Raptors Draft Rumors | Derik Queen Could Be Toronto’s Top Target 👀

Raptors Draft Rumors | Derik Queen Could Be Toronto’s Top Target 👀

some reports are suggesting that the toronto raptors are looking to select a center in the 2025 nba draft but what if a player like common malawash isn’t available would derek queen be a viable option and potentially could he actually be their first choice with the ninth overall pick let’s get into it this is amateur sports the youtube channel that is dedicated to providing you with toronto raptors content in videos like this where we break down some of the biggest prospects the raptors could select with the ninth overall pick and determine if that would be a good selection what we’re going to do over the course of the video today is discuss derek queen we’re going to look at who he is we’re going to look at his stats from his college season we’re going to look at his strengths his weaknesses a player comparable before finishing off by deciding if this would be a good selection by the raptors because yes there are reports suggesting that they are targeting a center with the ninth overall pick and we know especially from the video i did previously my previous video i talked about common malawash extensively saying that is an excellent candidate to take but con malawash may not be available at ninth overall the wizards at sixth overall could take him the pelicans at seventh overall could take him the nets at eighth overall could take him he may not be available and the raptors could still be wanting a center but some mock drafts would have it that derrick queen could go ahead of con malawash some people say that derek queen is the prize for the raptors and even if con malawash is available if derrick queen is available that’s the guy that they should be selecting so polarizing player exciting player for sure but just who is derek queen well he is a center coming out of maryland and he stands i i usually round up the height to 6’11 here but i put 610 and 1/2 because 6’11 just felt like a lot bigger i don’t know he measured at 6’9 just above 6’9 without shoes the combine basically like he’s a little bit shorter than like what you would typically want for a center which is why i didn’t round up here i don’t know just 6′ 10 and a half he probably would measure 6′ 11 in the nba anyways uh i did round up to a 7 foot one wingspan uh draft age for derek queen he’s an older freshman 20 and a half years old at the time of the nba draft so has ability to play as a power forward had been listed there previously but i think for this upcoming draft he’s listed a center and team’s drafting will be looking to draft him as a center so why has derek queen become such a popular candidate to be selected in the lottery in the 2025 nba draft well it has a lot to do with the production that he displayed on offense in this season 16 and a half points per game along with nine rebounds good rebounder both ends of the floor knows how to score the basketball not really from the perimeter not as much of a shooter from mid-range but knows how to use his body down low to get buckets decent passer which isn’t quite showcased with the 1.9 assist per game but decent passer especially out of the high post moderately efficient at 52.6% 6% shooting from the field remember a lot of these shots are down low but still a good amount above 50% is good to see good free throw shooter for a center at 76.6 an overall true shooting percentage of 59.1 which is good to see that is quite efficient to go with derek queen and again he is an offensive hub that’s why people have become enamored with the players to lead off the strengths it isn’t as much about how dominant of an athlete that he is for so many players he’s just got a great overall feel for the game great touch like even if he he’s not quite corraling a rebound he’s tipping it in the right direction he’s making the right plays down low on defense he’s making some good reads out of the post on offense which leads to quite good interior scoring for the player that is his bread and butter it’s using his body to his advantage using his physique to his advantage to create good looks for himself at the rim decent passer and playmaker as i said has shown good flashes there slight concern that he had 2.4 turnovers per game compared to those 1.9 assists which we just just discussed there are flashes there but does need to clean that up a little bit but a positive passer it seems as a big even with the negative assist to turnover ratio shot flashes were there he took 35 threes over the course of the college season made seven of them that’s 20% shooting from three doesn’t look like something that’ll scale up extremely well into the nba but has some flashes of shooting in mid-range which would be big for him and we saw with the free throw percentage there’s a shooting stroke there that potentially an nba team can work with on defense because of the height there is a element of switchability athletics weren’t the best so we’ll see like how he can defend the perimeter but there is some element of switchability there he has disruptive hands down low like if he’s getting to you early in your shot cycle if he’s getting to you early or he’s getting to you on your drive he’s got disruptive hands to nick the ball away and be disruptive in those areas rather than more so the traditional center being one of those shot blocker rim protection type players and rebounding we saw was quite good was about two and a half offensive rebounds per game so on both ends of the floor he can corral those rebounds but i i feel like the for the strengths segment of this prospect video i’ve been a bit more negative than in previous cuz usually i i save the weaknesses for this section the weaknesses but like some of the weaknesses are quite glaring for the player and we’ll highlight them specifically here this is not somebody you’re drafting to be your defensive anchor like he’s not going to anchor your defense he is not a rim protector like like i said he’s got to get you early he’s got to get you while the ball is still down low but when you bring it up he hasn’t been a great shot blocker he’s not an explosive athlete that can get above the rim to make those blocks nor is he an above the rim type of player on offense a lot of the scoring comes from down low in the post but it’s not coming from above the rim he’s not getting above the rim to make those finishes the shooting is a slight concern like the fact that he’s a very interior oriented player especially on offense without being able to really protect the rim is a concern like the flash is there shooting wise but not a lot to suggest that the three-point shooting is going to progress quite a lot at the nba level so that’s something absolutely team should be looking at and really wasn’t the most athletic player uh looks more athletic than the combine stats would indicate but it was quite a poor showing at the combine in the athletic categories and it puts him in some pretty poor company honest to goodness not a great look overall for a player that you know isn’t spreading their game to the perimeter really on either end of the floor to not really be able to shoot the ball and to not be able to protect the rim so i question the fit in the modern nba for derek queen like you’ve got a player here that can’t play on the perimeter on either end of the floor but isn’t an explosive athlete who finishes above the rim on offense and isn’t a rim protecting shot blocker on defense so it’s like a weird style of player here clearly there is ability on offense but there’s going to be some swing factors for the nba i think the biggest swing factor has got to be the three-point shooting and if he can harness that and get that to an nba level and get it there pretty quickly and overall the game reminds me quite a bit of i think a pretty good player comparable here is wendell carter jr i i think there’s a lot of similarities here i think that the swing factor that takes wendell carter’s game to the next level which was not on display last season but has been in previous seasons for the orlando magic is the three-point shooting like when wendell carter is shooting above 35% from three he is astronomically more effective than when he’s shooting in the mid 20s which is what he was doing last season but overall decent feel for the game not a player that’s going to dominate on defense but maybe can play a part overall i think that’s why i go with this player comparable here i’ve seen other comparisons to zack randolph uh i can kind of see it maybe a little bit but i don’t quite get that same level of grit out of derek queen as we saw out of zack randolph and that same element of finishing as we saw out of zack randolph but like an also like a a somewhat decent player comparable there so overall is this a player the raptors should be drafting well if colin malawash is on the board then i would say absolutely not khan malawash if you want a center and he’s available that’s the guy you got to take but what if kan malawash isn’t available well derek queen presents an interesting case here i’ve been mostly negative from this video but that’s mostly because of his fit in the nba if if you can seriously trust derek queen to be the offensive hub for your team and to be an extremely efficient scoreer on the inside and you trust that you can work on that mid-range game and even maybe that three-point game to spread his offense out a little bit more then that’s something that you want to take on but in the sense of the modern nba like you’re betting on a player who is very pain oriented who is not a very good athlete and is not your defensive anchor who’s protecting the rim that’s a weird player to take a bet on like there’s very very obvious talent here like like it’s obvious there’s talent here on offense but to scale that to the nba is going to be difficult and you do have to question what the effect is going to be on defense so for me if the raptors were to select derek queen you know i i would relish getting i getting the opportunity to see what that development what that progression could look like but i think when it comes to my big board and when it comes to draft night there’s probably going to be a few players that are ahead of derek queen on my list common malawash absolutely would be one of them i think the rabbits have to be really really sold on getting a center here to want derrick queen at ninth overall considering other players that could be available in that region but i feel like i’m lower on derek queen than what the consensus is on this channel and raptors media in general so let me know what you

NBA rumors suggest the Toronto Raptors are targeting a center at the NBA Draft and Maryland’s Derik Queen could be the player they’re looking at. For some, Khaman Maluach is the prized centre available but for other it’s Queen. Jacob Gramegna discusses if this is the right player for Masai Ujiri’s front office in today’s video.

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0:00 – The Raptors could select Derik Queen with the 9th overall pick
2:28 – Season stats 2024-2025
3:21 – Strengths
5:12 – Weaknesses
7:22 – Player Comparable
8:18 – Should the Raptors take him in the 2025 draft?

This is Amateur Hour Sports. On this channel, Jacob Gramegna analyzes and breaks down the latest on the Toronto Raptors NBA team from trade rumors to post-game reactions, analysis, and much more. By subscribing to this channel you will be there first to watch and enjoy 3-4 videos a week all focused on this team and on game days Jacob goes live on the channel for a watch party where he interacts with chat, answers your questions, and analyses the game as it happens with play by play and commentary. Join the Amateur Hour Army today by subscribing and consider becoming a member to give extra support to the channel and help create better content more often.

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