Raptors Remain Pickless Heading Into Thursday's Draft

So the Raptors to this point enter the NBA Draft tomorrow without a pick to speak of. There has been speculation from various outlets that the Raptors might look to jump back into the draft. I think everyone is merely guessing at this point. Masai Ujiri has shown through his handling of the Carmelo Anthony trade to New York that he tends to keep his cards close to his vest. When you add in the Raptors cap concerns I would see it as highly unlikely the Raptors jump into the first round.  It would seem to make little sense for the Raptors to commit to a guaranteed rookie contract at this point. If they do jump into the first round it might be an indicator of some major changes ahead.

Even if the Raptors are heading towards a complete rebuild I still find the chances of them jumping into the first round unlikely. Bryan Colangelo when he was still running the show made the idea of that next to impossible. Colangelo’s plan seemed to be to just add a few vets to the mix and hopefully find a landing spot for Andrea Bargnani. Ujiri also would seem likely to want to do the same in terms of Bargnani. If that would involve a pick in this draft would be the big question.

What seems the most likely is the Raptors to jump into the late first round or early second if they see a player that interests them. It also should be noted the Raptors have held no formal workouts prior to the draft which is somewhat of note. This does not mean that they may not have happened in a private workout. The Raptors have done this in the past even going back to there first year as they had a very quiet second workout with Damon Stoudamire. All this said the draft is much like the trade deadline and free agency situations become pretty fluid.

In addition, some DNB news to report as well today.  I am happy to announce you can now get our podcasts going forward on The Stitcher App. You will note the player on the right hand side of site. We our honoured to be part of Stitcher and hope this will make accessing our audio easier for all of our mobile users. You can still access the podcasts in all the same formats in the past as well.

Also want to thank St Louis Wings for their support this season. We hope to welcome them back as sponsor next season. Our agreement concludes at the end of the month and they have been a great partner for us for several years now. We are always looking for sponsors to join us. If you are interested get in touch with us. We can discuss rates for off-season or the upcoming Raptors season.