I love the NBA Draft to an unreasonable degree. When else can we realistically guarantee that 70+ players/assets will find new teams within the span of a few hours? Never. And likely, as a lover of a historically awful basketball team, the NBA Draft likely took on a larger role in my hopes/dreams than it should have.
Just look at Knicks fans. Their team is terrible and has a history of being just that. Yet they show up in droves to the NBA Draft just to be disappointed no matter what happens. It’s a tradition, and it’s wonderful.
And that’s what it’s been like to be a Raptors fan in some senses. The draft was the time of year that brought hope. Hope that something good and unexpected could happen to the Raptors. Hope that the tide could turn and Toronto could find some form of franchise salvation through a random 18-24 year old from somewhere in the world. Hope that things could one day be better.
It’s why the majority of Raptors fans bought into Bruno Caboclo so quickly (that and his smile), and why Jonas Valanciunas went from being a draft day mistake to the future of the franchise before he even left Europe.
It doesn’t always work that way, but we as fans try. As much as I hated them, I still tried to believe in Rafael Araujo and Andrea Bargnani. I still own some stock in Terrence Ross, despite the blunder of selecting him ahead of Andre Drummond (and I don’t even think that Drummond is as good as most seem to think he is).
As much as I love the draft though, it does seem to always disappoint. I spend months doing research on prospects (thanks, DraftExpress!), trying to understand their strengths and weaknesses, and narrowing down my list to the best possible picks for the Raptors…and it almost never works out the way I had hoped it would.
What made Thursday night all the more frustrating was that several of my desired players were passed over twice. How do you not select Deyonta Davis of Skal Labissiere at pick 27?? How?? What the…what just happened?? I could barely breath with excitement as our pick approached…and could barely breath afterward as my hopes were crushed in the shape of Pascal Siakam.
Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam, your newest Toronto Raptors.
So…there’s that.
And I’ll come to love them and hope the best for them. After all, they are Toronto Raptors. At worst I will come to dream for the day they are traded, but I’m probably a few years away from that at this point.
As I write this it’s barely been 24 hours and I’m already comfortable with Jakob Poeltl, which is remarkable progress for me. He has a low bust potential, good advanced stats, and if you only watch the DraftExpress strength video it’s easy to see Jakob Poeltl as the potential best player in the draft (avoid the weakness video…just pretend it doesn’t exist).
In truth, Poeltl is a fine pick. He can help add some depth at centre to help compensate for the inevitable loss of Biyombo through free agency. He’s a fine, albeit an unspectacular pick, but he’s just fine.
And I’m sure I’ll come around on Pascal. He put up 20.4 points and 11.8 rebounds, so that’s fun.
Despite my disappointment, I’m trying to keep perspective on the situation. I’m trying to rationalize what just happened, and I’ll get there.
So let’s all take a step back from the ledge and recite the mantra: “I will trust in Masai Ujiri.”
