Davis is listed at 225 pounds and like Bosh, his strong hand is his left hand.
This kid is no stiff, a prize that dropped because Davis broke his wrist last season for an underachieving Tar Heel team, forcing him to miss Carolina’s last 13 games.
He’s no Vince Carter, the most famous Tar Heel alum to play here, but Davis addresses a need and immediately becomes a building block to a franchise that’s in transition.
He’s a face and sign of hope because he has game, brings the right attitude and he’ll bang. With so many questions surrounding the Raptors as next week’s free agency looms, there’s no question Davis will help. All the speculation surrounding Davis pegged him as a top-10 pick, certainly out of reach of Toronto, which didn’t even work him out individually.
As fate would have it, everything worked out for the Raptors, who nonetheless have plenty of work ahead.
For now, Davis must be viewed as a piece, a solid draft choice whose future has no boundary.
The Raptors are short on bigs, the only players under contract being Bargnani and Reggie Evans, who missed most of his first season in Toronto with by a foot injury.
The Raptors would like to re-sign Amir Johnson, but there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to keep him.
The Bosh scenario is so open-ended that anything is possible, but it should become obvious to everyone now that his time in T.O. is over.
Mentor
Chris Bosh is mentoring No. 3 pick Derrick Favors? I wonder how their conversations go: “Look kid, first thing you do is get your Twitter up and running and make sure you get on every TV and radio station as possible. Build that brand!”
Deja vu
Last year Raptor pick DeMar DeRozan said he idolized Vince Carter. This year’s selection, Ed Davis, when queried about what he knew about Toronto, responded by saying Chris Bosh is his favourite player.
Triano isn’t under any illusion when it comes Davis.
As Davis’ name wasn’t called, bypassed and dropping, the Raptors called his coach at North Carolina, Roy Williams.
“He just raved about Ed,’’ Triano said. “He’s a perfect fit for us.”
The imperfect is Davis’ offence, but that will take time.
He doesn’t have much of a face-up game, but the Raptors don’t need offence from a big.
What they need is precisely what Davis embodies: Rebounding and defence.
If the younger Davis brings half the work ethic his father had and adds it to his athleticism, the Raptors, in time, have a gem.
“My father worked hard,’’ Davis said. “He’s always tried to teach me about work ethic because everything my father got was through hard work. It’s why he stayed in the league so long.”
During his interview, Bosh was asked about playing for a proven coach when the subject of Phil Jackson’s future with the Lakers was mentioned.
For some reason, these idiots who blog and offer uninformed opinions have twisted Bosh’s words as some sort of indictment on Jay Triano.
“The coach, pretty much, is the leader of your team,’’ Bosh said. “And if you have a good coach, that gives you better chances in certain situations.
“I think a lot of guys want to play for a good coach. And to be put in the right position, that has a lot to do with it … I think a well-led team is very important in the decision-making process.’’
Triano went from soothing Bosh during the Sam Mitchell era to being the boss, a transition that had its learning curve. The Raptors addressed an obvious need for some tough love when they acquired P.J. Carlesimo to serve on Triano’s staff. But to say Triano had an issue with Bosh would be foolish.
Each time the Raptors needed to make a game-winning shot, Bosh was asked to make a play.
The problem with the Raptors last season was the inability of anyone to step up when Bosh was injured.
Toronto did its best to try to surround Bosh with quality players, but it didn’t work.
That, more than any reason, is why Bosh won’t be back.
Maybe the best thing about the pick is this: Davis wasn’t simply selected because he plays Bosh’s position. He was selected because he was, in the minds of the brain trust, the best player on the board when the Raptors used their 13th-overall pick. Taking the best-available talent is always a savvy strategy, which is to say it hasn’t always been the Raptors’ strategy. (See Araujo, Rafael.)
Bosh, for his part, was a guest host on an ESPN talk show on Thursday morning, wherein he offered few clues about what he’ll do when the NBA’s open market begins on July 1. Bosh, who showed off a new buzz cut that recalled his rookie look, said the impending business of picking his next employer is “scary . . . but exciting at the same time.”
Colangelo can relate to the “scary” part of that sentiment, and that’s mostly because the Toronto GM isn’t the one running this free-agent circus. He is at the mercy of Bosh, who in turn is taking his cue from the biggest of the free-agent fish, LeBron James.
“Am I waiting on LeBron? Pretty much,” Bosh said on ESPN. “I think everyone has to. I have to as well . . . He’s a great player and I would be crazy to think that all the teams that are considering him, they would talk to somebody else first. I think everybody is going to be going at him first.
“They’ll probably call him at 12:01 (on July 1). Hopefully they’ll call me at 12:02.”
Bosh insisted he could return to Toronto.
“Toronto is a great place. … They have a lot of good things going,” Bosh said. “And they’re definitely a team that I’m going to be looking at very hard because they can do things that other teams can’t.”
The Raptors can offer a six-year deal worth approximately US$127 million. No other team could offer Bosh more than a five-year pact that would likely be worth around $97 million.
Bosh stressed he would also be happy alongside another elite player.
“I would like to contribute big to somebody,” Bosh said. “Toronto made me their focal point and they’ve built around me for the last few years and just to have that feeling there, it was good, because going down into the stretch of the games I knew the ball was going to be in my hands and I knew that I was the guy who had to make my teammates better.”
Bosh said he has not talked with other marquee free agents, though suggested that eventually he and James will speak.
“There were more [trade scenarios] than you can count,” said Triano. “I’d have to say there were eight or nine or 10 opportunities to try to trade picks, purchase more picks, it’s been extremely active up there.”
With so many question marks in their front court, Colangelo said it was a relief that there was some quality size available.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you I’m confident Chris is coming back,” said Colangelo. “That’s why this is the right piece.”
By the time the day started, the Raptors had narrowed their list of preferred selections to two, with big men like Ekpe Udoh of Baylor and Patrick Patterson of Kentucky thought to be their preferred candidates. But Udoh moved up to sixth and Davis – who the Raptors never had a chance to work out in Toronto – was surprisingly available at No. 13, so the Raptors pounced on him.
Upon being drafted by the Toronto Raptors last year, DeMar DeRozan tweeted that he was bringing Air Canada back. The reference, of course, was to departed Raptors star Vince Carter.
This year’s Raptors pick cited a different player from the team’s history.
“My favourite player, Chris Bosh, plays there,” Ed Davis told ESPN about Toronto moments after he was drafted.
As much as they might like to, the Raptors cannot escape their past.
Magic GM Otis Smith said after Thursday’s NBA draft that he had discussions with the Toronto Raptors about a trade that would return former Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu to Orlando. Turkoglu wants out of Toronto after just one season.
“We’ve had conversations with Toronto and nothing transpired,” Smith said.
The Magic executed a sign-and-trade with the Raptors last summer, sending Turkoglu to Toronto for a trade exception.
Smith wouldn’t say what Magic players would be involved in the deal.
13) Toronto Raptors: Ed Davis, PF, North Carolina: Great pick by the Raptors as Davis will be the guy they plug in to take over for soon to be Free Agent Chris Bosh. Grade: A
Raptors coach Jay Triano said Davis was just that, with the added bonus of being a big man that can fill a void.
"We didn’t think he’d be available at 13, we thought he would be long gone, to have him keep sliding, we kept crossing our fingers that he’d keep sliding one more, one more, and he falls right into our lap, which was great," Triano said.
"When you look at the free agents that we have with Chris Bosh, Amir Johnson, Patrick O’Bryant, Rasho Nesterovic — that’s four bigs," he added. "The fact that we got a big was great. Regardless of who signs, and who comes back and who plays, he’s a big body and he’s athletic and he fits the trend that the NBA is starting to move towards."
Later Thursday, Colangelo acquired Florida State centre Solomon Alabi, the 50th overall pick, from the Dallas Mavericks for a future second-round pick and cash considerations.
Davis, the son of former NBA player Terry Davis, is known for his rebounding at both ends of the floor, and uses his length and explosiveness to block shots. One weakness is his face-up game.
"He needs to work on his jump shot," Triano said.
New York sells itself.
That’s what Chris Bosh said when asked about the Knicks while co-hosting on ESPN Radio this morning.
"They have great fans," Bosh said. "New York is New York. I think it’s something people don’t even have to sell. It’s New York; what’s to think about it?"
Bosh, who is near the top of the Knicks’ free-agent wish list, said he believes part of the their lure is the chance to play at Madison Square Garden 41 times a season.
"The Garden is one of the greatest, if not the best place to play, in the league," Bosh said. "We all have memories of Madison Square Garden."
Since bringing in Donnie Walsh as team president two seasons ago, the Knicks’ goal was to open enough salary cap space to afford two max free agents this offseason. Walsh accomplished the goal right before the trade deadline, and in the Knicks’ dream scenario they would land LeBron James and Bosh to play in New York next season after free agency begins July 1.
"They put all their chips in one basket, so it will be interesting to see what happens with them," Bosh said. "I am sure they are pulling out all the tricks that they have and I am sure they are going to be aggressive because they’ve been very aggressive getting themselves in this position."
Scouting report on Alabi is:
Size: 7-1, 250
School: Florida State, Sophomore
Strengths:
• Size that every NBA team covets
• Extrememly long
• Shot blocking
• Alters a lot of shots in the paint
• Effectively uses hook shot
• Above average athleticism for a 7-footer
• Has showed steady improvement in his two years at Florida State
• Great upside
Davis refused an invitation from the Raptors to work out for the team in the weeks leading up to the draft because he was convinced he’d be gone by the time Toronto made the 13th selection. But when the Utah Jazz departed from form and took Butler forward Gordon Hayward instead of Davis as expected, it set in motion the events that allowed him to fall to the Raptors.
“I have no clue,” Davis said when asked why he fell out of the top 10. “But it doesn’t really matter right now, I’m in a great situation.”
Toronto did see Davis work out at the NBA’s pre-draft combine in Chicago last month and interviewed him there.
“It wasn’t like it was off the wall.”
Colangelo had spent most of Thursday holed up in his Air Canada Centre office, trying to acquire an additional pick to help stock his thin roster.
But on a night when a handful of trades went down — most notably one agreed to between Chicago and Washington that could allow the Bulls to sign two maximum-value free agents — there was nothing the Raptors could get done.
The Raptors are desperate for rebounding and toughness. Davis, the son of a hardworking NBAer who fought for every minute of floor time, brings exactly what the club needs.
“Rebounding, block shots, being able to defend, those things always translate well,” Davis said.
What happens this offseason, of course, depends on how much work Davis will get this season.
“There’s a chance he comes in and plays right away,” Colangelo said. “What he achieves will be dependent on what our team needs after any free agent signings or trades. We get a very good basketball player who gives us what we need, a shot blocker, a player who can protect the rim, a rebounder. Ed Davis gets all those things done.”
In Alabi, the Raptors acquire another long defensive oriented player who could mature into a solid defender.
The Raptors saw centre Cole Aldrich go 11th to the New Orleans Hornets. Another player the Raptors worked out, Xavier Henry, went 12th to the Memphis Grizzlies. Another player who worked out here, Patrick Patterson, went to the Houston Rocket at 14.
As for Alabi, the chances of him seeing action in Erie are far greater. A 7-foot 1-inch center, Alabi averaged 11.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and blocked 75 shots in 32 games for the Seminoles this past season as a junior.
DeMar DeRozan is the only player on Toronto’s 2009-10 roster eligible to play in the D-League this upcoming season. Considering the 6-foot 7-inch forward started 65 games for the Raptors as a rookie last season, he most likely won’t play for the BayHawks this upcoming season.
Toronto didn’t send any players to Erie in 2009-10.
Toronto: The Raptors, at No. 13, drafted North Carolina forward Ed Davis. The son of former NBA player Terry Davis, he can rebound and block shots but his offensive game in halfcourt sets needs improvement. Potential and willingness to learn are positives.
Ed Davis averaged 13.4 points and 9.6 rebounds last season for the Tar Heels before missing the last 13 games with a broken left wrist. He is UNC’s 40th first-round NBA draft selection and seemed excited about going to Toronto.
"I really learned a lot during the whole Carolina thing, my two years there, you know what I’m saying?" Davis said. "We did great one year and then not so good my sophomore year, but like I said, I learned a lot. But I’m really looking forward to being in Toronto, a young team; they really played up and down and I’m happy to be there."
I’ve been a vocal critic of the way the Raptors have been built over the past few years. I am a huge proponent of defence and I thought it was an afterthough. These are two of the best defensive prospects in the draft and will be a huge help to the Raptors.
Davis is a much better rebounder than Alabi, he is more athletic and reads shots better, but Alabi is better at rebounding than his numbers 6.2 in 25.6 minutes) show as the entire Seminoles team hit the boards extremely hard.
Neither will ever be 20 point scorers, but Alabi, who has only been playing the game for a few years, has a nice touch on his shot and a developing post game. Davis will take longer to make an impact offensively, but will get putbacks and dunks from the get-go. As Colangelo said, Davis gets a lot done around the basket.
Davis could have gone 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th or 11th. Alabi was projected to go in the 20-35 range.
I asked a Raptors employee the other day to put his starting lineup in an envelope, seal it and date it yesterday and we’ll look at it on opening day.
“Can’t do it,” the employee said.
“Why?” I asked.
“I don’t think anyone has a clue who will be playing for us in November.”
They don’t and we don’t.
But they do have Ed Davis, who looks to have a man’s body and the face of a 12-year-old.
The basketball know-it-alls like the pick. He has good genes and it’s another piece for an indiscernible puzzle.
Just not anything to celebrate yet.
13th pick, Toronto Raptors: Ed Davis, 6-10, 225, North Carolina, forward. After being overshadowed by Tyler Hansbrough, Davis had a breakout freshman year (13.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.8 blocks) and showcased his potential as one of the top talents. Long, athletic, with several post moves and speed to run the floor, the main knock against him is his lack of strength‚ he also needs a reliable jump shot‚ but his upside is huge.
Nice. The Raptors get Alabi and only give up a future second rounder and cash. They’ve done very well, despite not making any big trades. Raptor fans on some of the sites are looking like idiots, complaining about the Ed Davis pick and the lack of big trades. Apparently they believe that today is the only time trades are allowed to happen. I’m amazed by the pessimism.
To begin the season Ed Davis was the #2 ranked NBA prospect in the country and was expected to have a terrific year with Tyler Hansbrough gone for the NBA. However it quickly became apparent that the loss of Ty Lawson and the lack of an adequate replacement would affect his stock. Add to that the fact that he injured his wrist and missed the rest of his sophomore campaign and you can understand why this highly touted prospect slipped to the Raptors. The two other correlative factors in Davis’ draft slide were Ekpe Udoh going to the Warriors which caused Greg Monroe to slip to the Pistons and the Pacers selecting Paul George instead of a big.
We are thrilled here at Raptors Digest that the Raptors were able to land Ed Davis and think that his drop to the Raptors is storybook-esque with Chris Bosh likely on his way out of Toronto.
In the end the Raptors hope the have drafted a solid post defender and a shot blocking presence. It still remains a question how this team intends to score with no Bosh, Turkoglu and Calderon or Jack potentially. Bargnani even at his max will give you 20-25 points? Demar and Sonny hope you get 15 each? I am just saying that taking for granted this team in a post Bosh Era can score is a mistake. Andrea will now see double teams perhaps. Whatever the case the Raptors become easier to defend. Even a sign and trade for Bosh would unlikely produce a number 1 scoring option in return.
#13 Pick – Toronto Raptors select Ed Davis
Goodbye Chris Bosh. Excellent selection for the Raptors.
Davis is similar to Bosh in some ways. A lanky power forward with great quickness. A terrific rebounder. A lefty with great length. A good face up shooter and driver. A limited post game.
A lot of questions about Davis’ ability to be a go-to scorer but he will be a very good rebounder + has good defensive potential + will be at the very least, a very good complementary player offensively.
Davis has excellent length and athleticism and will make Raptor fans very happy with his ability to defend unlike our former C Andrea Bargnani. He is a very good shot-blocker and rebounder and will be an ideal complement to both Amir Johnson and Andrea Bargnani.
Davis has immense potential and if he can add some muscle and some range he can become a dominant player in this league. Otherwise he will still make a fine role player and will help ease the potential loss of Ed Davis.
Ed Davis began the season as the #2 ranked player on ESPN’s big board and as stated above has loads of potential. Davis is an explosive dunker and will make quite the duo with DeMar DeRozan.
Ideally Davis would not start because his offensive game is still quite raw, but Colangelo likes his higher draft picks to get guaranteed minutes, and depending on the other moves Colangelo makes this off season it is not hard to imagine Davis starting beside Andrea Bargnani this fall. Davis’ athleticism and rebounding skills complement Bargnani’s scoring and they will be desperately needed if the Raptors lose both Chris Bosh and Amir Johnson to free agency.
The Raptors have so many potential trades and free agents to deal with this year that the selection of Davis is unlikely to be a determining factor in Colangelo’s future moves, but the Raptors have to be very pleased to have a big man with Davis’ abilities drop to them at 13. Davis was not even invited to Toronto for pre-draft workouts as he was not expected to be available.
Colangelo has also left little room for doubt that there are a number of potential draft picks that he would like to get his hands on later in the first round as well. The Raptors invited Devin Ebanks back for a second pre-draft workout and we will soon see if he can make that can happen.
The selection of 6-10 power forward Ed Davis by the Toronto Raptors in the 2010 NBA draft was not expected. Fitting then, that most observers see much of Toronto’s summer going the same way with so many question marks hanging above the franchise. For now though, Davis’ has been tapped as a possible answer by Raptors despite not having worked out for the team during pre-draft visits. Word out of new York where Davis was present at the draft was that Davis and his reps may have been unpleasantly The Raptors have selected a big man in six of the last seven drafts they have participated in and yet employ no real big man coach to speak of. It may only be a minor issue in the grand scheme, but relevant since the Raptors frontcourt just got smaller and younger should Davis stick.
The mood around the Air Canada Centre was amusingly light in the back room media centre where a larger than average group of local beaters had gathered to witness the 2010 NBA draft proceedings. With general manager Bryan Colangelo pacing the Raptors’ war room floor down the hall – his 13th overall pick in play – the uncertainty of what was to unfold before him was surely enough to preclude any definite plan of attack. Outside of the free agency (Chris Bosh), trade demands (Hedo Turkoglu) and the sudden youth movement that seems to have crept up on the Raptors, the business of this draft represents the first domino to fall it was is guaranteed to be one of the busiest of Colangelo’s career.
Ed Davis was patched into the media here in Toronto to talk about the impact his dad has had on his playing style, what his goals are for his rookie season, if he was surprised to see himself fall to the 13th pick and a host of other topics.
Jay Triano just escaped from Toronto’s war room for a couple minutes to talk with the media about Ed Davis sliding to Toronto, why Toronto called Roy Williams tonight before they made the pick, how close they were to drafting Patrick Patterson, the high amount of trades the team could have made over the past 48 hours, what the summer will entail for Davis and a host of other topics that Raptors’ fans want to hear about.
At 17, Davis didn’t carry himself like a McDonalds All-American, but more like a little brother tagging with his big bro to watch the game. He sat quietly in the corner, intently following the action on the screen, seeming to enjoy LeBron James’ first NBA Finals game. Then again, you didn’t really know if he was enjoying himself or not, since he didn’t say anything. Davis only spoke when spoken to, but when we did finally sneak a few words out of him, it turned out he was not only insightful, but you could tell how passionate about the game he was.
What I’ll always remember about that night though, is that after not saying a word to me the entire evening, when I got up to leave, Davis was quick to say goodbye, and tell me how nice it was to meet me. This to someone he’d met only hours before. I couldn’t help but appreciate the poise of a 17-year-old to say that to his senior. I don’t know if I’d have done the same at his age.
Bryan Colangelo just escaped from Toronto’s war room for a couple minutes to talk with the media about Ed Davis sliding to Toronto, if they had second thoughts when he slide, a trade that will be announced later tonight and a host of other topics that Raptors’ fans want to hear about.
Luckily for Toronto it appears a team ahead of them got cold feet and it resulted in them passing on Davis.
“There was a lot of interest at a particular pick everyone assumed would be where he landed but perhaps a little bit of a shift up near the top of the draft led that team to make a different decision,” said Colangelo.
Regardless of the reason, Davis managed to slide to Toronto and they were able to select a player that should be able to anchor their defense the next few seasons.
Davis is the third fastest player at the University of North Carolina to swat 100 shots and he accomplished the feet after 51 games while it took Rasheed Wallace 47 games and Sam Perkins 50 games to accomplish the same feat.
Pretty impressive company, if you ask me.
Davis, however, is far from a one trick pony. Last season his season ended prematurely with a broken lunate bone in his left wrist on February 10, 2010, but at that point in time he was leading the ACC in field goal percentage (.578) and blocked shots, was second in rebounding and 15th in scoring. Clearly he’s a guy you can throw on the court that will get “garbage points” without needing plays run for him while also providing the defensive presence the team was searching for. He’ll be able to grab some rebounds, change a ton of shots and he has the athleticism to allow the team to continue to get out and run on the break.
After lamenting that the Toronto Raptors were going to let another draft pass without making a move, and after Triano said not to expect any deals tonight Bryan Colangelo pulled off his trademark wizardry and landed a player the Raptors were looking to acquire an additional 1st round pick for. Suffice it to say that landing a player we coveted 50th overall is major victory for Raptors brass and Raptors fans alike.
Solomon Alabi is the tallest player in the draft at 7′1 and is an excellent shot blocker, the best part about him is his work ethic. He is still offensively raw and learning the game of basketball, and he will need that work ethic to realize his immense potential.
Post Draft Reaction from Toronto Raptors Power Forward Ed Davis, Head Coach Jay Triano and General Manager Bryan Colangelo.
