DeMar DeRozan to join Kyle Lowry on USA Olympic squad | Raptors Republic
That excitement, and the rare opportunity for Lowry and DeRozan to get to represent their country on such a large stage, should outweigh any concerns about fatigue. It’s only a 15-day tournament, and while Lowry and DeRozan ranked seventh and 12th in regular season minutes and sixth and seventh in postseason minutes, it’s not as if they were going to take the entire summer off, anyway. (It may also suggest that Lowry’s elbow is just fine and that DeRozan didn’t have any insurance issues as a free agent, if that matters to you.) This is probably a really big deal to them, and it’s great that they’ll get the chance.
Kyle Lowry to play for USA in Olympics | Raptors Republic
Lowry, meanwhile, has never suited up for his country as a senior. The 30-year-old has definitely earned the right, though some fans may cringe at the thought of the player who ranked seventh in regular season minutes and sixth in postseason minutes playing into the summer. Those concerns are somewhat fair but probably overstated – Lowry’s going to play ball in the summer in some form or another, the tournament is only two weeks long and in the dead part of the offseason, and the chance to represent one’s country on that large a stage is so rare and special, he’s entirely justified wanting to do it.
(This also makes it pretty clear that the bursitis in his elbow is no longer a concern. He mentioned at the end of the season that a minor surgery was possible to clean things up, and I’ll try to confirm today if he’s had that surgery or if he just rehabbed/rested around it. In any case, his participation is a good sign on that front.)
Person of Interest: the 411 on Raptors’ No.9 pick Jakob Poeltl | Sportsnet.ca
At Utah he became the focal point of their offense and made considerable strides, upping his scoring average from 9.2 points per game as a freshman to 17.2 points per game in his sophomore year this past season.
It didn’t go unrecognized. Poeltl won the NCAA’s Kareem Abdul Jabaar Award, which goes to the best centre in college basketball, as well as the Pete Newell Award as the top big man. He was a 2nd-team All-American, PAC-12 Player of the Year, and a semi-finalst for the Naismith trophy awarded to the NCAA’s top player.
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Raptors draft not one fans hoped for, but not one they’ll regret | Sportsnet.ca
You can’t force a team to trade with you, but even the idea that Ibaka was available and the Raptors didn’t get him to fill in the gaping hole they have at power forward couldn’t help but feel like a missed opportunity, whether it was realistic or not.
Instead with the pick that they acquired from the New York Knick for Andrea Bargnani – the No. 1 overall pick a decade ago – the Raptors took the 7-foot, 250-pounder out of Utah.
Poeltl is an example of how the game and its priorities have changed. There was a time that a 20-year-old seven-footer with great hands and high IQ would have been a good bet to go in the top five, if not higher.
But with the NBA going smaller and emphasizing outside shooting and the ability to guard on the perimeter Poeltl slid to the Raptors at the ninth spot.
Statistically he glitters as he averaged 17 points, nine rebounds, two assists and 1.6 blocks a game while shooting 67 per cent from the floor. His PER (player efficiency rating) of 31.5 was the highest of any players taken in the first round.
Raptors take Austrian centre Poeltl at No. 9 in NBA draft | Toronto Sun
“He’s fundamentally sound, physically NBA-ready body but just like most young kids he’s going to have to get used to the NBA game and the speed and quickness,” Casey said. “But we really feel like it will translate to the NBA game.”
Casey is hopeful the Austrian’s advanced foot speed for a big man may even allow him to play at the four in the future.
“(Raptors senior adviser) Wayne (Embry) just mentioned right before I walked in here that he could see the young man playing the four,” Casey said. “That is one great thing about summer league. There will be a point where we can see (about) that, but we do have a hole at the four position and his foot speed is really impressive as far as moving so that is something we will explore.”
With four youngsters still developing within the system, it was thought the Raptors would make every effort to deal the pick for a more established player and by all accounts they did. They just couldn’t find any takers.
“They did a lot of looking around, a lot of talking as far as the pick was concerned but nothing developed,” Casey said. “Luckily the guy that we wanted was there. I know the guys did a lot of work scouting this guy.”
That’s not to suggest that Poeltl was a unanimous pick within GM Masai Ujiri’s team of scouts and front-office people.
“There were differences in the room and that’s what you want, but the overriding consensus was this young man,” Casey said of Poeltl.
“But you want different opinions. You usually come to the truth when you have different opinions.”
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Toronto Raptors select Austrian big man Jakob Poeltl in NBA draft | The Globe and Mail
“He rim runs every time down the floor,” Casey said. “Not every other time. He’s a good, persistent runner, and that’s what you want from your bigs. He’s a good passer out of the post in high-low situations, and that will translate in him being able to play on the floor with JV some if we see that this summer.”
Poeltl began playing basketball as a six-year-old in Austria, and although both of his parents played for Austria’s national volleyball teams, he never played that sport.
He said not only is he excited to join his friend Wright, but he’s also intrigued to work with fellow European big man – Valanciunas.
“I hope I can really learn a lot from him,” Poeltl said. “I guess I can learn a lot from the way he improved as a player, like the path he had. I think I can take on a really similar path by learning from him, playing against him every day in practice.”
The Raptors acquired the No. 9 pick back in 2013 as part of the package they received from the New York Knicks in exchange for Andrea Bargnani. The Raptors are in a good place after playing to a team-record 56 regular season wins, an Atlantic Division championship and a berth in the Eastern Conference final.
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Jakob Poeltl – Raptors pick at #9? | Raptors Rapture
There’s another aspect of Poeltl which makes him appealing, that being his tradeability. (You’re probably thinking “Brian, we haven’t even drafted the guy, and you’re already thinking about moving him?”) Yeah, well, here it is – players are commodities to an NBA General Manager. A young, NBA-ready big man like Jakob is instantly marketable as opposed to a project player like our Bruno Caboclo. Jakob may well be viewed as the legendary Best Player Available, which would be a fig leaf for Masai should he decide to draft, then trade.
What if Sacramento has grown weary of Cousins’ petulance and wants him gone? If they dump him for a boatload of draftees like Boston or Philly has, the Kings need to backfill at centre. Maybe Jakob goes to California’s capital, and we get their anticipated #8 draft pick, none other than Jaylen Brown, the guy I really want?
What I’m saying is that once the draft is over, some teams with new players will suffer buyers’ remorse. After tonight, the Raptors will no longer have the #9 pick, but flesh and blood like Jakob. Other teams are likely to come sniffing around. Let the deal-making begin.
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Toronto Raptors 2016 draft recap and analysis | Raptors Cage
Poeltl is a solid, if un-sexy, pick. It fills a clear need with a guy who can likely contribute somewhat meaningfully next season. At the very least, having Poeltl challenging Bebe Nogueira for the back-up centre job should push both players closer to their potentials, should they both remain on the roster at the start of the season.
Ujiri continued the trend of making un-sexy picks when he selected Cameroonian PF Pascal Siakam 27th overall for the Raptors second pick of the night.
The pick likely generated some confused looks from Raptors fans, but it’s not as shocking as past Ujiri pick Bruno Coboclo. Siakam, a senior who played at New Mexico State, was expected to go only slightly later in the draft. Even with high-potential freshman like Deyonta Davis and Skal Labissiere still on the board, Ujiri likely wanted to choose a player that wouldn’t be too much of a project. Siakam will likely see a lot of time in the D-league (possibly even a full year D-league stash) but Ujiri knows he’s getting a bruising power forward with a field goal percentage over 60.
According to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, Siakam is best described as a “Tristan Thompson-lite.”
Person of Interest: Raptors’ No. 27 pick Pascal Siakam | Sportsnet.ca
Did the Raptors really go that off the board?
In short, yes.According to DraftExpress.com, Siakam was the 52nd best prospect out of the top-100 2016 prospects and in mock drafts was expected to be picked in the early-to-mid stages of the second round. The Raptors, on the other hand, ended up taking him in the first.
Granted, it was very late in the first round, but that’s about 15 picks higher than he was projected to go.
Compound this with the fact projected lottery picks Deyonta Davis, Skal Labissiere and Dejounte Murray were all still on the board and you have a recipe for a classic reach.
The Raptors may not have had a second-round pick, but that doesn’t mean they should’ve went out and got a second-round prospect.
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The Toronto Raptors Are Using IBM’s Watson to Draft A Winning Team | Motherboard
Watson doesn’t answer questions of who the best trade pick would be—rather it compares them on different dimensions,” explained Jon Lenchner, the scientist who led the IBM Sports Insights Central project.
For example, if the Raptors were measuring college basketball prospects, Watson could quickly crunch the numbers and display a comparison of their stats on shooting, assists, and rebounds. Compare that to drafts of past years, in which the Raptors would use whiteboards with player stats printed on magnets, and call up statisticians each time they wanted new information, recalled Lenchner, who visited the Raptors’ headquarters while IBM was developing the software. In the days before Watson, the whole process was much more laborious and time consuming.
“They realized they could do a lot better,” said Lenchner, who recently moved to Nairobi as the Chief Scientist of IBM Research Africa.
Even before Watson came along, the Raptors were tech-savvy. They have access to one of the NBA’s leading analytics teams, and have developed a wide range of tools, including a way to use data from the SportVU camera tracking system to model the best moves a player could make.
Still, they’re not looking to speak publicly about their work ahead of the draft, and you can’t blame them—there’s a lot at stake. The Raptors’ analytics team declined Motherboard’s request for an interview. The team actually hasn’t spoken publicly about using Watson since the initial launch, when general manager Masai Ujiri joked: “When the trades start going the other way I’m going to blame IBM.”
