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

[Dalek]

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[djsunyc]

The more film I watch the less excited I am about this pick

none of that matters anymore. all that matters is what he does with us and to see where he is in a few years.

[Deadpool Raptor]

I'm always leary of the athletes that start off their interviews, pushing the God thing...

It was a quote response to someone saying he's our new Norm Powell.

Norm Powell aka NormGod.

When he was being interviewed, he thanked God for making this happen. I feel that he will be a good player for the Raptors, but I'm just not into injecting religion into sports, politics and general life.

Young men who are family oriented and faith based have a support system that can help in development

[Chandan]

I’m confused as to why we traded a first rounder for ochai if were going to roster 4 rookies anyway?

He wanted Ochai and Kelly?

Mystery boxes are always fun but a lot of 29th picks in the draft don't pan out. We shall see if Collier's fall in draft charts was warranted or not.

If Collier doesn't pan out...Toronto wins the trade even if Ochai isn't an NBA player because we still got Kelly for a few years and he's at least a serviceable NBA player.

Ochai is worse than a mystery box though. He has already not pan out.

[ItsDanger]

I’m confused as to why we traded a first rounder for ochai if were going to roster 4 rookies anyway?

We got plus value for #29 in two rotation guys, and then got #45 thrown in to take on salary, and #57 was free.

What is hard to understand here?

I understand WHAT happened and why. But if you literally say you traded the pick because you don’t want develop a bunch of rookies and then do it anyway on lesser talents, is that not a tad confusing? Kelly isn’t gonna be playing meaningful minutes when this team makes the playoffs, veteran leadership, Canadian yada yada… all I’m saying is the direction leaves question marks.

Getting Davion and two second rounders for absolutely nothing is completely understandable, but it remains contradictory to his comments earlier in the season.

The number of rookies they could handle was contradictory. The other aspects are secondary.

[mtcan]

I’m confused as to why we traded a first rounder for ochai if were going to roster 4 rookies anyway?

He wanted Ochai and Kelly?

Mystery boxes are always fun but a lot of 29th picks in the draft don't pan out. We shall see if Collier's fall in draft charts was warranted or not.

If Collier doesn't pan out...Toronto wins the trade even if Ochai isn't an NBA player because we still got Kelly for a few years and he's at least a serviceable NBA player.

Ochai is worse than a mystery box though. He has already not pan out.

"Panning out" is open to interpretation.

Is Ochai a bonafide star? Probably not.

Is Ochai a rotation player that has an NBA skill? Yes. He can defend and if he can ever get back to shooting like he did in Kansas...that is not bad value.

Is there a guarantee Collier will be an NBA rotation player? No. We shall see how he does. Revisit this in 4 years and see how the mystery box turned out.

People do their pre-draft reading and get fixated on certain guys and are convinced that so-and-so is going to be a star no matter where they are in the draft. Draft experts talk up these prospects and compare almost all of them to stars and when they don't pan out like most draftees...they get down on them really fast. I used to get all worked up about a team not taking a certain guy only to find out that the guy I was high really on isn't really an NBA player. Collier far from a sure thing.

Let's remember that the hit rate on late first round picks is pretty low. There is a distinct possibility that Collier isn't even better than Ochai...how does the trade look then?

Does anyone remember the first round pick we traded to Orlando as part of the TRoss for Serge Ibaka trade? Ya neither do I because that guy barely played in the NBA. Anžejs Pasečņiks is who Orlando took with that pick at #25 in 2017. He never even put on a Magic jersey. I think his rights was traded Washington later on and played 28 games with the Wiz.

[will]

I’m confused as to why we traded a first rounder for ochai if were going to roster 4 rookies anyway?

He wanted Ochai and Kelly?

Mystery boxes are always fun but a lot of 29th picks in the draft don't pan out. We shall see if Collier's fall in draft charts was warranted or not.

If Collier doesn't pan out...Toronto wins the trade even if Ochai isn't an NBA player because we still got Kelly for a few years and he's at least a serviceable NBA player.

Ochai is worse than a mystery box though. He has already not pan out.

There is no mystery with Ochai.

[TeamDisgruntled]

We got plus value for #29 in two rotation guys, and then got #45 thrown in to take on salary, and #57 was free.

What is hard to understand here?

I understand WHAT happened and why. But if you literally say you traded the pick because you don’t want develop a bunch of rookies and then do it anyway on lesser talents, is that not a tad confusing? Kelly isn’t gonna be playing meaningful minutes when this team makes the playoffs, veteran leadership, Canadian yada yada… all I’m saying is the direction leaves question marks.

Getting Davion and two second rounders for absolutely nothing is completely understandable, but it remains contradictory to his comments earlier in the season.

It really is not that simple. Regardless of what happened, we were going to have rookies / young players at the end of the bench or on two-ways.

If you draft a guy at #29 instead of #57 there is the likliehood he is going to be with the big club more, which means the big club needs the resources to develop him. Comche at #57 is going to be in the G-League pretty much all year and is going to be using the 905 resources. Snead to will be gone for a significant chunk of the season I would guess.

So instead of guys like JFL/Geuye, those are now Comche and Snead.

Pascal was selected late in round 1 and played tons in the g-league so I’m not sure that really matters. Again the end result is fine, but makes the ochai trade a little strange.

[Los Manos]

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[LBJKB24MJ23]

The more film I watch the less excited I am about this pick

its okay, this means we should be excited about him

Barnes will hardly see any time this first year after we sign GTJ. He'll spend most of his first year in the g league.

you^

i'm just playing with ya

[Badonkadonk]

Watch on YouTube

Just finished watching this, great insight.

One thing that his coach touched on a couple of times was Walter's role in the context of being a freshman. For example when Will asked him about his defensive role on the team, coach Scott's first response was that he'll often have to hide freshman on D but that they just let Jakobe handle the hard stuff and just deal with it. He called him a pup lol.

Similarly on O, he took A LOT of high difficulty shots, which impacted his offensive efficiency (still led the team in scoring and ~35% on three is pretty good as a 19yr old).

Obviously coach is going to pump him up, but really liked what I heard and the context of how young he was gave me some hope, as I hadn't really considered how that compared to the guys drafted around him (eg. Knecht and Da Silva were Seniors at 17 & 19, Tyson a Junior, Holmes - who I really like - a Junior at 22 etc.)

Can't wait to see him at SL and camp.

[YogurtProducer]

I understand WHAT happened and why. But if you literally say you traded the pick because you don’t want develop a bunch of rookies and then do it anyway on lesser talents, is that not a tad confusing? Kelly isn’t gonna be playing meaningful minutes when this team makes the playoffs, veteran leadership, Canadian yada yada… all I’m saying is the direction leaves question marks.

Getting Davion and two second rounders for absolutely nothing is completely understandable, but it remains contradictory to his comments earlier in the season.

It really is not that simple. Regardless of what happened, we were going to have rookies / young players at the end of the bench or on two-ways.

If you draft a guy at #29 instead of #57 there is the likliehood he is going to be with the big club more, which means the big club needs the resources to develop him. Comche at #57 is going to be in the G-League pretty much all year and is going to be using the 905 resources. Snead to will be gone for a significant chunk of the season I would guess.

So instead of guys like JFL/Geuye, those are now Comche and Snead.

Pascal was selected late in round 1 and played tons in the g-league so I’m not sure that really matters. Again the end result is fine, but makes the ochai trade a little strange.

Siakam started for the first half of the season and actually has 12 career G-League games.

[Risk101]

Read on Twitter

[DreamTeam09]

Watch on YouTube

Just finished watching this, great insight.

One thing that his coach touched on a couple of times was Walter's role in the context of being a freshman. For example when Will asked him about his defensive role on the team, coach Scott's first response was that he'll often have to hide freshman on D but that they just let Jakobe handle the hard stuff and just deal with it. He called him a pup lol.

Similarly on O, he took A LOT of high difficulty shots, which impacted his offensive efficiency (still led the team in scoring and ~35% on three is pretty good as a 19yr old).

Obviously coach is going to pump him up, but really liked what I heard and the context of how young he was gave me some hope, as I hadn't really considered how that compared to the guys drafted around him (eg. Knecht and Da Silva were Seniors at 17 & 19, Tyson a Junior, Holmes - who I really like - a Junior at 22 etc.)

Can't wait to see him at SL and camp.

K.george faced the same problems last yr, he took on a big role as a freshman PG for Baylor & his %s were bad, therefore he fell. I was a fan & wanted him if GD didn't fall. Same with Ja'kobe this yr, I didn't even bother to watch his film cuz I didn't think he'd be there at 19, he fell b/c of his %s.
George wasn't known as a defender tho, hopefully Ja'Kobe can step up

[Federalies]

Read on Twitter

It may not always equate directly to wins but good character guys sure make it easier to cheer for as a fan…at least this fan anyway!

[TeamDisgruntled]

It really is not that simple. Regardless of what happened, we were going to have rookies / young players at the end of the bench or on two-ways.

If you draft a guy at #29 instead of #57 there is the likliehood he is going to be with the big club more, which means the big club needs the resources to develop him. Comche at #57 is going to be in the G-League pretty much all year and is going to be using the 905 resources. Snead to will be gone for a significant chunk of the season I would guess.

So instead of guys like JFL/Geuye, those are now Comche and Snead.

Pascal was selected late in round 1 and played tons in the g-league so I’m not sure that really matters. Again the end result is fine, but makes the ochai trade a little strange.

Siakam started for the first half of the season and actually has 12 career G-League games.

He played 15 mins a game for the big club, and played nearly twice as many g league games as Malachi Flynn, Jalen Harris and Dalano Banton. By comparison to other raptors rookies, he played down there a lot. Not to mention he was better than all those guys.

Development resources is some sort of made up excuse. He said he didn’t want too many rookies, he drafted a bunch anyways. Not everything needs an explanation, it can just be puzzling. He literally traded for two guys in ochai and Kelly that will likely get minutes ahead of Ja’kobe and Mogbo. He couldn’t predict the future, but that’s currently the situation.

[YogurtProducer]

Pascal was selected late in round 1 and played tons in the g-league so I’m not sure that really matters. Again the end result is fine, but makes the ochai trade a little strange.

Siakam started for the first half of the season and actually has 12 career G-League games.

He played 15 mins a game for the big club, and played nearly twice as many g league games as Malachi Flynn, Jalen Harris and Dalano Banton. By comparison to other raptors rookies, he played down there a lot. Not to mention he was better than all those guys.

Development resources is some sort of made up excuse. He said he didn’t want too many rookies, he drafted a bunch anyways. Not everything needs an explanation, it can just be puzzling. He literally traded for two guys in ochai and Kelly that will likely get minutes ahead of Ja’kobe and Mogbo. He couldn’t predict the future, but that’s currently the situation.

Nope...

Banton played 26 games (twice as many as Siakam)
Flynn played 11 games (important to note - rookie year Flynn was COVID so 905 only played 15 total anyways)
Harris played 9 games down there (same as Flynn though, COVID G-League year)

Siakam did not play down there until February 23rd, 2017. More than 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through the year

Again, significant difference between 1st round rookie and grabbing a dude like Chomche at #57 (who if you did not draft, you would have signed him/someone else for that 2-way anyways like any other year)

[CazOnReal]

Watch on YouTube

Did a quick recap for this and the various draft day decisions the Toronto Raptors made.

They were busy, and the selections they made were very interesting. If even one of these players pans out then this is going to be considered a major win in the near future.

[GP2]

Read on Twitter

I know this is a joke, but what activity does and doesn't violate your contract? But then again, weren't they also riding bikes without helmets last year? I know someone here will call me a prude for that, but it brings up an interesting discussion.

[TeamDisgruntled]

Siakam started for the first half of the season and actually has 12 career G-League games.

He played 15 mins a game for the big club, and played nearly twice as many g league games as Malachi Flynn, Jalen Harris and Dalano Banton. By comparison to other raptors rookies, he played down there a lot. Not to mention he was better than all those guys.

Development resources is some sort of made up excuse. He said he didn’t want too many rookies, he drafted a bunch anyways. Not everything needs an explanation, it can just be puzzling. He literally traded for two guys in ochai and Kelly that will likely get minutes ahead of Ja’kobe and Mogbo. He couldn’t predict the future, but that’s currently the situation.

Nope...

Banton played 26 games (twice as many as Siakam)
Flynn played 11 games (important to note - rookie year Flynn was COVID so 905 only played 15 total anyways)
Harris played 9 games down there (same as Flynn though, COVID G-League year)

Siakam did not play down there until February 23rd, 2017. More than 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through the year

Again, significant difference between 1st round rookie and grabbing a dude like Chomche at #57 (who if you did not draft, you would have signed him/someone else for that 2-way anyways like any other year)

Banton played those games over multiple seasons. None of them played more than pascal in a single season. Guys don’t get drafted and play 40 games in the g league, it just hasn’t worked that way thus far. Pascal a 1st rounder, played as many games as our other draft picks in individual seasons. He excelled beyond the g league so he never had to go back there. Development time isn’t the reason for picking guys late vs 1st round.

But if you wanna take another stab at it I’m all ears. He said one thing but did another. Can we just admit he changed his tune? He obviously valued ochai and Kelly highly. If that’s the reasoning… then fair enough. I’m not trying to crucify the guy, just pointing out the contradiction and the potential for the trade being a bust.