Raptors Draft and Trade Talk with GM Bobby Webster | JD Bunkis Podcast

Raptors Draft and Trade Talk with GM Bobby Webster | JD Bunkis Podcast

we’re living in a new cap reality and so frankly it’s it’s hard to discern what exactly I I’m still not used to what exactly this is 35 million a year for obviously Emanuel quickley sure seems like a lot given that he was a bench player for the New York gcks a year ago it’s a pretty big bet on this player we did see flashes of it but yeah it’s a very heavy investment to be making in he and Scotty Barnes and looking to the future and saying hey this your your kind of core is is tied up now you’ve got I think it’s 25 this this is off the top of my head but I you’re in the 50 Millions for Barnes per season now that’s 35 million a year for Emanuel quickly and I want to say it’s 25 to 28 million for RJ Barrett so that’s your three that’s your primary three that you’re build on yes of course you know rookies and first round picks will come in and supplement that core but yeah you’ve got now a heavy Financial investment in three players that look to be yes the core of the new look Toronto Raptors joining me right now is their general manager Bobby Webster hey Bobby uh congrats on getting things done with Emanuel quickly we just uh saw things come down the wire from sham Sania reporting that he’s going to be done at uh a 5-year contract for1 175 million can I guess you confirm that that that’s finished uh I wish I could but um the timing of it the rules don’t allow for it but we can we can chat about the future and the core but yeah good good timing for the interview yeah I was like oh maybe this is why he bump back a couple minutes okay so you know it’s been a busy couple of days for you guys and you still do have uh some business that needs to get done here in the next 24 hours and the most pressing one now is is Bruce Brown and I I wonder If You Can Shed any light if anything has changed in the last you know what 12 hours since you you spoke as to the status of that player moving forward with the Raptors yeah know I just got into the office going to beet with Messi Darko here I think for us we knew when we when we took Bruce in the in the Indiana deal that you know this contract’s really interesting and so we’ve gotten a number of calls you know the course of this week and I’m sure we’ll get some calls today um on the contract and and you know we’ll make a decision here what’s in the best interest of of the organization um but you know from a from a value standpoint there’s some there’s some benefits to keeping him on the books and just having you know having him as a player but also as a a potential deal over the course of the the next few weeks here did did you guys like what were the trade talks with him like La last off season or sorry during during the season last year when you acquired him because I think a lot of people did think that there might be a pivot pretty quickly and he was a guy that a lot of us thought was going to be desired by a lot of contending teams yeah I think just just to be completely upfront like we’ve always liked Bruce as a player going back to his his college days and I think people saw obviously winning the championship in Denver um and some of the stuff he did in Brooklyn so um you know he fits with us as a sort of glue piece as a really high high level role player um he’s a veteran he’s won so those those are sort of the intangibles that we value um but at the same time it’s a business and this is the NBA and so we got to just kind of look at all the options so you guys did make a a pretty notable trade yesterday you grabbed Davon Mitchell again I I don’t know who your front office works for Baylor like I know it’s not uh the very top but all of a sudden you guys man you love Baylor so you go and you grab Davon Mitchell and he’s a former NBA lottery Pick and so whenever that ends up happening uh you get two things um one is how you think he actually fits with your roster now but also whether or not you think that there is a lot that can be unlocked with your organization that he didn’t show I think primarily offensively in Sacramento same thing with him we can’t we can’t talk about the deals but I I think we can just generally say um you know we we at the deadline and and part of you know as we go through this rebuild we want to have some flexibility to take on some contracts take on some money take on some draft picks and I think that’s sort of been our mindset which is can we pick up uh some players or we can pick up some assets over the course of the summer that we can take shots on and whether they’re uh you know players in the draft um getting extra picks in the draft or maybe um sort of what you’re suggesting is younger players uh that maybe you’re taking a second shot on and I think you know we’re always going to be open to that we feel like we have a program here that um has developed a lot of players over the over the course of our 11 years now whether they’re first round picks or second round picks are undrafted and so ultimately it’s on us not all of these type of players are going to hit their second time around um but I think having as many btes at the Apple as as we can is has been beneficial um you know just as a roster building strategy throughout the NBA so you know cap space has always been very valuable but now you’re seeing how penalizing the the second apron is especially on teams H have you found that this year in particular you’re noticing an even greater value on being able to weaponize cap space than years prior 100% And and you kind of know cap space it’s flexibility it’s uh in this yakum trade we um uh we generated a $10 million trade exception so just having those Avenues to take back uh some salaries um for those kind of following at home it’s just really punitive for the high spending teams to operate as what we say above the second apron um whether it’s paying the tax or just not being able to upgrade their rosters and so um as we kind of went through this rebuild and and figured out what’s the best path forward maintaining that flexibility for us has always been a high priority um so we can take advantage of these opportunities where some of the high spending teams are looking to shed you know potentially good players um or they’re looking to pay you know draft picks to get off some salary they don’t want so uh I want to move into some some draft thoughts first of all was there anyone that you drafted that you didn’t expect to be there because people love value people love a value pick Bobby 100% so first round pick Jobe Walter I think by all accounts you know he was in The Green Room early with the NBA which means he’s one of the top players um he actually didn’t come work out in Toronto which as you probably know is typically a sign that the player and agent feel like he may not get to you at 19 um so yeah you know he comes from a really high pedigree background uh high school All-American high school National Champion obviously went to a really winning program at Baylor as you mentioned uh so we feel lucky to get him I think he flew in last night we’re doing a press conference with him here in 10 minutes I’ll meet him uh so so really you know surprised a bit to to see him have us there at 19 and then Jonathan mobile is a bit different I know surprised to see him but someone we’ve kept our eye on for a while sort of feels a bit more uh rapt as a player uh kind of defensive minded big athletic Wing uh developing uh three-point shot we’ve had some success uh with with different players here developing and working on that um so yeah two real big talents I think from our standpoint adding to our young core quickly Barrett Scotty Barnes Grady uh now we need to kind of add more pieces around them and and hopefully they hit as well mobo definitely a Raptor’s pick with the wingspan I I guess Walter too right both guys are kind of wingspan freaks but uh it’s pretty notable that he is very close friends with Scotty Barnes and I am curious how much if any his influence played into you guys wanting to draft him you know I always say first and foremost he has to you know fit our basketball profile so kind of what you mentioned which is long athletic um sort of fits our mold uh so that has to hit first and then secondarily you know obv say a lot of these guys you know grow up you know knowing each other from grade school and a ball I think maybe their relationship is a bit more um you know personal and familiar as far as growing up from a younger age um but I remember when I first went to see Jonathan in in the West Coast Conference um I came back and I spoke to Scotty and I I didn’t realize how close they were um but yeah no it’s always about basketball first but it’s nice to obviously see someone I think we could all kind imagine if you get to work with a really good friend or or you know play basketball with him so that that should be to see and hopefully they have a good time as well so with jacobe um again you mentioned that you maybe didn’t expect him to be there I have two points of curiosity with him one is where you would have actually had him on your board you know I’m sure you rank these guys you have them all you know on your own list and and what his number actually was to you but then also this is a guy who comes in with again wingspan and shooting but what you think the next skill is going to be that he most needs to improve to impact your team at the highest level I think I I’ll start where you kind of ended so yeah the sort of three and D mold right off the bat right and so uh tough-minded um aggressive winning type of player um I think he’s probably shoots a better ball than maybe the percentage if you look at kind of the splits early in this season at Baylor he shot it really well um so I think we we’re from that and then yeah you know that’s why you Scout these kids since they’re in high school and you sort of see them in different roles in high school programs or or some of the summer stuff usab um so I think we know we feel like he has a bit more um you know shot creation off the dribble um but at the same time he’s coming into a program and he you know rookies you know do one or two things well I always say if you can just improve on one thing every offseason as a player uh you know in four or five years you’ll be a really good player so not not too many expectations from the standpoint if we want him to do a lot but yeah come in defend his position uh he’s long he can guard multiple positions and then make a shot so I this is a a smaller detail but you know he’s he’s a Texas kid and getting interviewed after he gets the after you guys make the selection and he’s being asked the stereotypical you know Toronto questions of like what do you know about Canada and his answers are what you would expect right he’s like I know that Drake is from Canada like nice uh and then there’s very little other knowledge and you know it’s it’s not this is a worldclass city obviously people who live here know that but when you’re a kid from Texas and you’re that young making this leap and having to go live in a new country obviously can be very difficult I’m curious how your organization helps gets kid accl kids like that acclimated to coming and living in a new country yeah it’s a great question even you know myself coming from the states a number of years ago and having kids here um so today you know we’ll do a bit of a welcome to Toronto um crash course his family’s in town um he’ll go back to probably Texas over the course of the weekend and then next week he’ll be back in Toronto for you know full week of training as he prefers for summer league we have as you can probably imagine an an entire uh Department here dedicated to the development of these players off the court life skills um finding a place to live sort of money management so it’s a you know huge part of existing as a professional athlete um but no today should be fun um I don’t know exactly what they had planned but they’ll do a tour of the city they stay downtown CN Tower you know probably uh everyone has a bit of fun with the new money and and that kind of stuff so um you know the next week will be a crash course I think when he comes back in the fall um if you think sort of as like school or college to look for a place to live and and go from there um okay last one uh I don’t know if you saw the report from Bob Myers that rich Paul was calling teams and telling them not to draft bronny uh saying that if the teams other than Lakers did that he would go to Australia did you get such a phone call you know that one is uh you know this world it’s a bit above my pay grade and those are the the power Brokers that be so that is your exact pay grade that’s who the guy they call we uh we observed from afar as a fan um I think it was a unique situation for the league and um you know I’ll leave that one there cuz yeah there were reports that you guys were quite fans of him and obviously he does have a very direct relationship with Messi uh you know we followed bronnie for a while I think as a as a prospect you know he’s he’s been on the circuit so we know him as a player um but yeah that that’s about it hey uh Bobby thanks again uh congrats on the draft and good luck with uh the rest of the offseason man I appreciate the time awesome man thanks for having me on take care Bobby Webster Raptors GM all right we’re out of time so you know what to do subscribe to the podcast leave five star hit me up on Twitter and Instagram at JD bunkers at anytime and we will see you on Monday three-hour show Monday Elliot Freeman in studio Jason Bula in studio Colby in studio ton of people that are going to be joining me I can’t wait for it tons of rumors um there will be emergency pods for leaf talk if anything massive ends up happening trade-wise over the weekend so please subscribe that podcast uh follow me there for any more details and we will see you then have a great weekend

Raptors General Manager Bobby Webster joins JD Bunkis to discuss the status of Bruce Brown, weaponizing salary cap space, the 19th pick Ja’Kobe Walter, and Bronny James.

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