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Toronto Raptors: Top 5 Draft Picks Since 1995

By Joshua Howe

Oct 18, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers power forward Antawn Jamison (33) and Portland Trail Blazers center Meyers Leonard (11) go for a rebound in the second half of the game at the Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 18, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers power forward Antawn Jamison (33) and Portland Trail Blazers center Meyers Leonard (11) go for a rebound in the second half of the game at the Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /
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2. Tracy McGrady

Taken Ninth Overall in 1997

I was so close to putting this at number one. I really was.

Just a year after the Raptors made a major blunder by selecting Marcus Camby over guys like Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Peja Stojakovic, Stephon Marbury and Antoine Walker, they made up for it by stealing T-Mac with the ninth pick.

McGrady spent three seasons with the Raptors, mostly playing on the bench. He arrived a year before the force that was Vince Carter became a Raptor.

The sad part about all of this is that Toronto didn’t really understand what they had. At 18 years old, T-Mac was still very much wet around the ears and it was difficult to tell what he was going to become. Little did anyone suspect what a serious jump he was about to take.

I mean, here are his first two seasons’ numbers:

  • 1997-8: 7.0ppg, 4.2rpg, 1.5apg, 0.8spg, 1.0bpg, 45.0 FG%
  • 1998-9: 9.3ppg, 5.7rpg, 2.3apg, 1.1spg, 1.3bpg, 43.6 FG%

But by the time he was 20, he began showing the talent that would eventually make him a sensation on the Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets. Playing alongside Carter, his minutes were bumped up to 31.2 a game and his stats followed suit: 15.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.1 steals, 1.9 blocks on 45.1 percent shooting from the floor.

That was when the Raps made the boneheaded move to trade McGrady. At the time, they thought they were trading him on high after his first two seasons. They didn’t expect him (despite only just having had his first season as not a teenager) to evolve into an offensive monster.

That’ll teach you never to count your eggs before they hatch, huh?

The Raptors finished McGrady’s final season in Toronto with a 45-37 record under coach Butch Carter. They went on to play the Knicks in the first round, where they were swept 3-0.

T-Mac put up 16.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.0 block on 38.6 percent shooting during that series. Not bad for a 20-year-old.

In recent years, McGrady admitted that if he and Vince had been kept together, they likely could’ve won a championship. That is very possible, especially with T-Mac’s peak season (the third after leaving Toronto) looked like this:

  • 2002-03: 32.1ppg, 6.5rpg, 5.5apg, 1.7spg, 0.8bpg, 45.7 FG%, 38.6 3FG%, 30.3 PER

It may have only really been one magical year that Toronto got to see young McGrady and Carter combine forces, but it was one heck of a fun one. And despite how T-Mac left the franchise, he remains of the best picks ever made by the Raptors.

Next: Number 1

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