Three takeaways from Thursday’s draft.
The Toronto Raptors made three transactions yesterday. The first was to trade Greivis Vasquez to the Milwaukee Bucks for cap space, a future first rounder and the No. 46th pick. The Raptors then selected Delon Wright with their 20th pick and nabbed Norman Powell with the 46th selection. In doing so, Masai Ujiri and his management team shifted the Raptors into a more flexible position for this summer and beyond.
Here are three key takeaways from draft night.
Editor’s note: A detailed scouting report will be published next week by Blake Murphy, who will break down the intricacies of Wright and Powell’s games. Expect that to drop Monday or Tuesday in addition to yet a draft-heavy episode of Raptors Weekly.
1. The Vasquez deal was a coup
I want to preface this point by showing respect to Greivis Vasquez. He was a strong contributor for the Raptors and he’s a talented guard. He was a professional and a strong, positive voice for the team, despite losing his role of Sixth Man to Lou Williams. Vasquez has his limitations — especially on defense — but when put into the right system, Vasquez can flourish. He absolutely deserves his contract ($6.6 million) because he’s one of the finest backup point guards in the league.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syztUu-zTfo
But what Ujiri got in return for Vasquez was nothing short of a coup.
Vasquez fetched a future first-round pick, a second-round pick and cap room, all for a guard that became a poor fit in Dwane Casey’s system. Vasquez has value, but he’s fungible. There are plenty of players with his talent and ability in free agency every summer. Ujiri saw a chance to sell Jason Kidd on what he covets most — long, tall point guards like himself — and made the Bucks pay through the nose to get it.
That’s not to say that the Bucks made a bad trade. Vasquez’s defensive shortcomings will be masked in Milwaukee and his shooting and playmaking fits a need. But it’s probably not the best way to manage assets, even if the young Bucks have prospects in spades because first-round picks have skyrocketed in value. For example, Isaiah Thomas — an excellent Sixth Man under contract at a ridiculously low price — fetched the Cavaliers’ first-rounder. Vasquez is undeniably a lesser player than Thomas, and yet he brought back two picks.
And it’s also not to say that the Raptors are guaranteed to grab a star player with the Clippers’ lottery-protected pick. The Clippers will likely finish with a top five record in each of the next two seasons, therefore the pick will likely land in the late-twenties. The chances of nabbing a star at that slot is slim to none. But with the salary cap about to skyrocket, the relative cost of draft picks will sink even lower, meaning that if the Raptors do snag a decent player, they will be tremendously valuable on account of their price.
It’s just a bit of good business. Combined with their own first-rounder and the Knicks/Nuggets’ 2016 pick, the Raptors could offer three picks in the next two seasons in a potential trade. Or, they can retain them for a rebuild. Either way, the Raptors picked up two assets without giving up something they couldn’t replace.
2. Delon Wright isn’t just the “safe” pick
There’s a thought that selecting 23-year-old Delon Wright was a the “safe” play for the Raptors. There’s some truth to that, but there’s also merit behind the selection. Wright is a decent prospect. He fits a need, but there’s some upside too.
The first thing to note with Wright is his defense, something Ujiri stress to reporters on Thursday.
“We’re really excited about Delon,” Ujiri said of the 23-year-old. “We saw him as a big point guard that can guard and takes great pride in it. [He] still needs to develop even if he’s a four-year [college] player. I think we also see him as a late bloomer a little bit, so we’re hoping there’s a little bit more development there. But he knows how to play. We watched him a lot and we like what he does.”
Wright reportedly aced practice sessions with the team. Dwane Casey claims that Wright was their pick all along, the reasons being his defense and maturity.
But there’s a bit more to Wright than just his defense. Wright stuffed the boxscores and graded very strongly in statistical models. Kevin Pelton of ESPN noted in his Mock Draft (insider) that Wright projected to have the highest rookie Wins Above Replacement Player (WARP) in the draft. Pelton cites Wright’s rebounding and defense (steals in particular) as points in Wright’s favor. Even his block rate is strong.
Delon Wright's collegiate stats. He's a guy who cam make an impact across the board, though shooting is shaky. pic.twitter.com/lnW4mgdrfo
— William Lou (@william_lou) June 26, 2015
Granted, Wright’s collegiate stats can’t be taken at full face value. He played in a weak conference as a 23-year-old senior. But at the minimum, Wright looks like a player who can step into a backup point guard role with strong defense and decent playmaking. And if he keeps improving his 3-point shot, Wright could conceivably develop into a nice two-way threat. Add that to his 6-foot-5 frame (giving him the ability to switch onto two-guards), and the Raptors, at the very least, have filled a hole at backup guard.
I don’t expect any rookie to become a difference-maker on defense. The NBA game is faster, stronger, higher and smarter than anything Wright or any other rookie has experienced. But would I appreciate some solid perimeter defense? Hell yeah. I’ll live with “solid” with the potential to become “good”.
I don’t want to sell the 20th pick as more than it is. The past five 20th selections are Bruno Caboclo, Tony Snell, Evan Fournier, Donatas Motiejunas and James Anderson. There’s not a star in the bunch. But there are some useful pieces.
Hopefully, Wright can become a useful piece for the Raptors. And if he can contribute immediately, all the better.
3. The Raptors have carved out additional flexibility
Drafting Wright also helps alleviate the need to bring in a backup point guard in the absence of Vasquez. A third guard will likely come, but I’m confident Wright can win the job outright as the season wears on.
In replacing Vasquez with Wright, Ujiri freed up more money to be allocated elsewhere. The strength of the team is already rooted in its backcourt of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. It’s time to find permanent (or even passable) solutions at the three and four.
And with Thursday’s moves, the Raptors could have $23 million to spend this summer.
The pie-in-the-sky scenario is to sign a maximum free agent. Paul Millsap, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love — they’re all within their price range. Signing one of them might be difficult, but it becomes a possibility. Hell, get in the Boogie sweepstakes.
But even without a superstar acquisition, the Raptors should still find plenty of value with $23 million. That’s more than enough to snag a DeMarre Carroll, Khris Middleton, Wes Matthews or Tobias Harris. There should even be enough leftover to solve the power forward spot. There’s also the mid-level exception if they want to grab a useful bench piece like Kostas Koufos, Mike Dunleavy or Jonas Jerebko.
Or, the cap space could be use to facilitate trades. My fantasy scenario of the Raptors acquiring Nicolas Batum are sadly gone, but there’s still enough room to swallow some salary. Derrick Favors could be on the block if the Jazz are seriously pursuing Millsap, while my boy Josh McRoberts could make for a decent interim fill-in for the frontcourt.
All due respect, but the Raptors trotted out an incredibly soft Terrence Ross and a physically broken Amir Johnson out there for an entire season. On most nights, they were sinkholes, passable at best. Grabbing an upgrade at either, or both, positions would be huge. Now they have the funds to address their glaring weaknesses.
Either way, the Raptors are in a flexible spot to add to their core. I know many fans have soured on the team and tonight shouldn’t sway anyone to change their mind, but the team made some smart decisions and are a little bit better off, both for the present and for the future. Good work for Masai and his staff.
