to have his expiring contract, and draft a pg in 2012(lets say teague who is jeff teagues brother and supposedly incredibly better).

So you draft a potential bust for fear that next year his position won't be available?

We have needs all over the court! its always best play available when you're rebuilding.

LOL Please explain to me how Kanter is a potential bust?

1. He's a Euro
2. he hasn't played a lick of organized basketball in months.

[JamesNaismith]

I'm really not a fan of picking Kanter

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bwo6DbwKTY[/youtube]


He looks like he could be solid, maybe an Al Horford type but the Raptors need to take a shot on a potential for the next 2-3 years to try and get out of this hole. Would he make for a solid big man rotation? Sure but nothing special and we would most likely become a team that picks 8-15 for the next few years. I rather bomb and keep swinging for the fences to take a chance getting some real franchise talent then treadmill over and over and over.

[dagger]

1. He's a Euro
2. he hasn't played a lick of organized basketball in months.

no. 1 is stupid. Europe has generated a lot of good, even great big men

no. 2 is a valid concern.

[Rude Boy 1]

1. He's a Euro
2. he hasn't played a lick of organized basketball in months.

no. 1 is stupid. Europe has generated a lot of good, even great big men

no. 2 is a valid concern.

Let's not get carried away here Europe has produced a lot of serviceable bigs certainly not lottery pick allstars.

[Yeezus_]

1. He's a Euro
2. he hasn't played a lick of organized basketball in months.

no. 1 is stupid. Europe has generated a lot of good, even great big men

no. 2 is a valid concern.

Let's not get carried away here Europe has produced a lot of serviceable bigs certainly not lottery pick allstars.

That is horrible reasoning.

[Reef]

1. He's a Euro
2. he hasn't played a lick of organized basketball in months.

no. 1 is stupid. Europe has generated a lot of good, even great big men

no. 2 is a valid concern.

Let's not get carried away here Europe has produced a lot of serviceable bigs certainly not lottery pick allstars.

Gasol brothers? Dirk? You can even go back to Sabonis, Divac.

[ItsDanger]

Looks more and more like the Raps will need to make a trade prior to or at the draft.

[tecumseh18]

I mentioned this in another thread, but why is no-one here talking about Jonas Valanciunas, a legit low-post playing C who seems to be at least as good a prospect as Kanter? In fact, Draft Express has him at #2 behind Kyrie right now.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Jon ... unas-5622/

I haven't seen him, but I like the description. Kyrie first, of course, but this guy seems like a better consolation prize than yet another non-seven foot big.

[Rhettmatic]

I mentioned this in another thread, but why is no-one here talking about Jonas Valanciunas, a legit low-post playing C who seems to be at least as good a prospect as Kanter? In fact, Draft Express has him at #2 behind Kyrie right now.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Jon ... unas-5622/

I haven't seen him, but I like the description. Kyrie first, of course, but this guy seems like a better consolation prize than yet another non-seven foot big.

I'm intrigued by him too, but I'm not sure it's fair to say that no one is talking about him. Dagger has been a one-man JV hype machine and a bunch of other posters have been onboard, too.

[Wo1verine]

If we draft Kanter, (Or JV for that matter) I may have to hire a hitman to go after BC. They're plenty of centres available on the free-agent market this year.
Plus, i think Kanter has a better future as a WWE superstar than he does NBA player, maybe he should go that direction.

[Brinbe]

If we draft Kanter, (Or JV for that matter) I may have to hire a hitman to go after BC. They're plenty of centres available on the free-agent market this year.
Plus, i think Kanter has a better future as a WWE superstar than he does NBA player, maybe he should go that direction.

Don't agree with that at all. Odds are against us getting Kyrie right now, and since we're stacked at the 4+the emergence of JJ at the 3, all those players like the Jones', Sullinger, D-Will, and Barnes, become less attractive.

So unless we're moving back for a Jimmer, B-Knight, or Kemba Walker, no one should have a problem with us kicking the tires on the two C prospects available in the top 10.

Also, I don't know why we should necessarily overpay for a big-man when we're not close to competing. I mean it's not like adding a Gasol or Jordan (although I do like them) is going to suddenly make this into a playoff team. We're assuredly gonna be picking high in the 2012 draft again, anyway. (or at least I hope so).

[Wo1verine]

If we draft Kanter, (Or JV for that matter) I may have to hire a hitman to go after BC. They're plenty of centres available on the free-agent market this year.
Plus, i think Kanter has a better future as a WWE superstar than he does NBA player, maybe he should go that direction.

Don't agree with that at all. Odds are against us getting Kyrie right now, and since we're stacked at the 4+the emergence of JJ at the 3, all those players like the Jones', Sullinger, D-Will, and Barnes, become less attractive.

So unless we're moving back for a Jimmer, B-Knight, or Kemba Walker, no one should have a problem with us kicking the tires on the two C prospects available in the top 10.

Also, I don't know why we should necessarily overpay for a big-man when we're not close to competing. I mean it's not like adding a Gasol or Jordan (although I do like them) is going to suddenly make this into a playoff team. We're assuredly gonna be picking high in the 2012 draft again, anyway. (or at least I hope so).

I don't agree with drafting by position. We did that with Rafael Araujo and missed out on Iggy! Yes, we need a C, but those guys aren't the answer.. If we do miss out on Irving (which is very likely) then i think you have to take Sullinger, Barnes or one of the Jones' over the two top ranked C's, and move whoever we need to move in order for one of those guys to get playing time.

[Brinbe]

I don't agree with drafting by position. We did that with Rafael Araujo and missed out on Iggy! Yes, we need a C, but those guys aren't the answer.. If we do miss out on Irving (which is very likely) then i think you have to take Sullinger, Barnes or one of the Jones' over the two top ranked C's, and move whoever we need to move in order for one of those guys to get playing time.

Usually, I agree with BPA, but no one in this draft, again barring Irving, looks to be as good as Iggy. Iggy was the slam-dunk obvious choice there, this isn't the same situation at all. How do we know they aren't the right answer? No one stands out.

And the idea of going with a big wasn't so bad, it was going after Hoffa that was bad. If it were Al Jefferson or Biedrins that we picked, it wouldn't have been so bad.

[fredericklove]

I mentioned this in another thread, but why is no-one here talking about Jonas Valanciunas, a legit low-post playing C who seems to be at least as good a prospect as Kanter? In fact, Draft Express has him at #2 behind Kyrie right now.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Jon ... unas-5622/

I haven't seen him, but I like the description. Kyrie first, of course, but this guy seems like a better consolation prize than yet another non-seven foot big.

Why don't u flip back 5-6 pages before or even the draft part 1 part 2, everyone here in draft thread talks ALOT about Valanciunas.

[Reignman]

Ok, we really need to figure out some kind of draft order after Irving because the chances of getting him aren't the best.

I went back and watched a lot of pre-draft analysis on Demar and how he was so highly touted out of HS (#1 prospect for a while) and then lost some stock because he wasn't the most polished player in college and fell to us at 9 and I'm starting to get the same vibe from Harrison Barnes.

Just look at what they were saying at the draft about Demar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSMah18pCH4

The thing that stands out the most is how they say he could have the most potential in the draft. After watching for the last year and half it's obvious that we got a great prospect.

I'm starting to get the same feeling with Barnes. Highly touted HS prospect that isn't the most polished but is a hard worker and does have some skills.

Honestly, if we miss out on Irving I'd easily take Barnes for the same reason that Demar has become a very good prospect for us. P Jones is also very high on that list but I'm not sure he has the same demeanor as Demar and Barnes.

Lot's of similarities between the two actually, it's almost uncanny and if Barnes can develop quickly like Demar has been doing we might walk out with another very good prospect even if we don't luck into the #1 pick. Nobody really piques my interest all that much outside of him and P Jones.