Raps to draft another Brazilian?

[BlahBlah]

I certainly don't have anything against Brazilians, but after drafting that pylon Rafael Arruajo, maybe the Raptors should look elsewhere for talent. According to a preview on cnnsi.com, the Raptors may look to a Brazilian once again. Shame they're not running a soccer team instead, than maybe they'd be on to something.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/marty_burns/05/12/draft.10.2/1.html

 

[the_big_E]

I hope they dont draft another Brazilian, because as you said Araujo is a pylon and that guy is the worst! He stinks, adds nothing to the team IMO...

 

[BlahBlah]

Just for the hell of it, and in avoiding doing my job like I should be, I played the NBA draft lottery on ESPN.com.
It sets up a lottery to see who would draft where and who they would select. Out of 15 or so tries, the Craptors have drafter 7th or 8th most of the time, lowest pick coming up as 9th and highest as second, where they would select Chris Paul, a guard from Wake Forest.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/index#

scroll down to the left of the online poll.

 

[healer677]

If the Raptors are looking for a big man - the top 4 in the group aren't bad.

But, we have no shot at Bogut from Utah - he'll go first overall. The next one is 7'3" Andriuskevicius - he'll probably go fourth or fifth. The most likely picks for the Raptors will be - Chris Taft 6-10 260, power forward / center probably in the 7 seed or 8 and Charlie Villanueva 6-11 240 PF from Conn. So., later in the first round.

Let's see who they pick.

 

[matrix2004]

Maybe we won't even draft anyone- there's always the chance that Babcock will trade our 1st pick to get a veteran big body. Let's just hope that big body is not named Michael Stewart.

 

[strange1]

As long as it's their 16, not their 7 pick>

edit . A quick search shows Tiago Splitter anywhere from 6 to 20. There's also some talk about Gerald Green, a T-mac type.

 

[the boy wonder]

I heard a they will draft a russian power forward who's 6'9" to help them with their drive to the post season next spring.. I believe his name is SummerOFF!!!

 

[Joey Jeremiah]

If Araujo has a brother, the Raptors should draft him!

 

[hotsauce]

No More Drafting White Guys!!! Please!!!

 

[The Bandit]

No More Drafting White Guys!!! Please!!!

What if they drafted a Steve Nash type player???????
Don't play the race card!!!!!

 

[Rising Sun]

ESPN Draft

ESPN has the coolest mock draft "thing" on their site. I kept on hitting "Play Lottery" until the Raptors got the 1st overall pick. (Took me about 30 times!!) We got Bogut! (Yes, he is white!!)

Not sure how to paste a clickable link but here's a link to ESPN's 2005 draft page.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2005/index#

Enjoy.

 

[hotsauce]

i'm a fan of small skilled white guys, but generally speaking, drafting big slow white guys have been a disaster for teams --- especially the raptors!

 

[Joey Jeremiah]

The Raptors are definitely fond of acquiring big white stiffs. Off the top of my head, here are some big white ex-Raptors:

Sean Marks, Nate Huffman, Eric Montross, Greg Foster

 

[lucent4357]

Gerald Green

Leave Aroujo alone - he's done well for a rookie.

Most big guys take at least 3 seasons to get used to NBA and improve there game enough to be a starter in the NBA

Look at Kwame Brown for Wash

Is it my imagination or did Bosh's numbers start to dramtically improve when we started Aroujo?

He does all the little things right now - boxing out, blocking - that is giving Chris the room to do what he's doing.

Sure RA needs to improve his shooting and especially his rebounding, but give him time.

Not all big men come in and dominate like SHAQ, DUNCAN or GARNETT

Name me another one in the last 10 years!

We need to get younger, more athletic and Gerald Green, if still around, is the guy for us.

He can come in off the bench after Mo Pete and progress this year with a good 2nd unit.

He's athletic, young, high-flyer, talented, can pass, great shooter and will give us energy again - like VC's first year.

We'll draft a young PG with 2nd pick - then best of rest for 3/4th

Will be a good draft - only if we stay away from any of the big guys

Bosh, Aroujo, Bonner, Sow are our front court for years to come. Young, coachable and two more years- deadly

 

[BlahBlah]

Lucent, I too would be more patient with a first-year player and have defended him most of the season, but no longer do because Babcock drafted Arruajo much higher than projected because he was 24 and according to Babcock, could step in and contribute right away. Kwame was 18 and was a project to be moulded. Babcock sold this pick as an immediate return on investment, that clearly has not been the case, nor has Arruajo shown any glimpses that would indicate he will be anything more than a career bench player.
Bosh's improvement, in my opinion, is attributed much more to the departure of Wince Carter, and his own maturity and development as a player. The fact Arruajo began starting is purely coincidental.
I like Bonner and Sow, but I think they will be nice pieces, mainly off the bench, for their careers. I hope you're right and I'm wrong, but if any of Arruajo, Bonner and Sow are starters for this team in two more years, I fear it will be deadly... for the Raptors.

 

[BlahBlah]

another thought:
I know opinions are like assholes, everyone's got one, but I did a search for 2004 Mock Drafts to review what the "experts" were saying about Arruajo prior to the draft. The majority of drafts had him going to Utah at #16, not one that I saw called Arruajo in Toronto at number 8. One mock draft even had him at number 50 in the second round!! Again to Utah.
I then did a search on 2004 Draft Grades to guage reactions to the Raptors draft. Every one of them called Arruajo as going too high. The most complimentary said he was a reach but would be a player opponents didn't enjoy playing against. I found the most scathing review to be interesting, especially in referece to an alleged steroid charge that I was unaware of. It was from http://nbadraft.net/2004draftgrades.asp and the Raptors were graded with an "F". Here's their recap:

David Stern couldn't possibly say this without a smile coming to his face, "With the eighth pick in the 2004 NBA draft, the Toronto Raptors select Ha-fay-el Ar-RU-joe". They screwed the pooch on this one. With Andre Iguodala still on the board, you don't take an average center at 8. The EIGHTH pick!!?!?! He would be a reach at 15. Sure bigmen with skills are hard to find. Bottom line, you don't take a risk on a low reward player, and taking Araujo this high was a risk. And Araujo comes with baggage. He's been busted for steroid use, and was banned from FIBA competitions a few years back. Hopefully Babcock and the Raptors were aware of this. Making matters worse, Araujo is also pushing 24 years of age. He will be past his physical peak (27) before his first contract ends. The Raptors did make a nice move trading for Pape Sow, look for him to potentially have a bigger long term impact on this team than Araujo. Hands down the biggest losers on draft night.

 

[holden]

Lucent

Arujo has no upside, he's 26 yrs old - there was not even a glimpse of him getting better

Bosh wants to leave the raptors(per MLSE big wig-inside info), he wants to be closer to Texas if he can't play for one of the Texas teams. Also he's sick of losing and the garbage that goes on in the locker room

 

[Fingers]

RA is a bum. What a waste with the #8 pick!!!!!!

As for Bosh, sure I can see him wanting to leave. Why not? This franchise is a mess and who likes to play on a team with no promise.

Watch out Cleveland!!!!!!! Lebron will make noise if this team does not bring in some talent to play with him.

 

[the_big_E]

dont forget about Zan Tabak!!!!

 

[Big Papa Smurf]

Lucent,
There is no point arguing with Toronto basketball fans. Charles Oakley once said that Torontonians have no knowledge when it comes to the game, and by some of the responses in this thread you can clearly see it.

Let's compare Brad Miller to Araujo. Both are similar in build. Both are not very athletic, and by god, both are white.

Now check out there career stats:
Raffael Araujo
http://aol.nba.com/raptors/stats/

Brad Miller
http://aol.nba.com/playerfile/brad_miller/

Miller didn't show any promise of being a good player until his 4th year in the league. Miller wasn't even drafted because he couldn't jump; couldn't run; and couldn't shoot. Yet, he worked on his game and became a top 5 centre in this league. One thing about Araujo is that he has a good work ethic. As long as he works on his game and develops a feel for the game, he'll be OK.

The problem with most fans is that they think that athleticism is the key to succeeding in the NBA. If that was the case then guys like Chris Mullin, Larry Bird, John Stockton, Rick Barry, Jerry Lucas, Dave DeBuscherre, Dave Cowens, Kevin McHale...etc would not have made the the Hall-of-Fame.

Most people who play the game don't emulate centres and power forwards. They emulate guards and small forwards. Everytime I hit the playgrounds or gym, I've never seen guys apply a drop-step. I don't see guys 'making themselves big' in the paint to receive the ball. I don't see guys using their lower body to box out. I don't see guys using jump-hooks, or finger-rolls to shoot the ball. I don't see guys using their lower body to create space. I see guys emulating that And-1 street ball crap because it looks cool. Therefore, I don't expect guys who haven't played with their backs to the basket to understand how a big man is suppose to play the game.