TORONTO – If you’re heading to a Rolling Stones concert in 2026, chances are you’re not there for the new stuff. Let’s face it, you want to hear them play the classics.
They get it; it’s why they’re still filling seats decades after their prime. When you’ve found a formula that works, don’t overcomplicate things. Keep playing the hits.
Over the years, we’ve seen that become the Raptors’ draft strategy. With their first-round pick, you can bet they’re looking at a long, versatile two-way forward standing at or around 6-foot-8. In the second round, they tend to gravitate towards experienced and accomplished, gritty defensive-minded guards.
Unlike Satisfaction, Start Me Up, or Jumpin’ Jack Flash, those player archetypes don’t always elicit a standing ovation from the fan base, at least not initially. They’re not the most exciting, but there’s a reason why Toronto continues going back to them.
“[For us], it’s always been best available two-way players,” said Bobby Webster, the Raptors’ long-time backup vocalist-turned-frontman, who recently added executive vice-president to his general manager title.
“You can go back to when we first started here and that’s always been our philosophy. I think sometimes you get into a little bit of a trap if you try to [draft] for fit in the first round. Ultimately, the NBA is super competitive and things are always changing. The turnover on a team that happens year-to-year around the NBA is normal, so you have opportunities to reposition the roster. So, we’ve always said best available.”
Now, “best player available” is entirely subjective. When they’re on the clock, most teams opt for the top player left on their board, the one they believe to be best available by whatever system, metric, or gut feeling they trust. Scouting and, ultimately, drafting is an imperfect science, after all.
However, it’s surprising how many people remain skeptical about a model that identified Scottie Barnes over Jalen Suggs, found Pascal Siakam with the 27th overall pick, OG Anunoby at 20, and Collin Murray-Boyles at nine, or unearthed the likes of Fred VanVleet (an undrafted free agent in 2016) and Jamal Shead (acquired with the 45th pick in 2024). The Raptors front office is undoubtedly good at this.
So, when they pass on the likes of Khaman Maluach or Labaron Philon Jr. – highly ranked prospects who could have addressed more glaring needs on the current roster – for another long-limbed, do-it-all player without a traditional NBA position, trust that there’s a method to the madness.
“With the position-less-ness of the NBA now, I don’t think you can have too many of these big, two-way wings,” Webster said, famously, after he and then team president Masai Ujiri broke consensus to select Barnes fourth overall in 2021. “We see it as, let’s have all five guys look like him and [Anunoby] and [Siakam].”
The latest tweener to join Vision 6-8 is Allen Graves, chosen with the 19th pick in Tuesday’s first round. Hailing from the small town of Ponchatoula, Louisiana – population of roughly 8,000 – Graves wasn’t on the NBA radar until this past season, his freshman year at Santa Clara. It’s not hard to see what caught the Raptors’ eye. His profile, path, physical tools, and skill set all look familiar.
He’s a late-emerging prospect, like Murray-Boyles was, and primarily came off the bench in college, like Barnes did. He comes with a big and strong NBA-ready body, complete with a seven-foot wingspan. His late growth spurt – he added seven inches between his freshman and sophomore years of high school – meant he grew up playing point guard, which explains his natural feel for the game. His high motor, quick hands, and defensive instincts made him one of the top disruptors in college basketball last season.
What sets Graves apart from some of the other Raptors draft picks in his mould is that he can shoot it a bit – he hit an impressive 41 per cent of his 93 three-point attempts as a freshman. He’s been dubbed the analytics darling of the class. He only started four of the 35 games he played, but if you extend his numbers over 40 minutes, you’ve got averages of 20.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 5.1 combined steals and blocks.
“I feel ready,” Graves said on Thursday, his first day getting accustomed to his new team and new city in a different country. “I wouldn’t have [declared for the draft] if I didn’t think I was ready and I was able to play at this level. I feel like I can compete with the best of them. That’s why I want to be in the NBA, because it’s the best competition in the world. To be able to go out there and showcase that I belong is what I’ve been doing my whole life, proving everybody wrong. That’s what I plan to do here at the next level.”
At this stage of his development, the Raptors are betting on projection more than actual production and hoping that the promise Graves showed against mid-major competition can translate to a much higher level of play in the pros. The other question is how he fits next to Barnes and Murray-Boyles, the team’s two foundational pieces, who share so many similar qualities and are roughly the same size.
It’s not something the Raptors are worried about for many of the reasons that Webster cited. The league is ever changing and Toronto’s roster could look a lot different by the time Graves is ready to contribute at a high level. And even if they feel like they’re a sharpshooting guard or rim-running centre away from taking another big step this season, they probably weren’t going to find that guy with the 19thpick.
While Barnes (a former Rookie of the Year) and Murray-Boyles (All-Rookie Second Team) both made an immediate impact, they came in as the fourth and ninth picks, respectively. Graves is 19, turning 20 next month. He’s not lacking for confidence, and even though his game and approach are described as being mature beyond his years, early expectations should be tempered.
Their last 19th pick, Ja’Kobe Walter, would often show flashes but didn’t find his niche until the latter half of his sophomore campaign. That should be considered closer to the best-case scenario for a young player drafted in that range. If Graves develops as they’re hoping he will, then they’ll figure out where all the pieces fit. Employing too many players who can do a lot of different things on both ends of the floor and play or guard multiple positions is an enviable problem to have.
By adding Graves and using their second-round pick on Jaden Bradley, a pesky guard and four-year collegiate player out of Arizona, the Raptors doubled down on their strengths and, at least for now, opted against addressing their weaknesses. That’s fine, so long as that’s not the extent of their off-season work.
This is Webster’s first big test as a lead executive. With the draft in the rearview mirror, his contract extension in place, and a new deal for head coach Darko Rajakovic days away from being made official, the pressure is on to figure out where they go from here. It won’t be easy to top a 46-win season and hard-fought seven-game playoff series with the Eastern Conference improving around them.
Your mileage may vary on the revamped Miami Heat, post Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, but assuming the 31-year-old, two-time MVP is healthy, they at least enter the conversation with the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, and reigning champion New York Knicks. The Indiana Pacers are a year removed from a trip to The Finals and will be getting Tyrese Haliburton back from injury, the Atlanta Hawks are poised to take another step, and the Washington Wizards are finally trying to be competitive.
What does that mean for last season’s fifth seed? Merely running it back and banking on internal growth probably won’t be enough to keep up. If the Raptors are going to bolster their roster between now and the start of training camp in the fall, they’ll need to be bold.
Shortly after the final pick of Wednesday’s second round was made, the Charlotte Hornets sent shockwaves around the league by trading the face of their young core and engine of their exciting second-half push to Minnesota. TSN can confirm the Raptors’ reported interest in LaMelo Ball, but the cost for the all-star point guard (as well as Josh Green) – which turned out to be Naz Reid, an unprotected 2033 first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps between 2028 and 2030, and three second-rounders – was deemed too rich.
Balking at that price for a good, albeit flawed player owed north of $130 million over the next three seasons is completely fair. After a decade of irrelevance, it’s surprising to see the resurgent Hornets take a strategic step backwards for hypotheticals, but it’s not hard to see the vision. They essentially own the rights to Minnesota’s first round picks in four of the next seven drafts, a sizeable haul (and big risk for the Timberwolves) under the new lottery format with flattened odds.
While the Wolves figure to be competitive as long as Anthony Edwards is healthy, motivated and on the roster, to Webster’s point, a lot can change in seven years. All it takes is one injury, down season, or Edwards deciding he’d rather play elsewhere (his contract is up after the 2028-29 season) and they’ve potentially mortgaged their future for three very expensive seasons of Ball.
If Webster and the Raptors continue to play their greatest hits through the summer, they’ll be exercising patience and waiting for the optimal opportunity to strike – the right deal for the right player at the right time. It’s worked for them before, though the scenarios in which they bought low on Kawhi Leonard and Brandon Ingram were situational and might not present themselves again.
Even if the Clippers make Leonard available and his reported interest in returning to Toronto is real – safe bet is that he and his camp are using the Raptors as leverage, again – he’s eight years older than the last time they gambled on him and he wouldn’t come cheap. Are they interested in trying to resurrect Ja Morant’s once promising career, assuming the price to do so reflects the clear risk? Rajakovic would have some level of familiarity with the fallen star from his time as an assistant coach in Memphis.
Sometimes fortune favours the bold. The Knicks gave up five first-round picks and one pick swap for Mikal Bridges in 2024, a risky and polarizing deal that looks a lot better after he helped deliver New York its first NBA title in more than 50 years. In most cases, you get what you pay for. While they’re limited by a few undesirable contacts, namely Jakob Poeltl’s, the Raptors have the picks and assets to get in on the Jaylen Brown sweepstakes or put together a competitive offer for another star who may become available, but they have to be willing to spend. During Webster’s 13-year tenure, Toronto hasn’t sent out more than one first-round pick in any trade.
“What we’ve been stockpiling and what we’ve been patient on over the last couple years – having a lot of assets, having our first-round picks, having players under rookie scale contracts – that’s allowed us to build and be the youngest team in the playoffs,” Webster said. “But, yeah, at a certain point we want to be opportunistic in the trade market, and so we’ll look to do that over the course of the summer and even into the trade deadline next season.”
Patience is a virtue, but it rarely wins the day. Playing the hits is often a good way to go, but it might be time to try something new.
