Draft day is already here! The Raptors currently possess the 59th pick in the second round, which is at least better than the zero that they had last year. It is a sudden turnaround considering that the crowd from the championship parade only just dissipated this morning.
A lot of the focus of Raptors Republic coverage has been on the magical playoff run than on the upcoming draft for obvious reasons. The fact that Toronto does not possess a first-round pick also quells excitement. However, I touched on their position heading into the draft and the players worked out here.
As there are so many players to sift through (especially in the late second round) I have aggregated player rankings from six different sites that focus on collegiate basketball to provide a little more detail. Following in the footsteps of our editor emeritus, the list includes the highest and lowest pick each player was chosen at and their average pick spot. These are specifically rankings and not predictions of what and where teams will select players, although I did cut each list down to 60 for my own sanity.
* indicates that they worked out with Toronto
| Hi | Lo | Average | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zion Williamson | Duke | PF | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Ja Morant | Murray St. | PG | 2 | 3 | 2.1 |
| RJ Barrett | Duke | SF | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Jarrett Culver | Texas Tech | SG | 3 | 7 | 4.8 |
| Darius Garland | Vanderbilt | PG | 4 | 10 | 6 |
| DeAndre Hunter | Virginia | SF | 4 | 11 | 6.3 |
| Cam Reddish | Duke | SG | 5 | 10 | 7.6 |
| Coby White | North Carolina | PG | 5 | 15 | 8 |
| Sekou Doumbouya | France | PF | 6 | 10 | 8.6 |
| Jaxson Hayes | Texas | C | 9 | 16 | 11.3 |
| Nassir Little | North Carolina | SF | 9 | 14 | 11.6 |
| Goga Bitadze | Georgia | C | 7 | 21 | 13.3 |
| Brandon Clarke | Gonzaga | PF | 8 | 23 | 14.5 |
| Rui Hachimura | Gonzaga | PF | 11 | 25 | 15.6 |
| PJ Washington | Kentucky | PF | 13 | 19 | 15.8 |
| Romeo Langford | Indiana | SG | 13 | 22 | 16.1 |
| Nickeil Alexander-Walker | Virginia Tech | SG | 14 | 21 | 18.5 |
| Tyler Herro | Kentucky | SG | 15 | 35 | 20 |
| Kevin Porter | USC | SF | 13 | 26 | 20.6 |
| Keldon Johnson | Kentucky | SG | 14 | 36 | 21 |
| Bol Bol | Oregon | C | 14 | 32 | 21.8 |
| Nicolas Claxton | Georgia | PF | 17 | 34 | 23.5 |
| Grant Williams | Tennessee | PF | 9 | 39 | 25 |
| Ty Jerome | Virginia | PG | 24 | 31 | 26.1 |
| Cameron Johnson | North Carolina | SF | 19 | 38 | 26.5 |
| Mfiondu Kabengele | Florida St. | PF | 23 | 37 | 27.1 |
| Matisse Thybulle | Washington | SG | 19 | 34 | 27.1 |
| Luka Samanic | Croatia | PF | 23 | 35 | 28.8 |
| Bruno Fernando | Maryland | C | 19 | 42 | 30.8 |
| KZ Okpala | Stanford | SG | 24 | 44 | 31.1 |
| Luguentz Dort | Arizona St. | SG | 17 | 51 | 32 |
| Carsen Edwards | Purdue | PG | 28 | 43 | 32.5 |
| Chuma Okeke | Auburn | SF | 27 | 39 | 32.6 |
| Terence Davis | Mississippi | PG | 33 | 54 | 33 |
| Dyland Windler | Belmont | SG | 26 | 38 | 33.1 |
| Darius Bazley | USA | SF | 23 | 46 | 33.5 |
| Jontay Porter | Missouri | PF | 35 | 56 | 35 |
| Eric Paschail | Villanova | PF | 22 | 46 | 35.6 |
| Talen Horton-Tucker | Iowa St. | SG | 27 | 60 | 37.8 |
| Louis King | Oregon | SF | 31 | 50 | 40.1 |
| Daniel Gafford | Arkansas | PF | 33 | 46 | 40.3 |
| Ky Bowman* | Boston College | PG | 41 | Unr | 41 |
| Admiral Schofield | Tennessee | SF | 37 | Unr | 41 |
| Jalen McDaniels | San Diego St. | SF | 18 | Unr | 41.4 |
| Isaiah Roby | Nebraska | PF | 39 | 47 | 41.8 |
| DaQuan Jeffries* | Tulsa | SF | 29 | 54 | 43 |
| Deividas Sirvydis | Lithuania | SF | 41 | Unr | 44.4 |
| Naz Reid | LSU | C | 37 | 52 | 45 |
| Zylan Cheatham | Arizona St. | PG | 24 | Unr | 45 |
| Zach Norvell Jr. | Gonzaga | SG | 37 | Unr | 45.25 |
| Jalen Lecque | NC State | PG | 36 | 60 | 47.8 |
| Shamorie Ponds | St. John's | PG | 46 | Unr | 48.8 |
| Adam Mokoka | France | SG | 49 | Unr | 49 |
| Jaylen Nowell | Washington | PG | 49 | Unr | 49 |
| Terance Mann | Florida St. | SG | 38 | Unr | 49.6 |
| Jordan Bone | Tennessee | PG | 44 | Unr | 50 |
| John Konchar* | Purdue Fort Wayne | SG | 48 | Unr | 50 |
| Quinndary Weatherspoon* | Mississippi St. | SG | 46 | Unr | 51.5 |
| Cody Martin | Nevada | SG | 49 | Unr | 51.5 |
| Tremont Waters | LSU | PG | 48 | Unr | 52.2 |
| Justin Wright-Foreman* | Hofstra | PG | 45 | Unr | 53 |
| Joshua Obiesie | Germany | PG | 53 | Unr | 53 |
| Ignas Brazdeikis | Michigan | PF | 49 | Unr | 53.3 |
| Miye Oni | Yale | SG | 52 | Unr | 53.4 |
| Oshae Brissett* | Syracuse | SF | 54 | Unr | 54 |
| Jaylen Hoard | Wake Forest | SF | 52 | Unr | 54.2 |
| Jaylen Hands | UCLA | PG | 55 | Unr | 55 |
| Yovel Zoosman | Israerl | SF | 53 | Unr | 55 |
| Justin Robinson | Virginia Tech | PG | 55 | Unr | 55 |
| Jordan Poole | Michigan | SG | 51 | Unr | 55.2 |
| Charles Matthews | Michigan | SF | 56 | Unr | 56 |
| Kyle Guy* | Virginia | SG | 47 | Unr | 57 |
| Tacko Fall | Central Florida | C | 57 | Unr | 57 |
| Marcos Louzada Silva | Brazil | SG | 55 | Unr | 57 |
| Alen Smailagic | Serbia | PF | 58 | Unr | 58 |
| Jarrey Foster | Wake Forest | SG | 58 | Unr | 58 |
| Kris Wilkes | UCLA | SF | 59 | Unr | 59 |
| Brian Bowen | USA | SF | 59 | Unr | 59 |
| Jared Harper* | Auburn | PF | 60 | Unr | 60 |
| Sagaba Konate | West Virginia | C | 60 | Unr | 60 |
A fun side story viewers should be looking at is the potentially record-breaking number of Canadians that may be selected tonight. Currently, the most Canadians selected in a draft was four in 2014 and the most for a non-American country ever was France with five selections in 2016. There are seven Canadians on the above rankings list, three of which — R.J. Barrett, Brandon Clarke, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker — are surefire first round picks. Meanwhile, Mifiondu Kabengele, Luguentz Dort, Oshae Brissett, and Ignas Brazdeikis also made it onto the bubble. Another potential name that has a long-shot of being called is Vanderbilt freshman Simi Shittu. Fingers crossed Canada makes more basketball history!
A live thread will be posted shortly that will cover all the news and rumors throughout the day.
