Rate rookies thus far

[Snappycoocoo]

Jamison Battle : A-

Great looking shot. Good all around gameplay and passing. Has shown he can dunk too. A steal.

Jakobe Walter: B-

Great two way player. Needs to improve on shooting. Has had some great nights.

Mogbo: B

Great replacement for precious. Can play multiple positions. Really needs to work on finishing. Good at rebounding. Has shown some 3point shooting ability.

Jamal Shead: C+

A real dog. Good defensively. Has shown explosiveness. Really needs more time in 905 to develop a shot..

Chomche: C-

2 years away. Needs 905 time. Haven't seen much of him

Masai drafting skills: B

[Thaddy]

Jamison Battle : A

No one expected him to be a Summer League invite to being a core rotation player. We should be converting him soon to being a full time player. His size and shooting are great for our young team.

Jakobe Walter: A-

His shot is coming up strong and he'll be a top 5 player in a redraft. He has been doing everything but shooting well. This includes rebounding, POA defense, and getting to the FT line. Now that his shot is finally going in he's going to be a good creator off our bench. I would put him in the GLeague later in the season when he hits the rookie wall but he projects better than Dick.

Mogbo: B+

The best defensive player on our team. He has switchable hips that can guard inside and out. He has extremely poor finishing ability and I would like to see him get reps in the GLeague. Against rim protecting bigs he really struggles.

Jamal Shead: C-

We're a bad shooting team and he can't shoot. This makes him look even worse and his on/off stats look brutal. He needs to figure out this side of the ball. On defense he plays great man defense but then he coasts off ball. He has to stay focused and completely exert himself mentally as well as physically. If he can't learn how to shoot at his size he won't be in the NBA for a long time.

Chomche: N/A

I would bring him into the rotation at the end of the season to give him reps. I don't see him being productive 2 years into his rookie deal. I would project him as a mobile PF that can protect the rim.

Masai drafting skills: A+ — Masai didn't have any high picks but he was able to carve out several role players. This is why we need to tank. If we tank and we're in the "all star" range he should be able to fish out higher end talent.

[Tor_Raps]

I am rating based on potential shown rather than actual production only and also what I expected from them coming into the year:

A for Battle
B+ for Walter
A for Mogbo
B+ for Shead
N/A for chomche

I've been hard on Masai for a lot of moves since the championship but he clearly hit a homerun considering where these guys were picked and the reputation of the draftclass itself. These were all great singles and doubles type of picks. We are all hoping for the homerun to come in the upcoming draft

[dagger]

I rate Shead and Battle at the top of the class for their ability to grow into their bench roles as the team improves. They are the seniors in the group, so not surprising, but every team needs cheap but competent backups and specialists. I think Mogbo is the kind of guy who might fall by the wayside as the team adds bigs through the next draft or two. Walter looks like a nice sixth man type, sort of our Josh Hart type, which would be a pretty good outcome. Chomche is an 18-year-old for another four days, so I am not judging him at all.

[dagger]

We are all hoping for the homerun to come in the upcoming draft

ESPN had a Jeremy Woo Q&A with anonymous league execs recently about the top of the 2025 draft. They don't see Flagg, Bailey, Harper, etc as generational, which is not surprising. They sort of rate them like the 2021 draft with Cade, Scottie, etc, ie pillars of good teams but not necessarily future hall of famers.

The discussion of Harper vs Flagg was most interesting. There seems to be a widespread view that Harper is the better scorer, but not the better player. Neither might be the first option on a really good team, but a really good second. I emphasize really good team.

You can imaging the struggle that the holder of the first overall pick might go through.

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/42990073/polling-nba-executives-duke-cooper-flagg-strengths-weaknesses-comps-ceiling-2025-draft

One general manager envisioned a scenario in which a team in need of backcourt help could view Harper's offensive prowess as a selling point.

"[Flagg] is in the driver's seat and will be for a long time, but I think Dylan Harper will be the rookie of the year," one general manager said. "He may not be better 10 years from now, but I think he's the most ready. If you have a lot of wings or younger bigs already on the roster, just take him. [Harper] is the only guy that could threaten him.

"But again, I'd take Cooper at the end of the day, because if all the stars align, it's not close."

[HumbleRen]

Chomche gets a F for this alone.

Read on Twitter

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[Tor_Raps]

We are all hoping for the homerun to come in the upcoming draft

ESPN had a Jeremy Woo Q&A with anonymous league execs recently about the top of the 2025 draft. They don't see Flagg, Bailey, Harper, etc as generational, which is not surprising. They sort of rate them like the 2021 draft with Cade, Scottie, etc, ie pillars of good teams but not necessarily future hall of famers.

The discussion of Harper vs Flagg was most interesting. There seems to be a widespread view that Harper is the better scorer, but not the better player. Neither might be the first option on a really good team, but a really good second. I emphasize really good team.

You can imaging the struggle that the holder of the first overall pick might go through.

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/42990073/polling-nba-executives-duke-cooper-flagg-strengths-weaknesses-comps-ceiling-2025-draft

One general manager envisioned a scenario in which a team in need of backcourt help could view Harper's offensive prowess as a selling point.

"[Flagg] is in the driver's seat and will be for a long time, but I think Dylan Harper will be the rookie of the year," one general manager said. "He may not be better 10 years from now, but I think he's the most ready. If you have a lot of wings or younger bigs already on the roster, just take him. [Harper] is the only guy that could threaten him.

"But again, I'd take Cooper at the end of the day, because if all the stars align, it's not close."

It's the NBA, if you're an allstar then you're a hall of famer lol.

And I would kill to add a Cade/Mobley level player to what we got now. I understand they're not going to be Wemby level but this team is ready to roll with the next level down.

[Potential]

Jamison Battle : A-

Ja'Kobe Walter: A

Mogbo: B

Jamal Shead: B+

Chomche: D

Masai drafting skills: A+

[Thaddy]

Chomche gets a F for this alone.

Read on Twitter

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No one likes ice and snow bro it's understandable.

[MiamiSPX]

Chomche gets a F for this alone.

Read on Twitter

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Ouch.

[Childs]

Chomche gets a F for this alone.

Read on Twitter

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We have snowbirds for a reason in Canada. He's also from Central Africa, so yeah it's understandable. I know some Raptor fans are going to be triggered by this without thinking.

[Reeko]

Chomche gets a F for this alone.

Read on Twitter

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That's a bad look. Maybe we can do him a favor and ship him out with Bruce Brown or whatever vets gets traded at the deadline.

[Snappycoocoo]

Chomche gets a F for this alone.

Read on Twitter

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That's a bad look. Maybe we can do him a favor and ship him out with Bruce Brown or whatever vets gets traded at the deadline.

He just admitted he's lost

Let's find him a new team

[raptorforlife88]

Battle - A-
The best shooter in the draft class so far. You can never have enough shooting and Battle has been a nice surprise.

JaKobe - A-
The variety of tools are there. He has ability at both ends, and the potential for creativity at the offensive end. I think there's a good chance he significantly outperforms his draft slot.

Mogbo - B+
Has upper tier defensive potential. How many minutes he gets a night will come down to if he figures out a jump shot and some better interior finishing. But he's a good potential role player.

Shead - B-
Solid potential as a backup guard, particularly if he can keep that 3% above 33.

Chomche - N/A
Mystery box

Masai - A+
Everyone said it was a bad draft. If Masai manages to pick up three rotation pieces from it, which looks very possible, he has proven again he's the best GM in the league at the draft.

[Vampirate]

Battle - A-
The best shooter in the draft class so far. You can never have enough shooting and Battle has been a nice surprise.

JaKobe - A-
The variety of tools are there. He has ability at both ends, and the potential for creativity at the offensive end. I think there's a good chance he significantly outperforms his draft slot.

Mogbo - B+
Has upper tier defensive potential. How many minutes he gets a night will come down to if he figures out a jump shot and some better interior finishing. But he's a good potential role player.

Shead - B-
Solid potential as a backup guard, particularly if he can keep that 3% above 33.

Chomche - N/A
Mystery box

Masai - A+
Everyone said it was a bad draft. If Masai manages to pick up three rotation pieces from it, which looks very possible, he has proven again he's the best GM in the league at the draft.

Battle is an undrafted rookie, the best actually drafted shooter is probably Dalton. Reed could make that interesting, but he's struggling.

Both are the same age so we basically got our version of Dalton without a draft pick.

[HumbleRen]

Battle - A-
The best shooter in the draft class so far. You can never have enough shooting and Battle has been a nice surprise.

JaKobe - A-
The variety of tools are there. He has ability at both ends, and the potential for creativity at the offensive end. I think there's a good chance he significantly outperforms his draft slot.

Mogbo - B+
Has upper tier defensive potential. How many minutes he gets a night will come down to if he figures out a jump shot and some better interior finishing. But he's a good potential role player.

Shead - B-
Solid potential as a backup guard, particularly if he can keep that 3% above 33.

Chomche - N/A
Mystery box

Masai - A+
Everyone said it was a bad draft. If Masai manages to pick up three rotation pieces from it, which looks very possible, he has proven again he's the best GM in the league at the draft.

Battle is an undrafted rookie, the best actually drafted shooter is probably Dalton. Reed could make that interesting, but he's struggling.

Both are the same age so we basically got our version of Dalton without a draft pick.

Jared McCain is the best shooter imo. Just based off his shot diet.

[billy_hoyle]

Picks should be rated based on the range selected (i.e. relative to pick value), and who was still available.

Battle = A. Undrafted player becoming a rotation specialist is great value. Best undrafted player so far.

Walter = A-. 19th pick looks like a good bet to be a two way rotation player which would be good value. Not possible to determine if we was BPA yet, but he's certainly in the conversation.

Mogbo = A-. 1st pick of the second round looks like a solid defensive playmaker and likely rotation player. That's also good value. Still early, but only one player drafted below has been better IMO.

Shead = A-. Looks like a potential change of pace defensive back up PG. That's good value in the mid-2nd round. Still early, but looks like BPA.

Chomche = N/A. Wait and see.

Conclusion: as stated in previous draft threads, all it takes is one Home run draft class to change the fortunes of a team. The raps 2024 class looks like a potential depth builder for the org.

[TimeForChange]

Mogbo is easily the best Raptors rookie this year.

Obviously on this forum, and basketball fans for the most part these days, only watch the game for offense and hitting 3's

[pingpongrac]

Battle: A
Walter: A-
Mogbo: B+
Shead: B-
Chomche: N/A

The early returns on our 2024 draft pickups are outstanding. To one degree or another, the majority (all but Chomche — who is way too young at this point) already possess NBA-ready skills and/or the potential where they should all produce above expectations of where they were selected. JKW in particular has the potential to be a really good player due to his ability to already score in a variety of ways while showing some good defensive instincts. Mogbo and Shead both have a long way to go on the offensive end to ever become anything more than a bench player, but they seem like the kind of players that will strive to improve their game — especially Shead. Battle is probably never going to be much more than he is now, but he already possesses an elite NBA skill and will likely carve out a career as a shooting specialist at least which is a good pickup as an undrafted guy. Who knows if Chomche will ever become anything, but I like the low-risk, high-reward move.

All-in-all, the 2024 draft has the potential to impact our team somewhat similar to the 2016 draft. It’s unlikely any of our new additions will be as good as Siakam or FVV at their peak, but I think they can become our new bench mob as soon as next season — which would be massive for a team that has struggled to put together a competent bench due to a lack of depth since 20/21.

[Indeed]

In terms of capable contributing on an average team
Battle: A (rotation player - 7th man)
- Shooting the 3s very well. His ceiling would be low without ball handling and defense, but already a useful rotation
Walter: C (end of bench player - 11th man)
- Lack of confidence who can probably score some mid range (maybe Darko says no to mid range outside of Barnes?), defense is still adjusting to the NBA
Mogbo: C (end of bench player - 12th man)
- Lack of finishing at rim (eg. using glass), still need more time to improve his 3s, defense is still adjusting to the NBA
Shead: B (backup player - 8th man)
- Has the quickness to get to the rim, still need more time to improve his 3s, defense is still adjusting to the NBA, but closer than Walter and Mogbo
Chomche: E (G League player - 2 more years)