Raptors Should Trade The Top Pick
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by user Hoopsaddict.com
Raptors fans are buzzing about winning the top pick in next month’s draft, but I say we trade the pick away for a veteran point guard and a pick lower in the first round.
Before Raptors fans chew my head off check out this logic - can any of the top players in the Draft help us out?
No.
None of the players this year are worthy of a top pick since Greg Oden has to play a year of college and Joakim Noah passed on the NBA.
ESPN pegs Toronto selecting LeMarcus Alrdidge with the top pick. While he’s the best big man in the draft I doubt he’ll be a solid pro because he had a hard time establishing himself in college. I watched a couple of Longhorns games this year and he didn’t command the ball in the post and his game simply didn’t impress me.
Along those lines, a player that has been building a buzz around him leading up to the draft but hasn’t impressed me has been Brandon Roy. He averaged 20.2 points, 5.6 boards and 4.1 dimes per game at Washington last season but I wasn’t impressed with him in the few games that I saw last season. Sure he has great numbers playing for the Huskies, but who else did they have that could score for them?
The player that I love in the draft is Tyrus Thomas but at 6′9″ he’d be challenging Charlie Villanueva for minutes next season. With Chris Bosh and Villanueva as our forwards we are set at the position for years to come, why draft another forward just to have him come off the bench?
It’s not like we can go away from drafting the “big” that we need and try to draft a future star player because this is a draft class void of any star players. Sure, there’s Adam Morrison who’s a well known college star but I have serious doubts about how well his game will translate to the pro level.
Don’t get me wrong fellow Raps fans, I’m not raining on your parade. I’m simply trying to state that winning the lottery will be a great thing if Bryan Colangelo can get the starting point guard or center out of trading the pick. One deal that immediately pops into mind would have the top pick heading to Seattle for Luke Ridnour and their 10th pick. This deal would allow the Raps to add another young player while gaining the floor general that they desperately need.
While the idea of having the top draft pick is sure to be enticing, common sense would dictate that the Raptors would be better suited by dealing away the pick for a veteran point guard of big man.
Date
Wed 05/24/06, 3:46 am EST
