How can the Toronto Raptors upgrade on the wing? | Origins of an NBA Draft skeptic | Mailbag!

How can the Toronto Raptors upgrade on the wing? | Origins of an NBA Draft skeptic | Mailbag!

On your Wednesday episode of Locked on Raptors the Toronto Raptors should be asking the same question about their basketball team that I ask when I sit down at the local pub can I get some wings you are locked on Raptors your daily Toronto Raptors podcast part of

The locked on podcast Network your team every Day hey what’s going on and welcome welcome to another episode of Locked on Raptors part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day it is Wednesday March the 20th and I’m your host sea Woodley I’ve been covering the Toronto Raptors now for 10 seasons on various platforms you can on my work

Over on the hell website at Woodley Shan you can find the show on Instagram at lockon Raptors and of course you can join us in the locked on Raptors Discord server one day left for you to get your entries in for the locked on Raptors listener bracket challenge the code and

All the links and all that stuff you need are in the Discord in the March Madness chat so join us in there we would love to see it’s a great little Community we got building around the show should be a great place to watch March Madness Ball as we have the

Bracket going on and of course all the prospect watching that’ll be going on for Toronto Raptors fans as well would love to see you there in the Discord of course you can find the show for free R get your podcast follow subscribe rate review tell a friend it’s all

Appreciated when you do it and we’re also on YouTube you can find the locked on Raptors YouTube channel And subscribe hit the little or I guess yeah subscribe that’s the name follow or whatever the button is that it asks you to support the show on YouTube do that and then

Also hit the notification Bell and it will give you heads up every single time the show is about to premiere on today’s show let’s get to it I got a bunch of mailbag questions we’re going to dig into we’re going to talk about Team Canada and the perspective Olympic

Roster because look this is the state of the Toronto Raptors right now they play a game tonight they have none of their good players available I don’t know what we’re supposed to do with the games happening on the court right now so we’ll talk about other stuff like Team

Canada we’ll talk talk about the NBA draft we’ll talk about the need for wings being extremely dire on this team bunch of other good mailbag questions that came in as well it’s another reason to join the Discord by the way that’s where you get your questions sent in and

Answered this the only place I’m taking questions from these days so come and join us in the lockdown Raptors Discord all right let’s get to it the Discord server members have asked questions and we’re going to dig into them here this one comes from KJ asking what are the

Chances of acquiring an OG type Wing to start next season or drafting one that’ll be able to contribute from day one considering the Ws went with RJ and IQ in the OG trade not picks thus accelerating the Scotty timeline yeah this is the difficult situation the Raptors find themselves in is where in

Where they’re kind of are at the point where it seems like they want day one of next season to be go time with the Scotty Barnes Emanuel quickley RJ Barrett yakob purdle team and that’s not to say that go time means oh you have to

Go and be a top six seed and like an Eastern Conference Contender or anything like that no I think the goal next year is probably you know fight to be a top eight team at the very least and see if you can sneak into the six with um some

Luck with some you know over performance whatever it might be and I think that’s sort of part of the Eastern Conference where the heat look a little bit wobbly and who knows what’s going to happen with the Pacers do the magic find their guard the Bulls obviously I don’t think

Every a team to be all that fears you know feared of going forward um feared of not to be feared you’re not they’re not the team you’re afraid of I’m good at English it’s a really good thing I speak English for my job on camera and into a microphone either way that sort

Of you know six through eight range of the East is I think where this team wants to get and I don’t think they can get there right now without some serious upgrades on the wing and to KJ’s question look I think the chances of acquiring an OG type Wing are mostly

Zero because there are very few wings like OG in the world of basketball he is kind of a unique situation in that he can defend quite credibly one through five he’s a very good three-point shooter he is a guy who drives positive play simply by walking onto the floor

Those guys don’t grow on trees they are hard to find and so looking at the draft look even OG himself the way his career Arc went with the Raptors is sort of oneof a Kind you’re very rarely going to see someone drafted and then instantly

Become a starter on a 59 win team and and add and be like a a piece that helps that team get to that 59 win total that’s just like a an anomaly when it comes to Rookies and if you look at this year’s draft we talked about the draft

Yesterday if you want some draft talk on the college prospects uh to watch in March Madness go listen to yesterday’s show with Matthew Winnick from the score it was a great show um but the wing prospects this year they all come with pretty big caveats ogn and obi’s caveat

When he came into the draft was injury people were worried about his knee he had just had I believe ACL surgery MCL surgery whatever it was he had missed a bunch of time and it was unclear if the Medicals were all that good on his end

Of course those fears proved to be uh you know injury-wise obviously he’s had some injuries but the knees have always been pretty good for him and so I think that was overblown that was a miscalculation by teams and there’s you know 15 teams who probably wish they had

Taken OG before the Raptors got him at number 23 24 whatever it was um and so I think OG as a prospect was much more like physically ready and just kind of you know prepared to step into the role that he had on that Raptor team where he

Was super low usage he was there just to defend and be enormous which he was able to do not that many rookies are able to do that and so I would be kind of flabbergasted if any of the wing prospects in this year’s draft could step in and have a similar role where

They’re knocking down 38% of their threes and offering high-end Wing defense that’s just a lot to ask of any rookie let alone a rookie in a draft class that has been deemed to be kind of mad and is full of guys that have pretty big caveats and big developmental areas

Where they have to get a lot better to really be viable NBA players and so you know Cody Williams Mattis buis Ron Holland go on down the line these guys who might be available for the Raptors as Wing prospects whether they have the sixth pick or whether they’re picking

Later maybe they get lucky and jump up in the draft like all these guys are going to take some time maybe Zachary Rish rishes God his name is gonna be so hard to say um but Zachary Rees might be the one guy who you can kind of plug in

Play and say Hey you know maybe he’s not perfect but he offers some stuff this team needs he can knock down some threes he’s big etc etc maybe that’s the one guy where you think okay maybe he can have like an OG like impact upon entering the league he’s playing pro in

France maybe he’s more ready for the Pro game but beyond that and you know I would still say that’s probably a long shot with Ray but ree that is a hard name to say and I kind of don’t want the Raptors to take him just for that reason

But um yeah I just think it’s a pretty long shot that anyone will have that kind of impact from day one and so this leads me to sort of my preferred Avenue for the Raptors to take when it comes to their wing situation which is trade for somebody obviously much easier said than

Done you know it’s it’s hard to convince teams to part with their two-way Wings they are a diamond not a diamond dozen they are a hard type of player to find and maybe the most important type of player for completing rosters and being the finishing touches on lineups that

Make sense they give you more positional versatility more lineup diversity all that type of stuff and so it’s hard to find those guys that said I think this summer there could be an opportunity to strike with where the Raptors sit they have Surplus picks they have the Bruce

Brown contract as salary matching they have um you know the sort of financial landscape of the league shifting are teams going to be worried about being too expensive two three four years down the line are they looking to move off of guys before they have to pay them you

Know is a team like the Pelicans going to have wings available probably not because the Pelicans Rock and they should just keep that team together but you never know the Pelicans are cheap that’s the way they roll um The Wolves pretty notable news today with the uh backing for the ownership group there

Falling out what does that mean for their ability to pay the tax next season and be a very expensive team does the big contract of Jaden McDaniels for example become something they look to move off of to save some scratch if they wash out in the first round of the

Playoffs that’s interesting to keep an eye on um you know there’s all sorts of teams out there that have wings who might be getable the uh Brooklyn Nets are bad and terrible they have Dorian finny Smith who’s kind of a lesser guy um but if you could add him as like a

Stop gap on the wing maybe not the worst call obviously maau Bridges is like the white whale would be an absolutely perfect fit on this version of the Raptors with RJ Barrett Emanuel quickley Scotty Barnes and yakob hurdle flanking him that would be a pretty potent starting five that would give the

Raptors a pretty real shot at being a top six team next season can you convince the Nets to move on from him are you part of a bidding war for him that you lose because other teams have more stuff are those other teams with more stuff looking to hoard their picks

For bigger plays than a maau Bridges there’s all these sort of questions that make trades difficult and so while I think that’s sort of my preferred Avenue is to hunt and look for guys this summer I think the most likely solution to the wing problem is they probably draft one

Or two in the draft they will not be instant Solutions they’ll be guys who over time move into roles where they’re effective and and are part of the the bigger picture plans going forward but I don’t think you can expect much out of any rookie drafted this summer uh as far

As you know helping next year’s team win basketball games because the rookies don’t help win teams win basketball games it’s just kind of a rule for the most part um but you know if you can find some stop Gap additions on the market you know free agency wise

Trade-wise you know Buy Low type guys to sort of be the guys who fill in for the next year or two while the guys you draft this summer develop into being part of your core I think that’s probably the most likely Avenue here and a few guys come to mind Patrick Williams

Is sort of an interesting one still 22 years old has not been very good with the uh Chicago Bulls of course he’s not going to be back with them next season they I believe declined um you know return down his qualifying offer or whatever language there is to not have

Him on the team next season they have exercised that language in his contract and so Patrick Williams is an interesting guy is he someone the Raptors try to get on a byow a second draft type guy Florida State guy with Scotty Barnes um you know didn’t play together but there’s that Florida St

Connection I believe one year apart they surely know one another etc etc is that any sort of impact on uh him being a guy they covet maybe it makes him want to come to Toronto there’s also that um Williams is a guy who I think defensively brings what the Raptors

Badly need which is just size and like some thickness at the three and four positions maybe that’s a way they can go obviously it’s not gone super well for Patrick Williams in his career he’s had some injury stuff his development’s been stunted but again 22 years old this guy

I’m probably okay taking a look at he shot 40% from three this season in a small volume you know I guess not that small volume two and a half attempts a game that’s perfectly fine you’ll take that he’s been a good three-point shooter his entire career 41% on 2.8

Attempts a game maybe worth a flyer there despite the injury history with him um and so you know that’s a a guy to kind of keep an eye another one is like Naji Marshall with the Pelicans they have a million Wings they can’t pay him all and he’s a free agent this summer

He’d be a nice guy I mean his nickname is literally knife this is something the Raptors badly need is someone who is like mean and nasty enough to earn the nickname knife that would be sweet uh Naji Marshall is a guy have an eye on as

Sort of a stop Gap Wing solution I mentioned Dorian finny Smith uh Caleb Martin’s another free agent as well with the Miami Heat maybe he’s a guy you bring in although I’m a little less high on Caleb Martin he feels like maybe one of those heat magic guys who um after

Leaving the pixie dust of Southern Florida maybe becomes a little less effective that said he’s a pretty decent player player who is you know fits the part of what they need maybe he becomes a stop Gap Solution that’s the most likely outcome for the wing thing here

Is you know sort of middling mid-level exception or less signings this summer with the draft guys that you take hopefully becoming something assuming they covet Wings which I really really hope they do um but again the sort of big thing there is if there’s a swing to

Be made for a wing I think the Raptors will very much be in on that because I do think they want to hit the go button with this team starting next season and not have another year of non-competitiveness I frankly uh would lose my mind if they’re non-competitive

Again next season because it sucks to watch non-competitive basketball every night either way we’ll continue on come back on the other side get into some more questions from you the listeners including why am I so jaded about the draft people who listen to the show know

I’m kind of a draft skeptic we will get into my origin story as a draft skeptic coming up in just one second as we continue to go through the mailbag Today’s Show is brought to you by our good friends over at eBay Motors passion drive and patience what brings

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Your Wednesday edition of locked on Raptors of course tomorrow we will break down these skeleton Raptors without a manual quickly without RJ Barrett without yaka purle without Scotty Barnes uh taking on the Sacramento Kings tonight it’s not going to be pretty one would assume but hey the Kings have been

A roller coaster of emotion this year themselves maybe there’s a surprise spoilery win in there in the Raptors some way somehow highly doubt it without without quickly uh it’s going to be tough stuff either way we will uh have it broken down for you try to pull the

The Silver Linings as we’ve done with these games and we maybe have some thoughts on some college stuff too as we got Colorado on Boise State tonight with two interesting potential Raptors draft pick prospects and Cody Williams and Tristan D Silva going so uh draft stuff

Fully in gear here as well um but let’s get into another mailbag question from you the listeners this one comes from stago and as I teased before he asked which specific draft pick broke you to go into F them kids mode there has to be a specific player where you’re hyped

About that didn’t pan out to totally bail on the draft right if it’s not one specific guy please please name a group of players or a story why you have soured on that sweet sweet draft well I think it’s I’m surprised honestly that most Raptor like more Raptors fans don’t

Feel this way about the draft and like let me just get my general position out there the draft is important the draft is where you’re probably going to get very good players and you sort of build your team up and all that stuff like it’s great to have cost controlled guys

Who are cheap at the back end of your bench who you can develop who are young who have upside etc etc I don’t like think the draft is unimportant I do think the draft gets overvalued and I do think I’m someone who’s just more on the side of get me

Established players I want to watch good basketball and I kind of don’t want to go through the Riga role of three four five years of watching guys maybe develop into something because a lot of times guys develop into not all that much and so I think pinning all of your

Hopes on the draft is a pretty um you know it’s a dire way to go times you get incredibly lucky and this is kind of where I’m at I think draft success is mostly dumb luck either you’ve lucked into jumping up in the draft to a spot

Where you can draft a franchise changing player or you get lucky enough that a team in front of you completely duffs a pick the Kings and the Suns when it came to Luca donic and DeAndre and Marvin baggley like the the Mavericks have no reason to have Luca donic they didn’t do

Anything novel to get Luca donic just a bunch of team team screwed up the Hawks traded him to the the Mavericks like because of draft night trade stuff like it just to me is so luck based that I don’t like centering my team building philosophy around things that are very

Much out of your control and things that are totally based on luck the Spurs have Victor wanyama they didn’t do anything cool or novel or smart to get Victor wanyama they were just bad at the right time and sometimes you’re bad at the wrong time sometimes you win the lottery

At the wrong time AKA Andrea barani which I guess is sort of like maybe not exhibit a he might be exhibit B with Rafael Ario being exhibit a of my draft contempt but uh you know Andre barani the Raptors win the lottery they win it

In a year where it’s not so great they take baryani first overall there were other guys there to to be taken for sure LaMarcus Aldridge obviously the big one Brandon Roy Rudy Gay but like none of those guys would have taken the Raptors into any sort of title contention I

Reckon considering how else that team was built um you know what they already had in the door the TJ Ford injury stuff that would creep up later on you know it’s just like that team was not probably going anywhere regardless of where they finished in that draft

Lottery because it just wasn’t a very good draft lottery the next year Kevin Durant and Greg Goen are the one two guys and well lo and behold like the the sonics luck into Kevin Durant because Greg Oden was the pick at one like it’s just it’s so out of your control it’s so

Luck based that I would rather do things that are sort of tangible as a team Builder and say hey like that guy is good let me trade for that guy so he’s on my team and can be good for me right now that’s kind of where I come down on

The draft I also think my feelings on the draft and being a bit of a skeptic are tied largely to like I’ve seen the Raptors build a team without having to lean on the draft for their best players yes the title Raptors use the draft to draft yaka purle who they parlayed

Indirectly into kawh Leonard you know you know maybe directly I don’t know he wasn’t the big reason why that trade happened but he was a part of it um you know they draft OG anobi he becomes a massive piece obviously Norm Powell a second round pick again insanely lucky

To get a second round pick of that quality and you know sure the Raptors had some say in his development with the 905 and stuff like that but it’s also again largely luck based as to you know your 46th pick can be Norm Powell it can

Also be danan o Banton and there’s just uh a lot of Randomness to it all you don’t know These Guys these are 19 20 21 year olds who are very unmolded as people who have uh you know all sorts of stuff you don’t know just in terms of

Like their personal makeups things like that a lot of it’s very unknowable and so again I would rather instead of hoping that a draft pick turns into someone trade for someone who is a draft pick who has turned into someone who is established and I think like I’m also a

Baseball fan I think this is kind of partly you know obviously NBA prospects are little a little more bankable than baseball prospects are but I think a lot of my feelings on the draft about you know with the NBA also stem from baseball prospects letting me down thousands and thousands of times over

And over again and the sort of preferred method of building a team in baseball being hoard lots of prospects trade them for really good player and then have that really good player play for you for a long time and I think um that’s that’s kind of always been the way I view

Things when it comes to the draft it’s just such a luck-based Enterprise that to have it be your sort of guiding principle as a team Builder I I just think it’s uh it’s you’re asking for a lot of pain unless you’re one of those teams that gets insanely lucky kind of

Without any sort of control over the situation um you know again it’s not one specific guy you know there have been guys who I thought would be great and who weren’t great guys who I thought would be bad who turned out well like again it’s just kind of whack-a-mole and

There obviously this is not to say that I don’t like value the people who do this stuff for a living who watch these guys who live in it who travel around the world our guy rapael Barlo for example over at Lockton NBA Big Board this guy travels overseas to watch these

Guys in person he knows more about prospects you’ll forget more about prospects by lunch than I will ever know about prospects but the sort of larger history of the NBA suggests that it’s really hard to turn the draft into guys who are going to win championships for

You you know even the teams that are the top contenders right now um you know the Nuggets obviously got insanely lucky drafting nicoa any team could have had joic they got him at 46 or whatever it was great for them um or was it in the

50s I don’t know but like they got super lucky and got yic anyone could have had Jamaal Murray in that 2016 draft where it wasn’t all that great a draft at the top and he goes seventh when he probably should have gone a little bit higher again luck and it’s it’s they’ve turned

That luck into a wonderful thing in Denver but it’s not like they went in thinking okay the draft is going to be the way we build our team over the next 10 years with this second round pick and this seventh overall pick like it’s just

A tough thing to bank on um the Oklahoma City Thunder yes they’ve used the draft beautifully they also traded for their best player in Shay guildas Alexander um like the Celtics got their draft picks sure uh you know Tatum Brown those are guys who are driving forces of their

Team they also got super lucky to trade up with a Sixers team that was fascinated by Marquel folz and uh was they traded down or whatever it was like they got lucky there um the fultz thing blowing up in the Sixers face and the Tatum thing not blowing up for the

Celtics again just sort of one of these draft night luck things that uh you know it’s hard to predict these things when they happen like when they’re happening in real time as to how they’re going to eventually end up and they also were gifted those picks by the Nets making a

Trade that was basically forced by their insane owner who wanted to go and win a playoff series or whatever with a rich expensive team so again it’s it’s very much luck based that’s why I’m so sort of against banking all of your chips on the draft and even if you draft a guy

High there’s no guarantee that they’re going to become what you need them to be for your team in fact it’s far more likely they will not become that and so I would rather find established players trade for them and have them be on your team the Raptors won a championship

Trading for Kyle Lowry trading for kawh Leonard trading for Marcus Saul yes the draft got them Dem Mar Rosen yes the draft got them yonas Valen chunis all of that stuff is true the draft it’s it’s a it’s a bit of both you got to have both things clearly but I think especially

For a team like the Raptors it’s not a free agent destination that you know you know sure they’ve they’re not a type of team that is going to go in tank for many many years to try to get a number one pick and get lucky it’s just not how

Mji in the front office is wired and frankly I think teams that do that kind of lose generations of fans as a result like imagine this Raptor season repeated four five six times over as they hope to get some Lottery luck like that’s a grim scene we’ve seen that in the early era

Of the Raptors as well where they were really bad all the time and just didn’t get the lottery luck they got Chris Bosch in the year where LeBron James went number one and Carmelo Anthony was in the top three and Dwayne Wade went one pick behind like that was an unlucky

It was great to get Bosch but grand scheme of things they were kind of The Unlucky team in that draft who also maybe drafted the wrong guy between Wade and Bosch like it’s just a difficult thing to nail and it’s so unknowable there’s all these sort of variables and

Factors that no front office can fully have a handle on on and so that’s kind of where my draft skepticism comes from I understand its importance you need it you need a little bit of both Talent acquisition of pro players who are already good your pro scouting has to be

Great your amateur scouting has to be great with drafting you have to find you know Diamonds in the Rough you got to get Super Lucky but again it’s the luck thing that leaves me kind of feeling uh ho home on the draft being the Beall end

All for team building and yeah you know it’s fine to disagree that’s also fine too but I will leave that there hopefully this has been a bit of an origin story for those who are curious as to why I find the draft to be a little bit

Overvalued we got more coming up around at the show with a handful of Rapid Fire mailbag questions to close out the show we’ll do that coming up in just one second Today’s Show is brought to you by our good friends over at Nissan are you the kind of driver that likes to push

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Your next big adventure shop nissanusa.com go check them out back at it here closing out a mailbag edition of the locked on Raptors podcast thank you as always for tuning in making us your first listen of the day uh being her every dayers out there we love you little sickos you’re the

Best um and of course minder go check out lockon sports today 247 it’s available uh all day on the locked on sports today 247 YouTube channel locked on shows the national shows covering the biggest Stories the local show is covering those stories with only the local angle you can get from locked on

Go check it out locked on sports today 247 all right rapid fire questions to round out the show here this one comes from Skip to My asking who makes the playoffs first with their respective cores Raptors or Spurs and why um I think this is tilted a little bit in the

Raptor’s favor just a touch because the West is a bear of a conference that said vikor wanyama is unbelievable and if the Spurs go and do anything to sort of bolster that roster if they go trade for Trey young if they go find some sort of

Lead guard to pair with that team maybe a defensive Wing type type who knows like they’re one or two guys away from probably being a playoff team in the Western Conference because wemi is that good and figures to be that much better between now and the start of next season

So while the Raptors are in the tougher conference wenyama is just an absolute freak unicorn player and is probably the kind of guy who can take a team to the playoffs within two years three years of entering the NBA he’s just that insane um and so yeah he’s probably the answer here

That said the Raptors could make the playoffs as early as next season if they make the Right Moves this offseason and you get the incremental growth that you expect to get from a Scotty Barnes Manuel quickley RJ Barrett grd dick etc etc I don’t think the Raptors despite

What we’re seeing right now this completely depleted team that is not their team um I think they’re not as grim and dire as it’s been so far this year they’re not a 23 and 45 team on pure talent Alone um put that Talent together have it on the floor together

Give it some Runway more than 10 games worth of Runway to play with one another I think you probably get some pretty decent results playoff level maybe not but certainly like better than the Bulls which is not that high bar to clear but I think like better than the Bulls is

The um sort of goal for next season at least in my mind and I think that’s totally on the table I think had they been healthy down the stretch there’s a very real chance they would have made their way into the plane as well they were they were playing some pretty good

Ball before Scotty got hurt before Yak got hurt before everything went down the tubes but yeah Spurs is the answer here because wemi is a freaking unbelievable thing I’ve never seen before and it’s horrifying and the basketball has been solved and is ruined let’s go last one

Here actually two more quick one psychic how we feeling about the glimpses we’ve gotten of two big lineups could or should we see more uh it’s not been good so far theyve not used a ton of two big lineups this year it’s been mostly one big lineups um the two big lineups the

Two two big lineups that they’ve had like on the floor recently Kelly OIC yaka purle not so good 19 possessions a minus 68.4 net rating again it’s 19 possessions that’s nothing at all and so I I don’t know how you reckon any of that I think peral linic together I’m

Not super solding it defensively I think oen kind of on the perimeter trying to guard fours not really what you want probably in all likelihood I think he’s best served as a five who has like a helper at the four next to him like oin

Bue I think kind of makes him sense as a lineup I wouldn’t even classify that as a double big lineup just because bue is a four to me um but yeah I I think that’s a lineup I’m not like all that Keen on seeing more of we’ve also seen

Kelly alen jonte Porter also very tiny sample 25 possessions plus 73.3 net ratings so that’s fun um but yeah I I’m not thinking that’s a lineup for the future either frankly I think that’s pretty tough defensively the the movement on defense the feet not quite there and again 25 possessions it’s

Nothing it’s nothing to go on as far as a sample size so I’m saying the two big lineups as of right now not super Keen if they bring in some kind of big in the draft who you know we talked about Eve Mei yesterday right um a rim running big

Man who you know throws down lobs is switchable Defender you know I could be open to some two-man lineups two big two big lineups with him and elen because of oen shooting to kind of balance out the lack of Mei shooting but um yeah I’m not

Super keen on that either because I I think this team has enough in terms of like wings and guards uh you know at full health at least with Scotty Barnes and Barrett and quickly available and Grady dick and all the all down the line you don’t necessarily have to go to the

Too big look um if you you know it’s a force it right and I don’t think they have guys who are such obvious two big fits together that it really makes sense to lean into it too hard last question here this comes from stago once again

Round up the show we book end the show with a stago question um I guess he had the second segment question never mind it’s not booking book ending anything uh but stago ask assuming the seven NBA players return to Team Canada for the Olympics who would you pick for the

Final five spots this is a tough one because like lots of guys to pick and some guys are going to be left off there are some guys who I’d like to pick who are either returning from injury or have not really played for Canada all that much or really expressed interest in it

I’m talking Brandon Clark here who’s missed this season with an Achilles injury is he going to be ramping up to get back to NBA shape is he even going to be in the conversation we know Team Canada needs bigs but I I I’m not sure Brandon Clark’s going to be the Avenue

There I know Tristan Thompson’s been playing some decent back up ball for the Cavs this year is he someone they can really lean on I I don’t know he obviously got suspended uh for Peds I don’t know don’t know how maybe not the does can he be in the Olympics if he’s

Tested positive for PDS in the year before the Olympics I’m not sure but um that’s uh you know I’m not keen on the Tristan Thompson thing frankly I’m not sure he adds all that much other than like rebounding and size I think with the big situation you know the seven

Guys just to refresh for everybody Shay gilders Alexander RJ Barrett Lou Dort Dylan Brooks nikil Alexander Walker Kelly o lenck and Dwight Powell are the seven guys who were NBA players on last year’s bronze medal winning team of the World Cup so you got five spots to play

With obviously you know it’s tough right do you honor the guys who have been there through the thick and thin I’m thinking Melvin edum in particular who has been there with the national team in all these different tournaments over the years like does he just get like an

Honorary spot on this team even though he might not play all that much I don’t know if he can do that in a tournament where you’re going to be tested to your absolute limits against the best teams in the world it might be that Melvin edum gets the short end of the stick

Which would suck and you know kind of lead me feeling a little bit sour and sad for him but that might just be the reality here the no-brainer is Jamal Murray’s on this team clearly like I think he’s number eight no problem if he’s healthy if he’s available I think

He wants to play we’ll see if the Nuggets go on another title run does he have the juice to play does he play limited roles he a bench guy whatever but I think Murray is the obvious guy if you can get him there and Andrew Wiggins

Like I don’t know what the deal with Andrew Wiggins is does he want to play for the team is he in a good spot to play for the team um is obviously been a strange season for him with the Warriors where he’s been up he’s been down he’s

Been up he’s been down he’s out of the lineup it’s been a weird year for Wiggins Wiggins is just kind of like a big question mark for me with the Olympic team um but he would be on the team probably if he’s available because wings are important Trey ly to me feels

Like he has to be on the team he’s a big he’s talented he’s a nice connector I feel like he’s a feba friendly player I feel like I would have Trey ly Andrew nard you know they’re pretty chalk full of guards right they’ve got Shay they’ve

Got uh Nelle they’ll have Murray but I think nard is your fourth guard I think is a pretty decent call he’s a good point of attack Defender can shoot a little bit I think he’s probably there and the number 12 spot I kind of think you should reserve it for Zach Edy even

Though I’m not sure Ed is like all that great a player um you know I think he’s probably more of a feba player than he is an NBA player at the moment we’ll see maybe he’s an NBA player too we’ll see in the tournament how how well he’s performing obviously been fantastic for

Two seasons with Purdue but um I do wonder if Edie just because of the size you get him in there for like situational stuff just having a guy who’s that enormous on your team might be of some use even if he might have some defensive deficiencies and in open

Space and things like that it’s a tough one I I think Ed probably gets that 12 spot just because they’re so starred for Bigs it’s OIC and pal they can’t really and if they have ly that gives you some insulation but there’s not a ton of

Options there at the big man spot spot so I would say probably Edy is the guy and so yeah Murray Wiggins ly nard Ed’s my group Shaden sharp I know is some of people who will want on the team I think maybe he was just like a little bit too

Inefficient for me this year with the Blazers and maybe a little bit young he’s still only 20 years old he’s probably a guy for future years I think as well like Ben Maan if Wiggins can’t go maybe mine’s the guy you slot in for him just some spark plug scoring can

Take over a quarter here and there you never know when that could be useful um so those are the guys I think are kind of in the running but yeah it’s going be fascinating to see what they do with the sort of old heads who’ve been around and

The you know is a scrub brother going to make the team probably not but like the scrub Brothers have been around like Phil scrub has been on the team for for years now um and it’s been a big part of them getting to where they are so it’ll

Be fascinating to see how those political decisions are made with the guys who’ve been there who are maybe not the highest end Talent guys with all the NBA guys available we’ll see injury obviously will play a factor too but that’s my kind of first blush guess I’m

Sure this will change many many times over the next few months as the Olympics draw here we will leave it there thank you everyone who sending questions you’re all the best you are the wonderful people who keep this show going who keep me going every single day

Even though this team is a drag to talk about right now we’re still gonna make it fun we’re still gonna do it baby so be back again tomorrow talk about Raptors Kings talk about Cody Williams and Tristan D Silva my dude Tristan D Silva for Colorado hopefully winning in

Their first four game tonight against Boise State we will uh you know take a look ahead to the the rest of the tournament we’ll talk about that probably on Friday some you know notable performances from prospects things like that um you know we we got lots of draft

Coverage on the way here lotss of coverage of the final stretches of the season with things to watch Etc season and review stuff it’s all coming so don’t go anywhere even though the team stinks the podcast doesn’t it’s still fun it’s going to be a good time so

Thank you for hanging out we will talk to you again on Thursday another episode of lockon raptors in the meantime follow subscribe rate review tell a friend go to YouTube subscribe hit the notification bell all that good stuff find me on the hell site at woodlean find the show at lockdown Raptors join

The Discord and we’ll talk to you again Thursday thanks for hanging bye-bye all

In Episode 1598, Sean Woodley goes solo to field listener questions about the flailing Toronto Raptors, the NBA Draft and Team Canada’s Men’s Olympic roster. Off the top, Sean digs into a question about the Raptors’ pursuit of wing additions to their roster this summer. Is it possible to get an OG Anunoby level guy to slot into this team between the Quickley-Barrett backcourt and the Barnes-Poeltl front court? Could they make a big swing trade? Or are stop gap options like Patrick Williams, Naji Marshall or Caleb Martin more realistic wing upgrades in the short team? Next, Sean answers a question about the roots of his general draft skepticism, and why the experience of being a Raptors fan over the last 25 years as surely informed his feeling that going out and trading for established players is a more viable way to build a surefire good team than hoping the luck of the draft is in your favour. Lastly, Sean runs through rapid fire questions on whether the Raptors or Spurs will make the playoffs first, two-big lineups, and the roster for Team Canada at this summer’s Olympic’s in Paris.

Join us over on the Locked On Raptors Discord server and enter our listener bracket challenge! https://discord.gg/xyFvCNpA

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