Toronto Raptors should target 3-and-D sleepers in the 2017 NBA Draft

3-and-D wings play a critical role in the NBA. Given the roster construction of the Toronto Raptors, they’re especially important up North. Here’s why the Raptors need to find this type of player in the NBA Draft, along with a few sleepers they can target.

I don’t blame you if you didn’t catch many Memphis Grizzlies games this past season. The team finished 43-39 and bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. The city itself, meanwhile, is a famously small market with just one professional sports team.

But Memphis is a common “second favorite team” for many basketball fans, largely due to their “grit and grind” ethos, developed over half a decade and throughout the tenures of three successive coaches.

In the first round of this year’s playoffs, either James Ennis III and Wayne Selden started every game as one of Memphis’s wings. The former was the 50th overall draft pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, while the latter was an undrafted rookie. That’s not just a testament to Grizzlies basketball — it’s instructive for the rest of the NBA.

If they can shoot and defend at an adequate level, unheralded wing players can give you valuable minutes. And it’s not just that you can fit those players. Often times, you need those players.

The average NBA lineup has downsized, with a big making way for a third wing. Numerically speaking, versatile players between 6’4” and 6’8” are critical, and like most perimeter players, they need to hit threes.

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The Toronto Raptors know this as well as any team in the NBA. Built around a shooting guard who can’t shoot and whose defensive intensity often wanes, Toronto requires multiple 3-and-D wings. DeMar DeRozan – as good as he is – is purely 2-and-O, if that’s indeed a thing.

The Raptors thought they patched that problem in 2015, when they signed DeMarre Carroll to a long-term deal. Carroll, however, has been either injured or unproductive over the last two years. P.J. Tucker, who had a strong half-season as Toronto’s in-house Giannis Antetokounmpo kryptonite, is now a free-agent.

Toronto needs help on the wings, but luckily, teams find plug-and-play youngsters like Ennis and Selden in every draft, and usually near the end. Danny Green, whose $10 million annual contract is a bargain, fell out of the draft in 2009. Ditto for Wesley Matthews. Same with Kent Bazemore in 2012.

The Raptors don’t own a second round pick, but they can use future picks to acquire one. They can also enter post-draft bidding wars for undrafted players to add to their Summer League or even official roster. Regardless, they need to take a flier on as many NBA-ready wings as possible. Their roster – and NBA basketball in general – demands it.

Here are three players Raptors brass should target:

Sterling Brown, SMU:

The NBA opted against inviting Brown to the draft combine, and when you look at his tools, it’s difficult to come up with a reason why. Brown is just 6’5,” but he weighs in at 225 pounds “and isn’t afraid to play physical with bigger players in the paint,” per Josh Riddell and Mike Schmitz of Draft Express.

Schmitz and Riddell also write, “Brown’s defensive toughness, tools and experience as a defense-first player at SMU bode well for his willingness to step in and guard at the NBA level.

If he shoots the ball well, Brown is a 3-and-D shoo-in in the right situation. But the shooting is a question mark. Brown canned 44.9 percent of his three-point attempts during his senior year at SMU – he just didn’t shoot many threes the three previous years. Whether his efficiency can hold up at the NBA line and on a higher volume of attempts will determine Brown’s professional fate.

V.J. Beachem, Notre Dame:

Another senior, another accomplished college player, another overlooked draft prospect. Beachem attempted an absurd 241 three-pointers last season, and while he knocked down an average 36.1 percent of those tries, he’s proven capable of higher efficiency in the past.

According to The Ringer’s Draft Guide, Beachem “can splash [threes] off screens and dribble handoffs, and he excels on spot-ups.”

Beachem’s physical tools are also intriguing. He’s 6’8” with a 37-inch vertical leap, so he’ll theoretically be able to defend multiple positions if he bulks up enough to handle bigger forwards.

Still, as Riddell and Ryan Thomson of Draft Express note, “There are too many possessions where Beachem’s intensity level is too casual or simply nonexistent, allowing himself to coast on that side of the floor.”

He won’t be able to coast in the NBA if he wants a chance at sticking around. Maybe going undrafted, as DX predicts will occur, will scare Beachem into reaching his 3-and-D potential.

Davon Reed, Miami:

Projected to go 59th overall by The Ringer’s Draft Guide, Reed could be a first round value. He will not be a star, but he has a clear role at the next level.

The Miami graduate shot 39.7 percent from three last season on a healthy 199 total attempts. That kind of volume is new to his game, but his efficiency hovered around 40 percent for his entire college career. Combine those numbers with an 80-plus free throw percentage and Reed’s stroke is likely to translate at the next level.

Reed is also a stud at the other end. As The Ringer notes, Reed “competes hard defensively, chases 50-50 balls, and defends with toughness.” In other words, he brings effort. But he also brings solid physical tools, including a sturdy 6’5.5,” 206-pound frame and a seven-foot wingspan.

Next: 2017 NBA Mock Draft: Post-Lottery edition

Should Reed add 10 more pounds, he may be capable of defending some small-ball 4s at the next level. As is, his body can hold up at either wing position. Reed has 3-and-D tools already; I would be shocked if he doesn’t stick around in the NBA.

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