Toronto Raptors fans were naturally excited when the NBA revealed they had selected Arizona standout and center Christin Koloko with the 33rd overall pick in the 2022 Entry Draft. We were even more excited for the individual as he was the only player selected by the organization after they traded their first round pick at the 2022 deadline to acquire Thaddeus Young and to offload Goran Dragic’s horrible contract. The being said there is a reason for the excitement and there is a reason such great basketball minds like Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster are so high on the player and his potential. He was the defensive player of then year in his conference in his final college season but there were more question marks in regards to his offensive game transitioning to the NBA. Even more questions came after his Summer League performances left a little to be desired.
Despite that, his preseason performances with Toronto have answered a lot of these question marks after some excellent performances against the Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics before starting and registering 4(!) blocks against the Houston Rockets a couple of days ago on Friday. It would have seemed we has destined for a season in the G-League but now fans are wondering if he’s ready for regular rotation minutes. In this video Jacob Gramegna uses the main channel Amateur Hour Sports to give you the THREE biggest reason why you should be HYPED about Christian Koloko and his potential career with the Raptors..
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0:00 – Overview
1:01 – Was Christian Koloko a draft steal?
2:48 – Koloko’s preseason so far
3:22 – The defensive anchor we needed
4:53 – The center we’ve been missing
6:04 – Smooth finisher at the rim?
7:55 – Why the Raptors really drafted him
9:56 – What will his role be this season?
11:58 – Important Info
See you again next time
#raptors #torontoraptors #raptorsvsbulls
12 Comments
Here is what I would like to see on the floor together Scottie Barnes, Dalano Banton because he is fast 💨 and most of the time the team is keeping up with us speed so Nick Nurse need to recognize that and match him with the momentum of the team for instance Christian Koloko is fast too Scottie is so to see these three on the floor would look good a fast paste game.
Christian is gonna be a problem one day. I’m expecting him to be spending some time in the g league but after seeing preseason it wouldn’t be surprising to see him take khem birch’s role fully! I was singing Koloko praises 4 months ago before the draft and I’m so glad that I’m seeing all the things I was hoping from him and more very early in his career. Big things to come!
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Base strength still needed so I keep him in Toronto until Jan 1 and work on game and strength. Big team home games have him play. PS and FVV played G-league so he should not take that as a knock
Facctsss all over this video. Koloko a great one and his motor is unbelievable
Koloko is way better than I thought – his calmness is his biggest plus. Honestly, I think he might be starting in short order. I would like to see a starting line of (FVV, GT-jr, Pascal, Precious and Koloko) – that gives us 2 shooters, Pascal and Precious can drive and create, and then Koloko as a pick&roll lobe threat.
He plays strong defense…on his way to elite defense. NN loves him. I think he'll get consistent off-the-bench minutes from jump. And if it becomes clear that it's too much for him then they'll employ more G-League minutes.
How on earth Masai and Bobby were able to trade Moron Tragic and 20th pick for Young and Koloko?
Hes gonna be a starter next season
I think it hilarious that we're still talking about Baynes. The guy was barely an NBA player. How many times did we watch Baynes shoot the ball backwards, LITERALLY backwards! I swear Raptors fans are buggin!
To be honest, I don’t feel the starting five will be any good. They played so bad and struggling for the first three pre season game. You can argue is preseason but they struggle offensively and just poor against other teams starting lineup. I can see raptors maybe hanging around the 7 or 8 place in the east. May just barely get into the playoff. I believe major changes is needed.
Yep, we should be hyped on this guy. He can play defense, and he can mute Mobley long into the future, and the Cavs are going to be one of our main rivals.