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Toronto begins the Brunson era

The Brunson era has officially begun in Toronto signaled by the trade of superstar Kevin Durant who is headed to the Knicks. It was a difficult decision to trade him but was made easy by New York coming to the table with everything we were looking for in a Durant deal, financial flexibility, 2025 lottery picks in pick 7 and pick 11 and a secondary ball handling slasher that was a competent perimeter defender in RJ Barrett. Also included was 2024 6th overall pick Tidjane Salaun who won't suit up in Toronto and will only reside with us until free agency.

After creating 20 million more in cap space, we went to work trying to figure out how best to use it, with Brunson currently in his prime we couldn't just sit on the extra space and wait on the rookies to develop and had to make a move. Trading pick 11 for picks 17 and 24 we then offered pick 7 and pick 17 along with Aaron Wiggins to Memphis for defensive stalwart and once again PF eligible Bam Adebayo but we weren't done yet. Deciding against drafting at 24 we traded back for picks 31 and 35 as we felt we could still get our target at this point of the draft without having to reach as well as being able to add another rookie to take up another roster spot and make free agency a little less chaotic.

Taking the final haul of the Durant move to
Out
Kevin Durant
Aaron Wiggins
Dwight Powell

In
Bam Adebayo
RJ Barrett
Obi Toppin
Adou Thiero
Noah Penda

Now to talk a little bit about our rookie selections

Pick 31 - Adou Thiero,
Thiero had been a late flyer for this pick after some scouting over the last week and a tip from the Warriors GM to have a look at him. Thiero is a 6'8 hyper athletic wing with a 41-inch vertical an elite downhill finisher that has no issue with physicality, traits that 2k favour. Some of his advanced stats are really eye popping for a guy drafted in the 2nd round.
#1 in drive frequency
#1 free throw rate
68% finishing at the rim
He will be a multi-year project, but we're excited to add the best athlete in the draft at 31. Here's hoping he locks himself in a room this off-season and watches every single game of year 1 Amen Thompson and molds his game that way in being a hyper athletic player camping in the dunkers spot and getting easy putbacks and lobs with that elite vertical pop.

Pick 35 - Noah Penda,
Noah, I had looked at for pick 31 but decided to take the chance he could make it to me still and thought Thiero would be more likely to get picked if I left him on the board. Luckily for me he made it to 35, another 6'8 physical 2-way wing from France it took a few viewings of his tape to really get on board with him considering he is likely to be a slower type of build in 2k due to not being an elite athlete. High basketball IQ, switchable defender and a connective passer he could find his way into the starting role at SF in Toronto sooner rather than later.

We have added a defensive edge and built a wall behind our height challenged superstar with more changes to come on FA Day with another big trade lined up and Toronto holding the full MLE and BAE.

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		Comments (2)
laddas 07/21 09:55 am	QN, Qtr. 5, #2
Nels 07/19 08:25 pm	Woah! Watch out for the Raps!