A History of Raptors 1st Rounders

[OakleyDokely]

All the first rounders in Raptors history.

In brackets is their overall win share rank in their draft class.


1995 - #7 D Stoudamire (8th)

Pick Directly Before: B Reeves
Pick Directly After: S Respert
Best Pick Would've Been: M Finley (#21)

1996: #2 M Camby (6th)

Pick Directly Before: A Iverson
Pick Directly After: S Abdur-Rahim
Best Pick Would've Been: K Bryant (#13)

1997: #9 T Mcgrady (3rd)

Pick Directly Before: A Foyle
Pick Directly After: D Fortson
Best Pick Would've Been: Best Pick

1998: #5 V Carter (3rd)

Pick Directly Before: A Jamison
Pick Directly After: R Traylor
Best Pick Would've Been: D Nowitzki (#9)

1999: #12 A Radojević (45th)

Pick Directly Before: T Langdon
Pick Directly After: C Maggette
Best Pick Would've Been: M Ginóbili (#57)

2000: #21 M Peterson (6th)

Pick Directly Before: S Claxton
Pick Directly After: D Harvey
Best Pick Would've Been: M Redd (#43)

2001: #17 M Bradley (31st)

Pick Directly Before: K Haston
Pick Directly After: J Collins
Best Pick Would've Been: T Parker (#28)

2002: #27 C Jeffries (47th)

Pick Directly Before: J Salmons
Pick Directly After: D Dickau
Best Pick Would've Been: C Boozer (#35)

2003: #4 C Bosh (4th)

Pick Directly Before: C Anthony
Pick Directly After: D Wade
Best Pick Would've Been: D Wade (#5)

2004: #8 R Araújo (45th)

Pick Directly Before: L Deng
Pick Directly After: A Igoudala
Best Pick Would've Been: A Iguodala (#9)

2005: #7 C Villanueva (21st)

Pick Directly Before: M Webster
Pick Directly After: C Frye
Best Pick Would've Been: D Granger (#17)

2005: #16 J Graham (31st)

Pick Directly Before: A Wright
Pick Directly After: D Granger
Best Pick Would've Been: D Granger (#17)

2006: #1 A Bargnani (12th)

Pick Directly Before: N/A
Pick Directly After: L Aldridge
Best Pick Would've Been: L Aldridge (#2) / K Lowry (#24)

2007: N/A

2008: N/A

2009: #9 D DeRozan (3rd)

Pick Directly Before: J Hill
Pick Directly After: T Williams
Best Pick Would've Been: Best Pick

2010: #13 E Davis (9th)

Pick Directly Before: X Henry
Pick Directly After: P Patterson
Best Pick Would've Been: E Bledsoe (#18)

2011: #5 J Valančiūnas (4th)

Pick Directly Before: T Thompson
Pick Directly After: J Vesely
Best Pick Would've Been: K Leonard (#15)

2012: #8 T Ross (12th)

Pick Directly Before: H Barnes
Pick Directly After: A Drummond
Best Pick Would've Been: D Green (#35) / K Middleton (#39)

2013: N/A

2014: #20 B Caboclo (31st)

Pick Directly Before: G Harris
Pick Directly After: M McGary
Best Pick Would've Been: N Jokic (#41)

2015: #20 D Wright (13th)

Pick Directly Before: J Grant
Pick Directly After: J Anderson
Best Pick Would've Been: N Powell (#46)

2016: #9 J Poeltl (4th)

Pick Directly Before: M Chriss
Pick Directly After: T Maker
Best Pick Would've Been: D Sabonis (#11)

2016: #27 P Siakam (2nd)

Pick Directly Before: F Korkmaz
Pick Directly After: S Labissière
Best Pick Would've Been: Best Pick

2017: #23 OG Anunoby (10th)

Pick Directly Before: J Allen
Pick Directly After: T Lydon
Best Pick Would've Been: Best Pick

2018: N/A

2019: N/A

2020: #29 M Flynn (34th)

Pick Directly Before: J McDaniels
Pick Directly After: D Bane
Best Pick Would've Been: D Bane (#30)

2021: #4 S Barnes (4th)

Pick Directly Before: E Mobley
Pick Directly After: J Suggs
Best Pick Would've Been: TBD

2022: N/A

2023: #13 G Dick (18th)

Pick Directly Before: D Lively II
Pick Directly After: J Hawkins
Best Pick Would've Been: TBD

2024: #19 J Walter (18th)

Pick Directly Before: T Da Silva
Pick Directly After: J Tyson
Best Pick Would've Been: TBD

[TheGeneral99]

Raptors overall have been a pretty good drafting team relatively.

Stoudemire - great pick for that draft
Camby - not a great pick given how stacked that draft was, but he was a really good player
McGrady - home run pick
Carter - home run pick
Radojevic - bust
Peterson - good pick
Bosh - great pick
Araujo - worst pick in franchise history
Villaneuva - good pick
Graham - not a good pick
Bargnani - an okay pick. Obviously a bust as a #1 but was a weak draft overall. Lowry ended up being the best player from that draft and he went 24th.
Derozan - great pick
Davis - decent pick
Valanciunas - good pick
Ross - decent pick
Wright - decent pick
Poeltl - good pick
Siakam - home run pick
OG - great pick
Flynn - bad pick
Barnes - home run pick
Dick - seems like a decent pick so far
Walters - we have to see more


So we can say that Radojevic, Aruajo, Graham, and Flynn were the franchises worst 1st round picks. Was annoying we got the #1 pick in 2007 in one of the worst drafts ever. Obviously Aldridge or Roy would have been preferable but even Roy had a 3 year shelf-life before injuries killed his career.

Other than that you can't say that we screwed up that much in the draft...obviously no one has crystal ball. Majority of our draft selections range from decent to great picks.

[Duffman100]

Araujo over Iggy was still just the dumbest thing.

Everyone one and their mother thought we were picking Iggy. Vince was on his way out, it was a logical replacement. He was BPA.

Or Vince stays and you have Iggy / Vince / Bosh as your trio in the East. That team goes deep into that playoffs.

[ontnut]

Raptors overall have been a pretty good drafting team relatively.

Stoudemire - great pick for that draft
Camby - not a great pick given how stacked that draft was, but he was a really good player
McGrady - home run pick
Carter - home run pick
Radojevic - bust
Peterson - good pick
Bosh - great pick
Araujo - worst pick in franchise history
Villaneuva - good pick
Graham - not a good pick
Bargnani - an okay pick. Obviously a bust as a #1 but was a weak draft overall. Lowry ended up being the best player from that draft and he went 24th.
Derozan - great pick
Davis - decent pick
Valanciunas - good pick
Ross - decent pick
Wright - decent pick
Poeltl - good pick
Siakam - home run pick
OG - great pick
Flynn - bad pick
Barnes - home run pick
Dick - seems like a decent pick so far
Walters - we have to see more


So we can say that Radojevic, Aruajo, Graham, and Flynn were the franchises worst 1st round picks. Was annoying we got the #1 pick in 2007 in one of the worst drafts ever. Obviously Aldridge or Roy would have been preferable but even Roy had a 3 year shelf-life before injuries killed his career.

Other than that you can't say that we screwed up that much in the draft...obviously no one has crystal ball. Majority of our draft selections range from decent to great picks.

Bruno is our 3rd worst pick after A-Rad and Araujo. Graham was at least....serviceable....kinda...for a bit. Flynn was almost a 2nd rounder so it's whatever. He did score 50 in the NBA...so there's that too.

[Yeezus_]

Getting the best player available at their draft slot in 2016 & 2017 is pretty impressive considering the pick they had both years. 2021 might be the same.

[M3tro]

T-Mac only 3rd in 97 for win shares?

Duncan is the obvious #1, but was Billups #2?

[OakleyDokely]

T-Mac only 3rd in 97 for win shares?

Duncan is the obvious #1, but was Billups #2?

Yup. McGrady had a much higher peak, but Billups was really good for a long time.

[DelAbbot]

Best: Carter

Worst: Bargnani

[Kingsway_fan]

Araujo over Iggy was still just the dumbest thing.

Everyone one and their mother thought we were picking Iggy. Vince was on his way out, it was a logical replacement. He was BPA.

Or Vince stays and you have Iggy / Vince / Bosh as your trio in the East. That team goes deep into that playoffs.

Sadly, very true. I was livid when they picked Arujo... raps had bad management and scouting then. Brutal.

[tsherkin]

Fun little look at the past!

Araujo over Iggy was still just the dumbest thing.

Everyone one and their mother thought we were picking Iggy. Vince was on his way out, it was a logical replacement. He was BPA.

Or Vince stays and you have Iggy / Vince / Bosh as your trio in the East. That team goes deep into that playoffs.

Sadly, very true. I was livid when they picked Arujo... raps had bad management and scouting then. Brutal.

Oh, it was senselessly stupid. There was no excuse for that selection, no doubt.

[wegotthabeet]

Raptors overall have been a pretty good drafting team relatively.

Stoudemire - great pick for that draft
Camby - not a great pick given how stacked that draft was, but he was a really good player
McGrady - home run pick
Carter - home run pick
Radojevic - bust
Peterson - good pick
Bosh - great pick
Araujo - worst pick in franchise history
Villaneuva - good pick
Graham - not a good pick
Bargnani - an okay pick. Obviously a bust as a #1 but was a weak draft overall. Lowry ended up being the best player from that draft and he went 24th.
Derozan - great pick
Davis - decent pick
Valanciunas - good pick
Ross - decent pick
Wright - decent pick
Poeltl - good pick
Siakam - home run pick
OG - great pick
Flynn - bad pick
Barnes - home run pick
Dick - seems like a decent pick so far
Walters - we have to see more


So we can say that Radojevic, Aruajo, Graham, and Flynn were the franchises worst 1st round picks. Was annoying we got the #1 pick in 2007 in one of the worst drafts ever. Obviously Aldridge or Roy would have been preferable but even Roy had a 3 year shelf-life before injuries killed his career.

Other than that you can't say that we screwed up that much in the draft...obviously no one has crystal ball. Majority of our draft selections range from decent to great picks.

Bruno is our 3rd worst pick after A-Rad and Araujo. Graham was at least....serviceable....kinda...for a bit. Flynn was almost a 2nd rounder so it's whatever. He did score 50 in the NBA...so there's that too.

Imagine they drafted Jokic over Bruno and Kawhi over Jonas, how many chips do they win between 2015-2025?

This is probably their 2019 team.

Lowry - Vanvleet
Derozan - Powell
Leonard - Anunoby
Siakam - Ibaka
Jokic - Pöltl

2019 - 2020 - run it back minus Kawhi
2020 - 2021 - Ibaka walks
2021 - 2022 - Lowry + DeRozan walk

They probably could’ve won 4 in a row or at least had a very realistic shot of winning any year between 2019-2022 even without Kawhi after 2019.

[Grew]

Best: Carter

Worst: Bargnani

This. Pascal was maybe best value, but Carter made the franchise legit, I wonder where we would be if we kept Antwan Jameson.

And of course Bargs is the worst. No explanation necessary. No counter argument can be heard.

[DelAbbot]

Best: Carter

Worst: Bargnani

This. Pascal was maybe best value, but Carter made the franchise legit, I wonder where we would be if we kept Antwan Jameson.

And of course Bargs is the worst. No explanation necessary. No counter argument can be heard.

To add, I think the best value was T-Mac at #9 if you look at his draft position and the number of busts after Tim Duncan at #1.

[dohboy_24]

In terms of career longevity and number of games played, the selection of Rafael Araujo (8th overall) is arguably the worst Raptor pick of all time since there were 13 players chosen after him who played for more than 10 years.

By the same measure, the selection of Pascal Siakim (27th overall) is arguably the best Raptor pick of all time since there were only 2 players chosen after him who played as many seasons as he has so far in his career.

Best:

Tracy McGrady (1997) played for 15 years and was selected ahead of Danny Fortson, Austin Croshere, Derek Anderson, Kelvin Cato, Brevin Knight, Scot Pollard, Bobby Jackson, and Jacque Vaughan in the first round who all played for 10+ years.

Vince Carter (1998) played for 22 years and was selected ahead of Jason Williams, Larry Hughes, Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, Bonzi Wells, Michael Doleac, Matt Harpring, Rasho Nesterovic, Pat Garrity, Ricky Davis, Brian Skinner, Tyronn Lue, Al Harrington, and Nazr Mohammed in the first round who all played for 10+ years.

DeMar DeRozan (2009) has been playing for 16 years and was selected ahead of James Johnson, Jrue Holiday, Jeff Teague, Darren Collison, Omri Casspi, Taj Gibson, DeMarre Carroll, and Wayne Ellington in the first round who've all played for 10+ years.

Pascal Siakim (2016) has been playing for 9 years and was selected ahead of Dejounte Murray and Damian Jones in the first round who've each played for 8 years so far.

OG Anunoby (2017) has been playing for 8 years and was selected ahead of Kyle Kuzma, Tony Bradley, Derrick White, and Josh Hart in the first round who've all played more than 7 season so far.

Worst:

Alexsandar Radojevic (1999) played for 2 years and was selected ahead of Corey Maggette, Ron Artest, James Posey, Jeff Foster, Kenny Thomas, Devean George and Andrei Kirilenko in the first round who all played for 10+ years.

Rafael Araujo (2004) played for 3 years and was selected ahead of Andre Igoudala, Andris Biedrins, Sebastian Telfair, Kris Humphries, Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, JR Smith, Dorell Wright, Jameer Nelson, Tony Allen, Kevin Martin, Sasha Vujacic, and Beno Udrich in the first round who all played for 10+ years.

Joey Graham (2005) played for 6 years and was selected ahead of Danny Granger, Gerald Green, Nate Robinson, Jarrett Jack, Francisco Garcia, Jason Maxiell, Ian Mahinmi, and David Lee in the first round who all played for 10+ years.

Andrea Bargnani (2006) played for 10 years and was selected ahead of LaMarcus Aldridge, Randy Foye, Rudy Gay, JJ Redick, Thabo Sefolosha, Rajon Rondo, Kyle Lowry, and Jordan Farmer in the first round who all played for 10+ years.

Bruno Caboclo (2014) played for 7 years and was selected ahead of Clint Capela and Kyle Anderson in the first round who each played for 10+ years.

[M3tro]

The one "what if" scenario that rarely gets brought up is if we had picked Wade over Bosh in 03.

Wade with VC would have been electric and would have given us the redux on what Vince and TMac should have been.

[tsherkin]

The one "what if" scenario that rarely gets brought up is if we had picked Wade over Bosh in 03.

Wade with VC would have been electric and would have given us the redux on what Vince and TMac should have been.

That would have been very interesting.

[Basketball_Jones]

The one "what if" scenario that rarely gets brought up is if we had picked Wade over Bosh in 03.

Wade with VC would have been electric and would have given us the redux on what Vince and TMac should have been.

Wade had an outstanding workout too. Grunwald opted to draft for need, but there was also the fact Wade spent so much time in college and was older than everybody. It was a tough call.

[Anticon]

Fun little look at the past!

Araujo over Iggy was still just the dumbest thing.

Everyone one and their mother thought we were picking Iggy. Vince was on his way out, it was a logical replacement. He was BPA.

Or Vince stays and you have Iggy / Vince / Bosh as your trio in the East. That team goes deep into that playoffs.

Sadly, very true. I was livid when they picked Arujo... raps had bad management and scouting then. Brutal.

Oh, it was senselessly stupid. There was no excuse for that selection, no doubt.

Still remember it like it was yesterday. 2006 was arguably worse, as they passed on Granger twice.

Was one of those sad periods when many of us would genuinely have made better picks than the front office.

[tsherkin]

2006 was arguably worse, as they passed on Granger twice.

I was on RealGM Radio during that draft, lmao. With Harry Palmer and Aaron Bronsteter. Wonderful time; those were two great.

But man, I was SALTY about that pick...

[MoneyBall]

We technically didn't draft Carter but I get why he's on the list.

DeRozan at #9 is soooo underrated. I don't think we win a Championship without him. His loyalty to the franchise and his perseverance in getting better every year is a big reason why our franchise is no longer a joke.