The Gradey Dick Thread Part 2

[Duffman100]

I won't blindly support every decision the front office makes just because I want to cheer for the hometeam. Drafting and projecting player outputs can be difficult. But the Raptors went out of their way to draft Gradey Dick. If you think I'm wrong in saying that they went out of their way, let me remind you that aside from the Raptors not even scheduling him for an individual workout, there was an established consensus of several other players who were projected to be drafted higher than him on the board, most notably Keyonte George & Jordan Hawkins. You can call it 'dealing with reality' (living with Gradey) all you want, but the truth is that if the right pick was made, you wouldn't need to be playing Dennis Schroeder almost 30min a night and signing Jalen McDaniels to give you absolutely nothing off the bench.

There's a difference between blindly supporting every decision the FO makes and cheering for opposing players to light us up every time they face us.

Brother, I love the Raptors but I'm disappointed with this draft selection. Either of those guys would have ate in Toronto. I know you remember Rafael Araujo. Say what you want about him, but at least he showed up and had his moments. In Gradey Dick, you have a guy who can't even show up to have a moment. If he's getting torched in games, just imagine how bad it is in practice for him not to get minutes over the likes of Garrett Temple and Jalen McDaniels. The thought of that is painful, especially since George & Hawkins would be top 5 picks if you did a re-draft right now (premature, but you know what I mean). It would have been a big value play for a late lottery team like us if we drafted either of those guys, but here we are kicking the same can down the road.

I don't think you're actually reading what I'm posting.

[TheGeneral99]

I'm glad that as a Raptors fan you hope other players light us up. That makes sense.

Shows how bitter some of these fans are, its almost funny.

Apparently the Raptors front office is delusional and can't properly use the eye test

I won't blindly support every decision the front office makes just because I want to cheer for the hometeam. Drafting and projecting player outputs can be difficult. But the Raptors went out of their way to draft Gradey Dick. If you think I'm wrong in saying that they went out of their way, let me remind you that aside from the Raptors not even scheduling him for an individual workout, there was an established consensus of several other players who were projected to be drafted higher than him on the board, most notably Keyonte George & Jordan Hawkins. You can call it 'dealing with reality' (living with Gradey) all you want, but the truth is that if the right pick was made, you wouldn't need to be playing Dennis Schroeder almost 30min a night and signing Jalen McDaniels to give you absolutely nothing off the bench.

Most mock drafts had Gradey ranging from 9-15...he fell exactly most predicted he should have fell.

https://nbadraftroom.com/p/2023-nba-mock-draft/

NBA draft room had Gradey at 14, Hawkins at 15 and George at 17.

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2023/6/19/23761689/nba-mock-draft-2023-first-round-latest-projection-perfect-picks

SB Nation had Gradey at 11, George at 16 and Hawkins at 26.

https://www.si.com/nba/draft/mock-drafts-and-big-boards/2023-nba-mock-draft-final-projections-on-draft-day

SI had Gradey at 11, George at 16 and Hawkins at 17.


Also how do you know that Gradey was the Raptors #1 choice at 13? Maybe they were hoping to land Derek Lively (who went 12) or Cason Wallace (who went 10).

Anyways, it's a little strange why you are hoping for other players we didn't draft to kill us every time we play them. Why not hope that Gradey can evolve into a good player in the next couple years?

You are simply playing revisionist history here.

[TheGeneral99]

I won't blindly support every decision the front office makes just because I want to cheer for the hometeam. Drafting and projecting player outputs can be difficult. But the Raptors went out of their way to draft Gradey Dick. If you think I'm wrong in saying that they went out of their way, let me remind you that aside from the Raptors not even scheduling him for an individual workout, there was an established consensus of several other players who were projected to be drafted higher than him on the board, most notably Keyonte George & Jordan Hawkins. You can call it 'dealing with reality' (living with Gradey) all you want, but the truth is that if the right pick was made, you wouldn't need to be playing Dennis Schroeder almost 30min a night and signing Jalen McDaniels to give you absolutely nothing off the bench.

There's a difference between blindly supporting every decision the FO makes and cheering for opposing players to light us up every time they face us.

Brother, I love the Raptors but I'm disappointed with this draft selection. Either of those guys would have ate in Toronto. I know you remember Rafael Araujo. Say what you want about him, but at least he showed up and had his moments. In Gradey Dick, you have a guy who can't even show up to have a moment. If he's getting torched in games, just imagine how bad it is in practice for him not to get minutes over the likes of Garrett Temple and Jalen McDaniels. The thought of that is painful, especially since George & Hawkins would be top 5 picks if you did a re-draft right now (premature, but you know what I mean). It would have been a big value play for a late lottery team like us if we drafted either of those guys, but here we are kicking the same can down the road.

Wait...you are saying Aruajo showed up and had his moments?

The same Aruajo who was 24 year old rookie and the 8th overall pick and averaged 3ppg, 3rpg on 43% as a rookie center and never improved at all?

Most thought at the time Aruajo was an awful pick as he was 24 years old and was not supposed to even be in the top 10.

[ItsDanger]

I viewed Dick as a complementary player with questions as a starter due to defense. Defending other top end SFs in NBA is very difficult. Still think he can be a player but you need to target offensive upside at 13 preferably. Dick's skills work best in a structured offense.

[Duffman100]

[

Anyways, it's a little strange why you are hoping for other players we didn't draft to kill us every time we play them. Why not hope that Gradey can evolve into a good player in the next couple years?

People were hoping that Poeltl doesn't resign.
People were hoping we lose OG and Siakam for nothing.

It's just weird to hope for bad things to happen to your team but still call yourself a fan of the team.

[kingz3290]

There's a difference between blindly supporting every decision the FO makes and cheering for opposing players to light us up every time they face us.

Brother, I love the Raptors but I'm disappointed with this draft selection. Either of those guys would have ate in Toronto. I know you remember Rafael Araujo. Say what you want about him, but at least he showed up and had his moments. In Gradey Dick, you have a guy who can't even show up to have a moment. If he's getting torched in games, just imagine how bad it is in practice for him not to get minutes over the likes of Garrett Temple and Jalen McDaniels. The thought of that is painful, especially since George & Hawkins would be top 5 picks if you did a re-draft right now (premature, but you know what I mean). It would have been a big value play for a late lottery team like us if we drafted either of those guys, but here we are kicking the same can down the road.

I don't think you're actually reading what I'm posting.

I got you. I like George & Hawkins a lot - I thought it was clear that they would be great for the Raptors if we drafted them because I'm a fan of their game. I'm glad to see those players producing because they're doing exactly what they're supposed to do. And if they drop a 30 piece on the Raptors, im fine with it because we deserve that sh** for not taking them because we didn't believe in them and went for what we thought was the 'easy route' by picking a shooter who we thought would have low pressure/low barrier to perform as a shooter - when we could have just drafted a dog instead. I know u don't agree, but that's all I'm saying.

[TheGeneral99]

Brother, I love the Raptors but I'm disappointed with this draft selection. Either of those guys would have ate in Toronto. I know you remember Rafael Araujo. Say what you want about him, but at least he showed up and had his moments. In Gradey Dick, you have a guy who can't even show up to have a moment. If he's getting torched in games, just imagine how bad it is in practice for him not to get minutes over the likes of Garrett Temple and Jalen McDaniels. The thought of that is painful, especially since George & Hawkins would be top 5 picks if you did a re-draft right now (premature, but you know what I mean). It would have been a big value play for a late lottery team like us if we drafted either of those guys, but here we are kicking the same can down the road.

I don't think you're actually reading what I'm posting.

I got you. I like George & Hawkins a lot - I thought it was clear that they would be great for the Raptors if we drafted them because I'm a fan of their game. I'm glad to see those players producing because they're doing exactly what they're supposed to do. And if they drop a 30 piece on the Raptors, im fine with it because we deserve that sh** for not taking them because we didn't believe in them and went for what we thought was the 'easy route' by picking a shooter who we thought would have low pressure and low responsibility when we could have just drafted a dog. I know u don't agree, but that's all I'm saying.

Maybe let's wait 2-3 years before deciding who were the best players of this draft:

I like George a lot, but right now he's a 37% shooter and 32% from 3. Will he able to become more efficient in year 2? We don't know. Remember Chris Duarte looked amazing his rookie year and then trailed off.

Hawkins is also almost 22 years old whereas Gradey just turned 20 a couple months ago.

Again, it might be a bad pick choosing Gradey, but weird you are hoping that the other guys we didn't draft do better.

[kingz3290]

There's a difference between blindly supporting every decision the FO makes and cheering for opposing players to light us up every time they face us.

Brother, I love the Raptors but I'm disappointed with this draft selection. Either of those guys would have ate in Toronto. I know you remember Rafael Araujo. Say what you want about him, but at least he showed up and had his moments. In Gradey Dick, you have a guy who can't even show up to have a moment. If he's getting torched in games, just imagine how bad it is in practice for him not to get minutes over the likes of Garrett Temple and Jalen McDaniels. The thought of that is painful, especially since George & Hawkins would be top 5 picks if you did a re-draft right now (premature, but you know what I mean). It would have been a big value play for a late lottery team like us if we drafted either of those guys, but here we are kicking the same can down the road.

Wait...you are saying Aruajo showed up and had his moments?

The same Aruajo who was 24 year old rookie and the 8th overall pick and averaged 3ppg, 3rpg on 43% as a rookie center and never improved at all?

Most thought at the time Aruajo was an awful pick as he was 24 years old and was not supposed to even be in the top 10.

At least he got on the court. That's the point. Was I signing his praises?

[TheGeneral99]

Brother, I love the Raptors but I'm disappointed with this draft selection. Either of those guys would have ate in Toronto. I know you remember Rafael Araujo. Say what you want about him, but at least he showed up and had his moments. In Gradey Dick, you have a guy who can't even show up to have a moment. If he's getting torched in games, just imagine how bad it is in practice for him not to get minutes over the likes of Garrett Temple and Jalen McDaniels. The thought of that is painful, especially since George & Hawkins would be top 5 picks if you did a re-draft right now (premature, but you know what I mean). It would have been a big value play for a late lottery team like us if we drafted either of those guys, but here we are kicking the same can down the road.

Wait...you are saying Aruajo showed up and had his moments?

The same Aruajo who was 24 year old rookie and the 8th overall pick and averaged 3ppg, 3rpg on 43% as a rookie center and never improved at all?

Most thought at the time Aruajo was an awful pick as he was 24 years old and was not supposed to even be in the top 10.

At least he got on the court. That's the point. Was I signing his praises?

He got on the court on an awful 27 win team who didn't even have a center.

It's also up to the coach to put you in the court. Just because Aruajo got on the court, doesn't mean he deserved to be, lol.

[kingz3290]

Wait...you are saying Aruajo showed up and had his moments?

The same Aruajo who was 24 year old rookie and the 8th overall pick and averaged 3ppg, 3rpg on 43% as a rookie center and never improved at all?

Most thought at the time Aruajo was an awful pick as he was 24 years old and was not supposed to even be in the top 10.

At least he got on the court. That's the point. Was I signing his praises?

He got on the court on an awful 27 win team who didn't even have a center.

It's also up to the coach to put you in the court. Just because Aruajo got on the court, doesn't mean he deserved to be, lol.

Ok, fair

[rarefind]

I had no reservations about the selection. Gradey projected and still does as a shooter with the tools to be competent enough to create his shot off the dribble. Nothing fancy but enough in his bag of tricks to not just be a shooter. Whether that was Tyler Herro or Kevin Huerter, time was going to tell.

What I see now is he either has 0 work ethic or that we are doing a poor job bringing him along. What I saw from him in that Jazz game was fairly troubling. His game screams of him being scared to make a mistake or to let it rip which really nerfs his game. That was in a game that was effectively over when he checked in.

His body of work at Kansas was just fine. I also would imagine that he would do extremely well in a workout environment demonstrating his shooting. My drive by psychoanalysis is that we are dealing with a guy who has lost his confidence completely. There has been enough said about his struggles with the 905's but that 25% 3p% is simply not good. I haven't watched enough to say what that is a byproduct of.

While I am going down the 905 rabbit hole, I'd love to see Freeman-Liberty get a shot with the Raptors. Trading Trent and getting him minutes is a net positive IMO. Let's figure out what we have there before it is too late.

[nikster]

I won't blindly support every decision the front office makes just because I want to cheer for the hometeam. Drafting and projecting player outputs can be difficult. But the Raptors went out of their way to draft Gradey Dick. If you think I'm wrong in saying that they went out of their way, let me remind you that aside from the Raptors not even scheduling him for an individual workout, there was an established consensus of several other players who were projected to be drafted higher than him on the board, most notably Keyonte George & Jordan Hawkins. You can call it 'dealing with reality' (living with Gradey) all you want, but the truth is that if the right pick was made, you wouldn't need to be playing Dennis Schroeder almost 30min a night and signing Jalen McDaniels to give you absolutely nothing off the bench.

There's a difference between blindly supporting every decision the FO makes and cheering for opposing players to light us up every time they face us.

Brother, I love the Raptors but I'm disappointed with this draft selection. Either of those guys would have ate in Toronto. I know you remember Rafael Araujo. Say what you want about him, but at least he showed up and had his moments. In Gradey Dick, you have a guy who can't even show up to have a moment. If he's getting torched in games, just imagine how bad it is in practice for him not to get minutes over the likes of Garrett Temple and Jalen McDaniels. The thought of that is painful, especially since George & Hawkins would be top 5 picks if you did a re-draft right now (premature, but you know what I mean). It would have been a big value play for a late lottery team like us if we drafted either of those guys, but here we are kicking the same can down the road.

There'd being disappointed and then there's hoping your preferred picks tear us up out of spite. Like I said, bitter

[hype_2004]

Kid should be working on his body, I want this kid 220+ lbs next year. He's a little boy playing amongst men and that's hindering his development and killing his confidence. They are in all probability putting him in a all sorts of power, static and functional exercises like power cleans, squat, bench and deadlifts. I dont see any reason why added weight, power and strength would impact his shooting in fact it would absolutely help him get off shots much quicker and finish through contact.

[ash_k]

Gradey is on the list with the following "greats" and proven NBA performers.
At this point, it is still very hard to imagine that he could turn into a bust.

2022 Gradey Dick

1996 Kobe Bryant
2002 LeBron James

2011 Bradley Beal
2012 Jabari Parker
2013 Andrew Wiggins
2014 Karl-Anthony Towns
2015 Ben Simmons
2016 Jayson Tatum
2017 Michael Porter Jr.
2018 RJ Barrett
2019 James Wiseman
2020 Emoni Bates
2021 Chet Holmgren

[redraptor77]

He’s 19-20. His physically not at the level of some of his peers. Walker in Indiana hasn’t played either , yes he out some number up in G League but these guys are young.
Why is the ask for BBall draft picks to jump in right away.
Baseball - 23/24 is young and normal age of a rookie
NFL is similar but have older age at draft
NHL - anyone out of top five is normal to play 3 years in minors.
It’s not a linear growth pattern for all players. I bet three years ago 90% of people would scoff at grabbing Lauri Markkanen.

[dozo]

Kid should be working on his body, I want this kid 220+ lbs next year. He's a little boy playing amongst men and that's hindering his development and killing his confidence. They are in all probability putting him in a all sorts of power, static and functional exercises like power cleans, squat, bench and deadlifts. I dont see any reason why added weight, power and strength would impact his shooting in fact it would absolutely help him get off shots much quicker and finish through contact.

Other posters have mention this and I agree with their assessment. Strength helps with defense and absorbing contact when attacking downhill.

Its the pace (cardiovascular) and mental aspect of the NBA that I believe he's struggling with. (he's legs must feel like spaghetti after a couple of possessions)

Pro-Athletes today focus on fast twitch muscles (jumping, sprinting). Exercises revolve around core (balance), hip flexors, the fascia tendon and some compound/power lifts. (The latter focuses on muscle hypertrophy -90s physique)

Credit goes to Kobe (sliming down) for changing the way basketball player train today. He understood the 3pt shot was increasing the pace play.

[Lord_Zedd]

I apologize to Gradey Dick

[Yuri Vaultin]

Raptors board meltdown imminent.

[mintsa]

After tonight’s game…..

Gradey Dick: “Don’t worry, I got us.”

[Los_29]

I’m surprised at how quiet this thread is after tonight. lol.