TORONTO — On Tuesday, Raptors assistant general manager Dan Tolzman said what he had to say as a key figure of the front office. He said the Raptors would take the best player available, regardless of positional fit. With the future of the team so uncertain, you might as well just take the guy you believe in the most, and deal with fit once a pick is truly able to contribute to a team.
That is not to say that the Raptors didn’t have Kansas sharp-shooting wing Gradey Dick, who they eventually selected with the 13th pick, at the top of their board when their pick came around. A pair of guards with more playmaking in their games, Kobe Bufkin and Jalen Hood-Schifino, were still available, as was the evening’s big faller, Cam Whitmore, who was being discussed as a top-five pick for most of the draft process. There was no super-long prospect with a lack of shooting, the type of player the Raptors have focused on in recent years, but there were more athletic, and rawer, prospects available.
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Picking Dick is, at the very least, an admission that something had to change about the types of prospects the Raptors were bringing in. Over the past decade, the Raptors have taken a lot of prospects with mediocre shooting track records and turned them into passable ones, but that has slowed in recent years. In both of the last two years, the Raptors finished 27th in the league in true shooting percentage, which factors in the extra value of 3-pointers as well as free throws. At some point, you have to get some natural shot-makers into the building.
It is also a sign that the Raptors might be inclined to keep their three versatile forwards — Pascal Siakam, O.G. Anunoby and Scottie Barnes — together. Things could change, but draft night would have been the most sensible time for either of the veterans to move.
“I think we have talked about finding those big, versatile wings,” Raptors general manager Bobby Webster said. “Those are the hardest to find, and maybe this is like a complementary thing to fit around them. I don’t know if there is a perfect order to it.”
All of which is to say: The best version of Dick fits rather simply around big forwards who aren’t necessarily ace shooters.
Dick’s not just a stand-in-the-corner shooter. As The Athletic’s draft expert Sam Vecenie wrote in his draft guide, “He hits shots off legitimate actions and off different footwork. (He) will hit them off the hop or on a one-two step. There isn’t a moment where he has the ball in his hands that he’s not capable of stopping and firing from 3 if you don’t stay attached to him.”
Needless to say, the Raptors haven’t had many guys like that in the last few years. His 40.4 percent accuracy from 3 is good, but it undersells how dynamic he can be when he rises up to fire.
Whether Dick is the right player for the Raptors to bet on remains to be seen, as it does with all rookies. There is more to his game than just his shooting, but there are questions about how he will hang defensively. He is a fine athlete, but his arms are short for a 6-foot-6 player, and he needs to get stronger, as most rookies do. He found a way to average 1.4 steals with Kansas, so it is not as if he doesn’t know where to be on the floor or totally lacks anticipation. In theory, the Raptors have plenty of defenders to make up for his relative weakness, but last year’s team struggled to contain the dribble, so that is no guarantee.
“I think we had Gradey … in his own group,” Webster said of the Raptors’ thinking at the 13th pick.
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“He’s a smart positional defender. Obviously that is kind of where his IQ comes in. He knows where he is. He will probably tell you he’s limited to some extent one-on-one with the high-level athletes, but he played in the Big 12, so he’s played against the top kids his entire high school and college career. “I think he knows how to play against guys that may be bigger or faster.”
Dick said in addition to his shooting, he was excited to show off his competitiveness.
“I think I can go out there and beat anyone who’s in front of me,” Dick said.
As for the players he’s playing with, they should look familiar to Raptors fans. Webster acknowledged that the front office discussed the report that Siakam would not sign an extension with any team that trades for him, per Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes. Making that public essentially dissuades other teams from trading for Siakam, painting him as a flight risk once he becomes a free agent next season.
Like most other things at this time of year, some posturing is involved. Players and teams both try to exercise the leverage that they have. If Siakam is back as a main engine of the offence, at least the Raptors know they will have one more option to create space for him.
Thoughts
• Yes, Dick’s ruby red suit was a nod to his home state of Kansas, and “The Wizard of Oz.” Webster said Dick showed the Raptors’ staff the two suits he was considering when they met earlier in the month. No immediate word on what that other one looked like.
Your newest Toronto Raptor, @gradey_dick ✨ pic.twitter.com/FFuw0Cq0TW
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) June 23, 2023
• Webster added there were more move-up scenarios in play for the Raptors than move-down scenarios, but nothing materialized. He was asked if anything was close with the Trail Blazers, who selected dynamic guard Scoot Henderson with the third pick.
“You (have) got to ask them,” Webster said, smiling.
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• Dick said he has been working with the ball in his hands a lot leading up to the draft, knowing that will make his shooting a bigger weapon.
• None of the major news breakers broke the Raptors’ selection of Dick, something that has happened in the past, most notably with Bruno Caboclo back in 2014.
• Joe Wieskamp’s contract guarantees for next year on June 30. I would say the selection of Dick makes it more likely than not that the Raptors waive him before then, but I was leaning that way before the selection, too.
• I didn’t see much of the NCAA tournament this year, but Markquis Nowell’s 19-assist game for Kansas State, which he finished on a twisted ankle, was breath-taking. He is 5-foot-8, 23-year-old guard, so his path to an NBA career is unlikely, but it will be fun to watch him try. The Raptors signed him to a two-way contract, according to Shams Charania. This year, each team can sign three players to two-way deals.
Undrafted guard Markquis Nowell – who set an NCAA tournament record for assists (19) on Kansas State's Elite 8 run – has agreed to a two-way NBA contract with the Toronto Raptors, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 23, 2023
• Orlando taking Anthony Black with its top pick, at sixth, probably makes them less likely to take a run at Fred VanVleet in free agency. Not that you cannot have two guards, but between Markelle Fultz, Jalen Suggs, Cole Anthony and Black, that’s a lot of backcourt players. Presumably the Magic will move one of them this offseason, but VanVleet doesn’t seem to scratch an itch in the same way he might have before the selection. Houston also took a big guard, Amen Thompson, although I don’t think their collection of talent disqualifies them in the same way. Of the teams that project to have cap space, arguably the Spurs make the most sense, although they will probably slow-play the process and keep their long-term cap space unused.
The Kings created near-max cap space when they traded Richaun Holmes and their first-round pick and took no salary back in return, but they are set at guard.
GO DEEPER
Analysis, fits for all 58 NBA Draft picks from John Hollinger and Sam Vecenie
