Thank Nation! Raps pick 9th - Draft on June 23rd 8pm (Part 7)

[Rhettmatic]

New Chad Ford mock draft has us taking Dejounte Murray.

He claims his range is 8-14 and that the Kings have also shown interest.

[super_balls]

I know nbadraft.net is pretty crap but they have Sabonis going to Sacramento @ 8 and Chriss dropping to us @ 9.

Bonus: They have us drafting Maker @ 27.

I'm so down for this. PLEASE BASKETBALL GODS PLEASE.

[nabbs]

IF we take Dejounte Murray I will be pissed. Yeah his upside is high but he is a project. He could easily be taken in the mid first round.

[0 - 100]

Chad Ford is on serious crack

[super_balls]

Chad Ford is on serious crack

Nothing like under the table cash to make things look better than they are.

[MavCarter]

Chad Ford is on serious crack

That rich paul $$$$$ crack

[artsncrafts]

Chad Ford is on serious crack

Chad Ford....Rob Ford... crack....I think you are on to something.

[God Squad]

I actually believe Dejounte Murray is in the running anywhere from 7-15. It's not like this is new news. We've heard his name in this range for a while. I don't know much about him. But it seems people think he can become a star talent eventually.

[God Squad]

IF we take Dejounte Murray I will be pissed. Yeah his upside is high but he is a project. He could easily be taken in the mid first round.

Not that I'm for Murray pick. But who in our range ISN'T a project? Sabonis? I get not wanting him. But that shouldn't be the reason.

[nowayguy]

I actually believe Dejounte Murray is in the running anywhere from 7-15. It's not like this is new news. We've heard his name in this range for a while. I don't know much about him. But it seems people think he can become a star talent eventually.

His game against USC provides an idea of what he could become at the next level. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsY7cctzu34[/youtube]

Not sure he'll be star but he's shown he can make big plays on both sides of the ball.

[nabbs]

IF we take Dejounte Murray I will be pissed. Yeah his upside is high but he is a project. He could easily be taken in the mid first round.

Not that I'm for Murray pick. But who in our range ISN'T a project? Sabonis? I get not wanting him. But that shouldn't be the reason.

SAbonis, Poetl and I guess you could argue Ellenson are the only guys in our range that aren't total projects.

[CoachJReturns]

I'd rather pass on Murray. His best attributes are his handles and ability to play at a high speed, but he's not a good passer, or a good shooter.

[artsncrafts]

I'd rather pass on Murray. His best attributes are his handles and ability to play at a high speed, but he's not a good passer, or a good shooter.

I was about to respond but then I realized you were talking about 15th pick Murray and not 3rd pick Murray.

[Troubadour]

New Chad Ford mock draft has us taking Dejounte Murray.

He claims his range is 8-14 and that the Kings have also shown interest.

That's just his personal big board.

[3Si]

Kobe and MJ were not number one picks lmao. Kobe was drafted 13th... C'mon dude

Please look back at the context of that quote... The Top 1 was referring to the OP's claim of people potentially turning into the Top 1 player in the league. Not the #1 overall draft pick...


Kobe dominated high school and MJ went 3rd (could've easily went second), not even remotely close to the 9th. No one in the OP's potential future "Top 1" player list even remotely come close to achieving anything like that. C'mon dude

Well DUDE. You're still contradicting yourself by saying there's no one that can be a "top 1" player at #9 ...yet you mention Kobe Bryant who was drafted 13th overall. And Yes he had huge hype going into the draft but that doesn't change the fact he would have been available at #9. Hence the fault in your statement.

I'm not saying there's someone in this draft that could potentially be the best player in the league in a few years, I'm just disproving your statement; that there is no chance someone can get a "top 1" player at #9. It has happened before, so therefore you are wrong. That is all

The difference is Kobe was drafted when high school kids were allowed to enter a draft. Teams were taking a huge gamble hence the late pick. (Remember, he was picked before all the high school craze, Kwami, Dwight...), if he was in today's draft with a year experience in College, he would've been drafted much earlier.

As I mentioned before, I used Kobe as an example of someone who dominated at his competition. Not his position in the draft. Sure I probably should have worded it better. If you are one of those who needs to have the last word, then we'll done, I should've split my statement in two and I stand corrected.

Going back to the point of my post, name me one GOAT type player that was picked outside of top 8 since they changed the rule. You can nit pick my statement all you want, but the bottom line is, there will be no GOAT at 9th, period.

[Troubadour]

Kevin Pelton's mock draft has us taking Domantas Sabonis and Thon Maker. He is not projecting what he thinks will happen, but instead what should happen.

That's why Juan Hernangomez goes 4th to the Suns in his mock draft. I would actually be happy if we drafted him at #9, but it may be a bit of a reach. That's never stopped Masai!

[Troubadour]

NEW DRAFTEXPRESS MOCK DRAFT - SOUND THE ALARM

Has us taking...
9. Jakob Poeltl
27. DeAndre Bembry

[0 - 100]

Expect the unexpected from Raptors on draft night
By Josh Lewenberg

TORONTO - Masai Ujiri, a former scout, was like a kid in a candy store in advance of Thursday's NBA draft, practically salivating at the idea of picking inside the top 20 for the first time as a general manager.

The pick, ninth overall, amounts to found money for the Raptors - the fruits of Ujiri's first move at the helm of Toronto's front office, a trade that finally rid the franchise of maligned forward Andrea Bargnani.
It's an almost unprecedented luxury to have. Over the last 25 years, only one team (the 2003 Detroit Pistons) has made the Conference Finals and selected in the top 10 during the same season. The Raptors are poised to become the second, assuming they make the pick. That's where things get interesting.

Ujiri took over in the summer of 2013. The Raptors did not have a pick that year, so the team's newly appointed GM played the part of reluctant spectator.

"We were just looking at those phones, and looking at those phones, and looking at those phones. I don't want that," recalled Ujiri, who had made multiple attempts to acquire a lottery pick in the hopes of landing intriguing Greek prospect Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee's 15th-overall selection.

His background is in scouting, it's how he got his start in the league. The background of his staff is in scouting. They yearn for this time of year. The workouts, interviews and hours upon hours of deliberation, eventually leading to the decision - a couple minutes with those phones ringing and the clock winding down, the commissioner waiting for a name.
To some that might sound like torture. Not to Ujiri.

"It's exciting because this is our job," he said following the team's final pre-draft workout on Tuesday. "This is why you work. I told our guys, I don't know whether it's something they teach at Harvard for negotiating, but there's something about everybody calling you with like one second to go and everybody trying to put their gun to your head. We do exercises to prepare for that time and it's exciting, I think."

Coming from Denver, where he turned two late first-round picks into eventual NBA starters Kenneth Faried (22nd overall) and Evan Fournier (20th overall), Ujiri has developed a reputation for searching out the diamond in the rough, no matter how far its buried. Amazingly, in this the social media age, no one seems to see him coming.

In the past two drafts all but two first-round picks were leaked on Twitter before being officially announced by the commissioner. Both of those picks belonged to the Raptors. One of them became Bruno Caboclo, the mysterious Brazilian prospect that even caught rival league executives off guard.

What he might do now is anybody's guess. With Ujiri, especially on this night of all nights, we know to expect the unexpected.
Owners of two first-round selections - the ninth and 27th picks - Toronto have options and, at least publicly, Ujiri says he's open to them all. One thing seems to be for certain: with of a third of their roster already very young, the Raptors have no intention of adding two rookies for next season. They're among several teams situated in the lottery that are reportedly shopping their pick and Ujiri insists there's interest in it.

"It's something I'm entertaining," he admitted. "We're talking to a few teams and we'll see how that part plays out. But right now it's [about having] all the options on your board."

http://www.tsn.ca/expect-the-unexpected-from-raptors-on-draft-night-1.512870

[Rapsobsessed7]

I would love to walk away with Poeltl + Prince/Jackson.

[Troubadour]

I would love to walk away with Poeltl + Prince/Jackson.

I can't believe how far Taurean Prince is slipping. He would be a steal at #27.