Raptors 2011-2012 Tanking/Draft Anticipation

[Built Ford Tough]

Yay for meaningless winning streaks to ruin the chances at a great draft pick!

 

[Sħãlïq™]

Beats me why the #@$% are they doing this...

[DunkinDerozan]

the only good thing out of these wins is seeing that with the raptors have the ability to play well with the lineup we have now. the additions we'll have going into next season will make us that much better.

[Built Ford Tough]

That win against Boston last night pretty much crushed any chance at finishing in the bottom 4 and really hurt the chance of finishing 5th last.

 

They now sit 2 wins up on both Cleveland and Sacramento.

 

Sacramento plays - Por, SA, OKC, @Char, @OKC, LAL

Cleveland plays - @Was, Orl, @Det, Phi, NY, @SA, @Mem, Was, @Chi

 

I think it is safe to say Sacramento won't be making up those two wins. They will likely beat Charlotte but I don't see them winning anything else, even with Aldridge out for the year I doubt they bit Portland. Even if they do manage to putt off 2 wins, Toronto would have to lose out the remainder of their schedule, which I doubt happens.

 

As for Cleveland, they could make up the wins. Washington twice, Detroit, Philly and Orlando are all winnable games. Orlando is without Howard, Philly has been in a free fall and the other two are self explainatory. Again, though, Toronto would likely need to lose out or win no more than 1 of their remaining games and I doubt that happens.

[DunkinDerozan]

draft lottery is going to be pretty big. If we finish with like the 7th pick, and then lose and fall down even further, i will be pissed.

[Built Ford Tough]

Lol.

 

So basically everything goes right for the Raptors. Cleveland beats Washington last night and Thornton hits a game winner with 6 seconds left to give Sacramento a win over Portland.

 

What do the Raptors do? Blow out the Hawks by 20. Epic tank failing.

 

Maybe it is time to start talking about Damian Lillard, Perry Jones III, Jared Sullinger, Austin Rivers and Jeremy Lamb because unles the Raptors get lucky in the lottery their chances of being in a position to draft any of Davis, Drummond, Barnes, Beal, Robinson or MKG are looking less likely with each passing day.

[DunkinDerozan]

Lol.

 

So basically everything goes right for the Raptors. Cleveland beats Washington last night and Thornton hits a game winner with 6 seconds left to give Sacramento a win over Portland.

 

What do the Raptors do? Blow out the Hawks by 20. Epic tank failing.

 

Maybe it is time to start talking about Damian Lillard, Perry Jones III, Jared Sullinger, Austin Rivers and Jeremy Lamb because unles the Raptors get lucky in the lottery their chances of being in a position to draft any of Davis, Drummond, Barnes, Beal, Robinson or MKG are looking less likely with each passing day.

 

I still like Austin Rivers a lot. Not a big fan of Jeremy Lamb though. Also wouldn't mind taking a chance on PJ3.

[BasX]

Lol.

 

So basically everything goes right for the Raptors. Cleveland beats Washington last night and Thornton hits a game winner with 6 seconds left to give Sacramento a win over Portland.

 

What do the Raptors do? Blow out the Hawks by 20. Epic tank failing.

 

Maybe it is time to start talking about Damian Lillard, Perry Jones III, Jared Sullinger, Austin Rivers and Jeremy Lamb because unles the Raptors get lucky in the lottery their chances of being in a position to draft any of Davis, Drummond, Barnes, Beal, Robinson or MKG are looking less likely with each passing day.

 

What a sad list that is. But that's what happens when the tank goes awry. If I had to pick from that list I guess I'd take Lillard or Lamb but even Lamb is iffy to me. Jones is probably #1 I'd stay away from just from the amount of times I've seen him this year.

[Built Ford Tough]

What a sad list that is. But that's what happens when the tank goes awry. If I had to pick from that list I guess I'd take Lillard or Lamb but even Lamb is iffy to me. Jones is probably #1 I'd stay away from just from the amount of times I've seen him this year.

 

Lamb would be my first choice, followed by Lillard. After that, I'd just say [expletive] it and roll the dice on PJ3.

 

I also forgot to mention Kendall Marshall, but I don't like him for Toronto as I think the Raps offense would have much of the same problems as they do with Calderon.

 

You know what is the worst part about the Raptors playing around .500 ball over the past 2 weeks? New Orleans is playing great since Gordon came back and are now up to 19 wins. If you take away the Raptors two wins over Boston and Atlanta over the last week, they would be a half game away from being 3rd worst. Instead, they are just 1 game away from 9th worst.

 

Awesome.

[Built Ford Tough]

Yay for the 8th pick.

 

What a [expletive]ing joke.

[DunkinDerozan]

we even suck at tanking. holy shit i'm mad.

[Built Ford Tough]

we even suck at tanking. holy shit i'm mad.

 

This should cheer you up.

 

Remember when I complained about the two Boston wins and the Atlanta win and you said not to worry about it as the two Bobcat losses made up for it? Well, if they would've lost those games like they should've, the Raptors would have the 3rd pick.

 

[DunkinDerozan]

This should cheer you up.

 

Remember when I complained about the two Boston wins and the Atlanta win and you said not to worry about it as the two Bobcat losses made up for it? Well, if they would've lost those games like they should've, the Raptors would have the 3rd pick.

 

 

Holy [expletive].... this sucks. Oh well, the draft lottery can change everything. Hopefully for the better

[Built Ford Tough]

Raptors lose tiebreaker against Golden State and will officially (barring freakish lottery luck) pick 8th and will have a 3.5% chance of getting the first pick.

 

On the bright side, they get the 7th pick in the 2nd round instead of 8th.

 

 

I would not be surprised at all if they trade the pick now. In fact, assuming they don't move up, I'd be willing to bet that the pick is traded either on draft night or before it. You could tell that Colangelo was after one of MKG or Barnes with all of his comments about the draft and needing a small forward, but at 8 there is no chance that either of them are there.

 

I don't know if they will trade out all together, but I'd be very surprised if they stay at 8. This is all just my personal belief, of course.

[Built Ford Tough]

Some new draft stuff over the past few days.

 

Colangelo is one of many GM's/Scouts taking in the workouts in Santa Barbara:

 

Chad Ford ‏@chadfordinsider

About 80 NBA scouts and execs here in Santa Barbara including Kevin O'Connor, Mitch Kupchak, Bob Meyers, & Brian Colangelo

 

Perry Jones impressing in workouts playing as a small forward:

 

Chad Ford ‏@chadfordinsider

Perry Jones is killing it in this workout. Playing as a 3. Speed, skill, explosiveness, soft jumper. Energy. Another Paul George?

 

 

 

Dion Waiters is impressing everybody and Ford recently moved him into his top 10. So much for getting him in the 2nd round like I hoped so desperately for earlier in the season.

 

A number of NBA scouts who I really respect have been telling me for more than a month that the real sleeper in this draft is Syracuse sophomore Dion Waiters.

 

One GM went even further. "There are really only two potential superstars in this draft. One is a sure thing -- freshman Anthony Davis. The other one is Waiters. He can be an electric scorer in the NBA. There's some Dwyane Wade in him."

 

Comparing anyone to Wade is going too far. Waiters doesn't have Wade's elite leaping ability nor does he have his freakishly long wing span.

 

Still, very few NBA GMs or scouts doubt his talent, and most of them won't hesitate to compare him to Tyreke Evans. Waiters is one of the draft's best scorers and showed at Syracuse that he can get to the basket at will.

 

Waiters is a solid workout guy. He does enough to impress but not a lot that wows. But when he's actually playing the game, it's all wows.

 

He carved through the defense to the rim at will. He hit several 3-pointers, fadeaways, spins to the basket. He initiated the offense and got others involved. He got whatever he wanted and ... yes, he played inspired defense on the other end.

 

"I can't wait for the real workouts to begin," Waiters said. He knows that he's currently in a scrum with Jeremy Lamb, Austin Rivers and Terrence Ross and will likely work out with them directly once the Chicago combine is over. He's got a message for them, too. "I'm going to try to destroy them. I love to compete. If I have a weakness, it's that I'm too competitive. But I think once workouts come, that will be my biggest strength."

 

Teams still have legitimate on-the-court concerns. He's a bit small for his position. He's struggled with conditioning in the past. He needs to be a consistent shooter and, yes, he still can improve his defense.

 

But if he works out well and resolves some of the concerns about his personality, there's no reason he couldn't go as high as No. 6 or 8 on draft night. He's that good.

 

 

‏@franfraschilla

Great insight into Dion Waiters by Chad Ford. No sleeper to me. Saw it close up!

 

Probasketballdraft ‏@Probballdraft

@franfraschilla Agreed on Waiters talent but disagree that he is a PG. SG all day. Would be a waste of his talents.

 

Steve Kyler ‏@stevekylerNBA

The Dion Waiters hype is justified... Nice jump shot. Has NBA size. Big strong guard.

 

 

 

Jordan Taylor will be working out for the Raptors. If he was picked, it would likely be the Pacers 2nd rounder.

 

Workouts up next for @JMTaylor11: @SacramentoKings, @Bulls, @Bucks, #Raptors, @NYKnicks & @Suns. #FrequentFlyerMiles

[DunkinDerozan]

Some new draft stuff over the past few days.

 

Colangelo is one of many GM's/Scouts taking in the workouts in Santa Barbara:

 

 

 

Perry Jones impressing in workouts playing as a small forward:

 

 

 

 

 

Dion Waiters is impressing everybody and Ford recently moved him into his top 10. So much for getting him in the 2nd round like I hoped so desperately for earlier in the season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jordan Taylor will be working out for the Raptors. If he was picked, it would likely be the Pacers 2nd rounder.

 

Thanks for the updates. When is the Draft lottery? I thought it was coming up but haven't heard anything.

[Built Ford Tough]

Thanks for the updates. When is the Draft lottery? I thought it was coming up but haven't heard anything.

 

Wednesday. TSN is airing it at 8 PM EST.

[DunkinDerozan]

Wednesday. TSN is airing it at 8 PM EST.

 

Ok thanks. Do you know the possibilities of where we could be drafting? I think I read something that wecan either move into the top three, stay at 8 or fall to 9, 10 or 11.

Edited May 25, 2012 by DemarDerozanDunk

[Built Ford Tough]

Ok thanks. Do you know the possibilities of where we could be drafting? I think I read something that wecan either move into the top three, stay at 8 or fall to 9, 10 or 11.

 

1st - 3.5% chance

2nd - 4% chance

3rd - 4.8% chance

 

8th - 70.4% chance

9th - 16.5% chance

10th - 0.08% chance

 

They can also technically fall to 11th, but the chances of that happening is in the ten-thousandth of a percent range, so it isn't even worth mentioning.

[Built Ford Tough]

Raptors will be sending Dwane Casey to represent them for the lottery.

 

Hopefully he slaps the dumb bow tie off of Gilbert's goofy ass son.

[Built Ford Tough]

I said it before, but I'd be very surprised if they aren't trading this pick. All the talking heads (Devlin, E. Smith, D. Smith, Jones, Wolstat etc...) talked about how they think the pick will be dealt if they didn't move up tonight.

 

As if that wasn't enough, Colangelo said this after the lottery:

 

Eric Koreen ‏@ekoreen

“In the eight spot, we feel like we’re going to get a very good player.” - BC

 

But then followed it with this:

 

Eric Koreen ‏@ekoreen

A second later, he says the value of the pick could create a trade asset. You don't need to know anything else from this

 

Question is who do they target? They are clearly dead-set on finding a small forward and a point guard, and I imagine the point guard will be filled via free agency, so that likely leaves the SF spot.

 

EDIT: And this, as well:

 

Eric Koreen ‏@ekoreen

BC says adding three rooks to team probably isn't ideal.

 

That could mean they would look to stash a 2nd rounder overseas or look to combine them with their first to move up, but still worth mentioning.

[Built Ford Tough]

Some more info from that same interview:

 

Ryan Wolstat ‏@WolstatSun

In conference call Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo says they have players they like at 37 so likely will keep that pick

 

Ryan Wolstat ‏@WolstatSun

However, Raptors sound likely to deal the later second rounder and very much intend to consider moving No. 8 overall

 

Who really knows, though. Maybe it is all a BC smokescreen. I highly doubt it given his job status is up in the air next year, comments from Casey about wanting vets and now all this, but I guess it is a possibility.

 

If I had to give it a percent, I'd say it is 80% they trade it and 20% they keep it.

[Built Ford Tough]

Finally some workout news from ol' Dougie:

 

Stefanski said the Raptors, who also currently have two second-round picks, could bring in somewhere around 25 players for individual workouts once the Chicago camp is complete.

 

Those workouts are still being scheduled and could start as early as next week at the Air Canada Centre.

 

http://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/nba/raptors/article/1206194--nba-draft-raptors-head-to-chicago-combine-to-gather-info-on-top-prospects

 

Of course, I'd be surprised if it means anything because I still stand by my prediction at the end of the season that the pick will be dealt for a veteran small forward.

 

 

Also had this to say in regards to who is on the Raptors radar:

 

The likes of Connecticut guard Jeremy Lamb, Duke guard Ausin Rivers, North Carolina forward Harrison Barnes, Baylor forward Perry Jones III and Weber State guard Damian Lillard will most likely be on their radar.

[Check my Stats]

If we can get Rudy Gay for that pick (probably adding more but not a lot) I do it. If we keep the pick, best case we hope for a Rudy Gay caliber player anyways.

[DunkinDerozan]

If we can get Rudy Gay for that pick (probably adding more but not a lot) I do it. If we keep the pick, best case we hope for a Rudy Gay caliber player anyways.

 

8th pick + Ed Davis for Rudy Gay? I don't see Memphis doing it but who knows.