NBA Draft Strategy: Colangelo’s Choices In NBA Draft?
By Bret Stuter
2006 NBA Draft
The Toronto Raptors were a pretty bad team when Bryan Colangelo arrived, having just finished a 27-55 record. Fortunately, that translated into the Toronto Raptors selecting first in the that year’s draft, which allowed Bryan Colangelo to augment Chris Bosh with the best of the NCAA, at least from his perspective.
2006 Draft first round – 1
Who They Chose: 6′ 10″ Italian center/power forward Andrea Bargnani was the player selected by Bryan Colangelo. While the team already had power forward Chris Bosh, the team selected Bargnani to slide up to the five role. In the year prior to the draft, he had averaged 11.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 1.2 steals per game in 21.7 minutes in Italy’s Lega A competing for Benetton Treviso, shooting 57,8% on two-pointers and 36.9% from three-point range. In Euroleague (EL) competition, contributed 10.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 0.9 steals per game, shooting .55.8% on two-pointers and 43.4% from three-point range. In EL play, posted a season-high of 20 points twice, against Panathinaikos and Strasbourg, over 18 games. His draft projection included these strengths: “very good athleticism for a player of his size. Very skilled offensive player with a lot of solutions to score: shoots well from any distance, hits the three with good accuracy, can beat his defender off the dribble and finish a fastbreak after running the court well. Fluid shooting mechanics. Has a quick release.”
Mock Draft Consensus: Initially confusion due to no true standout, but near draft day consensus was Bargnani.
Best Pick Available: Point guard Rajon Rondo – while originally picked 21st in this draft by the Phoenix Suns, speculation of Rondo paired with Chris Bosh certainly gives pause to speculation just how good the Raptors might have become as a result.
Overall Grade: Average – Toronto selected the consensus number one, who had gone on to produce seven solid seasons for the Toronto Raptors – peaking in the 2010-2011 season where he averaged 21.4 points per game on average playing time of 35.7 minutes per game with 5.2 rebounds per game and .7 blocks per game.
2006 Draft second round – 5 (35th Overall)
Who They Chose: 6’6″ Small Forward P.J. Tucker – Tucker was a Texan wing who arrived raw to the team and did not last a full season. By January 2007, he was assigned to the Raptors development team – the Colorado 14ers. He was recalled in February 2007, only to be reassigned to the D-League affiliate a month later. After playing six season internationally, he worked his way into the Phoenix Suns summer league, and has subsequently been signed to a three year deal with the Suns.
Mock Draft Consensus: Paul Milsap
Best Pick Available: Power forward Paul Milsap was still available. Milsap would have been a dynamite player to slide to the three as well as picking up minutes while the team rested Bosh
Overall Grade: Fail. Despite it being a second round pick, Tucker was too raw to stick on the roster for a season.
2007 Draft
The Toronto Raptor did not have a draft pick available in the 2007 draft – having traded their second round pick in October 1997 to the Portland Trailblazers. Later, the Toronto Raptors had traded their first round draft pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers in September 2002 for Lamond Murray
Next: 2008 Draft