With the 29th Pick in the 2020 NBA Draft the Toronto Raptors Select: Malachi Flynn

[Ell Curry]

We can't really expect 29th pick to consistently bring more than a nice 8th or 9th man every 2nd year and every 5-7 years a proper starter I'd back of the napkin math expect, even with our front office. But Flynn seems to have elite numbers at point of attack defense and that makes him an intriguing zone guy to me even with his size at the front of zones, and offensively there's a lot to like as a traditional PG and Dallas and us have had a lot of success with multiple guys like that.

I'm most excited to watch him and Paul Watson this year this year I think.

[LoveMyRaps]

If the NCAA tournament took place, he would've been a lottery pick. Aztecs would've made some serious noise during March madness.

[everdiso]

Baynes - Len
Siakam - Boucher
Anunoby - Powell
VanVleet - Davis - Thomas
Lowry - Flynn

Would be pretty sweet if Masai could turn McCaw and Johnson's $8m into a good PF type.

[Dalek]

I like Flynn but I wonder how far off Tillman was rated from him? As predicted, our frontcourt is in shambles after free agency. Tillman would have been strong and smart enough to throw out there.

The Raptors front court is hardly in shambles. Shouldn't let the brand names of Gasol and Ibaka fool us. In are younger players who can shoot, who are way more athletic and can keep up with Nurse's defensive schemes. Out are two older guys who got exposed by a younger faster team in the playoffs. It was obvious this team needed some new blood in the front court after that Boston series. Whether Nurse relies on a front court of Siakam-OG more often remains to be seen. I think it's been made clear how this front office drafts and values talent. They never draft for need nor should they. Regardless of position, they value skill, defence, hard work, advanced stats darlings, and confidence without that me-first arrogance of stars born between the mid 80s and the early 90s. But it seems they've also learned quality bigs are a dime a dozen and unless one's a Jokic or Embidd, bigs aren't true impact players that they used to be. They don't waste picks on bigs when highly naturally skilled guys are still on the board. Flynn was a no brainer.

All of those attributes you highlighted do speak to Xavier Tillman, and he would have brought new blood and some interesting short roll playmaking. Having a guy who is considered the best defender in his draft class is not dime a dozen. Tillman does some special things on the defensive end that might translate to bigger line-ups or using him as a small ball C. We will see how he translates to the NBA, but I think he had to be high in the mix for Toronto which prides itself on defense (see starting Marc Gasol when he has clearly fell off a cliff offensively).

I just think that basketball in general there are a ton of 6'3" and under guys that are high skill and good scorers that never make it to the NBA. They go to Europe and have success or end up in China or toil away in the G-League. Not saying that Flynn isn't special, but he is in the biggest cluster of potential players so for him to be head and shoulders above younger guys and others with bigger upside, he has to have some pretty amazing qualities. He has big game poise, and I am starting to like what I see from his handle. But, I am itching to see how he fairs in a bigger more athletic league than the MWC.

[StopitLeo]

I have seen a lot of highlight and draft profile videos posted. Here is one from 7 months ago that illustrates his mindset and character, which clearly fit with the Toronto Raptors culture:

Watch on YouTube

[Psubs]

I have seen a lot of highlight and draft profile videos posted. Here is one from 7 months ago that illustrates his mindset and character, which clearly fit with the Toronto Raptors culture:

Watch on YouTube

Swagger to Showboating ratio should be a new metric. He has swagger but his showboating is minimal.

A lot of AAU kids have swagger but too much cockiness and showboating like Embiid.

[Psubs]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/raptors-rookie-malachi-flynn-already-impressing-earning-respect?fbclid=IwAR1C8OmQM6OS7zgAD6NyCAPWNBZijnrxLtHTK8TZbgI0j7322CjNFk4wWq8

[everdiso]

Upgrading from mccaw to Flynn will make up for the downgrade from gasol/ibaka to baynes/len all by itself.

[YoungD23]

Baynes - Len
Siakam - Boucher
Anunoby - Powell
VanVleet - Davis - Thomas
Lowry - Flynn

Would be pretty sweet if Masai could turn McCaw and Johnson's $8m into a good PF type.

Be honest...look at that roster. Lol. You can't tell me that we don't have a lot of work to do. This roster has treadmill written all over it.

[everdiso]

Baynes - Len
Siakam - Boucher
Anunoby - Powell
VanVleet - Davis - Thomas
Lowry - Flynn

Would be pretty sweet if Masai could turn McCaw and Johnson's $8m into a good PF type.

Be honest...look at that roster. Lol. You can't tell me that we don't have a lot of work to do. This roster has treadmill written all over it.

4 of the top 70 players in the league according to ESPN.

And 5 or 6 quality pieces beyond that including a few with legit quality starter potential, and no need to give minutes to any glaring weak spots either.

Being honest, that team looks dang good.

[Kevin Willis]

Baynes - Len
Siakam - Boucher
Anunoby - Powell
VanVleet - Davis - Thomas
Lowry - Flynn

Would be pretty sweet if Masai could turn McCaw and Johnson's $8m into a good PF type.

Be honest...look at that roster. Lol. You can't tell me that we don't have a lot of work to do. This roster has treadmill written all over it.

4 of the top 70 players in the league according to ESPN.

And 5 or 6 quality pieces beyond that including a few with legit quality starter potential, and no need to give minutes to any glaring weak spots either.

Being honest, that team looks dang good.

Here is the starting lineup for the NBA as of today. You can use that to compare to other East teams on whether we're competitive.

https://www.lineups.com/nba/lineups

[mdenny]

Hopefully I'm proven wrong but I'm pessimistic. The only nba players with his body that are successful have huge offensive upsides and he doesn't have that.

I'm a fred guy and I can see the similarities in their game.....but fred is built wide. Him and kyle are short but they are tanks. Flynn is much thinner and frail. I just can't think of a comparable player where the defense and the IQ translates in the nba in that body frame. Unfortunately....I can envision all his attributes being neutralized by his size obstacles.

I expect McCaw to get way more minutes than Flynn.

[Marty_Budda]

Hopefully I'm proven wrong but I'm pessimistic. The only nba players with his body that are successful have huge offensive upsides and he doesn't have that.

I'm a fred guy and I can see the similarities in their game.....but fred is built wide. Him and kyle are short but they are tanks. Flynn is much thinner and frail. I just can't think of a comparable player where the defense and the IQ translates in the nba in that body frame. Unfortunately....I can envision all his attributes being neutralized by his size obstacles.

I expect McCaw to get way more minutes than Flynn.

Kyle yes but Fred is no tank. He actually gets abused in the post and can’t drive inside because he doesn’t have the strength to go up against the big boys.

There’s a couple of things I like about Flynn more than Freddy.
1) his release is way quicker. For shorter guys especially this is very important
2) looks like he has a quicker first step
3) looks to make smarter plays off the pick and roll.

Thing with Freddy is he has insane confidence in himself and good overall iq. Time will tell if Flynn has the mentality and if he can handle nba comp. but I like what I’ve seen from him. Although I’ll admit that’s just YouTube highlights of his college games.

[mdenny]

Hopefully I'm proven wrong but I'm pessimistic. The only nba players with his body that are successful have huge offensive upsides and he doesn't have that.

I'm a fred guy and I can see the similarities in their game.....but fred is built wide. Him and kyle are short but they are tanks. Flynn is much thinner and frail. I just can't think of a comparable player where the defense and the IQ translates in the nba in that body frame. Unfortunately....I can envision all his attributes being neutralized by his size obstacles. Again...I just don't see a comparable player with that bodyframe who translates to the nba without the upside skill.

I expect McCaw to get way more minutes than Flynn.

Kyle yes but Fred is no tank. He actually gets abused in the post and can’t drive inside because he doesn’t have the strength to go up against the big boys.

There’s a couple of things I like about Flynn more than Freddy.
1) his release is way quicker. For shorter guys especially this is very important
2) looks like he has a quicker first step
3) looks to make smarter plays off the pick and roll.

Thing with Freddy is he has insane confidence in himself and good overall iq. Time will tell if Flynn has the mentality and if he can handle nba comp. but I like what I’ve seen from him. Although I’ll admit that’s just YouTube highlights of his college games.

We'll see. Flynn being as good as fred is around 50 to 1 imo.

Regarding your points:

1 there's no problem with fred's release time
2 and 3: we'll see what happens against nba defences.

Pretty sure fred had a more successful college career. And you are underestimating fred's girth. The dude is wide. Like he was squished downwards. That's why he looks shorter than he is in real life. He is stocky and wide. Malachi is not built like that. He's not wide. Fred does not get thrown around on the defensive end like flynn will.

Chances that Flynn is as good as fred in the nba is around 50 to 1 imo.

[Marty_Budda]

Hopefully I'm proven wrong but I'm pessimistic. The only nba players with his body that are successful have huge offensive upsides and he doesn't have that.

I'm a fred guy and I can see the similarities in their game.....but fred is built wide. Him and kyle are short but they are tanks. Flynn is much thinner and frail. I just can't think of a comparable player where the defense and the IQ translates in the nba in that body frame. Unfortunately....I can envision all his attributes being neutralized by his size obstacles. Again...I just don't see a comparable player with that bodyframe who translates to the nba without the upside skill.

I expect McCaw to get way more minutes than Flynn.

Kyle yes but Fred is no tank. He actually gets abused in the post and can’t drive inside because he doesn’t have the strength to go up against the big boys.

There’s a couple of things I like about Flynn more than Freddy.
1) his release is way quicker. For shorter guys especially this is very important
2) looks like he has a quicker first step
3) looks to make smarter plays off the pick and roll.

Thing with Freddy is he has insane confidence in himself and good overall iq. Time will tell if Flynn has the mentality and if he can handle nba comp. but I like what I’ve seen from him. Although I’ll admit that’s just YouTube highlights of his college games.

We'll see. Flynn being as good as fred is around 50 to 1 imo.

Regarding your points:

1 there's no problem with fred's release time
2 and 3: we'll see what happens against nba defences.

Pretty sure fred had a more successful college career. And you are underestimating fred's girth. The dude is wide. Like he was squished downwards. That's why he looks shorter than he is in real life. He is stocky and wide. Malachi is not built like that. He's not wide. Fred does not get thrown around on the defensive end like flynn will.

Who knows man. Just gotta wait and see

I will say this tho. Flynn’s 4th year college numbers look a heck of a lot more impressive to me than any of freddys college seasons. And there’s nothing wrong with Freddys release but Flynn’s looks quicker to my eye.

[mdenny]

Kyle yes but Fred is no tank. He actually gets abused in the post and can’t drive inside because he doesn’t have the strength to go up against the big boys.

There’s a couple of things I like about Flynn more than Freddy.
1) his release is way quicker. For shorter guys especially this is very important
2) looks like he has a quicker first step
3) looks to make smarter plays off the pick and roll.

Thing with Freddy is he has insane confidence in himself and good overall iq. Time will tell if Flynn has the mentality and if he can handle nba comp. but I like what I’ve seen from him. Although I’ll admit that’s just YouTube highlights of his college games.

We'll see. Flynn being as good as fred is around 50 to 1 imo.

Regarding your points:

1 there's no problem with fred's release time
2 and 3: we'll see what happens against nba defences.

Pretty sure fred had a more successful college career. And you are underestimating fred's girth. The dude is wide. Like he was squished downwards. That's why he looks shorter than he is in real life. He is stocky and wide. Malachi is not built like that. He's not wide. Fred does not get thrown around on the defensive end like flynn will.

Who knows man. Just gotta wait and see

I will say this tho. Flynn’s 4th year college numbers look a heck of a lot more impressive to me than any of freddys college seasons. And there’s nothing wrong with Freddys release but Flynn’s looks quicker to my eye.

To be fair to Flynn...we'd have to wait until his third season to return to the comparison. My hope is that he becomes a serviceable backup point guard and frankly....that's what we need him to be. But I think alot of ppl in this thread might be disappointed in his first season or two. There's just no precedent for his game and body type to become a huge piece.

If he's a good backup point guard to Fred in 3 years than it's a successful pick.

[everdiso]

Hopefully I'm proven wrong but I'm pessimistic. The only nba players with his body that are successful have huge offensive upsides and he doesn't have that.

I'm a fred guy and I can see the similarities in their game.....but fred is built wide. Him and kyle are short but they are tanks. Flynn is much thinner and frail. I just can't think of a comparable player where the defense and the IQ translates in the nba in that body frame. Unfortunately....I can envision all his attributes being neutralized by his size obstacles.

I expect McCaw to get way more minutes than Flynn.

Chris Paul, Steph Curry, Patrick Beverley, Mike Conley.

[Gold Dragon]

Hopefully I'm proven wrong but I'm pessimistic. The only nba players with his body that are successful have huge offensive upsides and he doesn't have that.

I'm a fred guy and I can see the similarities in their game.....but fred is built wide. Him and kyle are short but they are tanks. Flynn is much thinner and frail. I just can't think of a comparable player where the defense and the IQ translates in the nba in that body frame. Unfortunately....I can envision all his attributes being neutralized by his size obstacles.

I expect McCaw to get way more minutes than Flynn.

Chris Paul, Steph Curry, Patrick Beverley, Mike Conley.

Pat Beverley is a great example of what can be accomplished on defense with that frame. While Flynn does not project to be that level of defender, he has a lot of the tools and mindset to be able to become that type of defender.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[YoungD23]

Baynes - Len
Siakam - Boucher
Anunoby - Powell
VanVleet - Davis - Thomas
Lowry - Flynn

Would be pretty sweet if Masai could turn McCaw and Johnson's $8m into a good PF type.

Be honest...look at that roster. Lol. You can't tell me that we don't have a lot of work to do. This roster has treadmill written all over it.

4 of the top 70 players in the league according to ESPN.

And 5 or 6 quality pieces beyond that including a few with legit quality starter potential, and no need to give minutes to any glaring weak spots either.

Being honest, that team looks dang good.

You cannot bring the ESPN list into any discussion lol, everyone but ESPN knows that it's a joke.

I can't knock on your opinion but I guess time will tell. For me, this roster is not going to get the job done but I know this team is preparing for the off-season/FAs.

I'm excited to see the growth of the young guys but for me, this roster won't get the job done.

[Psubs]

Hopefully I'm proven wrong but I'm pessimistic. The only nba players with his body that are successful have huge offensive upsides and he doesn't have that.

I'm a fred guy and I can see the similarities in their game.....but fred is built wide. Him and kyle are short but they are tanks. Flynn is much thinner and frail. I just can't think of a comparable player where the defense and the IQ translates in the nba in that body frame. Unfortunately....I can envision all his attributes being neutralized by his size obstacles.

I expect McCaw to get way more minutes than Flynn.

Young Chris Paul for size or Young Mike Bibby for style of play.