Was Demar the right choice in the 2009 draft?

I don’t think so. I think he was drafted more for need and on ‘raw potential’ than anything else. Those are always the 2 most dangerous ways to draft. The Raps were in need of both a SG and athleticism (which was sorely missing prior to that) and I really believe thats why Demar was drafted. But teams in the lottery should draft the best player available, not based on need, and Toronto didn’t do that.

I also don’t think that draft turned out weak at all. Blake, Evans, Harden, Curry, Rubio, Lawson, Holiday… 3 potential superstars (Blake, Tyreke and Curry) and each of those other guys quite likely to be all-stars at some point in time? Thats a pretty nice draft class.

10 Milwaukee Brandon Jennings
11 New Jersey Terrence Williams
12 Charlotte Gerald Henderson
13 Indiana Tyler Hansbrough
14 Phoenix Earl Clark.
15 Detroit Austin Daye
16 Chicago James Johnson
17 Philadelphia Jrue Holiday
18 *Minnesota Ty Lawson
19 Atlanta Jeff Teague
20 Utah ric Maynor
21 New Orleans Darren Collison 6-1
22 *Portland Victor Claver (who is he? LOL)
23 *Sacramento Omri Casspi
24 *Dallas J Mullens
25 *Oklahoma Cty Rodrigue Beaubois
26 *Chicago Taj Gibson
27 *Memphis DeMarre Carroll
28 *Minnesota Wayne Ellington
29 *New York Toney Douglas – He is more of a combo guard
30 Cleveland Christian Eyenga

Of course there is no way to tell if the Raptors had drafted a PG rather than DeMar or even Hansbrough etc what there subsequent player moves would have been.

Would Henderson or Daye have been a better pick for SG? Hard to say except Daye is definitely a better shooter.

too bad we didn’t draft Jrue or Lawson. or Collison

This combo always is hard to work out in the first year. Demar will make a comeback after he adjusts himself to the new system. I still think Demar is a solid choice, but if I had to pick someone else, it would probably be Ty Lawson. He’s extremely quick and is producing some solid results out in Denver. We could use a guy like that. We probably would have packaged Jose and Bargnani away to acquire some other talent though.

to say he looks like a journeyman bench player when he is starting on a team as a 21 year old doesn’t seem correct. The book is still out on Demar, he could go either way. He could be a journeyman bench player or he could be a good starter in this league. A franchise player seems a stretch, but my point is nobody knows yet.

I remember at the time there was much debate about whether Demar or Gerald Henderson would be the best selection. People argued that Demar’s upside was much greater. That his athleticism was no where near Geralds. Though Gerald played 4 years of school, had an outside shot and seemed more polished. I have caught a few games on NBA TV and it appears Gerald to me was the better pick. At the time I was on the Demar bandwagon, maybe caught up a bit too much in the highlight videos on youtube. Gerald is your typical Duke player. Well coached, great fundamentals, high basketball IQ and maybe slightly less athletic. He doesn’t have Kobe upside and would have been the less riskier pick.

If we can get a scoring SF who is at least an average to good defender then having DD at SG won’t be a problem. The problem we have right now is we expected him to be a top tier scorer and adequate defender but he isn’t (yet) and it’s handicapping the team a little.

Given the chance tho, I’d replace him with a guy like Jeremy Lamb if MKG and Barness are off the board. Replace him as in move him to SF and have Lamb be the new SG. If we draft Barnes I think we’ll be ok on the wing and if we draft MKG I think we’ll need to find a SG who can score because MKG won’t score in the NBA the same way he does in the NCAA; MKG is not a scoring wing but more of a hustle, rebounding, scrappy, defensive stopper kind of wing. (at this point anyway keeping in mind he’s only 18).

Scottie was an elite player and if Kidd-G is compared to him, who do you compare Barnes to? MJ?

If Kidd-G is like Pippen then he would be a great selection. If Barnes is like MJ, we will forever regret it unless we get him. I doubt either player will reach those heights but I sure hope we get one of those two guys and they do warrant the comparison.

If you look at the list of players available in the draft, perhspa Jennings is the only one that you can argue for, given what had happened since. I do not think it is a bad choice overall for DeRozen. Somehow his development is slow and personally I think he has now got a bit of attitude problem on this team. In other words, I believe DeRozen is loafing out there. He is no longer out there banging away, trying to score points and to get the rebounds as feverishly as he used to. This shows up in the statistics in recent trends. Unless there is an unknown injury, DeRozen has deteriorated and needs a wake up call urgently.

Then Fields can push DD for playing time and challenge him.

Shumpert becomes are PG of the future.
JV is our centre going forward.
Barnes, Kidd-G or Perry Jones is our future 3.
DD and or Fields at the 2
and AB at the 4

Amir, Ed, Bayless, (DD or Fields), JJ, Gray and Linas give us a solid young bench.

BTW, I ove Jose and when NY falls apart and this team is in the hunt for a ring, we try and bring him back as a backup PG. He’s great and I love his effort and play. It is hard to trade him but he’s one of the only players we have that we can expect a good return for.