Should the Raptors draft Brandon Knight?

i do love brandon knight but imo kanter is a better pick for the raps allowing bargs too play his natural 4 spot where i think hed be much more effective

 Not if Kanter or Valanciunas are still on board.  Toronto needs defense and they like Euros.  

if they go center what happens to davis?

Irving is not better then Bayless. Also the Raptors unless the Raptors slip to 6th which is less likely as Detroit picking 1st the raps will get a Top 5 pick. They have a 99.6 percent chance of picking Top 5, and a 73 percent chance of picking top 4.

With Irving, Williams, Kanter,Valanciunas (if Valanciunas declares) are the likely top 4 picks for Toronto with Vesely, Burks, Jones, Biyambo, Walker and Knight, as possible sleepers for the 5th and 6th picks if Toronto slides I highly doubt Toronto picks Knight.

If Kanters not available then yes. But they need a legitimate center like kanter . Bargnani and kanter would make a great inside outside duo.

 Kanter is not a legit Center, he’s a true PF. People put him at C cause of his size. 

Kanter has said in interviews that his natural position is PF.

Plus, Bargnani at the 3? That experiment has already been tested and failed. Don’t see them putting him back there….Ever

I think the Raptors has way too many PFs. Brandon Knight should be considered, but I would have to go through workout and take the BPA.  However, Brandon Knight is a project at the PG as he can yet to run a team.  I am not sure if the fans would have the patience to wait for Knight to develop into a legit PG.  I see Knight may have a similar career as Billups, probably would take him a few years to learn the PG position.  Billups who was traded to the Raptors in his rookie season after being drafted 3rd overall was given up early and eventually found his game after a few years playing under Larry Brown.

Ed Davis, Andrea Bargnani, Amir Johnson – arguably all of them can start at PF, but none of them can really play C.

Davis and Johnson are too short and not strong enough.  Bargnani doesn’t play in the post.

The PF position is also the deepest in this draft, so with a top 6 pick, the Raptors would likely be forced into taking a PF for the BPA that maybe forced to play out of position.

Derrick Williams, Enes Kanter, Jonas Valanciunas, Donatas Motiejunas, Jan Vesely, Bismack Biyombo

That’s why I have been saying that both Bargnani and Amir Johnson should be made available just to balance out the roster.  Ed Davis can be had for the right price.  The Raptors need to have a legit C instead of a bunch of PF pretending to be C.

Three things, Tha Prince:

1. yes Kanter considers himself a PF, but if you put him at Center he will not fail unlike Bargnani has, as well as Davis and whoever else Toronto has tried. True, Kanter is more of a PF than a Center but with his size and playing style he could survive as a PF and not get man handled like Bargnani, and this may be the only real chance the Raptors have at getting a center. You think that this year’s free agent class is just filled with Centers when it really isn’t.
2. I’ve taken a look at all of the free agent centers and most of them are basically crappy centers that no one wants. The good ones will likely be retained by their teams. I could only find 3 of them that are good centers that I think the Raptors would like to go for. Nene, Joel Pryzbilla, and Spencer Hawes. That’s it! Those are the only Centers that are good that will probably remain free agents; not being retained by their current teams. Since there will likely be so few, those 3 will probably be signed by teams very quickly.
3. Just because the Raptors may need a veteran does not mean that veterans will sign there. The team can choose who they want but in the end its the players decision if they want to play there. If they all decide not to play there then the Raptors are SOL and can’t do anything about it. They cannot force a player to play there against their own will.

No Kanter is probably not as good as Nene, but the Raptors may not get a chance at Nene. I would think that Kanter is better than Hawes and Pryzbilla, but those two might decide to go somewhere else too, so I’d much rather get a young center that is actually better than Hawes and Pryzbilla then draft a PG and just and hope and pray on a star that one of those three will be available and want to play for Toronto. 

Note: I’ll post a word document that I have listing all of the free agent centers and who will likely be retained in my next post.

 Legend: FA=Likely free agent, K=Likely kept by original team, R=Likely to retire. I have bolded the ones that I think the Raptors are likely to go after that will remain free agents. (I miscounted, there are actually 4, but still not too many so they will likely not be free agents for long)

• Hawks=Etan Thomas(FA), Josh Powell(FA), Jarron Collins(FA) and Hilton Armstrong(FA)
• Celtics=Shaq(R), N. Krstic(FA)
• Bobcats=Kwame Brown(FA), Joel Pryzbilla(FA)
• Bulls=Kurt Thomas(K)
• Cavs=Ryan Hollins(FA)
• Pistons=None
• Pacers=Jeff Foster(FA), Solomon Jones(FA)
• Heat=Zydrunas Ilgauskas(K), Eric Dampier(R), Jamaal Magloire (R)
• Bucks=None
• Nets=Dan Gadzuric(FA)
• Knicks=Ronny Turiaf(K)
• Magic=None
• Sixers=Spencer Hawes(FA), Tony Battie(FA)
• Raptors=Alexis Ajinca(K)
• Wizards=Ndiaye (FA)
• Mavs=Tyson Chandler (K)
• Nuggets=Nene(FA), Melvin Ely (FA)
• Warriors Louis Amundson (FA)
• Rockets=Yao Ming (R), Chuck Hayes (K)
• Clippers=Deandre Jordan (K)
• Lakers=Theo Ratliff (R)
• Grizzlies=Marc Gasol (K), Hamed Haddadi(FA)
• Wolves=None
• Hornets=Aaron Gray(K), DJ Mbenga (FA)
• Thunder=Nazr Mohammed(FA)
• Blazers=Greg Oden(K), Chris Johnson (FA)
• Kings=Samuel Dalembert (K)
• Spurs=Tim Duncan(R)
• Jazz=Krylyo Fesenko (K), Francisco Elson (FA)

After looking at that list Nene is probably the only one of the four that is better than Kanter. Are you willing to risk Nene not being available if the Raptors draft Knight and once again go without a Center? I wouldn’t want to. I’d much rather make sure I get one by drafting Kanter instead of just hope and pray that Nene will want to go to the Raptors and also work out. If the Raptors draft a PG but miss out on Nene, they will have to settle for one of the other 3 when it could have been better if they would have just stuck with Kanter since he is both better and would for sure go there since they drafted him. (Remember the last time the Raptors got a "big" free agent it ended up being Hedo and he was on the first flight out of Toronto the next year) 

Now do you see why it is better to go a Center in the draft, instead of just hope and pray a capable one will be available in free agency?

 I know there is still hype about Biyombo but couldn’t that be a pick that would make sense for the Raptors? They need a legit center, who better in this draft than Biyombo. Sure, there will probably be Kanter, Val, and various PG’s.. But few of these guys have the physical tools that he has and the defensive minded play that he has, he is a high risk/high reward but my idea is what if they took their pick as Knight like what was originally said and trade maybe Calderon or Bayless and maybe one other player/pick to some team in the late lottery where they could maybe pick Biyombo up?

I like what wardb said about hoping that Nene will want to come to their team but you also were stupid about that list.. Tim Duncan retiring this year, same with Shaq? Obviously the bigger names like Chandler, Gasol, and maybe Dalembert would be staying but what are the chances of the Blazers keeping Greg Oden? He has been the biggest disappointment. People said when he was going to be drafted that he was a franchise center, that he was someone to build around like Duncan. How many games has he played in? The Blazers IMO will want to forget that draft happened and let him loose. What the Raps need is a good defensive center. Getting that man through the draft or hoping on free agency, either way, they have a big spot to fill there and the talent pool isn’t all that large in this draft and free agency.

You’ve got to let go of this idea that DeAndre Jordan is a remote possibility of being signed by Toronto. Yes, he would fit well, but be realistic, it’s never going to happen. He’s playing next to his good friend Blake Griffin, who just so happens to be the first All-Star rookie since Tim Duncan, and Eric Gordon, who is quickly becoming one of the best 2-guards in the NBA. He isn’t leaving sunny LA for the cold north.Toronto needs to keep building through the draft and see what Bargnani can do at the 4 while he’s still relatively young.

Kanter might say he isn’t a C, and by European standards maybe not, where you’ve got a number of aggressive solidly built men, but in the NBA there’s no reason he can’t play the 5 and be successful.

"You’ve got to let go of this idea that DeAndre Jordan is a remote possibility of being signed by Toronto. Yes, he would fit well"

The Raptors already have plenty of bad big men who offer little more than a few blocked shots and dunks. One of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, so how many times does Toronto have to keep thinking a shot blocker with no skills or awareness is going to magically transform them defensively?

DeAndre would be an upgrade over the Cs they have, and most importantly it would allow Bargnani to play the 4.

However, at what point did I say that he would transform them defensively, I just said he’d fit well. I’m not expecting whichever C they get to make a huge difference unless he’s a healthy Greg Oden or Dwight Howard.

A defensive transformation has to come from a coaching change; Bayless, Johnson and Davis are all good defenders, there’s no reason why with a better defensive coach and a legitimate shot-blocking C they couldn’t improve dramatically.