With the ninth-overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, better known as the "Andrea Bargnani Pick," the Raptors have selected Utah centre Jakob Poeltl.
Poeltl was the PAC-12 Player of the Year as a sophomore with the Utes this season, averaging 17.2 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.6 blocks on 64.6 percent shooting over the course of 36 games.
With Bismack Biyombo about to earn a swimming pool's worth of money, most likely from another team, Poeltl isn't a difficult sell as a big man who can potentially soak up some of the backup minutes at the five behind Jonas Valanciunas. Having two prospects -- Poeltl and Lucas Nogueira -- push each other for reserve minutes seems a lot more favourable than just handing 15-20 minutes to either one of them without contest.
Poeltl is humongous. But he isn't as lumbering as you would expect a 7'1, 240-pounder might be. In college, he showed an ability to switch on to smaller players in spurts, and he can attack more lead-footed bigs by facing up and putting the ball on the floor.
Those new-age big man skills are augmented by a few throwback elements as well. He doesn't really shoot the ball outside the paint - he rarely dabbled in mid-range attempts and didn't attempt a single three-pointer in 70 career college games. He also doesn't bring the kind of springy rim-protection that is becoming a prerequisite for NBA centres. His 7'1 wingspan isn't overly impressive, and his blocks per-40 minutes dipped down from an impressive 3.2 total in his freshman year, to just 2.0 in his second and final college season.
We'll have more on the Poeltl selection later, but in the mean time, what do you think of the pick?