Poll: Odd man out: Gradey, Ja'Kobe or Ochai?

[Tom_Foolery]

If your ceiling is Tyler Herro and you are struggling to hit that, realistically how much time and effort should we invest here?

TBF, Herro would be a NICE ceiling. He's an AS, he's been a 6MOY, and the past 4 years, he's averaging about 22/5/5, and just had a phenomenal offensive season. He's not a superstar, but he IS a very good player, and was so particularly in 2025.

That'd be a brilliant outcome for Gradey.

When will he improve is a more annoying commentary than if. Sure there is no time like the present but... he is a prospect through and through. The if he is or will become legit is a concern with all prospects and despite Freddie surpassing his ceiling and then some he was full of haters in this very place due to size and getting to the net. For the most part Fred had enough tools to allay fears and get 40 mil per. Our haters and tankers would have traded him for 10 cents on the Raptor dollar. Gradey is worth being patient with but I would say his ceiling is Luke Kennard.

Someone has to be the odd man out. To me it Gradey.

[Tom_Foolery]

We can't keep everyone. Someone has to be the odd man out.

Sure. And from a contract perspective, it's probably RJ, even if that is a little sad. We have cheap control over Gradey, he's young, he has a desirable skillset and flashed some potential beyond just C+S early in the season. We'll see what he can do. I'm not in a hurry to move him, nor should anyone be.

RJ is not part of the thread title equation.

Gradey, Ja'Kobe or Ochai?

[WaltFrazier]

Voted Ochai in hopes the Knicks can get him.

[tsherkin]

We can't keep everyone. Someone has to be the odd man out.

Sure. And from a contract perspective, it's probably RJ, even if that is a little sad. We have cheap control over Gradey, he's young, he has a desirable skillset and flashed some potential beyond just C+S early in the season. We'll see what he can do. I'm not in a hurry to move him, nor should anyone be.

RJ is not part of the thread title equation.

Gradey, Ja'Kobe or Ochai?

Fair. I meant more from a realistic POV, but bringing it back to that parameter, I'd say probably Walter, with what little information we have at the moment. I might change my mind over the first half of the season, of course. Year 2 is a pretty capricious thing for rookies. Some of them make big leaps in that season, and some do not. *shrug* Ochai immediately fills a void we need: he has demonstrable utility. Gradey has the higher upside offensively, IMHO, and Walter didn't show me anything which really grabbed my attention this year (again, rookie, I don't mean to write him off). So if I had to choose one among the three, it's Walter right now.

[Loso04]

People really sleeping on Walter

[tsherkin]

People really sleeping on Walter

Let him have a stretch where he competently finishes inside and shows something besides a mediocre three and a low-volume middie before we really start hyping him up on O, you know? He didn't shoot well in college, he didn't shoot well as a rookie. He's got a lot of work to do, which is reasonable given where he was taken. Not a hyper-athlete, not an elite shooter, bunch of questions about his on-ball game. Looks pretty decent on defense and he seems solid from 3, certainly can hit his FTs, which is a good start.

But "sleeping" on him seems a little melodramatic at this time. He was a solid pick and he deserves a chance to show us what he's got, but there has to be some perspective on what he is at the moment. Would be very nice if he started the year making it hard for us to ignore him due to high-quality play, though.

[YogurtProducer]

Ochai having so many votes when he’s currently the best of the bunch is hilarious

[Loso04]

People really sleeping on Walter

Let him have a stretch where he competently finishes inside and shows something besides a mediocre three and a low-volume middie before we really start hyping him up on O, you know? He didn't shoot well in college, he didn't shoot well as a rookie. He's got a lot of work to do, which is reasonable given where he was taken. Not a hyper-athlete, not an elite shooter, bunch of questions about his on-ball game. Looks pretty decent on defense and he seems solid from 3, certainly can hit his FTs, which is a good start.

But "sleeping" on him seems a little melodramatic at this time. He was a solid pick and he deserves a chance to show us what he's got, but there has to be some perspective on what he is at the moment. Would be very nice if he started the year making it hard for us to ignore him due to high-quality play, though.

You make some fair points, but just imagine him on the starting lineup at the 2. He'd bring defense and an outlet for 3s and he can draw fouls as another user mentioned earlier. When given the chance he proved to be more consistent than the other two, especially in the last quarter of the season.

[JB7]

Ochai having so many votes when he’s currently the best of the bunch is hilarious

That is a factor of three things:
1) oldest of the three, by a few years
2) contract is almost due, so he'll start to cost more sooner
3) least upside, reached peak of his abilities, while the other two still have upside

[tsherkin]

You make some fair points, but just imagine him on the starting lineup at the 2. He'd bring defense and an outlet for 3s and he can draw fouls as another user mentioned earlier. When given the chance he proved to be more consistent than the other two, especially in the last quarter of the season.

He's got any sort of potential, sure. That's why we drafted him. No one expects him to be a star. But if all we're getting is 3s and defense, we have Ochai, who is better already.

We'll see what happens, though. We need to give him a chance. He's young, it's only his second season upcoming, it makes sense to give him some burn and see what he does with it. We surely don't have a complete picture of his potential just after what he showed in his rookie year while we were tanking. Maybe he'll thrive a little more with better spacing and such around him (as would anyone), and we get to see a little more of his potential ceiling and all that.

[Prestige]

I like Ochai the best.

[Basketball_Jones]

Majority like Kobe and Ochai more for sure. Ideal world we can have all of them. But if management sees Gordon Hayward potential in Gradey and they stick with him, I won’t question it. I can see it a little and obviously having a potential scorer like that in the future is valuable.

[SFour]

For a contender Ochai would be the #1 pick out of the 3......Dick is a giant defensive liability.

I hope they can figure out how to keep Ochai, and not lose him because of salary.

[Westside Gunn]

Take the players mentioned in this thread

Gradey, JaKobe, Ochai, RJ

Rank them in terms of potential
RJ - a point forward and slasher, lotto pick. Gradey Dick - - Gordan Hayward/Hero/Thompson, lotto pick. By year 4 you should have a good idea of what kind of player Dick will be.

That leaves you with Jakobe Walter and Ochai
Both late 1st round picks - Its Jakobe's first year, we don't know much about him and its going to be Ochai's 5TH year in the league. I just watched some of the clips on this thread and its wild how limited Ochai is. No shot creation ability whatsoever. These one dimensional "3ds" have no business starting and are better off the bench. People must be on crack here

[Jerry Lucas]

Ochai having so many votes when he’s currently the best of the bunch is hilarious

For both current and future tax flexibility reasons it makes the most sense for either RJ or Ochai to eventually end up being the odd man out.

If RJ was one of the poll options he would run away with it. We already know the Raptors originally wanted to ship out RJ in the Ingram trade but the Pelicans didn't want to do it.

Raptors will likely keep trying to get a team to bite on RJ, but if they can't move him by the trade deadline they'll probably pivot to Ochai, since his salary is way easier for a lot more teams to fit in, being below the MLE. They might be able to get a better return for Ochai than RJ too, given contract differences.

The other poll options still have too much surplus value potential remaining on their rookie scale deals to move as soon as now (which they would do with guys like RJ or Ochai if the return made sense for them), given Gradey has 2 seasons left and Ja'Kobe has 3.

[Rapsalot]

To be honest it might be 2 of RJ, Ochai, Gradey or Ja’Kobe.

The attitude of “just pay them” or who cares “it is MLSE money anyway” is stupid and doesn’t take in real world unintended consequence.
People can argue on the Scottie contract but overpaying IQ by $4-5 mil per year and same with BI $ 3-4 mil per year means likely players will go?

We need Colin C gone, AJ Lawson back to 2 way to have any chance to sign A Martin. We have not signed G Temple officially or A Martin and we are $2.8 mil over tax. + GT $3.6 = $6.4 over A Martin + $ 2.1 = $8.5 over with other non likely item bonuses you are getting to first Apron. Moving off CC and AJ L gives back $4.3 or = $ 4.2 into tax. Only move is Ochai for future seconds or late first or RJB for play(s) that can be moved at deadline. If G T retires at trade deadline his salary still on books.

This is why Boston blew up title team 2 from years ago, Denver off M Porter Jr. and why PS in Indy for less than he would sign here. A few NYK players take less to pay OG and why FVV now back to kind of reasonable contract.

[Reeko]

The Gradey disrespect is wild. This poll result is going to look ridiculous by January.

[Boogie!]

For a contender Ochai would be the #1 pick out of the 3......Dick is a giant defensive liability.

I hope they can figure out how to keep Ochai, and not lose him because of salary.

People keep talking about gradey defense I’m still waiting for him to shoot 40% from 3. Terrence Ross showed more in his first 2 years as a raptor.

[Duffman100]

The Gradey disrespect is wild. This poll result is going to look ridiculous by January.

God I hope so. Really routing for him.

[DreamTeam09]

Ochai having so many votes when he’s currently the best of the bunch is hilarious

I mean he's also the oldest & most experience & he just showed some flashes