REPORT: Toronto Raptors could be a Kevin Durant suitor | Why it makes ZERO sense for the Raps

REPORT: Toronto Raptors could be a Kevin Durant suitor | Why it makes ZERO sense for the Raps

on your Monday episode of Locked On Raptors if the Toronto Raptors are in fact interested in Kevin Durant I kindly ask that they stop it [Music] please you are Locked On Raptors your daily Toronto Raptors podcast part of the Locked On Network your team every day hey what’s going on and welcome to another episode of Locked On Raptors part of the Lockdown Podcast Network your team every day it is Monday June the 9th and I’m your host Sean Woodley i’ve been covering the Toronto Raptors now for 11 seasons on various platforms you can find all my work over on Blue Sky you can find the show on Instagram you can join us as always in the lockedown Raptors Discord server link in the description of the podcast 100% free to join to be part of our listener community that definitely agrees on things all the time today’s show it’s brought to you by our friends over at Monarch Money take your control take control of your finances with Monarch Money use code lockedmbba at monarchoney.com for 50% off your first year and please don’t uh make fun of me for the way I just said finances i’m not uh a hoy toy British man i’m not i promise all right on today’s show we are going to talk a little about the latest reporting from Jake Fischer over the weekend regarding the Toronto Raptors in one Kevin Durant yeah uh not so much interested in this one we’ll get into that plus we’re going to talk about some draft prospects and what their fit would be with the Toronto Raptors as rookies how would they fit into the plans right away would they play a bunch would they have a role would they be in the GLeague we’ll get into all that on you know about five or six different guys who could be in the mix for the Toronto Raptors at number nine uh let’s start with the Kevin Durant stuff over the weekend jake Fischer who uh has also been reporting that you know things with Giannis might be reaching a not that there’s a a decision to be made one way or another just yet that’s not what he’s reporting but sounds as though teams are preparing for the eventuality that Giannis is going to stay in Milwaukee which hey like we’ve talked about it on this podcast whenever we’ve decided to break our we don’t talk about Giannis rule on the show uh you know we usually have to caveat the whole idea of the Raptors getting Giannis with a million different things if it’s ever going to happen a Giannis has to expressly tell the Bucks I want out and sever a decade plus long relationship where he’s been nothing but loyal all these other teams that might be in the mix will also have to get cold feet and say “Hey we’re gonna hold our powder and you know keep it for something else maybe the fit’s not right maybe we don’t want to give up a certain young player etc etc.” And that would put the Raptors in position to have a better offer on the table than they would comparatively if every team is throwing out their best offers because if it’s a full-scale bidding war the Toronto Raptors ain’t winning it period but if Giannis just does the thing and stays then that takes it off the board for everybody and honestly look as much as I would love to see Giannis play for the Toronto Raptor as much as I’m sure Mai Jerryi would love to see Giannis play for the Toronto Raptors uh there will be some sort of relief I think that comes about if and when he just decides he’s staying put he’s going to hang on the Bucks in the Eastern Conference and just by power of being Giannis on his own might drag them to a bunch of wins anyway in a not very good conference like I could see the argument fully for Giannis wanting to just stick around not force his way some situation where he’s less comfortable and I know why the Bucks would want to keep Giannis it’s because he’s awesome and they are doomed no matter what so might as well be doomed with your franchise icon as opposed to like Jaylen Green and some picks so anyway with that Jake Fischer dropped a few nuggets in his piece I think Friday talking about uh you know sort of where the Raptors might turn next and the thought is Kevin Durant perhaps the quote directly from Jake Fischer’s piece in the Markstein newsletter as quote “But Toronto has likewise been painted by numerous NBA figures as a potential trade suitor for Durant particularly if untent doesn’t reach the open market the Raptors furthermore would figure to have a more realistic shot of assembling a competitive trade offer for Durant compared to the mammoth offers that the Bucks would inevitably be inevitably seek for unten services.” Uh he goes on to say the there’s a strong sense in some corners of the league that Toronto’s front office is under some tangible pressure to take a significant leap forward in competitive competitiveness in the far less imposing Eastern Conference even after they just made a mid-season splash to acquire Brandon Ingram from New Orleans and so there’s that uh also mentions RJ Barrett’s $27 million contract becoming front and center and threw out the possibility of hey if you if you pair together Barrett with Yaka Purle’s $20 million or so you get very close to the money that need that is needed to match to get Kevin Durant on the Toronto Raptors in a straightup trade with two with the two teams um this one look Jake Fischer is one of the more plugged in guys in the NBA he’s one of like four insiders who he says something I listen uh I don’t care about all of your random engagement farming Twitter accounts that say “Oh sources are telling me this thing i don’t buy it i buy stuff from Shams and Mark Stein and Jake Fischer uh Chris Haynes if he’s talking to Damen Lillard um and you know Brian Windhorst and you know the the very plugged in beat reporters around the league who know what they’re talking about with specific teams.” That’s the extent to which I give any credence to online rumor mongering and so when Jake Fischer says something I buy it right like I I don’t think someone told him I don’t think he’s making up that someone around the league is intimated the Raptors might be a KD team doesn’t quite pass the smell test for me as far as like something I think has a lot of legs to it or a lot of smoke i definitely again believe numerous NBA figures would paint Toronto as a potential KD suitor because the Raptors throw themselves into all these moves right so I could totally see you know Jake Fischer asking random uh executive person “Hey what do you think about KD who might be after him?” I don’t know Toronto they’re after everyone like I could see that being the nature of a conversation maybe there’s more substantive like sort of stuff behind it totally could be possible but there’s a reason why I don’t really have this one passing the smell test to me all that much and it’s that just like it’s so hard to make a trade that makes any sense and the RJ Barrett plus Yaka Purle for KD trade i just don’t think that makes a lick of sense for the Toronto Raptors a team that right now is rumored to be looking at adding a young big man in the draft because they want more center depth behind the one guy they have it’s proven to be a pretty important position i don’t know if you’ve watched the NBA playoffs but like having multiple large people who can play different positions and you can use different iterations of your bigs with different combinations of players like pretty valuable thing to have and I just cannot see the Raptors making this much of an all-in move a win now move to end all win now moves trading for a 37y old Kevin Durant with one year left on his contract i cannot see them doing that and sort of putting themselves in a pretty tight bind financially with Quickley Ingram Barnes and KD earning like all of the money across those four guys so you’re hamstrung on trying to find ways to fill in that last starting position at the five i don’t think Jonathan Mo is your starting center if you’re trying to be serious next year with Kevin Durant on your team and so I just don’t see what that does to make them a better team in the Eastern Conference next season i think it look I’m torn a little bit because I would love to watch Kevin Durant play for the Toronto Raptors i love Kevin Durant i think he’s very cool i think he you know obviously he’s got his detractors i think watching him play basketball watching the way he appreciates others who play basketball well uh he’s like the most illustrious poster we’ve ever seen uh when it comes to just like the most online players of all time he’s right up there uh in kind of an endearing way i would love to see Kevin Durant play in Toronto but they just traded for Brandon Ingram who a lot of people liken to like a younger 15% less good version of Kevin Durant who again is 37 years old and is on the last year of his contract and look to go to Jake Fischer’s point about there being pressure on the front office i get it like we’ve seen Raptors front offices under duress make moves before the of course Kawhi Leonard trade was after many years of playoff failures and needing to get over the hump of LeBron James in the Eastern Conference and the Kawawaii deal was this you know stroke of well like we got to do something let’s go do this thing even if there’s some risk baked in baked in I think it’s a way less risky trade than people paint it to be because like they were probably headed for a rebuild in a year anyway with the way their contracts were set up and the way the books were going um it was kind of a hey we got a one shot here with Kawaii and if it doesn’t work then we know this is all kind of going another I think you know you can go further back right like you have the Rudy Gay trade the first Rudy Gay trade was like a clear desperation move by Brian Kangelo to try to save his job and it didn’t work out very hot there’s always that sort of danger zone when you have a front office that’s under duress that’s trying to keep its job that they might make some crazy kind of shortsighted not super thoughtout move and like that would check the box for me like that passes the smell test that they’d be looking around at something bold like this but I just don’t see how the team is particularly good when you have Quickly plus Ingram and Durant who are basically you know very similar types of players is your whole offense going to be these two dudes walking into 18 foot mid-rangers and dueling ISOs i don’t think so like that doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me you don’t have a center like it’s just a mess and so no I don’t see this happening and if there were another way to make it work like if you could just do RJ Barrett plus a pick for Kevin Durant 100% i’m fully into that that sounds awesome put Kevin Durant on the team have him assume his sort of late career super satisfying arc that these star players sometimes go through um you know where Kevin Durant just kind of assimilates into a team picks up a role maybe he’s a second or third option and you’re super happy about that like the best third option you’ve ever seen and he’s very comfortable with it he’s just playing wanting to be on a good team like I that would be a wonderful way for this to go that would be delightful but the ha when you have to include yaka purle to do it does that doesn’t make any sense to me or you could do oh it’s R.J plus Emanuel quickly first of all I think that’s too much money and so the Suns in the second apron wouldn’t be able to make that work they might be out of the second apron now they’re into the summer with fewer players under contract but still they’d be taking back more money in that deal and what are you going to go in with no point guard is Kevin Durant your point guard is Brandon Ingram your point guard we know Scotty Barnes isn’t a point guard this rumor has kind of broken my brain a little bit because if this does happen I think we’re way beyond the pale i think we’ve jumped the shark with the front office and I just don’t see a way back i don’t think it’s going to happen i think it seems too rash and too nonsensical in terms of like an onc court basketball fit and roster building sense for it to happen but I suppose if you think Messiah Jiri with one year left on his deal with the Rogers takeover taking place with Brendan Shanahan the president of the Maple Leafs getting relieved and then not replaced maybe you think this is where the things are headed and Messiah thinks he has to make a really big swing here and if Giannis isn’t available does he get desperate and do this i I still think he and Bobby Webster and everyone else have too much like basketball sense to do something like this but they could totally prove me wrong and if they do that then man oh man do the last few years start to look even worse in hindsight um I don’t think it’s going to happen i I I I’m open to being surprised by anything because the NBA seems to have like completely lost its marbles over the last six months to a year it could totally go down i just don’t see it and I just don’t think they’re going to do the we don’t have a center thing going into the year what are you gonna draft a rookie at nine and have him be your starting center when you’re trying to win with Kevin Durant on the last year of his deal too like just all this stuff as soon as you start to dissect it a little bit makes no sense the only way it would work is if it’s RJ Barrett plus a pick for Durant but you can’t do that financially and so I just think this is not going to go down it’s why it doesn’t quite pass the smell test so I’m sure they’re making calls like you make calls when guys are available the Raptors we know make calls when guys are available sincerely hope they avoid the desperation trade in this instance because I just think it leaves the roster in a really rough kind of way with an expiring Kevin Durant and no real vision for how this team is partic I mean maybe it’s good I don’t know is like a quickly Ingram Durant Barnes with a rookie center team like maybe kind of I maybe I’m underrating it I don’t know this one’s hurt my brain I thought about it all weekend long and I still don’t really have things sorted out but first blush is they don’t have a center Like you got to have bigs man it’s just it’s just like a part of the deal we learned this during the Vision 69 era if you don’t have bigs you’re kind of screwed the the league is trended in a way where you got to have good big man play and I I think they’d be going down look it’d be a more like potent version of the division 69 team probably um to have Ingram Durant Barnes is your 2 three four like in theory like just on pure basketball sense alone those three guys like you could squint and it could make it work like Durant I know I joked about the ISO mid-rangers but like he has long been like the easiest to fit around star in basketball very happy to kind of assume whatever role because he shoots so well anyone can play with him but I still just think the the rest of the roster just makes so little sense that really hard for me to see this one getting over the finish line but open to be being proven wrong cuz I also thought the KD the Brandon Ingram trade made no sense and I talked myself into that very quickly and I think it makes sense now um with sort of what they’re hoping to do here and I think it’s totally fine if they just do nothing and go into the year with the team they have now I think that’s fine there’s nothing wrong with that see what you have you have a lot of good players you do the build build build from the middle thing collect a bunch of good players see what you got and then turn those good players into better players when you can to throw it all away now for Kevin Durant in a deal that would require fire at least two of your rotation guys two of your starters i just think that is uh like a big shiny toy that leaves you really really in rough shape on the back end but what do I know we’ll come back on the other side we’re going to talk about some draft guys and where they would fit into the team let’s just assume they don’t make any big loud silly trades and they just go in with the team they have now we will get into what that would look like and where the rookies might fit depending on what who those rookies are we’ll do that coming up in just one sec today’s show is brought to you by our friends over at Monarch Money and you ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go i do that all the time because I’m a spender baby i like to spend money on stuff i had to buy a fridge over the weekend it just goes away online shopping entertainment it’s all there it’s easy to lose track of where you’re spending your money and why it’s going out of your account and that’s where Monarch Money comes in it’s your personal CFO it gives you full visibility and control over your finances monarch Money is not just a budgeting app it’s a complete financial command center you can track all your accounts investments and spending in one place so you stop just managing your money and start building wealth you’ve got the all-in-one convenience you can juggle just on one page instead of multiple apps and loginins and facial recognition and two factor you just have the one place it’s all there for you you can keep track of all your different accounts maybe you have a shared account with your spouse and you have your own personal account for your work or whatever it might be it’s all there for you take control of your finances with Monarch Money use the code lockin NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year that’s monarchmoney.com code lockin NBA for half off your first year back at it here ran long in that first segment uh cuz I don’t know lost my marbles a little bit uh but let’s uh talk about some draft fits and where guys the Raptors could take would slot into the team’s plans as of next season again let’s just assume they don’t make any of these trades i’m so tired of the subtrauge and the rumors i’m all right if they just look again would love Giannis if it’s not Giannis I’m perfectly contented for plan B to B let’s see what this team is in a bad conference with you know a reasonable number of talented players some imperfect stuff some needs obviously still but let’s see what they got and then pivot from there and make evaluations as you go this is the path they’ve chosen stay on it um look no one the Raptors draft this year is starting out of the gate i think that’s pretty clear i think this team has a built-in pretty entrenched starting five and even if RJ Barrett gets moved you’ve got three guys who are probably going to be in front of whoever they draft to slot into that fifth spot um with Grady Dick Jacobe Walter and Oiabaji and this assumes that they draft a guard wing type who might slot into the starting five even theoretically of course they might not go that way at all but either way the starting five feels pretty set in stone or at most four four-fifths of it are set in stone in the last spot is one of four guys probably um from there you know obviously different positions come with different levels of readiness and different player types need longer to sort of get their feet wet and go through the reps and take their lumps and stuff like that let’s start with the guy I think who would kind of slot in most immediately to a role with the Raptors and it’s the guy who I got in the locked on NBA mock draft which should be dropping very soon on on locked on NBA channels um it’s also a guy who I think is a bit of a polarizing choice among Raptors fans i think there are some who look at him and say “Hey like perfect long-term you know succession plan at a position of need and some size and like big man skill and all that stuff.” And then there’s some who go “Really you’re going to take another big man when this team needs like creation and ball handling and stuff?” The guy has come on Malawash of course the Duke big man 71 77 wingspan we’ve gone through it he’s been my favorite guy throughout this process you know him and Jeremiah Fears basically the two guys I hope they’re are there at nine if it’s Fears I’d probably go him because I think the upside with the creation stuff is very very very real and Malawash is probably my number two i don’t think Fears is going to be there at nine so Malawash is my number one and look I I think day one he’s like a 15 to 20 minute a night backup we know Yakob Purle in an ideal world is probably playing like 28 minutes a game so there’s 20 minutes of backup center play right there for Kaman Malawash to step into i think we’ve seen you want to survive the regular season you want to have you know multiplicitus looks and different lineups you can go to having multiple good talented big men with different skills is a huge deal malawatch look it’s not a total sort of swerve from the style of play Yaka Purle is they’re both right now guys who are going to operate from the two-point range and in like around the rim type of stuff on offense um you know we’ll see with Malaw watching the shooting the free throw touch is great it seems like he works on it all the time he’s newer to basketball there’s a pathway here for him to you know have a ton of work in the gym and over many years you turn him into a shooter i don’t think that’s going to be a thing right away would be awesome if it was if he comes out and he’s like hitting a three a game next year buddy look out i’ll be thrilled and hey they had Jonathan Mobo taking like two three threes a game this year so I don’t think they’re going to be shy about letting him let it rip when he’s on the floor but come on Malawatch we’ll provide sort of baseline backup center stuff right away rim protection sort of defensive insulation to a second unit that could probably use it especially if Grady Dick is going to be involved um you know that’s a big deal i think he’s someone who is like a really great role gravity threat someone who’s going to help the Raptors guards be more effective whether he’s running pick and roll with Emanuel Quickley in bench units or he’s running pick and roll with Jamal Shed or Jacobe Walter other guys you’re giving reps to to get some work in i think Kaman Malawash is going to make their lives easier because he’s enormous and he dunks everything he catches and he catches everything basically at the rim because he’s extremely large and very long and has arms to go for days um I think that would be a really great way to use him out of the gate i I think your second unit becomes just like rock solid excellent if you’re trying to survive 82 games I think Malawatch offers you a spot starter in the case that Yaka Purle misses 20 games which he’s happened to do over the last couple years in certain spots last year more rest than anything else but you miss Purle big time when he’s not out there because they don’t have a like a like forlike replacement for him stylistically or you know just like sizewise to throw in there and as much as I’m high on Jonathan Mobo having some small ball big man juice like come on Malawash has big man big man juice big ball big man juice and so I I’m a little more into the idea of Malawatch being the day one backup and then Moobo is a sort of change of pace look that’s totally fine too um yeah I I think he would be look it avoids having to like look you go find a backup center through other avenues via trade or using your MLE if you have access to it at all um he’s just a guy he’s on a cheap contract he’s your backup center you have really sound good 48 minutes of center play for what like 26 million bucks for the next couple years and then who knows what happens with Purle’s next contract and if Purle’s gone in a couple years then boom you have your ready-made long-term succession plan there i think this is a longer term play that also has short-term benefits if you take him on Malawash so that to me like he’s very clearly the guy who has like a no doubt surefire role from day one more than anybody else on this team because of how the roster is set up and look big men tend to just like you know we’ve seen it with Derrick Lively we saw with Donovan Klingan and Zack 80 last year like they can come in as young players and make an impact because size matters in the NBA being big in the sport where being big is an advantage it turns out it’s good uh and so I I think Malawatch you know it’ll be a process for sure he’s going to have to work on the playmaking the processing the short roll stuff the passing the connective play all of that’s going to you know be a work in progress as will the presumed long-term project of turning him into a shooter and boy oh boy if he ever turns into a shooter he becomes one of the single most valuable types of players in all of basketball that every team is looking for and no one can find because once teams get those guys they never let them go um again I think the upside with Malawatch gets way slept on because he’s not your classic oh he’s going to score a bunch of points and be your offensive engine guy no but he might do a whole lot of other really extremely valuable stuff for you and there’s stuff that he doesn’t do yet that if he ever taps into it then man oh man he becomes like one of the most impactful players in the game and so yeah Malawatch day one fit i think he pretty comfortably slides into the lineup and is playing 15 to 20 minutes a game from Jump Street cedric Coward and Carter Bryant i’ve kind of lumped these two wings in with one another in this sort of conversation i think you know the Raptors are pretty loaded when it comes to like two through four um you know Scotty Barnes obviously eats a lot of minutes at the four brandon Ingram is going to eat a lot of minutes at the wing spots and RJ Barahas there you have Walter and AI and Dick who all need minutes it might not be an obvious path to minutes right away for a wing if you draft them if you draft Cedric Coward I think he maybe is in there a little bit quicker than Carter Bryant just because he’s got you know a little bit more i mean he’s older he’s going to be 22 by the time the season starts and I think his skill set of defense and threes and um sort of connective passing that’ll fit in right away and you can always use more shooting and so like I could totally see Cedric Coward kind of being a rotation player maybe not immediately but sort of by mid-season if they trade RJ Barrett either before the year starts or mid-season and clear out some of that wing log jam then maybe even faster but um I I think both guys if you take Coward or Bryant are probably playing sometime in the G-League i I do think Bryant in particular he’s so young they want to work on his offensive craft one would assume because that’s the stuff that has to come the furthest you know he could be a just a classic spot-up shooter for you I’m sure from day one with some nice defense although rookies are always going to be prone to struggling on defense maybe less so like super athletic wing types but um it’s going to be a challenge and so I think yeah like 905 for a good long stretch for Carter Bryant seems to make a lot of sense coward maybe a little bit but um because he’s older maybe less of it and I think his his skill set just kind of ready for the for the NBA if he’s good to go good athletic measurements and the shooting touch is off the charts i think both those guys kind of fit in and and you know again both would be sort of longer term you know you’re hoping they become starters down the line i don’t think either is doing the OG Anobi thing and snaking a starting job immediately once they hit the NBA um though Coward may be more likely than Bryant again because of the advancements in his offensive game like he’s a damn good shooter man good mid-range shooter good rim finisher good finisher from everywhere on the floor that can get you on the floor and that can get you to stick if uh you know you get an opportunity early bryant I think is way more of a work in progress as an offensive player and so yeah probably a lot of 905 time for him don’t think he would be getting like the minutes required to like compete for awards or anything like that all rookie teams etc i think it’d be a tough cell we’re going to come back on the other side we’re going to run through three more guys who might be in the mix at number nine noah Seni Colin Murray Boils and Casperis Yakonis all of whom I think have different pathways to getting in the lineup next year for the Raptors couple more surefire than the other we will do that coming up in just one sec today’s show is brought to you by our friends over at Door Dash and NBA fans you know what time it is of course the the NBA finals are upon us and the playoffs bring big performances even bigger rewards door Dash is bringing the heat with a slam dunk deal for Dash Pass members during the 2025 NBA playoffs they call they call it they swoosh you score anytime a player drops 50 or more points in a playoff game Dash Pass members score a free threepiece crispy tenders combo from Wingstop the very next day just place an order for 20 bucks or more use the code wingstop50 at checkout and that combo is yours crispy delicious and totally free a offer valid noon to midnight the day after the game terms apply shay Gildas Alexander is getting his way in this series there’s a very very good chance he’s going to drop a 50 burger at some point I think on this Pacers defense he’s awesome he’s incredible he’s unstoppable so here’s the play sign up for Dash Pass to unlock this and more exclusive deals all season long when any player scores 50 plus in a playoff game Dash Pass members can grab a free three-piece crispy tenders combo from Wingstop the next day with a $20 order and code Wingstop 50 that’s Dash Pass your door to more savings more flavor and more ways to win terms apply wrapping it up here on your Monday edition of the show asking what’s the fit when it comes to a handful of draft prospects who might be in the mix for the Toronto Raptors at number nine let’s go to Noah Asen who by the way is putting up some numbers as his team in Germany is working its way through the playoffs he’s still playing had himself a really good weekend they might be done now but he had had himself a nice efficient weekend putting up some numbers and for me look I think Noah Sen feels like he’s got GLeague written all over him if he is the pick at number nine he’s 18 years old he’s the second youngest player in the draft behind Cooper Flag probably gets a month of looks before the 905 season starts and if he really shows he can stick then hey maybe you sort of say “Oh well he’s got some professional pedigree playing over in Germany not the highest level league or anything like that but like maybe that professional pedigree carries over right away and he’s finding himself a role maybe he’s working in some small ball lineups where it’s like a Scotty Asen front court and those two dudes are swatting shots left right and center and you feel all right about as riding out the season as like a front court rotation piece for you but I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if he you know needs to go and take some time in the G-League to bulk up to learn the speed of the professional game in the States that’s you know always a thing you hear about is learning the speed of the game and processing it and the G-League you know is for all its faults as a league you know in terms of like top end talent things like that and not always you know being able to sort of predict high-end production in the NBA because a guy was a high-end producer in the G-League like it’s a fast league and it really kind of tests your processing time makes you have to be on a you know kind of very alert and aware and it’s just a trial by fire when it comes to the speed of the game and so yeah I could totally see a Sen being you know not dissimilar to how the Raptors used Pascal Seakum in his rookie season where yeah he played early on they badly needed him to be in there when Jared Sullinger the great hope at the four got hurt and missed a bunch of time and he had Seakum in there running reckless and throwing down you know transition finishes from Kyle Lowry passes for the first couple months of the year and then he kind of hit the wall and he went to the G-League and he was incredible and he won G-League finals MVP and everyone was thrilled about it and I think you know that would not be I think a surprising outcome and probably a pretty helpful outcome for Noah Sang right especially because there’s just like less of a clear avenue to obvious minutes for him on the Raptors you know again he’ll play some backup minutes some backup five some backup four stuff like that you know I could see him fitting into some lineups where Scotty’s at the five and you have like Ingram out there and you’ve got Walter out there and you’ve got um you know quickly or whatever like you’re going big with shooting and then you can kind of have those two long rim protecting forward types in the front court um obviously I think as probably going to be a good transition player basically from Jump Street that’s always been the thing he’s been best at over overseas as well um but yeah 18 years old definitely needs to bulk up for the NBA sort of physicality of it all could totally see him being a heavy G- League hand for the year to come colin Murray Boils to me this guy’s probably playing from the jump uh he is seemingly very NBA ready and I think he probably plays small ball five for the Raptors from day one it’s where he played in college the most he was the low man center whatever you want to call it a lot of the time playing for South Carolina this year despite being just 6667 um he kind of has like a big man sort of way about him on defense the switching all that stuff like I think there’s some really fun interesting lineups he probably supplants Jonathan Mo in the rotation like immediately and as much as I like Jonathan Mo uh if you’re drafting someone at nine like you can’t be doing that with your second round pick from the previous year who had some great great signs but a lot of struggle you can’t have that guy in mind and worrying about kind of blocking his progress when you can just take the guy you think is the best guy and if the Raptors think Colin Murray Boils is the best guy my guess is he’s playing right away i think he probably stands a chance of being pretty effective right away in that small ball five role assuming the offense can do anything with him and Scotty Barnes out there um which is a big assumption because those guys can’t shoot and um you know you can have all the fun interesting big to big passing in the world but without shooting in space it gets really tricky as we’ve seen for this Raptors offense over the last couple years and so I think uh this is the potential draft outcome that comes with the most funky ass lineup potential for sure i think we see a lot of Scotty Murray Bole’s looks just to kind of see how those guys can mesh together defensively see hey can Scotty figure out the threes again can he offer any modicum of space and gravity all of that um you know maybe there’s some G-League time there for Colin Murray Boils but he kind of seems ready physically for the NBA and I’m not sure a player like him is benefiting a lot from playing with sort of lesser players in the G-League he feels like someone who’s trying to connect better players together amplify better players and so I’d rather see him cut his teeth in the NBA for sure and you know again I don’t think he’s going to be the pick because I think the overlap and the fit stuff is just so janky and weird but um hey maybe if they trade for Kevin Durant they draft Colin Murray Boils to be their small ball five playing next to Scotty Barnes in the front court and they got KD and Ingram and Quickly as their rest of their starting lineup and you roll that way who’s to say this Kevin Durant thing has sort of broken my brain either way um well I think Colin Murray Boils plays most of the season in the NBA right away last guy I want to talk about here is Casper Yakonis and I think look I think this is the true of him and any other guard they draft here even Jeremiah Fears i think you know they probably get run way right right away but I think the leash is probably pretty short guards take a long time to get good in the NBA it’s just a fact of life we even saw it last year with Jamal Shed he had these moments these flashes but for the most part the Raptors got spanked in the minutes he played because rookie guards are bad rookie guards lose minutes takes a long time to learn how to play the guard position effectively in the NBA it’s just the fact of life it’s reality it’s a hard hard position and so with that I think Casper’s Yakon is probably the most likely guard to be the pick at nine if they do go guard again I don’t think Fars is going to be there if he is great i’m all for it if they go Yakonis um I I I think look they’ll let him run the second unit no telling how well it’ll go and I think there’s every chance that it goes poorly and he’s in the G- League kind of cutting his teeth by December i look I know a lot of people like Yakonis i know there’s a lot of people in the lockdown Raptors Discord who are little Yakonisa sickos i’m so worried about the lack of rim pressure in college in the NBA like this is a team that needs guards who can get to the rim yakonis is not that i think he’s going to be a really good shooter in the NBA i like his passing don’t like the turnovers and decision-m um and I think the defense is going to be a real problem and that’s the thing too right if you’re a bad defensive guard on a team that is ostensively trying to be competitive next year like a really important thing in all of this is like the Raptors seem to want to try to win next season i don’t think you can be giving 20 minutes a night to a rookie guard with those specific limitations with athleticism and physicality and not getting to the rim decision-making turnovers like that seems like a recipe for a really rough rookie season which if you’re the Utah Jazz you could totally be that sure man go nuts have a million turnovers all good but if the Raptors are in fact under pressure to be competitive next year as Jake Fischer intimated in his reporting over the weekend if they are in fact trying to win basketball games which everything suggests that’s what they’re trying to do I don’t think drafting Kasparus Yakonis and handing him the keys to the second unit is the way to do that very effectively you’re going to lose those minutes and so I I just don’t quite see it again I I think if he is drafted it’s a longer term play and he probably is in for a lot of G-League run next season some heavy G-League reps to just learn the speed learn the rhythm fine-tune the decision- making the play making maybe work on the paint touch stuff though you can only do that so much against non-NBA defenders and nonBA defense it’s um yeah a lot of there’s just a lot of red flags with the Yakonas that I’m not super thrilled on and hey he’s the pick i’m sure I’ll talk myself into it by mid July as we always do with these things because that’s how this works but um yeah that’s kind of how I see him fitting in next season if he were to be the pick i think it would be kind of rough i think it would be like he he’s of all the guys we’ve talked about here he outside of maybe Carter Bryant he would be I think the guy who offers the least to the team next year which again if they’re under pressure if there’s a mandate to win might not be the way to go to try to accomplish that with the draft pick but drafting for immediate need doesn’t always work out either so we’ll see either way thank you so much for rocking with the show back again on Tuesday pow big V will be along and uh this is going to be my last week before I go on paternity leave uh we’re having our kid next week so um yeah I’ll be rounding up this week we’ll have some fun and then I’ll be turning over the keys to VC for the next little while i’ll pop in once in a while here and there when uh you know the little the little munchkin allows for it but um that’s the plan as of right now i’ll be with you for the rest of this week and then beyond that it’s Big Bee’s time to shine baby either way thank you so much for rocking with the show follow subscribe rate review join the Discord link in the description of the podcast we’ll talk to you again on Tuesday thanks so much for hanging bye-bye damn it

NBA Insider Jake Fischer reported over the weekend that teams around the league thing the Toronto Raptors could be a Kevin Durant suitor if Giannis Antetokounmpo — and it seems like a pretty silly idea if true! In Episode 1883, Sean Woodley goes solo to address the possibility of the Raptors targeting Kevin Durant, and why the only possible trade construction — RJ Barrett and Jakob Poeltl for KD — would leave the Raptors with a roster far too weird to work with. Next, Sean talks about how some potential Raptors draft picks at ninth-overall would fit into the team’s plans as rookies. Would Khaman Maluach be a 20-minute a night backup from day one? Would Carter Bryant and Noa Essengue be G-League bound for most of their first seasons? Could Cedric Coward and Collin Murray-Boyles contribute right away? And would Kasparas Jakucionis get free run of the second unit right away?

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