Looking at the teams that committed to a full rebuild recently, I can’t help but to notice that they now have a roster stacked with promising young pieces (25 yo or less):
- Cavs: Mobley, Garland, Allen, Okoro
- Magic: Banchero, Fultz, Wagner, Suggs, Black, Carter Jr
- Spurs: Wemby, Johnson, Vassel, Jones, Sochan
- OKC: SGA, Holmgrem, Wallace, Giddey
- Rockets: Jabari Smith, Amen Thompson, Jalen Green, Sengun
Conversely, the Raptors have no draft capital and lots of either old or good-but-expiring pieces. Do you really think the future of this franchise is looking good?
Here are some interesting recent facts about our picks (or lack thereof):
- Since 2017, we only had two top-15 1st round picks (Dick and Barnes who both so far seem to have very good ceilings).
- Our most valuable players right now (OG and Pascal) are from 2015-2017 which was a period when we had four 1st-round picks (more good picks = more chances of getting good players)!
- Our championship run was only possible because we had players that we drafted (JV, Poetl, DeRozan, Wright) to trade for Gasol, Dany and Kawhi.
so… please explain why is it such a bad idea to switch gears and focus on staking draft capital and finding young talent to match Dick and Barnes’ timeline?
I wanted a rebuild last year when Wemby was the prize