Are The Toronto Raptors RIGHT To Prioritize Best Talent Over Biggest Need At The 2025 NBA Draft?

Are The Toronto Raptors RIGHT To Prioritize Best Talent Over Biggest Need At The 2025 NBA Draft?

draft prospect rankings sean’s favorite game What’s More Likely is back and did Colin Coward really say the Raptors are the worst champion of the last seven years [Music] you are Locked On Raptors your daily Toronto Raptors podcast part of the Locked On Network your team every day it’s your favorite part of the day thanks for making Locked On Raptors your first listen every day i’m Vec Jacob i’ve been covering the Toronto Raptor for eight seasons across several outlets you can follow Locked On Raptors on X Instagram and YouTube and be sure to check out the Locked On Raptors Discord where you can talk all things basketball but especially the Raptors today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel right now new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins on this Tuesday June the 24th I am joined by a very special guest and friend of the program you know him from the Hello and Welcome podcast the reaction pod King William Lou what’s going on brother what up Big V what up Big V what are we here to talk about man united’s chances next year Champions League oh what’s up man what’s up what’s up what’s up oh man we coming in hot yeah it’s hot it’s hot in Toronto man it’s hot in Toronto i got the AC on i got the fan on how you doing man i’m good man i’m good i mean it’s going to be tough for United again this season uh but it’s going to be hard to do worse than like 16th um you know United was bad cuz uh they gave Tottenham their first title and uh Oh man sorry it’s been a while man gone bad right now gone bad right now we’re going to get into these draft prospects and looking at number nine i went over uh who I have as kind of my top five around that number nine range and so I thought it’d be a good idea to get your top five and then we can kind of go back and forth so who you got absolutely let’s do it uh so for my five right now um and I I would say these are in slight order just based on who I think uh would fit best would have the most opportunity here in Toronto i I know that uh you know Dan Tolsman gave the the same response every time which is we’re going to draft best player available and and I don’t think that that’s like he’s lying when he says that i think it’s just like the standard phrase you would say that regardless um but I do think that some opportunity to actually play some avenue to get minutes I think is actually going to be pretty important like if you dropped the shooting guard to this current team they’re going to have a harder time finding minutes or you are going to crowd out some of the other prospects that you’re already working on which will necessitate you to make a trade so um I I am going to lean more center heavy i think my top two picks have been pretty consistent uh I I think for me the only thing is I I flipped Derek Queen and Kamalok just because of um you know I think even watching the playoffs I think especially players that eventually will be able to succeed i just didn’t see a lot of rim running bigs that had a great level of success on the offensive end in the playoffs versus um the bigs who are able to sort of make a play especially against all the physicality um you know be able to play in a crowd be able to sort of run dribble handoffs to take pressures off the other guys i feel like Derrick Queen has a higher chance of doing that defensively clearly i mean they’re they’re very opposites the two prospects but I I think I’ll have those two as my one and two um I I’ve become more intrigued by Noah Sen i would say this would take probably at least two years cuz he is pretty skinny right now um he’s got very long legs his center of gravity is very high um I think he’s going to have a lot of the issues that uh you know Chris Buchchet have for example playing physically as sort of that four five and it’s kind of crazy to call him four five but he’s what do you measure at like 611 without shoes so where’s he going to play like maybe he’ll play small forward but he really needs to have some of the perimeter creation skills he is very raw like I if we drafted him I think we need two years at least to see him start contributing in a positive way in the rotation past that i I honestly I I don’t mind Yakajonis um I feel like he doesn’t really get much pub at all i don’t even think I’ve even heard the Raptors remotely connected to uh to to Casper but um you know I think that he comes in with with a good size a good frame to play the point guard position shoots a three really well um you know already has a lot of his you know ability to create his own advantages because he has a step back three and that creates a lot uh and I’m curious to see how that plays in the next level when there’s even more space um physically I think that he he’s probably fine like I think maybe the long-term outcome for him is like he’s not your primary point guard he’s more of a combo guard but you know like I I’m looking at like a Bogdan Bognanovich kind of style for him i I wouldn’t mind that style of player for the Raps i’ve liked him a lot and then probably fifth I’d probably go with Carter Bryant there i think that um you know I know that um he’s probably been linked to the raps a lot more in terms of just people sort of liking that 3 and D sort of element that the Raptors don’t don’t currently have but for me I’m just like if I’m not it’s not a guarantee for me that he’s a the three part is there and even if you watch the tape defensively there are a lot of gamles that I’m like are we sure that D is there as well um if it does work out I think he fits what the Raptors need exactly as that 67 long wing with long arms and uh you know best case scenario he could be like an OG trajectory although I don’t think he’s that athletic or that strong yet yeah yeah okay so that’s interesting uh because I think we can get into a bit of a debate here i have uh Carter Bryant actually at number two um because I actually do believe in uh the three-point shot and the defense uh I think he’s someone who could potentially be like rotation ready by like the second half of the season just because of those tools um and you know I think it’s the other stuff that’ll have to come along like his ability to attack a closeout just you know maybe some of the like there’s pretty much no real shot creation at this point uh for him so uh but I do like his general instincts as well uh just watching some of the film like passing just making reads um and I think he can you know I definitely see some of the the gambling stuff that you’re talking about but I feel like with good defenders I would rather see that early and have to scale that back than try to get them than try to coax that out of them you know what I mean yeah um so I really like him um number one I actually go the other way uh with the Malawatch Queen debate and so I have Malawatch ahead because uh for me watching these playoffs it’s like anyone who can’t stay on the floor defensively gets exposed pretty quickly sure and and so I think that’s where I have some concerns with Queen and with Malawatch i feel like that’s almost a guarantee uh that he brings to the table and like you know say say his worst case scenario is like Mitchell Robinson and like say he but he but he can actually shoot free throws like I think the impact honestly that’s pretty key because I mean Mitchell did really well in the playoffs this year I got to say outside the so impact wise I think that was really uh a a really strong playoff performance for Mitchell Robinson um and then again even when you look at these finals like the thing that separates Turner and uh check is that ability to space the floor obviously Malawatch doesn’t have that um but queen I think if if he had a jumper I’d be a lot more enticed and and that’s where if you go back to like the base of what Turner and Homegrren are like they’re great at protecting the rim yeah yeah and and so that’s where again it made me lean towards Malawatch yeah so um yeah let’s let’s work backwards i I think um look defensively it’s not even close like defensively it’s not even close i would say offensively it’s also not even close like I I don’t know if uh you give Malawak even five years of development if he reaches uh the dexterity the skill um the even just the thought process of sort of how Derek Queen will get up his offense it’s it’s really advanced it’s like a lot of self-creation um and granted like it’s it’s he’s he’s in the self-creation zone that is kind of mid-range high post and in um so it’s a lot of twos there’s not a lot of threes he gets to the foul line a lot that kind of helps the efficiency but you know you you especially know that um especially players now who who get their own in the two-point range is just not nearly as valuable in today’s league and and you know fair enough efficiency wise uh unless you’re Shay but um but I don’t know man i think the skill level was just like really really strong and I’m thinking about what Dan said yesterday you know um you know we were both in uh OVO trying to get any sort of hints and information out of Dan and um Dan was very measured in in all the answers and you know I think there was already one question asked about uh you know would the Raptors you know like to take a big at the center position and you know he he obviously pointed to we’re going to draft BPA best player available and then my follow-up question was just okay fine maybe you’re not going to tell us that but what kind of skill set do you want if you were to draft a big considering the modern NBA has changed so much and the number one thing he said was that they want uh somebody who who can play in the Raptor system um he pointed to Yaka Purle right away he said basically you can run offense through him um you can in the high post dripble handoffs things like this um and of course on the defensive end and then he he went on to couch that answer with like a bunch of other caveats he’s like maybe we want to we want a player like YaKob like 48 minutes to Yakov or maybe we want a different player and get But the first thing he said I think was what his true intention was was that if the Raptors want to get a big they want somebody who can run you know um their system and I honestly think that like Derek Queen has a much higher chance of doing that as compared to Malawak i think Malawak has so much developmental pip uh like uh prospect you know ability that I I think that uh you know you give him time in the pro sort of setting um he is near to basketball just kind of in general um and I I there’s there’s things that I mean you you can maybe teach a guy to play dribble handoffs a little bit more um than maybe let’s say you know teach a guy to you know have the size to protect the rim so you can make that kind of argument um but I do think that that will take a little bit of time and there’s not too much of demonstrated uh skill on that front even when you look at some of the BAL tape or even if you look at uh uh well especially if you look at Duke because Duke was largely playing him as a roller um so I think that’s more hypothetical but again I’d be pretty happy with either those two guys carter Bryant man again like if it all works out the vision I totally understand it uh but to me I’m seeing somebody who is almost exclusively getting um plays made for him you know like uh he he you know like if the Raptors came out of this draft with like Ochai as seventh at the ninth pick would people be thrilled and I feel like that’s like the higher end for him almost uh now of course he’s much bigger than Ochai which I think really matters defensively i don’t think that it’s a coincidence that Ochai had two game winners hit on him this year especially the one with Tatum i’m like ah he just didn’t have enough length to sort of contest and that’s whatever that’s Tatum bro he’s just one of the best like 10 players in the league but um and Carter will have certainly way more size to do that but I just don’t necessarily like that archetype of of of wing because that puts so much more of a of an emphasis on other uh other players to be able to um create and sustain a lot of the offensive load and honestly when I look at the raps like even long term there’s just not a lot of great offensive initiators there may be great defenders in the future i think Mobile already has a great chance of doing that i think uh Jamal Shed is first and foremost always going to be a defensive player uh Jacobe has some play creation but I think it’s more of a two-way sort of thing with him um you know so I I think that Grady is probably the one prospect the Raptors have right now that’s offensively oriented but we have to see sort of if the Raps won’t even want to buy into him long term as a starter and then so that’s why I’m just like another 3 and D guy i’m like I could see it but I I you need to believe in him being able to do a third thing in addition to that 3 and D and and hopefully that’s self-creation yeah no I I think that’s fair enough i think uh you know on the other side of this I think we can get into more of a center debate because we will get into you know some of the stuff that Tolsman said about uh centers and also some of the stuff he said about potentially trading down uh I think when you look at you know what Olsman said my reading of it was like hey okay you know they’ve looked at opportunities to trade up because maybe they feel like the guy that they most want won’t be around at 9 and then if you aren’t going to get that guy do you really see those other prospects as being worthy of that night spot true and then that’s where it becomes okay you know what are we better off just trading down um now I don’t know how much we can buy into what he said uh about you know hey like there’s like eight guys who are in a similar tier you know they might really just like one guy and they’re not going to give that away and and so you know what he said about those eight guys and just like liking a whole bunch of players uh that’s where maybe they look at it and say okay you know what we don’t mind actually sliding down to 15 and you know now we get a lower contract on a guy we still like um and so I think there is a possibility of them trading down if you know one or two of the players that they really want uh get selected before so um I do think that is more on the table uh than taking a center just because of what they’ve said as well about like best player available my preference is for them to take a center because I think that’s just hey this is something you need and then you think about the way we talk about draft picks like down the line right and how much of it comes down to fit and opportunity like you’ve got this glaring need at center so why not bring in you know a center who has potential and will have opportunity and then you know maybe that enhances their development as they go so even though you know Tolsman is saying like hey you can’t expect much from a center um you know in terms of development that first year is always a challenge I think the Raptors are still in a place where that’s kind of okay and so if they’re coming in behind Yak like let them have some growing pains and let them learn um and longterm maybe that accelerates the growth yeah I mean you know he he kind of did go out of his way to talk about how like you know as you mentioned like um first year centers almost always struggle and you know this is something that you can also addressed in trades and free for agency um I would say that the Raptors have not really done great in terms of uh addressing the center position in agency in a while uh we we’ve seen this sort of like endless cycle come in and out of just like assorted unnamed backup centers that have you know what I mean like your average guy that you’re signing for agency is probably Orlando Robinson level you know what I mean um at the same time I hear his point because like if you were to argue for me like if you’re going to a playoff series tomorrow and you can either have Clink Capella on your team or current day Kamalok I’d actually have to think about which one will give you more immediate production the thing is though like we’re we’re not just talking about like what’s going to make the Raptors the most competitive for 2025 2026 i’m thinking long term and the good thing about this year’s draft it feels like is like there’s a lot of pretty solid center prospects and so if they do trade down and ultimately target another center I’m okay with that um but I I do think that unless there’s some sort of like can’t miss wing that you need to sort of like try to push your chips in on i think all things being equal like yeah take a big man please um cuz they are surprisingly hard to find like Yeah so you know you just mentioned like hey there are like a few centers like further down as well um we’ve talked about Queen we’ve talked about Malawatch another center I like and I’m curious to get your thoughts on uh is Thomas Sorber i think he’s someone who uh again the defense is there he’s got that seven six wingspan i think he’s got really good instincts yeah offensively again does not have a jumper um and definitely like Queen is still like levels above him in terms of like the overall package uh but I do think there’s maybe more to Sorber offensively than Malawatch sure yeah i mean that one’s interesting i I do think that if we’re looking at just like pure defensive prospects um the bigger you are and like there’s nobody bigger in this draft um then I I do think that that is a tangible difference you know what I mean like if the primary thing that you do is rim protection um I think it is a tangible difference to go from a guy who is like 7’2 to like a guy who is like 6’11 now granted Sorber’s arms are really long um I think the things that I’m uh that I I really liked about Sorber was like you mentioned like he was honestly like in terms of blocks and steals like actually more disruptive than Malawak was um the thing is though I feel like he was almost always just like in like a too big system almost and so like there was more of an opportunity for him um to come over and rotate you know what I mean it’s sometimes I look at like I’m not even trying to hate but like um how good Cleveland’s defense is when you have both Jared Allen and Evan Mobley in there jared Allen can be around the rim rebounding everything um and then Moy can rotate over from the weak side and collect as many blocks and steals as he wants to because he’s he could usually rotate and um and you know just help off of somebody versus if you just put Mobly at center at five he might be guarding more actions but he might be a little bit more foul trouble he have to come have more rebounds and therefore take away some of his energy to be able to always be you know rotating over so um and sort of coming in from the blind side so I I think um defensively for me I think Malawak is better than Sorber but I you know I think that offensively I do agree with you that he he has a little bit more the thing is how much more is a concern cuz like it’s I don’t really necessarily see him as like um an above average offensively you know an offensive center I would say um so you’re largely drafting him for the defensive element which I which I don’t mind because again there’s there’s other extenters in there in that range i think you you like like Joan Behringer I think is like starting to pop up a little bit um certainly he’s got great size he’s he looks like he’s a very mobile athlete who’s also you know in that seven foot range that could be interesting but there’s a lot of these kind of like styles of players versus there’s also getting some attention too yeah yeah yeah and and new I think is gonna be really interesting because like he’s um noticeably smaller like he’s more power forward sized if we go back to like 10 years ago when power forwards existed but um but again like you can go completely the other way like you know if your option of D if you like what Derrick Queen brings you like I I can see maybe even some interest in what Danny Wolf brings you because like if you’re going to do this trade down sort of opportunity he’s also extremely skilled when it comes to handling the ball passing being able to sort of play make and and has more of a shooting profile than Derrick Queen i wouldn’t say he’s a positive shooter just yet but he certainly can shoot it much better than Derrick Queen can at least especially from three so there’s a lot of options at center which is why I think that like especially in the Raptors range like you know don’t make things over overly complicated if someone slides like if Conanipple slides and he’s there at a nine take him cuz he’s the best shooter in the draft and you figure it out afterwards with the shooting guards if Ace Bailey slides take him because he’s incredibly talented and I’ll I’ll take my I will never begrudge you for taking a talent that that that that good um you know even if Trey Johnson slides I I I I you know add another shooting guard to this thing but if it’s not then yeah go get one of these many bigs who and honestly I think we will look back on this draft like there’s going to be I think at least like three or four starting center level players in this year’s uh prospect pool yeah uh three or four yeah I could definitely see that happening i’m not as high as you can i I will say that i think he’s someone that if he slid I I think I’d pass um I’m I feel like he like some people have made the Austin Reeves comparison but I feel like still like Reeves is more athletic um I think Oh his handle’s so much better too man like Yeah so his his self creation is much better than than Khan’s yeah so I I feel like there’s a gap there and I feel like Khan’s also just like a bit of a stockier build so I think he just was going to have trouble like creating any kind of separation um but yeah that’s that’s a debate for another day coming up in this final segment we are going to get into the last seven champions and how they should rank summer sports are in full swing and whether you’re all about baseball under the lights golf on the green or highstakes soccer action FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting you’re already following the action why not make it a little more thrilling with FanDuel you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach it’s easy to use fast to pay out and all of a sudden any game is a mustwatch event new to FanDuel new customers can bet just $5 and get 150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins open the FDA app today or visit fanduel.com to get started and we are back at it to wrap up well Colin Coward decided to rank the last seven NBA champions obviously you know we’re in this parody era and so we’ve had seven different winners in the last seven years he went with the 2020 Lakers at number one the 24 Celtics number two oh my god the 23 Nuggets at number three 22 Warriors number four 2021 Bucks number five 2025 Thunder number six that makes no sense 2019 Raptors dead last uh yo can we can we invert the list because it’s kind of nice that No I’m kidding yeah um Okay so we are in this era of parody so there’s clearly not a standout super team so this isn’t exactly like comparing you know the this the KD Warriors to like you know the 72 win Bulls you know i think like that’s that was a lot spicier and I think there was so much more um room for debate and even even just passion and emotion cuz you’re getting into that sort of like battle of the generations you know like it was which era was better the ‘9s or the or the or the 10ens or whatever whatever you want to call those but um we have this parody error so it is really hard to compare them across the board um a couple of things though um even though there is parody I think that there are clear examples of teams that have a somewhat level of like longevity that you can even even reasonably compare um so the reason for that is for example like 2022 Warriors I really enjoyed watching that run um that was really fun i I especially enjoyed watching Boston um go up 2-1 and then ultimately lose the next three that was beautiful um Steph had some incredible incredible performances in that one shout outs to Andrew Wiggins shout outs to the pool party honestly Auto Porter uh that scammed the Raptors into giving Auto Porter one last contract so you know Neil FB Elita stopping Jason Tatum one-on-one that was all beautiful but man the Raptors even if you want to take KD off the list the Raptors beat a way better team in 2019 uh of a version of the Warriors than that Warriors team that won so I don’t see how you can rank that Warriors team over the Raptors i think that’s just like it’s just right there for you yeah i would even say like 2019 that Sixers team is better than some of these champs yeah yeah i think that Sixers team would have beaten that Bucks team for example um I’m like the Raptors obviously had beaten the Bucks along the way in 2019 uh they clearly make a huge upgrade uh with Drew Holiday in place of Eric Bledsoe but to me I I would say that uh you know the Raps probably would have guarded Drew Holiday similar to the way they guarded Eric Bledo and so if Drew Holiday was going to step up and make five six threes a game then that probably swings it but like the way that the Raptors guarded would not have changed and I do think that fundamentally they had Giannis so thoroughly covered by the end they kind of solved him as this as the series went on that I think the Raptors especially just based on how much front court defense when you’re talking about you got Kawhi Leonard Pascal Seiakum Sergey Baka and Mark Gasol guarding at the back against Giannis who wants to drive downhill I’m sorry and if it’s Chris Middleton I I’m not I’m not going to lie just don’t respect Chris Middleton’s ability to attack the Raptors um I think that if you look through the history of it just never was in his favor um in fact I would even argue that Norm outplayed him in many moments um that really mattered so I think that would have the wraps over the 20 uh what is that 2011 uh Bucks that Bucks team was really good 21 2021 yeah 2021 yeah so like that that team was really good the ones that I would have above the Raptors um I’m not really sure how they would have done against the Nuggets i I would only say that if you were to design the perfect player to guard uh a Nicola Jokic I think you would end up as Marcus no I’m serious like the size to guard him um the instincts to sort of take away the passing lanes occasionally joic is an all-time great so I’m thinking Joic probably still dominates and has great games but I think Mark would allow them to play it more single coverage which would probably be the best way to defend against that Nuggets team the Nuggets team was really good though so I I I I honestly I think I think I give the Raptors a slight edge in that one but I do think the Nuggets offense is a lot better than the Raptors offense just based on the way they pass and move in space versus the Raptors if you had to say there’s one weakness about 2019 was that they put a lot of iso ball and a lot of possessions just came down if Kawhai can dominate and they do have Aaron Gordon on that side so um then again the Clippers just took them that a similar Nuggets team let’s say um to to to seven games so we we’ll have to see about that i think so bias-wise I give the Raps a slight edge so I mean I don’t know 2020 is probably the one lakers that team was really good uh and then who else am I missing oh the Thunder team i think the Thunder team are actually slightly better than the reps not going to lie oh I that’s really interesting um because if I were to put a matchup between the Thunder uh and that 2019 Raptors team I think the Raptors win that fairly convincingly okay okay give me the case give me the case well so I think the one thing we’ve seen over the course of the postseason is like they’ve won in spite of their inexperience and I think that has been a big factor where uh I think that you know that’s part of why they went seven against the Nuggets um I think that you know just the final stage and like not having navigated that before uh I think that impacted how the series played out uh and like there’s no way they should have lost game one to the Pacers there there’s no way they should have lost game one to the Nuggets and I think those are opportunities like when you drop those games these other teams would like I think you know the 22 Warriors for example they’re that type of team like if they come and get that game one on your home floor like that they are not throwing away that opportunity right and I think you you think about how good the 2019 Raptors were as a road team we were great yeah i I think they would have caused a lot of problems and I think uh especially you know another weakness the Thunder had was their three-point shooting right like they had games on their home floor where the role players like found their rhythm and it’s like you know when they made shots it was really tough and obviously they have great defense um but I do think that you know coming up against the 2019 Raptors uh I I think the Raptors take that fairly convincingly like was the 2019 Raptors a great three-point shooting team though or did Fred just go kind of nuts for two series i think they were good enough um I I think like when I look at Danny was struggling like all 2019 outside of that one game in in the finals where he had like five threes but Danny was kind of really really struggling norm was like I mean Norm Norm’s a buck specialist he’s a he’s the buck hunter so he was great against the Bucks but the other three series you know was not particularly strong kyle had a broken thumb i think Kyle was the was like him and Kawhai were definitely their two best three-point shooters um Pascal at that point was mostly a corner three-point shooter rim runner type uh and also being able to play in the post so you’re not getting that much from him mark you’d have to beg him to shoot a three um and he had to be wide open maybe he would be uh so it comes down to whether Fred would would shoot it or not and I think the reason I I think I the reason I don’t like this matchup in in a hypothetical sense is like the amount of Lud Dor and Alex Caruso swarming and physically assaulting Kyle and Fred which Kyle and Fred were so important to the offense moving for 2019 um that like I mean I guess one of them would be guarding Kawawaii so you know you take that out of the equation um but just that physicality on defense with those guys I’m I’m not It It gives me kind of like a a real a real real concern you know I think part of why the Raptors were able to overcome um the Warriors not just with the injuries in the finals that year was man their their point guards could really eat off of Steph Curry they could eat off of Quinn Cook they could eat off of almost all those guys even Sean Livingston like at that point he was old right so um I I do really fear the defensive tenacity like I think it’ll be simil more similar to um the Sixers series in terms of how stagnant the Raptors offense would get and in that series it was Kawawaii had to be Superman can Kawhai be Superman absolutely but they got a Superman of their own and Shay so yeah yeah i think the other interesting debate for me um was 2019 Raptors versus 2024 Celtics and that’s a team that sure that’s that’s that’s a team where I look at the three-point differential and I’m like man like how are you going to make up for that um and like they get a lot of threes up they make a lot of threes uh they have again this is a team with size right like you talk about the guards like going up against Derek White Drew Holiday and then Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum um so that was kind of a matchup and then again you know you talk about the match up with the bigs like they’ve got Borzingis and Orford yeah um and so that was a team I was looking at and I like man that that would be tough yeah i think the one thing that 2019 did amazing was lock down the paint that got them through the first three series right against Orlando was I mean Orlando was whatever who cares but the Sixers were primarily a team that really you know went downhill at you with Jimmy Butler with Ben Simmons and of course with Joel Embiid um and then you also had the Bucks which was Giannis um so protecting the pain was first and foremost and the Raps are amazing at doing that the Celtics were always a hard matchup for the Raptors like even back in those times it was a hard matchup like uh you know part of the reason we remember that double block with Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard was that it was like a onep possession game when that happened in the fourth quarter like down the stretch you know and and it was a great play but like um that Celtics team always gave the Raptors problems i think part of me is a little scarred from the 2020 bubble um when you had uh Marcusaul eating his shirt at certain points when you saw uh Sergeyaka get outplayed by Daniel Ty I would say in that series you know and I think a lot of it is because of the ability for there to be so much spacing on the floor and I think if you took some of those bigs off the floor for the Raptors did we have enough wings to sort of supplement that rotation if you gave me a healthy OG I think it’s fine because he would be so important in that matchup but OG wasn’t healthy for 2019 and that’s where even though I don’t necessarily like the 2024 Celtics that much I I think that they would still get the Raptors problems i think ultimately I don’t know i think I got the Raptors third i I think I think third is like in in the relative terms i I think that’s fine i think especially now when people look at it they’re like well you know look how much talent was on the Raptors in hindsight because of you know Fred went on to be an all-star pascal went on to be an AllNBA player norm went on to be a sixman of the year type og went on to be a Max player like so like when people point that out I think that’s totally fair and that’s totally right i would say that 2019 especially cuz you know I’ve really gone back this year and re-watched a lot of those games i’m like “Oh the realities of the team at that point was that that wasn’t they didn’t put it all together just yet.” Like that was still very much a team that was sort of like figuring it out as they went along because they added Mark like two months before the playoffs they added Kawawaii you know eight months before the playoffs so like that’s also why we love that 2020 team right like a lot of those guys took a next step because of that swagger that confidence they got from winning the title right and they started moving the ball because Kawhai wasn’t running ice every but hey shout outs to Kawhi man we needed those ISOs man run more ISOs it’s like it’s like it’s like saying Shay runs 20 ISOs it’s like yeah but you know come on so I don’t like this list at all though from Cal Colin man I don’t I don’t get it it feels like star power base more than anything else it’s like which team had the most stars let’s rank them in this order it’s like all right that’s stupid analysis so that’s a good place to leave it if you want to carry on our discussion head on over to Locked on Raptors Discord link is in the description will let the people know where they can find you yo um yeah listen to the pod hello and welcome um you know we have Big V on uh a pretty decent amount of course with all the projects you know like I feel like outside of Alex I feel like Big V is like at least number three in terms of Well I got Blake’s in there too blake’s in there too shouts to Shouts to Blake all right fine number four number four on the list of who’s most frequently on the projects that I’m on but um yeah man uh all love to Sean and his family of course you know uh congratulations to them and uh yeah let’s let’s see what the draft brings us you know um yeah I think that uh if we honestly I I know there’s a lot of like trade rumors and excitement everything like that but if we just come out of this with a pretty talented young player who can play center for us long term I think that I’m pretty happy with that and I think we should all be as well it’s not the big fish that everyone’s been rumoring and talking about but that’s going to be okay with me man let’s just let’s just be patient here yeah totally agree appreciate you Will for coming on thank you to the fans for making Locked on Raptors your first listen today for your second listen check out the 2025 locked on NBA mockdraft a five episode series with the most comprehensive NBA draft analysis from NBA experts to college experts to NBA draft experts find the 2025 locked on NBA mockdraft on NBA board and Locked on NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts yeah I mean I think that one’s worked out okay right like you end up with Jacobe um I don’t think anyone’s getting too excited about Rob Dillingham

The Toronto Raptors have historically prioritized drafting the best talent over a positional need. Is that the right move with a glaring need for a centre? Vivek Jacob is joined by Hello and Welcome’s William Lou to discuss.

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