jakobe & Dick were bad picks

[PhilBlackson]

Raptors could have calmly had Keyonte George & Derrick Queen as our bench players and we would've easily had one of the best rosters in the NBA. Instead Bobby and staff continue to draft unpolished players without an edge to to their game like CMB & Gradey. I'll give Jamal Shead credit because although he has his limitations on offense due to his size , you can see he works his ass off.

Im so upset with the direction of this team.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watching these highlights of Keyonte & Queen make me absolutely sick. I'll never forgive Bobby for this.

They are mid level prospects on very bad teams. If you gave Gradey or Walter several games on teams like that they'd produce too.

[Clutch0z24]

I'm on record in the draft threads wanting Keyonte & Kyshawn George over Gradey (especially) and JaKobe so it's not like I love either prospect BUT out of the two I do still believe JaKobe can be a good rotation player that I wouldn't mind keeping long term, I was never and still not high on Gradey.

The comparison I made for each guy when we drafted them, was that Gradey would be another Heurter and JaKobe could be like another Neismith. Gradey seems to be on route to being a nothing player that floats around the league like Huerter (unless this particular franchise keeps foolishly overly investing playing time on him as a priority) and I think Walter can get there but he's going to need to continue to add muscle/strength and ofc consistency but even Neismith, himself struggled to do so early on with the Celtics.

The thing that separates the 2 for me, is if their shots aren't going, JaKobe still gives us hustle & defensive effort. If Gradey's shot isn't falling, he's fairly low impact. He seems completely mislabeled as a supposed "shooter" and I just don't see enough overall skill where if he isn't an elite shooter that he's gonna be worth holding on to especially when Battle does exactly what we were hoping Gradey provided as a base level (and GD doesn't) - be an elite shooting pitch out option. Nvm what our actual hopes were which was that Gradey would be basically like Kon. All that being said, both guys project as roleplayers, I just think defensive ones have greater value/impact especially if the non-defensive one is only a very slightly above average shooter and highly inconsistent as GD is.

Raptors could have calmly had Keyonte George & Derrick Queen (might be the first on the bandwagon ask Jerry Lucas lol) as our bench players and we would've easily had one of the best rosters in the NBA. Instead Bobby and staff continue to draft unpolished players without an edge to to their game like CMB & Gradey. I'll give Jamal Shead credit because although he has his limitations on offense due to his size , you can see he works his ass off.

Im so upset with the direction of this team.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

If you go back and check draft threads...I actually said I'd take Keyonte, Kyshawn and Queen so yeah I feel the pain of this take lol. Nvm Ajay Mitchell (or Furphy) over Mogbo...but anyways

I also think it's cope when people believe CMB (although I legitimately like the kid a lot), can close the gap on Queen offensively...he is an unique talent with innate abilities and feel you can't "work on in the lab". Even though I still believe CMB will be a really good player (better than GD + JW), I don't think he'll ever catch Queen tbh - even Jokic sees a bit of himself in Queen's game, you just can't teach that type of stuff.

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I feel me and you and one more guy on the whole board were advocating for Queen....95 percent of this board hated Queen.....Just sucks we passed on the talent....Even if he had red flags you cant teach what he is able to do....

Watch on YouTube

I mean you can't teach this to a big man....You just have to have "It" And Queen has it and me , You and a few others knew it all along so kuddos to us and the small community of Queen fans here.

[Indeed]

I'm on record in the draft threads wanting Keyonte & Kyshawn George over Gradey (especially) and JaKobe so it's not like I love either prospect BUT out of the two I do still believe JaKobe can be a good rotation player that I wouldn't mind keeping long term, I was never and still not high on Gradey.

The comparison I made for each guy when we drafted them, was that Gradey would be another Heurter and JaKobe could be like another Neismith. Gradey seems to be on route to being a nothing player that floats around the league like Huerter (unless this particular franchise keeps foolishly overly investing playing time on him as a priority) and I think Walter can get there but he's going to need to continue to add muscle/strength and ofc consistency but even Neismith, himself struggled to do so early on with the Celtics.

The thing that separates the 2 for me, is if their shots aren't going, JaKobe still gives us hustle & defensive effort. If Gradey's shot isn't falling, he's fairly low impact. He seems completely mislabeled as a supposed "shooter" and I just don't see enough overall skill where if he isn't an elite shooter that he's gonna be worth holding on to especially when Battle does exactly what we were hoping Gradey provided as a base level (and GD doesn't) - be an elite shooting pitch out option. Nvm what our actual hopes were which was that Gradey would be basically like Kon. All that being said, both guys project as roleplayers, I just think defensive ones have greater value/impact especially if the non-defensive one is only a very slightly above average shooter and highly inconsistent as GD is.

Raptors could have calmly had Keyonte George & Derrick Queen (might be the first on the bandwagon ask Jerry Lucas lol) as our bench players and we would've easily had one of the best rosters in the NBA. Instead Bobby and staff continue to draft unpolished players without an edge to to their game like CMB & Gradey. I'll give Jamal Shead credit because although he has his limitations on offense due to his size , you can see he works his ass off.

Im so upset with the direction of this team.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

If you go back and check draft threads...I actually said I'd take Keyonte, Kyshawn and Queen so yeah I feel the pain of this take lol. Nvm Ajay Mitchell (or Furphy) over Mogbo...but anyways

I also think it's cope when people believe CMB (although I legitimately like the kid a lot), can close the gap on Queen offensively...he is an unique talent with innate abilities and feel you can't "work on in the lab". Even though I still believe CMB will be a really good player (better than GD + JW), I don't think he'll ever catch Queen tbh - even Jokic sees a bit of himself in Queen's game, you just can't teach that type of stuff.

Watch on YouTube

I feel me and you and one more guy on the whole board were advocating for Queen....95 percent of this board hated Queen.....Just sucks we passed on the talent....Even if he had red flags you cant teach what he is able to do....

Watch on YouTube

I mean you can't teach this to a big man....You just have to have "It" And Queen has it and me , You and a few others knew it all along so kuddos to us and the small community of Queen fans here.

I like Queen before the draft, and wish that is the skill set Barnes has.
As for drafting Queen over CMB, it is a trade off. Queen is really difficult to cover his defensive issue in the long term, but I would not be surprised Queen becomes an All-Star, while we don't know if CMB would even be in that category.

[Thaddy]

Watching these highlights of Keyonte & Queen make me absolutely sick. I'll never forgive Bobby for this.

They are mid level prospects on very bad teams. If you gave Gradey or Walter several games on teams like that they'd produce too.

This is extreme cope....George and Queen are way better than any of the guys we drafted recently....If you put Queen/George on our roster right now and take away Dick/CMB we are winning 10-15 more games. They would boost our bench so much compared to what we are getting.

George's defense and below average three point shooting show he'd be a great makings of an elite bench player that would add TEN to FIFTEEN wins on our roster

Then Queens grand FOURTEEN percent REB% rate along with his amazing defense will lead the bench better than what CMB and Mamu are doing.

10-15 wins amrite?

[Clutch0z24]

They are mid level prospects on very bad teams. If you gave Gradey or Walter several games on teams like that they'd produce too.

This is extreme cope....George and Queen are way better than any of the guys we drafted recently....If you put Queen/George on our roster right now and take away Dick/CMB we are winning 10-15 more games. They would boost our bench so much compared to what we are getting.

George's defense and below average three point shooting show he'd be a great makings of an elite bench player that would add TEN to FIFTEEN wins on our roster

Then Queens grand FOURTEEN percent REB% rate along with his amazing defense will lead the bench better than what CMB and Mamu are doing.

10-15 wins amrite?

Again just sounds like cope to me....Your acting like Gradey/CMB are doing anything to really help this team.....At all....Lol If you replace CMB/Dick with Queen/Goerge yes you become dramatically a better team and our bench looks much better.

[tsherkin]

Then Queens grand FOURTEEN percent REB% rate along with his amazing defense will lead the bench better than what CMB and Mamu are doing.

10-15 wins amrite?

So, just to stack this side by side:

CMB: 11.4% ORB, 9.6% DRB, 10.5% TRB
Mamu: 7.9% ORB, 16.9% DRB, 12.4% TRB
Queen: 7.1% ORB, 21.7% DRB, 14.0% TRB

So yeah, it's likely he'd make a difference at least on the defensive boards. Not a lot different than Mamu on the O-boards. Doesn't have the same value on the O-boards as Collin, for sure, but he's been a 13/6/4 guy in 25 mpg, adding a steal and 0.8 blocks and a .413 FTr. No range, but quite proficient at the line. 6'9.25" without shoes, about 248 lbs, 9'1.5" standing reach (so +3.5" over CMB).

Looks like a pretty solid choice.

Now, I had nothing to say about Queen at the time because I wasn't really plugged in to all of the draft stuff this year. So I have no receipts to call in, or any of that. I'm looking very much retrospectively. I didn't like the CMB pick at the time. I've warmed to him since. He's hit a rough patch, but I think we should probably give him more time.

But Queen looks pretty solid. He's basically a 19/9/6 guy PER36, which isn't anything to turn up your nose toward, you know? And it isn't like NOP is a really high-end, supportive environment.

[elmer_yuck]

I really wanted Queen.
Although I don’t think he’d be getting the opportunities to handle the ball in Toronto like he’s getting in New Orleans.
It’s early, but so far CMB looks no more than a rotation guy, whereas Queen looks like a potential star.