Raptors keeping options open going into draft week

TORONTO – As a rival team, there’s always something you can glean from watching the NBA Finals, and this spring’s epic seven-game battle between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers was no different.

Those two clubs have different play styles and roster makeups. They were cobbled together in different ways. There’s no blueprint for building a title contender; there’s more than one way to skin a cat, as the saying goes. But the Raptors – one of the 28 teams watching from the couch – were able to pick up on at least one crucial common denominator.

“I think it highlighted how physical the game [gets] come playoff time,” Toronto’s assistant general manager Dan Tolzman said the afternoon after OKC was crowned first-time NBA champions. “The intensity ratchets up and defence is so much more important, which is why [head coach Darko Rajakovic] and our coaching staff preach that so much, knowing that someday we’re hoping to be in that situation. You have to be ready for when the physicality goes up a level…

“It seems like the teams that can just fight through that, stay mentally strong and actually take those hits and keep executing despite the more physical defence you’re seeing on a possession basis, those are the guys that are successful in the playoffs. And so, I think that the way we approach it is we want to get players that can eventually be playoff basketball players.”

That archetype is top of mind for the Raptors’ primary decision makers as they put the finishing touches on their draft prep and get set for one of the most eventful (and chaotic) weeks on the NBA calendar.

We’ve already seen three blockbuster trade go down across the association, with Desmond Bane, Kevin Durant and Jrue Holiday on the move and 13 draft picks changing hands, including a couple in Wednesday’s first round. Toronto is slated to make the ninth-overall pick on Wednesday night (as well as the 39th selection on Thursday), at least for now.

But as the rumours and trade speculation continue to swirl, they’re a club that keeps coming up. Some of that is merely based off reputation. Being that they’re generally in the mix when a star player becomes available, they’re an easy team to use as leverage – and there was a lot of that going on as Phoenix worked to get Houston to improve its offer for Durant.

But where there’s smoke, there’s fire. There’s a window of opportunity in a weakened Eastern Conference that took another hit when Tyrese Haliburton’s tore his Achillies in Sunday’s Game 7. The Raptors can sense it, and seem to be one of the teams that are highly motivated to take advantage.

Multiple league sources have confirmed to TSN that the ninth pick is believed to be available, as Toronto looks to upgrade its roster with established players who are ready to contribute to a playoff push in the near term. They’ve both made and received more calls than in recent years leading up to the draft.

They believe that they’ve already found a few players that fit the mould of being postseason tough. They certainly expect Scottie Barnes, who’s maximum contract extension is about to kick in, to be one. If all else fails on the player acquisition front, they hope that last year’s trade deadline addition, Brandon Ingram – who is set to finally debut for the club next season – can be another. 

But they’re always surveying the trade market, watching, and waiting for the right time to strike. Durant wasn’t their guy, as it turned out – they were in the mix but were never going to make their best offer, or even top Houston’s final offer, for a soon-to-be 37-year-old pending free agent, great as he still is. 

With KD off the board and Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo never actually on the board, it’s unclear who the next big prize will be. Sacramento is said to be open for business, but all-star big man Domantas Sabonis would be a weird fit in Toronto, and the Raptors are happy with Jakob Poeltl at centre – sources confirm that both sides are hoping to come to terms on a contract extension this summer. Former Raptor DeMar DeRozan would be an even stranger fit, as fun as that reunion would be. 

The Celtics are still looking to unload salary after dealing Holiday to Portland for the expiring contract of Anfernee Simons late on Monday night. They’re shopping Kristaps Porzingis, who the Raptors had expressed interest in when he was with Dallas, but again, hard to see the fit.

There isn’t an obvious player that’s available and checks off the boxes for Toronto, but hey, it’s the NBA. Nobody saw the Luka Doncic trade coming. We didn’t know Bane was available until he was on his way to Orlando for a haul of unprotected picks. There’s always a next guy. It’s just a question of whether there’s something and someone out there that makes sense.

Meanwhile, the Raptors are keeping their options open, as they’ve been known to do. They haven’t ruled out moving up in the draft, moving down, or moving out of the first round altogether. Almost everything is on the table. But, with the said, it’s worth noting that in their 12-year tenure at the helm, Toronto’s Masai Ujiri-led front office has never traded a first-round pick between the end of the season and the draft.

Ujiri, who got his start in the league as a scout, is a talent evaluator at heart. This is the time of year when teams fall in love with the prospects at the top of their board. It’s not hard to get excited about these young players and what they could become in the right development system. The upside is limitless. The possibilities are endless. And while that doesn’t always prove to be the case, as we know, this Raptors front office does have a strong track record in the draft, and with it, the utmost confidence in their scouting and development staff.

The safe bet, despite the rumours and rumblings, is that they make and keep the pick. As it stands, the Raptors are roughly $10 million under the luxury tax with a few more roster spots to fill for next season. With the punitive tax penalties of the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the best and most cost-efficient way to build is through the draft.

So, what might they be looking for, assuming they use their pick?

At his end-of-season press conference, Ujiri identified the backup centre position as an area of need, something that they would look to address this summer, whether that’s in the draft, free agency or via trade. After Kelly Olynyk was traded at the deadline, they mostly used a collection of two-way players and guys on 10-day contracts to soak up the minutes behind Poeltl or even start the games in which Poeltl rested.

There is no shortage of quality big men projected to go in the mid-late lottery, where the Raptors are currently situated. Their draft philosophy has always been to take the best player available, regardless of position. But if the guy who happens to be at the top of their board when the ninth pick rolls around also addresses their most pressing positional need, even better.

With the exception of the consensus top pick, Duke phenom Cooper Flagg, and maybe the projected second-overall selection, Rutgers guard Dylan Harper, it’s unrealistic to expect any rookie to step into an NBA rotation and contribute right away. Patience is required –especially with young centres, who generally take the longest to learn and adapt to the position at the professional level. 

“The way we like to play, I think you all see it with [Poeltl] in terms of playing through him and letting him be a bit of an operator in the high post and what he brings to our defence as well,” Tolzman said. “It’s always good to have another centre alongside him who maybe does the opposite… [but] it’d be good to have 48 minutes of that same type of guy because of what it does for us. So, we’re definitely looking at both sides of the coin in terms of what’s the best type of player to pair with him.” 

If the Raptors do decide to take a big, it will be interesting to see who comes off the board ahead of them – at least six of the top-eight picks appear to be locked in, in some order, but there are always surprises – and ultimately how much risk tolerance they have at this stage.

They could play it safer with a higher-floor prospect who would appear to match the description of what the Raptors value at the position. Maryland’s Derik Queen and South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles won’t shy away from contact at the NBA level and have excellent touch and vision. At 21, Michigan junior Danny Wolf is a bit more polished and has the size and skill that Toronto is looking for. Thomas Sorber, a two-way big from Georgetown, also fits the criteria and is further along in his development than most 19-year-old freshmen.

However, if they’re willing to take a bigger swing on someone with a higher ceiling and longer development timeline, at least a few of those options should be available to them as well.

Khaman Maluach could be gone before Toronto makes its pick but the 7-footer from Duke has a profile that the Raptors are familiar with and have gravitated to in the past. He won’t turn 19 until September and is still learning the game, having only been playing organized basketball for four years. But with good mobility for his size, some touch around the bucket and an enormous 9-foot-8 standing reach, he’s got all the tools to grow into an elite rim protector, roller, and lob finisher. He’s one to keep an eye on. Like Maluach, French big men Noa Essengue and Joan Beringer are among the youngest players in the draft. They’re long and mobile, with some skill and toughness, despite their slender frames, but they’re both very raw and might be the biggest dice rolls in this class.

“If they’re maybe not physically ready to take that sort of hit right away, at least we want to get guys that have the mental fortitude to be able to once they get stronger and are ready to take the actual pounding that the playoffs [bring],” Tolzman said, speaking generally. “It takes a certain type of player to understand that, and those are the types of guys we’re looking for.”

While the organization is encouraged by the progress its young core has made, this is still a team that’s coming off a 30-win campaign and stuck in a three-year playoff drought. There is work to be done if they’re going to turn things around quickly and be ready for the big moment when it comes. One way or another, this will be an important week in that process.

“I think there's a lot of people that have the same feeling as we do, that the top 10, the lottery, is a pretty good place to be,” said Tolzman. “There's definitely interest in people trying to get our pick, I think for the same reason. It's an interesting group of players around there. I wouldn't say [there's an] any-percentage chance that we do one or the other, but there [are] definitely conversations being had of teams trying to get into the top 10 for the same reason as why we like being here right now.”