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There is little to no consensus among Toronto Raptors fans about who the franchise will pick in this Thursday’s NBA draft, much less who they ought to pick. I’ve gone into depth about who I think should be taken, endorsing Jarell Martin, Jerian Grant, R.J. Hunter and Justin Anderson (article forthcoming), and advising against Montrezl Harrell and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
One name I’ve only mentioned in passing is UCLA product Kevon Looney. Looney has been as high as No. 7 on draft boards this season, and his intriguing skill set has Raptors fans foaming at the mouth, along with DraftExpress’s Jonathan Givony calling him one of the draft’s top sleepers in a recent interview. What I’ve done is reserve final judgment until seeing footage of him work out before the draft, and I’m ready to make some bolder conclusions now that I’ve done so.
Looney is just… kind of vanilla, as NBA prospects go. He’s not going to be an elite floor-spacer anytime soon, that I can guarantee. That 42 percent mark on threes that Looney supporters (Looney-tics? I’ll see myself out) love to brandish in draft conversations? Myself and others were rightly skeptical about how much it really meant. He simply has not taken an adequate sample of threes to warrant any meaningful conclusions about his outside shooting ability. Watching him in workouts, it’s clear to me he’s a guy who will make the odd three when he’s left wide open (like Paul Millsap) and not much more — at least for the time being. He is still young.
Furthermore, I really just don’t understand the buzz around power forwards with crazy wingspans. Last year it was Noah Vonleh; this year, it’s Looney, Harrell and others. The most important part of an NBA defense is almost always the center, not the power forward. Roy Hibbert, Rudy Gobert, Serge Ibaka–these are the types of players most celebrated for their defensive impact. How many defensive power forwards are lighting up the league right now?
I’d argue there’s one such player, and it’s Draymond Green. So if you think Looney is the next Draymond Green then by all means, pick him. But I’d argue Green is very much the exception rather than the rule. I’ll take a power forward with offensive skill over one with defensive skill any day of the week.
On that subject, Looney doesn’t have much of an offensive game yet. And considering coach Dwane Casey‘s abysmal track record at involving young players like Terrence Ross on offense, I doubt Toronto is the place for him to develop one. On the Raptors, Looney would likely be an energy guy/garbage buckets type player: offensive rebounds, loose balls, drawings charges, etc. Now, admittedly, it might be the case that this is exactly what Raptors fans want! We all know how beloved “gym rats” are in Toronto sports.
I’m not content with that, however, and I’d like to think GM Masai Ujiri isn’t either. I think there are better players available at No. 20, and I imagine he does too. Looney has a place in this league, but for both his sake and the Raptors’, I think that place is somewhere other than Toronto.
Casey Sherman is the Toronto Raptors Beat Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @shermham
