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NBA Draft Grades: Toronto Raptors Do Nothing To Fill Roster Holes

By Justin Rowan

Jun 23, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Jakob Poeltl (Utah) walks off stage after being selected as the number nine overall pick to the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 23, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Jakob Poeltl (Utah) walks off stage after being selected as the number nine overall pick to the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports /
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May 17, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Toronto Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri represents his team during the NBA draft lottery at New York Hilton Midtown. The Philadelphia 76ers received the first overall pick in the 2016 draft. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
May 17, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Toronto Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri represents his team during the NBA draft lottery at New York Hilton Midtown. The Philadelphia 76ers received the first overall pick in the 2016 draft. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /

Draft Grade

The Raptors’ overall draft is tainted by the blown opportunity with their late first round pick. While ultimately Ujiri could end up with the last laugh if both picks work out better than expected, the immediate optics are not kind to this draft.

The Raptors still have a hole in their roster at the power forward position. With stopgap Luis Scola likely departing in free agency, they are left with Patrick Patterson as the only power forward on their roster and still need a consistent backup to DeMarre Carroll at the small forward position.

With this opportunity gone, the path to get to the next level becomes more difficult for Toronto.

After securing DeRozan, if that happens, Ujiri will likely need to wait until the end of free agency to find a trade partner that lost out on free agents and is looking to acquire some depth.

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Consolidating in that type of scenario seems like the only possible next step, should they chose to keep this team together as currently constructed.

Final Draft Grade: C-

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