I would very much like if Toronto would stop drafting our guys

[rbmw263]

I am a big proponent of young players in the league needing live on the court minutes in crucial development years to have successful careers. Practice reps, while not useless, just cant compare on so many levels. Toronto fans will tell you straight ahead that Casey favors veteran players and establishes a hierarchy with seniority playing a huge role. They also are a team near the top of the league, meaning they have quality players on the roster already. Its frustrating that we’ve had 2 players drafted into the league in the last decade and both have landed on this team where its going to be very hard for them to get minutes.

 

They just traded for Serge Ibaka, so whatever spot minutes Jakob might have gotten are gone. He will only see the floor in blowouts for the foreseeable future. Delon is an interesting case….a lot of Raps fans like him and think he has a role in their future. They are actually pretty protective over him. A lot of national guys who actually really know the sport agree that he can do some things on an NBA court. But he cant crack the rotation (Toronto is deep on the wings). its extremely frustrating with Delon because his window to develop is barely open and may have very well already closed. Hes just a month or so shy of 25 yrs old. Cory Joseph still gets the nod over him for reasons that no Raptors fan can produce. Many want to see Delon in his role, because he has been so awful this year. But I guess he has a long leash because he was Drakes chosen one (im only kind of kidding…). A Cavs writer mentioned Delon being a good fit in Cleveland backing up Kyrie and playing that playmaker role Lebron is looking for. I would LOVE to see this. It would be relatively low risk for Cleveland and I imagine they could get him for pretty cheap.

Ultimately, Toronto is in championship contention mode, rather than development mode, and have a coach with a strong youth aversion. I really….really wish they would stop f(#&$ng drafting our players.

[rbmw263]

Also relevant. In the Era of team basketball, Toronto is basically running an offense that just rotates between derozan iso, JV post iso, and Kyle lowry pick and rolls. It’s not enjoyable to watch and it certainly solidifies that hierarchy with an incredible lack of ball movement. Watching them for 3 rounds in the playoffs last year was painful. 

[Utah]

The league needs to use the DLeague like MLB does. Dante Exum should be in the DLeague playing 30 mins a night. So should Delon and Poeltl. Then they can develop, and they can be ready to come up and play. Plus, it would be great for coaching as well. 

Imagine if Exum down there and doing terrible. Well, now you can fix it. You can develop parts of his game that are weaker, and when he hits 25, he is reaching his potential and you can bring him up with all star potential, instead of him rotting on the bench. OR, Exum goes down to the DLeague and absolutely dominates (or Delon or Poeltl). Then, you HAVE to bring them up and play them or trade them.  

It also solves the leave early problem. 

Make the draft 4 or 5 rounds. Make is so high schoolers are eligible for the draft. You can be drafted and even if you are drafted, you can still go to college. If you go to college, you have to stay for three years.