At a media conference before the NBA Draft on Thursday night, Toronto Raptors general manager Bobby Webster was asked all the usual questions. It is better to recruit for talent; to adjust? And the rest. Which is not so convincing, since the Raptors have the 33rd selection and, by definition, will have any prospect that the rest of the league does not consider good enough to enter the top 32.
He was also asked about reports, rumors or speculation (choose your adjective) that the Raptors striker, OG Anunoby, was not happy with his role, he may even be open to being exchanged.
The noise has faded for the most part, but for an otherwise sleepy Tuesday, at least it was worth mentioning that Webster didn’t take the opportunity to pick up the microphone and shout that everything was bunk , and the Raptors would never do that, Ever advanced the fifth year they took with the 23rd pick on the night of the 2017 draft and have seen it become a high-end 3-D wing between injuries.
“We have great communication with OG,” Webster said. “It simply came to our notice then [in Toronto] now. On the one hand, it makes no sense to comment on all trade speculation. If we talked about every call we get or every player we talk to, we’d be here for hours, so I don’t think it’s that great. “
What seems right: why get caught up in what is mostly speculation?
But it’s hard to read this quote and not think that at least the door stays open, just a crack, and that Webster has at least not been painted in a corner.
And it gets a little more interesting when combined with another comment Webster made about the overall picture of the Raptors’ low season, with the free agency after July 1st.
“You see it in two ways: we have a couple of free agents, we have a medium level [exception to offer]. Maybe, in this sense, it only adds to the group “, he said, valuing how busy the low season could be. “Obviously, if you have business discussions, it’s different. There are only two different paths you can take.”
Again, the most likely scenario? Not much happens. The Raptors reach agreements on contracts with Thad Young and Chris Boucher, their two free agents, and use the mid-level exception to add a solid veteran who can help raise the level of a team that has possibly surpassed in the his path to an amazing 48-win season and exit from the first round of the playoffs.
But there is a different path, where Webster tries to switch to a better list, now or in the future, and in this scenario it is easy to see why the name Anunoby would appear.
But keep in mind: to what extent Anunoby is less than satisfied with his role as an off-ball offensive option, while Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes are being portrayed as creators of high-end gaming, the job being pays more money in the NBA economy, it is believed to be exaggerated.
Would Anunoby like to play a more prominent role, offensively? Of course, that doesn’t make him any different from all the other NBA players who think they could do a bigger job if given the chance.
But on the scale of the problems the Raptors have had to deal with, it is not about the mutual frustrations that have had to be resolved with Siakam over the past two years, or the slow dripping of headaches for almost a year. decade that was the Kyle Lowry Experience. And by the way, these two situations worked well for everyone involved.
The only downside to having a report that a key player may not be perfectly happy with, however, is that you get the most calls in the league to find out what it would take to change that. No wonder the market for a 24-year veteran with playoff ribs who can worry about the store at both ends with a term left with a favorable contract is fast.
Fast enough even if the Raptors wanted to get to the top half of the draft lottery, they probably could.
What might interest them?
Just for fun, it happens that there are some highly prized athletic wings with Canadian passports that are expected to be between 4 and 8 to Bennedict Mathurin of Arizona, a two-way wing from Montreal, and Shaedon Sharpe, a prototype two-guard London, Ontario, who is considered the most athletic player in this draft and perhaps in many drafts.
The problem with the draft is that it requires a leap of faith. When you choose 33rd place in the draft, players who are expected to be in the top 10 will not be flying across the continent for a job interview.
Meet the Canadians in this draft
These are not the top three consensus choices. But in this year’s NBA Draft, these Canadians are ready to make their mark.
• From Montreal to the Top 10: Raised in “a city of the underprivileged,” Bennedict Mathurin’s path to the NBA Draft was shaped by his background.
• Small trajectory, great potential: That Shaedon Sharpe grew up to be an athletic child in London, Ontario, was not a big impact. But what came next? This part has been unwritten.
• The Nembhard and Houstan Whirlpool: Their paths were different. They ended up in the same place, however, struggling to keep the opinions of others from creeping into their consciousness as the great night approached.
In that sense, the Raptors have an advantage because Mathurin was in camp with the Canadian national team last summer when Raptors head coach Nick Nurse wore his Canadian basketball cap.
If there was a chance to make a move and Mathurin was available, the Raptors could act with confidence. This is not the case with Sharpe or any of the other major names in the draft.
That being said, it is very unlikely that the Raptors have any plans to use Anunoby as a way to get to the top of the draft for the simple reason that the versatile wing represents a bird in hand: what are the chances that Someone from The 4-8 rank will never be better than Anunoby now, much less in two or three years if you take into account the advantage of Anunoby, which most believe has not yet been fully exploited. mainly due to injuries that have cost him 63 games in the past. two seasons?
The Raptors are more likely to catch the best available player at No. 33 and turn their attention to free agency, where, again, Toronto is expected to keep its own agents free and increase some of its shortcomings. list by adding a free agent. Although if the Raptors decide to get involved in the commercial market at that time, Anunoby could reappear, however unlikely.
But, as they say, never say never. Webster didn’t when he got the chance on Tuesday, so stay tuned.