Must watch March Madness prospects for Toronto Raptors fans | Stephon Castle, Yves Missi & more!

Must watch March Madness prospects for Toronto Raptors fans | Stephon Castle, Yves Missi & more!

On your Tuesday episode of lock on Raptors March Madness begins this week and we take a look at the college prospects who might be around when the Toronto Raptors are picking at maybe 6th maybe 16th maybe 20th maybe 32nd we’ll get into all that coming up with Matthew

Winnick from the score the wonderful college basketball right over there coming up on today’s show thanks for hanging you are locked on Raptors your daily Toronto Raptors podcast part of the locked on podcast Network work your team every Day hey what’s going on and welcome to another episode of Locked on Raptors part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day it is Tuesday March the 19th and I’m your host Sean Woodley I’ve been covering the Toronto Raptors now for 10 seasons on various platforms

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Draws near I think the first four games k off tonight which is very exciting um and we will dig into all the prospects who could be potentially Landing with your Toronto Raptors at some point in this draft where we don’t really know where the Raptors will be picking yet we

Know they’ll have picks will it be two picks will it be three picks will they trade all the picks we’ll see uh but here to break down the college end of things when it comes to the prospects is Matthew Winnick from the score their wonderful college basketball writer over

There who uh we go back to our days doing like CBL weekly at the little studio in Niagara Matthew it’s lovely to see you man how are you doing thanks for being here yeah thanks for having me you know I just realized in the background

Behind me for those on video I’ve got a OG and anobi Raptor’s Jersey and an Anthony Edwards Georgia Bulldogs Jersey so I feel like those Were Somehow the correct jerseys to have behind me completely not planned but some Raptors and some college I feel like that’s a

Good plan for the episode today we love it also fitting to have an Anthony Edwards Jersey the day after he gave a guy a concussion from dunking so hard which uh is scary for John Collins but also uh my God unbelievable thing to have on your dunk resume which is the

Most important resume one can have in the sport of basketball I’d argue um yeah so let’s get into it the Toronto Raptors of course they uh the season is a lost cause we are sort of running out the string here and you know far earlier

Than I ever have I’m sort of tilting my eye now towards draft coverage and digging in this week with March Madness starting feels like the place to get into it and yeah we’ll talk about the guys who are not in the college ranks which is frankly most of the more

Exciting prospects in this draft but there are plenty of guys playing for highlevel college teams sleeper college teams who might find their way into the draft whether it’s as a second round pick for the Toronto Raptors at the start of the second round with that Pistons pick or in the middle of the

First round with that Pacers pick potentially as high you know as number one potentially if they get some Lottery luck on lottery night on May the 12th um and so it’s hard it’s a morphus we don’t really know where the Raptors be picking but that’s the nice thing about this

Draft is there seems to be a wide range where a lot of these guys can fall I’m kind of dubbing this the ifs and butts draft if its and butts were candy and nuts this would be the most delicious draft you’ve ever seen however uh it’s

You know kind of loaded with guys who are full of caveats full of major question marks full of sort of one-dimensional skill sets where you’re not quite sure if the second dimension is going to come in and we’re going to try to Rattle through those guys here

Today but Matthew before we get into some specific names we’re going to talk about the Yukon guys Stefan castle and Donovan kingan we’ll talk about the Baylor guys jacobe Walter and Eve Mei among others uh just your sort of broad feelings about this college crop of

Prospects uh are you with the sort of consensus that this is kind of a me group of dudes I think as it currently stands there’s it’s a me group of dudes but there I think there’s a lot of projection that can be had I mean granted that’s every draft but we’re if

We’re going into the Yukon guys someone that I definitely think has some great projection moving forward is Stefan Castle keep in mind he’s on the best team in college basketball right that’s not something you usually say for one of the best prospects in this draft and I

Think that it’s hard for NBA scouts or fans to really see what he could do in a larger role because to be the fifth option on an NBA team or fourth option on an NBA team still requires a fair amount of you know usage in college if

You’re the fifth guy in a 40-minute game where the court is is shrunk and you’re not doing much and for ston Castle he’s become more efficient more effective and finding ways you you can tell someone who’s been a top prospect his entire life has been a top option on every team he’s played

On he’s found ways to be a a great complimentary piece whether that’s coming off of screens and driving to the Lane for a couple dribbles and a pull-up or his defensive skills have gotten better his playmaking skills have gotten better and to me his biggest draw is his

Frame he’s 66 215 he’s got long arms he’s really bouncy he’s got a great burst off of the dribble and I feel like he fits the mold of someone who may have not had the greatest college stats because of the system and because of his role but can can really explode you know

Once he gets into the NBA in the space and the floor opens up yeah that makes a lot of sense it’s uh yeah we we’ll dig into Castle a little bit more we’ll dig into all these kinds of guys who are on the you know in the tournament various

Of roles and you know again situations there’s guys on great teams who uh you know have that sort of difficulty of context to sort out there are guys on sort of less good teams or sleeper teams who are the clear main show in town and

How does that translate to the NBA in a sort of you know a lesser role than you would assume they’re they’re occupying for their sort of you know their sort of mid- major teams and whatnot we’ll get into all of that um do you have a a

Favorite um sort of team of prospects in this tournament match you uh to tune in for especially from the Raptor perspective right you got the OG Jersey there you’re clearly a Raptor’s guy uh is there a team that if you’re just sort of a Raptors fan says Hey Matthew I this

Is me asking you the question what team should I be most focused in on when it comes to the draft prospects who could land with my team uh which team is that I think that you’re probably gonna want to look at Kentucky uh just because of

The sheer number there is just so many possib like of their there’s probably nine guys maybe 10 guys on their roster that will play in the NBA one day three of which are probably lottery picks in this year’s draft and that’s Reed Shepard Rob Dillingham and Justin

Edwards unless the uh the Spurs pick uh the pick that we might give to the Spurs uh doesn’t does convey and we get that top six selection probably not getting Reed Shepard although that would be fantastic although you don’t really expect it from a 62 guy with you know

Not great measurables he is one of the greatest guards I’ve ever seen in college in terms of his IQ and being cerebral and fitting the game in his defensive instincts he’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen in college at you know making the right play defensively

Help defense Steals on double teams whatever it might be he’s number 10th nationally in steel R and he does not have the the length that some of these players that are are in that on that list um Rob Dillingham is sort of someone with a much larger range someone

Who might be there for that Pacers pick just because teams might be even more put off by his size than Reed Shepards because he’s listed at 176 pounds that’s not you know really lottery pick projection size and he’s at 6 foot three his defense is not Reed Shepards he can

Uh really get pushed around and lost but with the ball in his hands he’s he’s a maestro he’s he’s one of the best on ball scorers in college that I’ve seen come through the last couple of years I hear a lot of Lou Williams comps and I

Guess the question is if you’re picking a guy who’s an absolute heater off of the bench who can average 20 in a season despite not starting is that a lottery Pick and perhaps in this draft it is you might have to look towards guys with you know specific Specialties to fill a role

Even if they don’t project as much more just because like you said there’s so many question marks yeah I think that’s a pretty good way of summarizing sort of my rudimentary Research into this year’s draft which is like it’s not Laden with potential Stars Sam Vini had his new

Mock out this morning at the athletic and he sort of laid out like last year’s draft he had five guys he classified as tier one prospects the year before he had four guys he classified as tier one prospects sort of like okay these guys can be like all NBA player type

Projections this year he says he doesn’t even have anyone in tier two for him and so you’re looking at guys who are going to fill gaps who are going to fill roles the nice thing for this Raptor’s team is they have Scotty Barnes we know he’s

Going to be the dude they have em Manuel quickly they know he’s going to be their lead guard of the future and this is kind of a roster that is more in need of those connective pieces those guys who fill those gaps and skill that can tie

All the pieces they have already in house together this isn’t your typical Washington Wizards like rebuild where it’s just like oh God please get us the most talented player this isn’t the 07 Raptors where it’s like just like oh we win the lottery and we get Andrea barani

Like or the 06 Raptors and it’s like oh okay like this is bad for our overall health going forward as a franchise no like the Raptors got their guy and they might have more than just one guy to work with here going forward and so this draft could offer some pretty

Interesting opportunities whether it’s at six or higher whether it’s in that Pacers pick range between like 16 and 20 uh whether it’s in that Pistons P pick range we’ll get into all of that and I want to dive into the Yukon guys and the bayor guys coming up in just SEC as

Jacobe Walter Eve Mei Stefan castle and Donovan kingan are all particularly interesting potential fits with the Raptors maybe clinging less than the other three but we’ll get to that coming up in just one second Today’s Show is brought to you by our friends over at Stitch fix you know

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First listen of the day thanks so much for hanging out as we dig into the college prospects to watch in March Madness uh of course one of the challenging Parts as well here is a lot of the top college prospects did not make the tournament with their

Respective teams so we’re kind of with an even more Whittle down feel to watch here but that means we can get a little bit more specific with some of these guys and take some time to dig in we talked a little about Stefan castle in the first segment and he’s where I want

To begin because I think if the Raptors are at number six if they hang on to that pick if they jump up even to like four or something like that I think Stefon Castle could be a potentially very interesting fit on this Raptor team he plays for Yukon right now he’s sort

Of a a onew hybrid type 6667 uh nasty defender on both ends the big issue with him has been three-point accuracy although he’s had a nice finish to the season for Yukon does a lot of other stuff really well has some shake to him he’s a pretty fun player to watch

And seems just kind of like the type of maniac you want on your team to win basketball games Matthew I know you’re a Stefan Castle guy uh what’s the sort of scouting report on him for Raptors fans who may be interested in tuning in for

Yukon’s top guy yeah you said it if if he build if he builds that three-pointer up I think the ceiling is is really high a guy that I I like to throw around and it’s it’s not a name I should be throwing around lightly but he kind of

Reminds me of Donovan Mitchell in a way where he kind of has the the one two guard combo size Mitchell it’s more with the wingspan than the height but right he has playmaking ability he’s not necessarily a primary point guard but he can take over the team if your guard if

Point guard’s off the on the bench um he but he does fit that two guard mold he has great size he’s a great defender athleticism burst speed bounce with Mitchell the shot was in the mid-30s I think 34% at Louisville with Rick patino uh Castle is at 28% this

Year but it’s worth noting that it’s 33% in conference play in the non-conference schedule which is basically November and December he went 1 for 11 so it’s getting better he’s becoming more comfortable I I think that with the way that NBA players are learning how to shoot you know moving forward from

College there’s no reason why he can’t become at least an average three-point shooter and keep in mind a lot of these shots are off of screens off of curls off of Bounce they’re not completely wide open uh jump shot threes but I did a study last year when I was

Looking towards last year’s draft and and sort of because wanyama scoot Henderson and the Thompson brothers were all below 30% at their respective levels before the NBA from three but Henderson and wenyama had much better free throw numbers and uh I did some research and it cor they there’s like the old adage

That if you can shoot free throws you can shoot threes but it really is true if you look into historical data about uh free throw shooters in castles it’s 76% on the year and he’s gotten there 90 times so it’s not like he’s a non-shooter I do think that the

Three-pointer can come along and that would make him you know like a really good in between fit uh with quickley point guard skills and and Barnes you know on the wings slash his point forward ability yeah I I think the idea of pairing him in the back court with

Quickly if you know you’re assuming that Gary Trent Jr is either moving on this summer or gets moved to Mora bench roll to sort of help with the defense in in the long term you know obviously grd dick is going to have a claim to a

Starting job at some point down line as well but given the lack of wing defense this team has and the lack of size they have I feel like going like with like a six7 dude at the two guard next to quickly gives you some pretty good size

To work with with RJ Barrett with Scotty Barnes feeling in those three and fours obviously the three-point shooting if it’s not there it makes that fit with Barrett pretty untenable and the fit with Barnes pretty untenable especially if your starting center is going to be yaka purle who’s a total non-shooter we

Got to see if Barnes can bounce back next season and sort of recover his three-point stroke from the first half of this year we got to see if RJ Barrett shooting 42% on mostly wide open Catch and shoot looks is going to hold up as of course we’ve seen him oscillate as a

Three-point shooter throughout his career but if castle like you say is an average three-point shooter sometime down the line that is a lineup that makes a lot of functional sense and you kind of make back some of the size that you lose in the front court and on the

Wings by having castle in the back court with Emanuel quickly I uh yeah he is my favorite guy so far and again I’m very early on into my sort of always rudimentary Research into this stuff and I like to lean on people who are far

Smarter than I am to sort of build what I feel about these guys but it’s nice to hear that you’re feeling pretty good about castle as well um and yeah you know probably not a guy who will be there at the Pacers pick it seems like

He’s kind of on the up and up and if Yukon goes on a Deep Run that will almost surely mean he’s like a lottery pick at the very worst he’s been mocked anywhere between like one and 15 I think Kevin Conor might have him number one in

His most recent mock or someone has him number one um and so yeah there’s you know a wide range but probably going to have to be a situation where the Raptors keep their pick to get Stefan castle if they do you know it’s not a sexy draft

It’s not a great draft to be picking number six but that could be a nice consolation prize for the Raptors if that does happen um Donovan kingan 72 gigantic Center blocks a million shots also plays for Yukon um the sort of again there’s ifs and butts with all

These guys I think I like Castle because the ifs and butts are like the least extreme with kinging it’s uh can he play more than like half a game at the college level and stay on the floor he’s his minutes have ratcheted up down the stretch but what you read on kingan he’s

A again 72 dude uh maybe not the most Fleet of foot but he’s got some passing chops he’s got finishing chops and he’s got extreme Rim protection chops where you at with klling and what do you think of him if he were to be in the range for

The Raptors with that Pacers pick for example I mean I’m not a huge fan I think though my PA is I also was not a huge fan of Walker Kessler coming out of Auburn and he proved to be the shot blocking definitely transferred over but Walker kler was the best sha Blocker in

College basketball in America when he was taken late in the first round kingan while an excellent sha blocker is is in the top 20 but he’s not in the top 10 or number one like Kesler was um I don’t really believe in his lateral quickness I think is that that’s what it comes

Down to you can be a great shot blocker and if you are not able if you play a drop coverage with him he’ll be fine but his footwork isn’t unbelievable his foot speed is not great enough that you can do any other scheme with him and I think

That when we’re talking about first round picks and I’ve even seen him in the lottery a couple of times why are we still picking big men who can’t move their feet well enough and he’s made two threes this season he’s made two threes his entire career his two years at Yukon

It doesn’t really make a ton of sense to me he his touch is okay we talked about can you shoot based off of free throw projections he’s a he’s a 57% free throw shooter this year and yeah his passing skills are fine but keep in mind this is

The most you know fluent offense in the country they’ve basically brought back their entire Team all the players on their team now are from their squad last year obviously they lost uh Andre Jackson and Adama sonogo and Jordan Hawkins but they have you know a similar system he he’s very comfortable in it

They drop him very heavily so that he doesn’t have to deal with uh switching onto guards and they kind of have this perfect little system for him to be super effective and he has been super effective but I don’t see his style of play transferring over to the NBA in a

Way where he is worthy of a lottery pick even in a lesser draft like this one is yeah I’m with you on Kling and also like the way the Raptors are now set up they’ve got oen and purle as their centers presumably for next season and that’s not to say that that precludes

Them from going to draft to Center if they jump up in the draft and take Alex SAR with the first or second pick then fine like that’s that’s great it’s a prospect you can grow on um but I think they’re not in the position where they

Just go have to go say oh we got to get like a Christian Koko replacement just as like a third Rim protecting big I think if they’re going to take a swing on a big it’s got to be someone who could be the big of the future and I

Don’t see that with kinging from what I’ve seen so far um a guy who on Baylor maybe profiles as the type of defensive bouncy switchable Defender that might be worth swinging on is Eve Mei uh he’s really interesting to watch he’s kind of like he sometimes looks like Bambi on

Offense and then sometimes he throws down Extremely Loud lobs um you know defensively he seems to have all the chops in the world and I do think the Raptors have to prioritize defense with this year’s draft they just need Defenders they need size on this team as

Well and Eve Mei who you know seems to be the type of guy who could anchor a defense as a big man he’s pretty interesting the offense not there he’s not a three-point shooter he’s not a very good passer his assist rate I believe I was reading the No Ceilings

Breakdown of Mei kind of in their college prospects preview and it was like his passing and sort of assist rate is like shockingly low which is not what you want especially for a team that’s running the offense they are where the bigs are heavily involved as Playmakers

Um but talk to me about Eve Mei I’m pretty fascinated by the defensive upside of this dude yeah he has 13 assists on the season and uh 31 131 mfield goals so that’s not uh but they don’t use him in that role like when I

Watch him play I see a lot of draft year Clint capella obviously okay now he’s in Capella’s in his 30s and he doesn’t have the same bounce that he once had but think you know uh Rockets capella with James Harden just an elite roller an elite rim protector has the size and the

Speed to be able to hang with guards if you get switched onto them and there there isn’t the best there isn’t a better Rim runner in this draft it’s not even close he is extremely Twitchy off of the bounce and you said Christian Koko replacement obviously it’s easy to

Compare them both they’re both cameroonian but the big difference for me is is Mei is fast like Mei has quick twitch movements Koko while super long and able to to finish lobs and to protect the rim wasn’t the same athlete vertically or you know sprinting speed

That he that that Eve Mei is and I think that’s really enticing type of Defender that you don’t really need to become a great shooter and you see a lot of these guys in the NBA thriving whether it’s say hartstein or Mitchell Robinson in the at the Knicks or capella like we

Mentioned the one question is does he fit with with Coach darkar rakovich system because he’s not going to be able to I don’t see anytime soon be able to stand at that high post and make passes over the defense to you know players cutting or players getting open for

Three like we said 13 assists on the season so if that if if darko’s system can fit a rim Runner there isn’t a better one than Mei but if your whole system is we want kolin we want yaka purle running High post passing action then you’re you’re not picking him

Because he can’t run that system yeah you know it would be interesting to see how flexible they are with the types of guys they have and also like how much they feel like they can develop a guy to sort of morph into the system to take advantage of his ample defensive gifts

Um you know I think as much as purle and oen offer a lot you know and purle in particular is a rim protector in sort of traditional drop coverage having someone who could just be a straight switch Defender 40 with the five would be pretty damn cool as an

Extra tool in the tool kit uh fascinated to see what Eve Mei does for Baylor the other guy on Baylor that I think I’m less in on for the Raptors uh potentially with that Pacers pick is jacobe Walter he was a pretty highly regarded guy coming out of college sorry

Coming into college coming out of high school um he’s sort of branded as a movement three-point shooter he’s only shot 3 4% from Deep this season um but I was listening yesterday to our pal Raphael Barlo unlocked an NBA big board and he was kind of comparing jacobe

Walters season at Baylor similarly to uh Keon George’s season at Baylor last year where you know maybe the the role he was in didn’t quite suit his talents and you’re probably going to see a better version of him in the pros than you would in college and you know Rafael

Barlo was extremely right on that one with keontay George last year um where are you at with jacobe Walter as a potential maybe as sort of a you draft him as your long-term Gary Trent Jr replacement type where you at there I think that it’s probably a good

Point like Keon George and jacobe Walter are different players in the sense that George is a much better playmaker and Walter in theory is a much better jump shooter but uh Baylor plays in the Big 12 which is by far the best conference in college basketball and extremely

Extremely physical can be very hard for freshman to to adapt and there’s such thing as as a freshman wall really where as the season goes on and you’re not used to playing so many games against physical teams you slow down so jacobe Walter in the non-conference portion of

The Season that would be November and December he went 34 of 80 from three and that’s uh you know it’s in the high 30s maybe it’s probably in the high 40s actually well above 40 um in the conference portion of the schedule that’s January February March he went 34

Of 117 so 34 makes on 80 and 34 and 117 that’s 29.1% so that that percentage has really gone down in large part because of the physicality of Big 12 basketball I do watching him in the non-conference portion of the schedule and that does count for something he is one of the

Best floor spacers in this draft he’s an electric scorer he can score off of the bounce but he’s best off the catch and off of coming off of screens I don’t think there’s a better three-point shooter in college outside of ky’s Reed Shepard in terms of projectability

Moving forward and you kind of just have to deal with the percentages like Keon George he’s going to become a lot more efficient in the NBA with more space less physical demands and more practice and more strength on his own frame I wouldn’t be concerned about the percentage if you’re looking for a

Sharpshooter in that you know Lottery range later Lottery range jacobe Walter would probably be my selection interesting uh we are going to continue on here Matthew and get into some rapid fire through some other guys who very much fall under the ifs and buts category we’ll talk about Ryan Dunn

We’ll talk about Zach Edy everyone’s favorite large Canadian man uh and all that coming up in just one second to round out the show today’s show is brought to you by your friends over at LinkedIn jobs when you’re hiring for your small business you want to find quality professionals

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A half million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring to make it easier post your job for free at linkedin.com loock on NBA that’s linkedin.com loock on NBA to post your job for free terms and conditions apply round out the show here with Matthew Winnick the senior NBA writer or

Sorry NCAA writer over at the score I’m used to having Joel wolfond on the show with the NBA both so we’re good yeah perfect well then this is why you’re a fantastic person having the show you know fall is the thing um so Matthew let’s get into some rapid fire guys who

Very much fall under the category of this guy does this thing extremely well but there’s this extremely enormous caveat that kind of diminishes his value I want to begin with Ryan Dunn from Virginia everything you read about this guy is this guy is a ridiculous defensive prospect maybe the best

Defensive prospect uh in like recent memory I believe s said he’s like a better Defender now than herb Jones was coming out of school in his mock today uh that’s very high praise the problem is he shoots 20% on threes and down the stretch of the Season just kind of

Stopped taking them um there is some stuff he does on offense you know cutting offensive rebounding stuff like that but the the shooting seems to be like a real potential thing that could undo Ryan Dunn’s NBA potential what’s the pitch for you on Ryan Dunn is he someone you would be interested in

Taking if that if that Pacers pick or even you know with that sort of uh Pistons pick at 31 or 32 if he’s there um or is the shooting enough of a red flag for you to say no can’t do it in today’s NBA I definitely wouldn’t consider with

The Pacers pick maybe with the Pistons pick in the second round uh like we said free throws 53% on free throws he’s not a great complete non shooter I I hate to I know Raptor fans aren’t the biggest Jaylen McDaniels fans in the world right

Now unfor that’s kind of the comp for me Jaylen McDaniels is 69 Ryan Dunn 68 around similar body types super long if they Ryan Dunn plays for a great defensive system so those defensive numbers are there but offensively you’re like oh well maybe he can hit a couple

Of shots so we can leave him on the floor for his defense and then he just can’t hit a couple of shots maybe one day crazier things have happened and that’s why I think maybe very early in the second round with the Pistons pick it’s just worth a flyer like throw him

To the wind maybe that three-point shooter sticks and then you have an elite Defender but if you can’t contribute at all offensively on an NBA floor especially if you have any other spot in your lineup reserve for a non-shooter which the Raptors do perhaps in multiple positions it’s gonna be a

Really tough fit it’s a bummer because his wing defense is so badly needed on this team but yeah I don’t think you can draft a guy with that far to go you know there’s one thing to say oh well this guy can learn how to shoot guys with

This little in terms of projectable stuff three-point shooting wise very rarely figure it out it’s a harder thing to do than it’s just oh just teach him to shoot and he’s fine like if everyone could just learn to shoot then everyone would be amazing and that’s just uh not

The reality unfortunately um I want to ask you about Zack Edy uh you know probably doesn’t he’s kind of in the clinging range where it’s like okay like they do do they need a hulking big man like this I think Ed obviously has flashed a little bit more in terms of

Offensive skill than kingan has uh as a college player two-time defending college player of the year he’s bloody awesome at Purdue um thoughts on Edy maybe he’s a guy they take with that with that Pistons pick if he’s there it seems like he might actually go in the

First round so maybe that rules him out for the Raptors because I don’t see them using their Pacers pick on him but uh what’s your read on Edie and his sort of NBA projectability his NBA predictability is he’s shown that on a court where basketball is played he can be unbelievably good at

Doing that sport um obviously there are major flaws in his game he is not fast he cannot run the floor super well uh and he cannot defend anything other than a deep deep drop coverage and even still he has his flaws there he’s not overly long despite his Elite size but in the

Same way that you know uh boban mayanovic in the mid 2010s like 2010s was a guy that you could put in for 12 15 minutes and just be unbelievably efficient and effective from two-point range that’s what Zack Ed can do your defense is going to have to play a

Certain way when he’s on the floor but that doesn’t necessarily mean that a drop coverage based team has to pick him because you’re not going to play him 30 minutes a game if you have 12 to 15 minutes allocated for someone who’s going to provide Elite offense and Elite

Size at The Rim defensively that’s got to be worth something I don’t think it’s worth a first round pick but it’s worth something and it’s worth a pick somewhere interesting stuff we’ll see about Edie uh clearly you know you hope Purdue doesn’t uh do the thing where

They get waxed in the first round by I guess it’d be a 16 seed not a 15 this year um that would be nice be nice to see Ed take a nice Deep Run here um let’s go to the Colorado guys two guys who I think you know one’s being

Projected much higher than the other they play in a first four game tomorrow for those interested in the prospect side of things you’re rooting for Colorado to win against Boise State tomorrow um you have Cody Williams who’s projected in the lottery right now I believe San Vini has him going seventh

With the Raptor pick to the Spurs in His Latest mock uh you know brother of Jaylen Williams on the uh the the good Jaylen Williams on the Thunder of course um and you know he’s a bit bigger he’s 6 foot eight he’s got that wing profile that this Raptor team really needs there

Are questions about him as a sort of shot Creator questions about him as a rebounder he’s like got horrible horrible rebounding metrics in college and then Tristan D Silva is projected to go later on maybe with that Pistons pick range and the early second round late

First round type thing um but he seems to be more sort of like a high floor guy who’s been around who kind of does a little bit of everything I kind of love Tristan D Silva as someone who loves adults uh who just like know how to play

Basketball he’s probably going to be one of my dudes here as we progress forward in the draft process but uh Cody Williams Tristan to Silva you know who would you prefer as sort of a fit on the Raptors and you know what you sort of read on both of them as uh prospects

Here and sort of what you’re watching for in the tournament from each of them yeah Williams I think probably would be a bit of a of a spotty fit especially early in his career he definitely has the length and he has the projectability as someone who could be a

Great three and D wi but because he’s not a playmaker and because he’s not a great shooter yet I don’t really see how he Blends in that lineup right now we talked about Stefan Castle alth Al although both of their three-pointers are blossoming Castle has that playmaking skill to fall back on that

Cody Williams which you’d think oh well Cody Williams Jaylen Williams is an awesome playmaker he’s basically a pseudo point guard that is not something that they share in their games so I would say if you’re projecting Cody Williams as someone who has the same playmaking jobs as Jaylen don’t um I

Think You’ probably still pick him in the top 10 in this draft just because of the the high school pedigree and because of the length but he’s definitely far from a finished product um Tristan D Silva throw personality out of the ring because they could be more different but

He reminds me of Kyle kosma in his game and the way that he’s 6869 small forward power forward not going to play a ton of Center great shooter decent with the ball in his hands can get to the basket pretty well for someone at 69 220 um hybrid tweener

Forward who I think you know there that was once a bad word in NBA scouting pools I think right now that’s a great thing someone who can play multiple positions knock down threes and put the ball on the floor sounds like a great bet to me and he you’re not looking at

The same range draft wise for him so I don’t see why he couldn’t be a good fit especially if he drops down to the 31st pick yeah uh I’m going to be fully on the D Silva bandwagon I really hope Colorado wins this game because I want

To see them play a little bit deeper into the tournament uh yeah Cody Williams worth noting you know he’s shot 42% from three might go woo 42% It’s like super low volume uh his last five games 0 for one 0 for one over for one

Over for one over for one uh kind of gives you a a picture of the volume you’re getting from Cody Williams from Deep uh couple actually one last guy I want to talk to you about and it is a fascinating play replaced for Grand Canyon tyion Grant Foster watch this

Dude’s highlights he is like an absolutely electric scorer um kind of bounced around I believe at Kansas for a bit at a couple different schools had two years off due to uh cardiac troubles he had two cardiac arrests if I’m not mistaken uh and now is back he’s a 24

Year old he’s been around a long time and you know he seems like he might be in line if Grand Canyon can do the sort of 12 seed upset thing to be the type of guy who boosts his draft St to get into the draft conversation this year despite

His age because he’s just that electric of a scorer seems like a pretty awesome story one way or another to be in the spot he’s in considering what he’s gone through medically over the last couple Seasons uh but again sort of an extreme caveat Guy where look at all the scoring

He does but he’s 24 and has had two cardiac arrests um where are you at with tyion Grant Foster are you excited to watch this dude in the tournament yeah so he was the junior college player of the year before going to Kansas where he struggled with deficiency

Depal was great for the game that he played before the cardiac arrest year off Grand Canyon um look Grand Canyon’s going to play a St Mary’s team in the first round here and St Mary’s does not play an NBA style of Defense they play a deep drop they have giant dudes that

Aren’t athletic really a ton and they’re going to force him to take a bunch of difficult shots that he’s not really been taking all season and I’m worried I’m a little bit worried for him because he’s not going to be out in the open court there’s not going to be any

Transition game he’s going to be bogged down in the half court and I wonder how he succeeds I hope that he shows out scores 30 points the advance of the next round and he’s able to boost his draft stock but the problem with tyan Grant Foster is he isn’t an outstanding

Shooter physically six foot seven Great bounce great in transition unbelievable at drawing fouls he’s one of the best free throw uh Merchants I guess you can say that word in the in of college basketball um and those are skills that are definitely transferable defensively

He’s a beast he can be a beast in the NBA just because he’s 24 doesn’t mean he can’t move anymore I’m 24 so I can tell you for a fact that we can still move don’t us um don’t rub it in to the over 30 guy who can barely move not enjoying

That at all but uh and look I I think that what would really help him as a big tournament and I’m worried about the matchup uh but he’s definitely electric and I think that in an NB ba system you can plug and play him uh we look at

Someone like not a perfect comp but Naji Marshall is someone who had a long career at Xavier and he’s someone who sort of was physically ready for the NBA right away and it proved that he was ready for the NBA right away he played a big role on some Pelicans teams and I

Think that tyion Grant Foster can play a similar role but if you’re projecting anything more than a role player probably not given his development and where he is on his career path still someone definitely to watch out for and and could make a huge name for himself

In much yeah I wanted to talk about him because I do think with that Pistons pick he’s an interesting guy because the Raptors are clearly trying to like hit the go button with Scotty Barnes put a team around him that’s ready and if you can get someone in the second round who

Can just like jump in and play for you that is a massive thing especially when you’re just looking for guys to sort of fill out your death chart and roster and with a 30 second pick like you’re you’re sort of throwing darts anyway get a guy who’s a little more established little

More ready physically and has some scoring pop to his game I think that could be a pretty interesting piece for the Raptors to potentially look at hopefully Grand Canyon can pull off the upset and over St Mary’s and uh and continue this not also like very cool purple jerseys for Grand Canyon it’s

Always good to have in tournament uh we’ll leave it there Matthew this was amazing thank you so much for Lending your talents to the show I will absolutely be calling on you again before the draft to hop on if you’re at all interested in talking to my

Yammering ass again do you have anything you want to promote for the good people out there no just uh keep it lock on my Twitter that’s uh linked there below and on the score app tons of March Madness content is coming out shortly and currently excellent yeah Matthew Winnick

Wni i w n c wow I can’t read letters uh yeah check out all Matthew’s great work over at the score of course we got lots of Pals over at the score who do great work uh Joey cash Joe wolfond etc etc go and support what they’re doing there we

Will leave you there thank you so much we’ll come back tomorrow on Wednesday with another episode of Locked on Raptors in the meantime thanks for hanging support the show subscribe follow rate review Etc wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube and we’ll talk to you Wednesday bye-bye pathetic

In Episode 1597, Sean Woodley is joined by Matthew Winick (The Score) to chat about the college prospects Toronto Raptors fans should be keeping an eye on as they watch the 2024 NCAA Men’s March Madness Tournament, which begins with the First Four games tonight. Off the top, Sean and Matthew discuss the somewhat underwhelming crop of college prospects this year, as well as why Kentucky is a team Raptors fans should be keeping a close eye due to the sheer volume of prospects on their roster that could be available when the Raptors pick either in the Top-6, with Indiana’s pick brought back for Pascal Siakam, or in the early second-round with the Pistons pick acquired in the OG Anunoby trade. Next, Sean and Matthew discuss the key guys at UConn — Stephon Castle and Donovan Clingan – -as well as the two potential Raptors selections at Baylor — Yves Missi and Ja’Kobe Walter — and where each of their skillsets would fit on the Raptors roster. Lastly, they run through some prospects rapid fire style, with quick thoughts on Purdue’s Zach Edey, Virginia’s Ryan Dunn, Grand Canyon’s Tyon Grant-Foster, and Colorado’s Tristan da Silva and Cody Williams.

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