Toronto Raptors: 2018 NBA Draft grades
The Toronto Raptors were without a pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, making fans recall the trades that made such absence occur.
The Toronto Raptors were one of two teams without a single selection in the 2018 NBA Draft, joining the Miami Heat in that lonesome category.
The vacancy was quite startling, especially for a team that may consider a full-on rebuild in the coming days before free agency begins.
At the time of trades that involve future picks, many fans tend to forget about them and focus on the players that make up the bulk of the deal. It makes sense. After all, the picks won’t materialize for X amount of years, while the players will arrive in their new cities mere days after the trade goes through.
Then, once those picks come back around, fans become furious at the notion that their favorite team would ever consider trading picks that could turn into the All-Stars of tomorrow.
There are two trades that occurred in 2017 that stripped the Raptors of their 2018 picks.
The first occurred at the trade deadline, as Toronto acquired P.J. Tucker from the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Jared Sullinger, cash considerations and second round picks in both 2017 and 2018.
Tucker was looked at as a missing piece for the Raptors in their quest for a title, able to space the floor from the 3-point line but also defend multiple positions.
Most importantly, at 245 pounds, he was looked at as a possible stifler of LeBron James, a player the team knew they’d almost certainly have to go through in order to reach the Finals.
Toronto wound up getting swept in the second round by LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers. So clearly, Tucker didn’t make that much of a difference, although Dwane Casey didn’t really use him much until the final result was all but guaranteed.
The second trade occurred later that summer.
The Raptors, wanting to rid themselves of DeMarre Carroll‘s contract that still had two years and $30 million left on it, shipped him to the Brooklyn Nets but had to attach a lottery-protected first-rounder in 2018 in order to make it happen.
Luckily for Masai Ujiri, neither trade came back to bite them in the behind.
The pick sent to the Suns came out to No. 59 overall, with Phoenix selecting George King, a small forward out of Colorado. Even with the first round pick, the Nets didn’t appear to select anyone special at No. 29, taking Dzanan Musa out of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Either one could turn into a productive player, but the odds of that occurring aren’t very high.
Despite how little an impact those picks had on Toronto, neither trade ended up being so beneficial for them either.
Tucker signed with the Houston Rockets the following summer as a free agent, and while Carroll’s money went towards the C.J. Miles sign-and-trade, the result was still the same this past season: a sweep in the second round at the hands of the Cavaliers.
At the time, both trades seemed like great steps taken by the Raptors in order to inch closer to a championship.
Toronto’s future may not have been impacted by the dealing of those picks, but, at the time, its present was altered for just a few months. Had those deals manifested into tangible results, their grade for both would have been significantly higher.
Next: Complete 2018 NBA Draft grades for all 30 teams
Grade: B