Raptors grab guard, deal Vasquez at draft
Toronto takes Utah point man Wright with No. 20 pick, nabs another two selections from Milwaukee
The pomp and pageantry of the NBA Draft is real. Teams can change drastically by hitting on just the right player.
The Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers likely did with the additions of Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell at the top of the draft.
But for the Raptors, the 2015 draft is barely a ripple in the overall scheme of the expected off-season moves.
The Raptors’ selection of 23-year-old point guard Delon Wright at No. 20 Thursday isn’t the biggest move the Raptors will make this off-season, although it is related to the first move the team made.
The real work of the off-season and the moves that will alter this team in a big way are still around the corner, although general manager Masai Ujiri began to tip his hand last night.
In the first deal of the off-season for the Raptors Thursday, Ujiri sent backup point guard Greivis Vasquez to Milwaukee for a first-round pick that comes via the Clippers in 2017 and a mid-second-round pick in last night’s draft.
More importantly it frees up $6.6 million in cap space for the upcoming free agency period, making the Raptors even bigger players than they already were.
Ujiri spoke about buying into the second round earlier in the week, so he accomplished that as well with the trade. But Ujiri is only getting started. More will come soon as Ujiri and his front office plans start to reveal themselves as moves around the league begin.
The Raptors have six players who were on their roster last season who are not under contract. Veteran Amir Johnson and Lou Williams, the sixth man of the year, head that list and are followed by Tyler Hansbrough, Greg Stiemsma, Landry Fields and Chuck Hayes.
It’s not unfathomable that all six are not back with the Raptors. On a 15-man roster and with Vasquez already on the move, that’s almost half the roster.
But determining who comes back or not is only half the battle. For Raptors fans, the far more intriguing decision is who winds up taking those roster spots.
Ujiri was not happy with the way his roster fit together a year ago and put that on himself. He hinted at definite change in the future.
“I messed up a little bit, not a little bit but a lot, but maybe even with the composition of the team and how we played and the types of players we had playing around each other. We have evaluated a lot of stuff and maybe we will make a couple of changes here and there, but I think our core still remains the same and we will still give these guys an opportunity to grow.”
The core begins with Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas. Beyond that, it’s open to interpretation.
But regardless of how big that core is, the period between July 1 when free agency opens and July 8 when deals can be announced, should be an interesting one for the Raptors as much as any team in the NBA.
The selection of Wright immediately addresses a void at the point guard position with the trade of Vasquez, although head coach Dwane Casey said the Raptors will also look to free agency to address that need, too.
Wright is considered one of the premiere point guard defenders in the draft class. He’s a scorer with a jump shot that still needs work, but at 6-foot-5 he gives the Raptors a backup guard with size and defensive bona fides that addresses the Raptors’ rebounding needs as well.
“He’s a kid who is not going to be too overly excited about the NBA being a brother of Dorell,” Casey said in reference to Portland forward Dorell Wright. “But one thing he does is he defends. He can run the pick and roll very well. Great kid.”
The second-round pick acquired in the Vasquez deal had not been made by press time.