Roster is a mess - missed draft picks are part of reason

[anotherhomer]

Roster is a mess. Missed draft picks are part of it. Also obviously the OG trade...now we paying a mediocre shooting guard masquerading as a PG for 32.5M....he's prolly worth only 15-20M at best in the open market right now.

I get it, no one hits on all their picks, even teams like Spurs, OKC miss on them a lot, or don't fit. but they somehow find picks that works out.

For raps, we don't have any blue chip prospects

2023 Gradey Dick - a guy who's really weak on defense, and misses his shots, for a supposed 3-pt shooters
Notable misses: Keyonte George, Brandin, Jamier

2024 - Jakobe Watler and Jonathan Mogbo - both badly struggling this year
Missed picks - Jaylen Wells, Missi, Kyshawn George

2025 - CMB - solid pick, but we need homeruns.
Cedric Coward...debatable he could work out here....but it shows how much we missed picks....


In summary, roster is a mess.
an overpaid 32.5M IQ, too much mediocre flawed guards who can't reliably shoot....team is a mess!!

45M to a guy who's really a role player

[Tofubeque]

Keyonte George and Jaylen Wells aren't making this roster less of a mess. The Raptors having their own pick to take Andrew Nembhard would have been nice though.

What's making it a mess it the lack of direction after 2021, trading OG for RJ and Quickley and then extending Quickley for way too much.

[Clutch0z24]

What ruined the team and the franchise for prolly a few more seasons now is management did not totally start new and fresh when we had many chances too....

We wasted many years drafting in the teens and late first rounders or tried to push for play ins.....We could of had at least 1 really good prospects along with Barnes in the many draft classes we got meh picks in...

Reality is and it has been forever in the NBA....You need a top pick to get a player on that level .....Luck happens but generally speaking top picks have the best chances to get a player to help turn your franchise around.

[Appostis]

Or... Starting PG is struggling starting out. If you're convinced he's not worth the contract that's fine... but he would be 20 mil a year in the best of cases.

And the starting center been hobbled or out the entire season?

It's 6 games.. Dick had 1 steller game and though I wish that number of good vs bad game was reversed it's such a small sample size that you're really reaching here.

Rest is people complaining about late first round and second round picks not landing.. *head shake*

[ItsDanger]

Ajay Mitchell for sure in '24 draft as a miss.

This goes well beyond missing on non top 10 picks.

[anotherhomer]

also , many players in the '21 class has surpassed our ROY, barnes
Cade, Giddey, Mobley, Wagner, Alpergun

Other guys nipping at Barnes include Trey Murphy, Jalen Johnson

Barnes is still a good player though

[OhCanada]

Keyontae George wouldn't play any better than Quickley or Shead in their roles. You would be complaining about his play much more than Quickley.

Most teams hit on 25% of their picks. Toronto hits on 75%. Be happy. Trust the process.

[Thaddy]

IQ needs at least 20 games before you guys throw him in the fire. Poeltl is usually solid, lets see how we look when he's healthy. 2-4 without a the normal Poeltl isn't fire-mode worthy considering the schedule.

IQ is going to get his shot back, and Poeltl will be the usual reliable anchor on defense. We will also eventually make a trade, I have a feeling Dick is on his way out. You can see Battle is better in real time and way more playable, reliable, and bigger.

I still hope we see Darko make a line up change. It's obvious CMB is a starting level player and should be immediately in there.

Poeltl / Kessler?
CMB / Mogbo
Barnes / Battle
Ingram / Walter / Agbaji
IQ / RJ / Shead

That would make a run for the 2nd round and have continuity through youth like Kessler, Walter, CMB, Battle, and Shead.

[Rapsfan07]

Ajay Mitchell for sure in '24 draft as a miss.

This goes well beyond missing on non top 10 picks.

Yep. Was just going to say this as well.

So obvious. So easy but somehow Raps managed to screw that one up.

[Los_29]

lol, screams about missed draft picks then proceeds to list a bunch of mediocre draft picks we missed out on. I love this place.

[MoneyBall]

Kind of funny that even with hindsight we'd be a bad team lol.

[MEDIC]

To this day I am surprised they didn't take Keyshawn George. He seemed like a very Raptory pick. Tall, long arms, can shoot. The Canadian ties were a bonus.

Other than that (BTW, I like Jakobe), I am just frustrated that they didn't target more bigs.

Gradey Dick they should have stayed away from.

And for thoae of you saying "you named a bunch of guys that ptobably don't make this team any better at this moment". It comes down to more than that. You want assets. If you have a young guy who is showing promise in his 3rd year, you can utilize that player as a desired young asset in a trade package.

Nobody is lining up to take Gradey Dick off of our hands at this point. He is overpaid & doesn't fit the culture most teams are looking for. Maybe a team out there is desperate enough for shooting.......maybe.

You have a guy like Mamu making less than half of what Gradey is making & is a much more useful player. These are the types of contracts & players the Raptors need right now.

They need to trim some excess fat.

[hyper316]

Trading for Thad and Jakob and throwing away picks set the team back for years

[Nature]

Trading for Thad and Jakob and throwing away picks set the team back for years

Those two moves in particular set the team back 10-15 years. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but I believe it's that bad.

The worst part is that I think both were orchestrated by our current and recently extended GM.

[Los_29]

To this day I am surprised they didn't take Keyshawn George. He seemed like a very Raptory pick. Tall, long arms, can shoot. The Canadian ties were a bonus.

Other than that (BTW, I like Jakobe), I am just frustrated that they didn't target more bigs.

Gradey Dick they should have stayed away from.

And for thoae of you saying "you named a bunch of guys that ptobably don't make this team any better at this moment". It comes down to more than that. You want assets. If you have a young guy who is showing promise in his 3rd year, you can utilize that player as a desired young asset in a trade package.

Nobody is lining up to take Gradey Dick off of our hands at this point. He is overpaid & doesn't fit the culture most teams are looking for. Maybe a team out there is desperate enough for shooting.......maybe.

You have a guy like Mamu making less than half of what Gradey is making & is a much more useful player. These are the types of contracts & players the Raptors need right now.

They need to trim some excess fat.

We are 5-6 games into the season. Numbers will start to come back down to earth. The guys drafted after Gradey have not been good. Some of them are also older than Gradey.

[Los_29]

Trading for Thad and Jakob and throwing away picks set the team back for years

Those two moves in particular set the team back 10-15 years. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but I believe it's that bad.

The worst part is that I think both were orchestrated by our current and recently extended GM.

I say 100 years.

Not getting situational big Walker Kessler is demoralizing for this franchise. We might never recover.

[Shakril]

Trading for Thad and Jakob and throwing away picks set the team back for years

Those two moves in particular set the team back 10-15 years. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but I believe it's that bad.

The worst part is that I think both were orchestrated by our current and recently extended GM.

I say 100 years.

Not getting situational big Walker Kessler is demoralizing for this franchise. We might never recover.

Sorry, but thats just BS. We have seen franchises recover within two years and they were in worse situations.

Our problem right now is not the players we have, but the way we are playing. Against the Cavs it was a step forward, but all in all, we are bad because we play stupid. Its honestly the first time i think its Darko's fault.

[bargs4mvp]

Somethings got to change. Darko failed to win with siakam, Scottie, and Og, now he still has us looking mediocre while Scottie, BI, and RJ have been solid to start the season.

I need to see us with a new coach before I want a complete overhaul once again cause Darko has us playing like it’s a ymca pickup session.


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[MEDIC]

To this day I am surprised they didn't take Keyshawn George. He seemed like a very Raptory pick. Tall, long arms, can shoot. The Canadian ties were a bonus.

Other than that (BTW, I like Jakobe), I am just frustrated that they didn't target more bigs.

Gradey Dick they should have stayed away from.

And for thoae of you saying "you named a bunch of guys that ptobably don't make this team any better at this moment". It comes down to more than that. You want assets. If you have a young guy who is showing promise in his 3rd year, you can utilize that player as a desired young asset in a trade package.

Nobody is lining up to take Gradey Dick off of our hands at this point. He is overpaid & doesn't fit the culture most teams are looking for. Maybe a team out there is desperate enough for shooting.......maybe.

You have a guy like Mamu making less than half of what Gradey is making & is a much more useful player. These are the types of contracts & players the Raptors need right now.

They need to trim some excess fat.

We are 5-6 games into the season. Numbers will start to come back down to earth. The guys drafted after Gradey have not been good. Some of them are also older than Gradey.

I hope he can turn it around as much as anyone, but lets be real here. It isn't about just this season. There has been a pretty big sample size.

He has had a couple if 13 game Bargnani type stretches since his rookie season, but here we are in his 3rd year & I am seeing the same horrific defense & unreliable offense. There has been no significant jump.

[PushDaRock]

To this day I am surprised they didn't take Keyshawn George. He seemed like a very Raptory pick. Tall, long arms, can shoot. The Canadian ties were a bonus.

Other than that (BTW, I like Jakobe), I am just frustrated that they didn't target more bigs.

Gradey Dick they should have stayed away from.

And for thoae of you saying "you named a bunch of guys that ptobably don't make this team any better at this moment". It comes down to more than that. You want assets. If you have a young guy who is showing promise in his 3rd year, you can utilize that player as a desired young asset in a trade package.

Nobody is lining up to take Gradey Dick off of our hands at this point. He is overpaid & doesn't fit the culture most teams are looking for. Maybe a team out there is desperate enough for shooting.......maybe.

You have a guy like Mamu making less than half of what Gradey is making & is a much more useful player. These are the types of contracts & players the Raptors need right now.

They need to trim some excess fat.

We are 5-6 games into the season. Numbers will start to come back down to earth. The guys drafted after Gradey have not been good. Some of them are also older than Gradey.

Issue right now for Gradey is there isn't really a role for him when this roster is healthy. There's maybe only around 30 minutes available a night for the backup wings to be split among Gradey, Ochai, Walter and Battle. You're also looking more for defense and shooting for those 30 mins and guys that don't need the ball in their hands and can play off our higher USG players. Those other guys fit that role better with Ochai and Walter providing D and Battle being the more prolific shooter than Gradey.