The Almost Raptors

The Almost Raptors

Hindsight is a beautiful thing. For NBA teams, there are no second chances. Once a deal has been completed, or a player has been drafted, it's final. No do-overs. Nevertheless we like to go back, as I did in two previous blog entries, to criticize teams who draft poorly and praise the GMs who seemingly hold a crystal ball. Grantland recently did an article on the history of bad decisions by the Golden State Warriors that made the Raps missteps pale in comparison. It's still early to tell if the picks from the last few years could have been better, but I like DMDR, Easy E, and Big V for now. Here are the rest of the Raps picks, who they could have grabbed instead, and how the team would have looked if they had...

2011 5th - Jonas Valenciunas - Keep

2010 13^th – Ed Davis – Keep

2009 9^th – DeMar DeRozan – Keep

2008 41^st – Nathan Jawai – Could have had Goran Dragic, went 45^th

2007 No Picks

2006 1^st – Andrea Bargnani – Could have had LaMarcus Aldridge, 2^nd or Rudy Gay 8^th

            35^th – PJ Tucker – Could have had Paul Millsap, 47^th

2005 7^th – Charlie Villanueva – Could have had Andrew Bynum, 10^th

            16^th – Joey Graham – Could have had Danny Granger, 17^th

            41^st – Roko Ukic – Could have had Louis Williams, 45^th

2004 8^th – Rafael Araujo – Could have had Andre Iguodala, 9^th

            40^th – Albert Miralles (swapped 4 Pape Sow) – Could have had Trevor Ariza, 44^th

2003 4^th – Chris Bosh – Could have had Dwyane Wade, 5^th

(and Boozer or ZBO in years before that, but let's not go back too far...)

-So with all that hindsight, this is the lineup the Raptors could have fielded...

 

C – Bynum

PF – Aldridge

SF – Granger

SG – Wade

PG – Lou Williams

6 - Iguodala

Millsap

DeRozan

Davis

Ariza

Dragic

Big V

Championship?