T. Ross. Still a better idea than Andre Drummond?

[Joey]

You can't blame Colangelo for taking Ross.

Huh? Why not? Sure you can. I just still don't see it as such a bad thing.

[Bendit]

I wanted Drummond and was shocked he was passed over when all of our preferences (alluded to) were taken. He would have been a great trade asset.

And here comes the hedge...I think we need to give TRoss one more season to show consistency. The guy has the tools (love the form on his shot ...always think it's going in)...it's his 3 rd year. Drummond still has the freethrow bugaboo (difficult to tell if he'll overcome that)....which makes him problematic as the goto guy in crunch time nevermind that he doesnt have much offense other than the dunk)...a monster otherwise of course.

[enlightenment]

The Raptors are not the only team to make the mistake of passing on Drummond. That does not mean it wasn't a mistake.

Drummond is not the piece we need. You can't send it to him in the low post, he has yet to understand the pick and roll. He can't hit freethrows. And despite being given 12 more minutes last season compared to his rookie season, he is averaging the same blocks and fewer assists.

This is a guy that gets 13 rebounds a game on a bad Detroit team full of 3pt chuckers with terrible percentages. There are A LOT of offensive boards to clean up on this Detroit team. His 13 points comes from finishing on the break and after offensive rebounds. However, you can defuse him in the clutch by simply fouling. His defense is also still very immature.

With Drummond, this team would be worse off.

[DanH]

Drummond is not the piece we need. You can't send it to him in the low post, he has yet to understand the pick and roll. He can't hit freethrows. And despite being given 12 more minutes last season compared to his rookie season, he is averaging the same blocks and fewer assists.

This is a guy that gets 13 rebounds a game on a bad Detroit team full of 3pt chuckers with terrible percentages. There are A LOT of offensive boards to clean up on this Detroit team. His 13 points comes from finishing on the break and after offensive rebounds. However, you can defuse him in the clutch by simply fouling. His defense is also still very immature.

With Drummond, this team would be worse off.

Ah, the "draft for need" argument. I see. I consider it nonsense, myself.

With Drummond, we could trade for Ross straight up no problem if we had the need, probably get another first while we are at it. You think that's even remotely possible going the other direction?

Need is for team building, not the draft.

[enlightenment]

Ah, the "draft for need" argument. I see. I consider it nonsense, myself.

With Drummond, we could trade for Ross straight up no problem if we had the need, probably get another first while we are at it. You think that's even remotely possible going the other direction?

Need is for team building, not the draft.

I wouldn't trade Ross for Drummond now, so that statement doesn't hold.

[DanH]

I wouldn't trade Ross for Drummond now, so that statement doesn't hold.

Every GM in the league would.

[ball4life]

I wouldn't trade Ross for Drummond now, so that statement doesn't hold.

you might be the only one that wouldnt in room full of 30 GMS. Drummond's stock is up up way up

[enlightenment]

Every GM in the league would.

For the reasons I stated, he would make the Raptors worse.

EDIT: Just for reference, these are my reasons:

Offensive dud, can't play PnR well, is not a good lowpost option, can't hit free throws (can hack him in the clutch).

Defensively, very immature, doesn't play as hard hitting as you'd expect, gets lost often.

Rebounding, inflated numbers due to playing with Brandon Jennings + Josh Smith (3pt chuckers with terrible percentages), therefor plenty of offensive rebounds available on this bad detroit team.

[Jclaw]

The question isn't whether you would have Drummond over Ross. It's whether you would rather have Drummond vs JV. Espn's rankings may lean towards the former but both are young and their best may be ahead. Great big men are rare. Great big men that can hit free throws are more scarce. You don't draft by position but if we had taken Drummond, one of he or JV would not have had the time or space to develop. So, could you trade a unproven big man for Ross? Maybe. That's what the future will show. You can't answer the OP question without the context of JV.

[yabadabayolo]

Every GM in the league would.

Would you though?

Your in the playoff chase and if you trade ross, you get a major hole at sf while creating a even bigger minutes jam at centre. So basically, you have to pull off another trade for Jv acquiring another young sf. But at the same time, now you have lost all your continuity and new chemistry that you hope will take you to the playoffs since you now have 2 brand new starting pieces.

Oh and now you no longer have a post presence anymore since Drummond is only really a put back rebounding guy. Oh and also now, you have to integrate the new pieces into your teams system.

So in conclusions, there's too many variables and every gm wouldn't do that

[chico]

For the reasons I stated, he would make the Raptors worse.

EDIT: Just for reference, these are my reasons:

Offensive dud, can't play PnR well, is not a good lowpost option, can't hit free throws (can hack him in the clutch).

Defensively, very immature, doesn't play as hard hitting as you'd expect, gets lost often.

Rebounding, inflated numbers due to playing with Brandon Jennings + Josh Smith (3pt chuckers with terrible percentages), therefor plenty of offensive rebounds available on this bad detroit team.

Like Joey said, paraphrasing, it's a silly conversation, but Bravo for seeing more than stat-centric adoration.

He's a physical specimen, with minimal basketball skills (and a rep of not working on them), the bball IQ of a stump, and wouldn't know TEAM ball, at either end, if it hit him in the nuts. SVG will lose the rest of his hair this year.

[white men can't jump]

Accelerated rebuild memories on the bold.

Drummond was the right pick.

Based on what I've seen of Drummond, I'd rather have JV (Drummond puts up eye popping stats but I'm not convinced he is a winner). However when you actually follow through on the stacking principals Colangelo spewed, Drummond would have been one hell of a trade chip.

And this is really the most legit argument in favour of the pick. Wouldn't have necessarily even needed Drummond to play a game as a Raptor for him to bring back value to the franchise.

And the scenario where that logic could've applied was possibly available to the Raptors. Everyone remember the Harden rumours, and how apparently they asked for JV (on top of what I'm sure were other pieces)? Well, we can talk about how much we love our guys and the way the team is built now, but there's no way anyone at the time would've opposed a trade for Harden if, say, it was centred around Drummond and DeMar.

So obviously there would've been huge positives to just having Drummond as an asset. However, given the red flags, it's not one of those picks where it was so obviously stupid. I mean, the guy was far and away the second best prospect from a potential perspective (at worst top 3-5), so you gotta believe that at the time teams had very good reason to be wary of picking him since he slid so far.

Personally, I liked Ross at the draft, and thought if Barnes was gone, you trade down and get Ross (because I thought that would be possible), and maybe even another pick as well (even if it was a 2nd rounder). I definitely liked him more than guys like Lamb and Rivers, and I think in general trading into the teens to also try and pick up a 2nd pick somewhere (be it 1st or 2nd rounder) may have been the best choice. I would've been fine with a mid-late 1st round options from that draft even if Ross was gone....Terrence Jones, Sullinger, Henson, Harkless, PJ3...Was big on all those guys for different reasons.

But whatever, these discussions rarely lead anywhere. And it's far from the worst draft gaffe the Raptors have made.

[Bendit]

I wouldn't trade Ross for Drummond now, so that statement doesn't hold.

Hate to say it but neither would Detroit (reverse). Big guys are at a premium especially big, strong and nasty.

[enlightenment]

Like Joey said, paraphrasing, it's a silly conversation, but Bravo for seeing more than stat-centric adoration.

He's a physical specimen, with minimal basketball skills (and a rep of not working on them), the bball IQ of a stump, and wouldn't know TEAM ball, at either end, if it hit him in the nuts. SVG will lose the rest of his hair this year.

Unfortunately, stats don't lead to wins. Fans may care about stats, but GMs (hopefully) care about wins.

[enlightenment]

I think we can all agree its not as obvious as some posters here have made it seem. There is a legitimate debate as to which one should've been picked.