Raptors News: In a five-year redraft, two Toronto players were selected among the stars.

Raptors News: In a five-year redraft, two Toronto players were selected among the stars.

The Toronto Raptors are constructing their team’s base around these two pillars. One is a two-way point guard whose blend of defense, passing, and scoring is unmatched in the league, both currently and in the past. The other is a raw diamond, waiting to be polished in a different setting.

Despite the Raptors’ apparent all-in on Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley, not everyone in the globe feels the same way. It can be challenging to see through the rose-and-black glasses, and in the eyes of a more dispassionate observer, the unrealized potential they perceive in a young player might represent unfulfilled expectations and goals.

This broad strategy was used by Bleacher Report recently when they conducted a comparison of all the young players in the league. Instead of creating a new draft class for just one year, they combined the draft classes from 2019 to 2023 (2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023).

That equates to 150 first-round selections, 70 lottery picks, and five years’ worth of the top pick. It’s the perfect method for comparing young athletes to one another. They selected 30 players in total, including NBA stars of the future.

Slightly ahead of Anthony Edwards and the Tyreses, Haliburton and Maxey, Victor Wembanyama finished first overall. Then, to complete the Top 8, Ja Morant, Paolo Banchero, Zion Williamson, and Chet Holmgren all scored a ton of points.

Things got personal for Toronto at the No. 9 pick, when Scottie Barnes was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in this redraft. As a result, he was chosen before Alperen Sengun (who placed tenth), Evan Mobley (13), Franz Wagner (14) and Cade Cunningham (15) as the first member of his draft class.

That conveys the truth of the 2021 draft class, which is that there is fierce competition at the top and no clear star player at this time. However, it’s noteworthy that Barnes starts the gang off.

Barnes was the first player from his draft class to be selected to the All-Star Game in the previous season. With his ability to score and pass, he has been a potent offensive player. This year, he also made great progress as a shooter. In addition to being a turnover producer and weakside rim protector, he is an impact defender. He’s not the greatest defender or attacker in his class, but he’s certainly near the top of the list in both categories.

It’s shocking to watch him fall behind Zion Williamson, who has been a defensive sieve and has been absolutely amazing when healthy. Though he can’t be the main star like Barnes is, Chet Holmgren is a better scalable fit on more teams.

Barnes has the potential to climb even higher on this list with one more step this season.

Still, Barnes wasn’t the only athlete to be on the list. Immanuel Quickley finished 20th overall, ahead of Jalen Green and Trey Murphy III and right behind Darius Garland.

Because of his great two-way play in a backup role the previous several seasons in New York, Quickley was targeted by the Toronto Raptors in a trade this past season. Once in Toronto, he was able to continue his effectiveness in a larger role.

The former Kentucky point guard inked a big new deal this summer, but he will need to keep getting better in order to justify it. So far in his career, he has done just that.

RJ Barrett is noticeably absent; most of his draft companions, including Darius Garland, Zion Williamson, and Ja Morant, were chosen, but Barrett was not. He has occasionally had All-Star potential, but he has also been genuinely awful. Despite playing incredibly well in the final stretch, he did not finish in the Top 30 of the redraft.

Toronto has a strong group of players; it’s difficult to forecast what they will develop into because they don’t have many young stars. In an ideal world, though, they would have a youthful, vibrant core around which to develop a competitive team.