{"id":352251,"date":"2026-06-17T11:56:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T06:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=352251"},"modified":"2026-06-17T11:56:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T06:26:33","slug":"raptors-eye-best-player-available-in-deep-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/raptors-eye-best-player-available-in-deep-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Raptors eye best player available in deep draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>TORONTO \u2013 The message was clear from Dan Tolzman.<\/p>\n<p>The Toronto Raptors will likely be sticking to the script in going for the most effective player available in next week\u2019s NBA draft.<\/p>\n<p>With the deepest draft class in recent memory on offer, the team\u2019s assistant general manager shared some insight into a possible path to take at pick No. 19. The draft is happening on June 23-24 in Brooklyn, N.Y.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got numerous really interesting bigs but I feel everyone knows we don\u2019t (have) lob threats (and) shot blocking; that\u2019s probably the side of the bigs that we&#8217;ve lacked,\u201d Tolzman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd so, taking an in depth take a look at that \u2026 it\u2019s going to be a wrinkle in our offence that I feel could unlock another stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The query was posed in regard to a difficulty many of the league now faces: finding premium bigs to deal with the issue the San Antonio Spurs pose with superstar Victor Wembenyama.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI feel everybody wants bigs that may step out on the perimeter, not only offensively but defensively too,\u201d Tolzman said. \u201cBecause as you see within the playoffs, it\u2019s all about matchups. If you happen to can put people in actions and check out to hunt the matchups that you just want; you would like your bigs to have the ability to modify around.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"l-article__part\" data-shortcode=\"related_videos\">\n<div class=\"l-inlineStories l-inlineStories--video\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"l-inlineStories__title\">Related Videos<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<section id=\"miniplayer-carousel\" class=\"l-videoCarousel l-videoCarousel--embed c-carousel\" data-video-carousel-play-inline=\"true\" data-video-carousel-init=\"false\" aria-label=\"Video carousel contains 10 videos.\">\n<div class=\"l-videoCarousel__inner\">\n<div class=\"l-videoCarousel__featured\">\n<div class=\"c-video c-videoPlay \" data-iframe-receiver=\"\" data-autoplay=\"\" data-displayinline-featured=\"true\" data-displayinline-type=\"video\" data-displayinline-player-id=\"miniplayer\" data-displayinline-video-id=\"11825789\" data-displayinline-ratio=\"16:9\" data-displayinline=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/video\/embed\/playlist\/11825789,11811263,11806034,11736470,11520120,11519608,11499192,11272226,11267415,11265148\/?poster=https%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fmedia.globalnews.ca%2Fvideostatic%2Fnews%2Fwv28i7p5ns-6q7q8t8jh8%2FONLINEGNMFRIDANBERLINSTILL.jpg%3Fw%3D1200%26quality%3D70%26strip%3Dall#autoplay&#038;stickyiframe=miniplayer\" data-displayinline-playlist=\"11825789,11811263,11806034,11736470,11520120,11519608,11499192,11272226,11267415,11265148\" data-displayinline-sticky=\"true\" data-permutive-data='{\"content\":{\"name\":\"Canadian teams continue battling through the playoffs\",\"type\":\"video\",\"sections\":[\"videos\",\"toronto\",\"sports\"],\"keywords\":[\"canadian-sports\",\"connor-mcdavid\",\"dan-berlin\",\"edmonton-oilers\",\"global-news-morning\",\"montreal-canadiens\",\"nba\",\"nhl\",\"playoffs\",\"scotty-barnes\",\"short-clip\",\"toronto-raptors\",\"global-news-morning-toronto\"],\"iab\":{\"categories\":[\"Sports\/Team Sports\/Basketball\",\"Sports\",\"Sports\/Team Sports\"],\"tags\":[\"Basketball\",\"Basketball positions\",\"Baylor University\",\"Brooklyn\",\"Chris Cenac\",\"Cleveland\",\"Cleveland Cavaliers\",\"Collin Murray-Boyles\",\"Jakob Pu00f6ltl\",\"Morez Johnson Jr.\",\"National Basketball Association\",\"NBA draft\",\"NBA playoffs\",\"Percentage\",\"Playoffs\",\"San Antonio Spurs\",\"The Canadian Press\",\"Toronto\",\"Toronto Raptors\",\"Victor Wembanyama\"]}}}'>\n<div class=\"c-video__inner \">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__placeholder\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Canadian teams continue battling through the playoffs'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.globalnews.ca\/videostatic\/news\/wv28i7p5ns-6q7q8t8jh8\/ONLINEGNMFRIDANBERLINSTILL.jpg?w=1040&#038;quality=70&#038;strip=all\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\"auto, \" data-sizes=\"(min-width: 1040px) 1040px,(min-width: 720px) 720px,450px\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__overlay\"><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time class=\"c-video__duration\">5:19<\/time><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__title\">Canadian teams proceed battling through the playoffs<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"l-videoCarousel__glide glide \">\n<div class=\"glide__arrows c-carousel__buttons l-videoCarousel__buttons\" data-glide-el=\"controls\">\n\t<button class=\"glide__arrow glide__arrow--left c-carousel__button c-carousel__prev l-videoCarousel__button l-videoCarousel__prev c-longform-gallery__prev\" data-glide-dir=\"<\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<span class=\"sr-only\">Previous Video<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/button><br \/>\n\t<button class=\"glide__arrow glide__arrow--right c-carousel__button c-carousel__next l-videoCarousel__button l-videoCarousel__next c-longform-gallery__next\" data-glide-dir=\">&#8220;><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<span class=\"sr-only\">Next Video<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t<button class=\"c-carousel__goto\" data-glide-dir=\"=0\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><\/button>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t<!-- video stream item --><\/p>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Seven-footer Jakob Poeltl is the one true centre on the Raptors roster, and the one player taller than six-foot-nine.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup\" data-newsletter-inline=\"\">\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/shaw-globalnews\/images\/skyline\/national.jpg\" alt=\"Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won't miss a trending story.\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__content\">\n<h2 class=\"c-inlineSignup__title\">Get breaking National news<\/h2>\n<p>Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox because it happens so you will not miss a trending story.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Nevertheless, Poeltl is popping 31 in October and missed 36 games resulting from injuries, namely a nasty lower back.<\/p>\n<p>While he&#8217;s a very good passer, he doesn\u2019t pose a threat on the perimeter, nor does he possess the athleticism and rim protecting chops (0.7 blocks per game last season) to scare teams from driving to the basket. He only played 19.1 minutes per game in Toronto\u2019s seven-game series against Cleveland.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>With Poeltl locked right into a four-year, US$104 million deal through 2029-30, the Raptors may gain advantage from drafting a younger, more athletic and gifted big man. Chris Cenac Jr., Morez Johnson Jr., and Hannes Steinbach are among the many names that would fall to 19.<\/p>\n<p>Although there are quite a lot of good bigs available, much of the hype around this draft has been concerning the guards.<\/p>\n<p>Tolzman acknowledged that the team has also done its due diligence on the guards available. Toronto finished twentieth in three-point percentage (35.4 per cent) and may gain advantage from added shot creation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-tabs\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab c-tabs__tab--active\" type=\"button\">More on Sports<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab\" type=\"button\">More videos<\/button>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson and Baylor\u2019s Cameron Carr are the most important names expected to fall near the range of the Raptors\u2019 pick.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf numerous those guards do go early then there&#8217;s \u2026 quite a bit bigs in that range of us as well so we got to know that position as well,\u201d Tolzman said. \u201cSame thing as you compare all these guys side by side, how do you stack them out face to face. That\u2019s what we\u2019re working on straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tolzman said the Raptors are on the lookout for a certain demeanour of their draft picks, no matter position.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s definitely a certain form of player that we search for by way of with the ability to impact either side of the ball, offence, defence,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd from there, we attempt to get guys which can be good characters that bring the extent of toughness to not only the sport but in addition to the The work they put in away from (it).<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cJust guys which can be committed to convalescing because so lots of these these guys that we can be taking a look at 19 or 50 even, they\u2019re just scratching the surface on what they might be however it\u2019s gonna be on them to get to those next levels. If you happen to usher in the appropriate those that have that approach, then we\u2019re getting the most effective out of it too, identical to they\u2019re getting it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2026.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n\t\t&#038;copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TORONTO \u2013 The message was clear from Dan Tolzman. The Toronto Raptors will likely be sticking to the script in going for the most effective player available in next week\u2019s NBA draft. With the deepest draft class in recent memory on offer, the team\u2019s assistant general manager shared some insight into a possible path to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":352252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[992,5963,1164,792,3491],"class_list":["post-352251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-deep","tag-draft","tag-eye","tag-player","tag-raptors"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352251"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":352254,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352251\/revisions\/352254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}