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Raptors land 13th pick in the NBA Draft: 13 thoughts on where Toronto stands

Published

1 year ago

May 17, 2023

The lottery deities did not favour the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night. They had a one percent chance of snagging the top pick and a 4.7 percent shot at moving into the top four. Neither hit, and they are slotted 13th in the 2023 NBA Draft, which is held on June 22. The San Antonio Spurs own three future Raptors draft picks and get to take Victor Wembanyama. Not fair.

All is not lost. This is an intriguing class, with a lot of guards in play right around where the Raptors project to pick. Here are my 13 initial thoughts (OK, closer to 11) on where the Raptors stand.

1. Raptors general manager Bobby Webster and vice president of basketball operations and player development Teresa Resch did not get the job done. They were, respectively, the on-screen representatives and drawing-room representatives for the Raptors. They must be held accountable. Next time, send The Raptor.

2. We can still make jokes, right?

3. I would be very surprised if the Raptors ended up trading out of the first round. It is not that they don’t want help in the present — they do. Of course, most rookies are unlikely to produce much in terms of winning basketball. However, having given up the 2024-first-rounder (top-six protected) for Jakob Poeltl, they need some more young talent. As has been proven over the last few years, that cannot all happen with second-rounders (of which they have none until 2026 anyway) and undrafted free agents.

The Raptor. (Cole Burston/Getty Images)

4. To the same point, they have a financial incentive to keep the pick, too. Quite simply, they need to find contributors on rookie-scale contracts. Other than Scottie Barnes, none of their developmental pieces have delivered consistently over the past two years. The Raptors surely still have faith in some of those players, most notably Precious Achiuwa. In order to function in the NBA, especially as the new CBA makes it more punitive to go over the tax, you need to draft well.

5. The Raptors have picked 13th once before. They took Ed Davis, who was the night’s unexpected draft faller, despite having a glut of forwards. Boss move. (That’s for OGs.)

6. However, it is obviously possible the Raptors make a trade to move spots — up or down. On the court, either Brandon Miller or Scoot Henderson would be phenomenal fits for the Raptors. If they had real conversations with Portland for O.G. Anunoby last year, I wonder if they could be revisited, either for Anunoby or Pascal Siakam, in a bigger trade that would include the Trail Blazers’ third pick.

7. Houston is the other obvious candidate to move down or out of the first round. The Rockets are picking fourth. However, they are planning to use their cap space and don’t have many players with meaningful salaries to trade. Same deal for Orlando, who has the sixth and 11th picks.

8. I am almost always of the mindset that a team should take the best player available, and that doesn’t change for the Raptors in this position. With so many unknowns, you might as well just pick the best guy and figure out the fit later. That comes with two caveats. The first: No rim-running centres. They want to bring Poeltl back in free agency and took Christian Koloko early in the second round last year. If they feel the need to add more depth there, it is usually a position that can be addressed cheaply in free agency.

9. The second caveat: Place extra importance on shooting. Not enough to pick a player who is clearly a tier below another, but as maybe the most important attribute. The two players I’m most confident will be Raptors next year, at least from last season’s core: Poeltl and Barnes. The Raptors need all the shooting they can get.

10. With all of that in mind, let’s try to narrow down to the four most likely picks at 13, at least for now. (This is an evolving process.) I’ll defer to The Athletic’s draft guru, Sam Vecenie, and go with Kentucky combo guard Cason Wallace first. That is who Vecenie has going 13th in his post-lottery mock, and also happens to be John Hollinger’s 13th-ranked prospect. He shot just 34.6 percent from 3 in his freshman year, but shot better than 75 percent from the free-throw line, suggesting some more shooting potential. He could help defensively, too. He had a back injury in college, which is concerning. (As it turns out, I ended up taking him in The Athletic’s beat writer mock draft, too.)

11. Vecenie called Kansas’s Gradey Dick the best shooter in the class, and that’s enough for me to circle him three times. He’s 6-foot-8, he took seven 3s per 40 minutes and shot better than 40 percent on them. He doesn’t have a huge upside, but he can shoot, cut and play hard defensively, even if he’s not the quickest defender when left on an island.

12. Michigan’s Kobe Bufkin is another guard, but more of a shooting guard than a lead guard. He needs to increase his attempts, but he bumped up to 35.5 percent from 3 this past year. He will absolutely need to fill out physically, but that is true of almost every rookie. He’s also got that big wingspan that the Raptors seem to like, plus the quickness to be a solid defender.

13. Finally, if the Raptors want to go big and long, they could look to local product Leonard Miller, who spent last year with G League Ignite. He was a double-double machine in the second half of the season, a big accomplishment given he was playing older players. He also showed more of a shot than he previously flashed, although it was on very low volume. Overall, he has a lot of similarities to Barnes, but he could be an obvious upside play.

Did I mention him only because the first high school he attended was Thornlea Secondary School, my alma mater? You’ll never know. Go Thunder. (Thornlea, not Oklahoma City.)

(Top photo of Gradey Dick: Ed Zurga / Getty Images)

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Red Wings sign Moritz Seider to 7-year deal worth nearly $60M

Published

5 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.

The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.

Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.

He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.

Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.

Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.

The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.

Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.

Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.

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Veterans Tyson Beukeboom, Karen Paquin lead Canada’s team at WXV rugby tournament

Published

6 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

Veterans Tyson Beukeboom and Karen Paquin will lead Canada at the WXV 1 women’s rugby tournament starting later this month in the Vancouver area.

WXV 1 includes the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations (England, France and Ireland) and the top three teams from the Pacific Four Series (Canada, New Zealand, and the United States).

Third-ranked Canada faces No. 4 France, No. 7 Ireland and No. 1 England in the elite division of the three-tiered WXV tournament that runs Sept. 29 to Oct. 12 in Vancouver and Langley, B.C. No. 2 New Zealand and the eighth-ranked U.S. make up the six-team WVX 1 field.

“Our preparation time was short but efficient. This will be a strong team,” Canada coach Kevin Rouet said in a statement. “All the players have worked very hard for the last couple of weeks to prepare for WXV and we are excited for these next three matches and for the chance to play on home soil here in Vancouver against the best rugby teams in the world.

“France, Ireland and England will each challenge us in different ways but it’s another opportunity to test ourselves and another step in our journey to the Rugby World Cup next year.”

Beukeboom serves as captain in the injury absence of Sophie de Goede. The 33-year-old from Uxbridge, Ont., earned her Canadian-record 68th international cap in Canada’s first-ever victory over New Zealand in May at the Pacific Four Series.

Twenty three of the 30 Canadian players selected for WXV 1 were part of that Pacific Four Series squad.

Rouet’s roster includes the uncapped Asia Hogan-Rochester, Caroline Crossley and Rori Wood.

Hogan-Rochester and Crossley were part of the Canadian team that won rugby sevens silver at the Paris Olympics, along with WXV teammates Fancy Bermudez, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan and Taylor Perry. Wood is a veteran of five seasons at UBC.

The 37-year-old Paquin, who has 38 caps for Canada including the 2014 Rugby World Cup, returns to the team for the first time since the 2021 World Cup.

Canada opens the tournament Sept. 29 against France at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver before facing Ireland on Oct. 5 at Willoughby Stadium at Langley Events Centre, and England on Oct. 12 at B.C. Place.

The second-tier WXV 2 and third-tier WXV 3 are slated to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 12, in South Africa and Dubai, respectively.

WXV 2 features Australia, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales while WXV 3 is made up of Fiji, Hong Kong, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Samoa and Spain.

The tournament has 2025 World Cup qualification implications, although Canada, New Zealand and France, like host England, had already qualified by reaching the semifinals of the last tournament.

Ireland, South Africa, the U.S., Japan, Fiji and Brazil have also booked their ticket, with the final six berths going to the highest-finishing WXV teams who have not yet qualified through regional tournaments.

Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team WXV 1 Squad

Forwards

Alexandria Ellis, Ottawa, Stade Français Paris (France); Brittany Kassil, Guelph, Ont., Guelph Goats; Caroline Crossley, Victoria, Castaway Wanderers; Courtney Holtkamp, Rimbey, Alta., Red Deer Titans Rugby; DaLeaka Menin, Vulcan, Alta., Exeter Chiefs (England); Emily Tuttosi, Souris, Man., Exeter Chiefs (England); Fabiola Forteza, Quebec City, Stade Bordelais (France); Gabrielle Senft, Regina, Saracens (England); Gillian Boag, Calgary, Gloucester-Hartpury (England); Julia Omokhuale, Calgary, Leicester Tigers (England); Karen Paquin, Quebec City, Club de rugby de Quebec; Laetitia Royer, Loretteville, Que., ASM Romagnat (France); McKinley Hunt, King City, Ont., Saracens (England); Pamphinette Buisa, Gatineau, Que., Ottawa Irish; Rori Wood, Sooke, B.C., College Rifles RFC; Sara Cline, Edmonton, Leprechaun Tigers; Tyson Beukeboom, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England);

Backs

Alexandra Tessier, Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, Que., Exeter Chiefs (England); Alysha Corrigan, Charlottetown, P.E.I., CRFC; Asia Hogan-Rochester, Toronto, Toronto Nomads; Claire Gallagher, Caledon, Ont., Leicester Tigers (England); Fancy Bermudez, Edmonton, Saracens (England); Julia Schell, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England); Justine Pelletier, Rivière-du-Loup, Que, Stade Bordelais (France); Mahalia Robinson, Fulford, Que., Town of Mount Royal RFC; Olivia Apps, Lindsay, Ont., Lindsay RFC; Paige Farries, Red Deer, Alta., Saracens (England); Sara Kaljuvee, Ajax, Ont., Westshore RFC; Shoshanah Seumanutafa, White Rock, B.C., Counties Manukau (New Zealand); Taylor Perry, Oakville, Ont., Exeter Chiefs (England).

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Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

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Vancouver Canucks star goalie Thatcher Demko working through rare muscle injury

Published

6 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.

The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.

He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.

Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.

He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.

Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

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