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Can Toronto Raptors Land Andrew Wiggins, Tyler Ennis or Nik Stauskas?

  • Frank Doyle's Author profile. Frank Doyle

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For the longest time, the Toronto Raptors tried and tried to be just like the rest of the NBA. They went on and on about how similar Toronto was to other major cities in the USA when trying to lure free agents. They harped on how American Toronto really was.

Now, the Raptors couldn’t be prouder to be Canadian thanks to Drake and We The North and Jurassic Park, where thousands of hoops fans gathered outside the Air Canada Centre to cheer on their team in the NBA playoffs.

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Suddenly, Canada is cool.

So you’d better believe Toronto is taking a long look at the best crop of Canadian ballers the NBA Draft has had to offer in years, possibly ever. When the Raptors stumbled early last season, visions of Andrew Wiggins danced in their heads. He is everything the Raptors would love to have, but unless Toronto wants to give up a king’s ransom to move up from No. 20 to very high in the draft, it’s pretty unlikely Wiggins will call the ACC home next season. However, the Raps at least have a decent shot at a couple of other Canadians if they’re interested.

Tyler Ennis, coming out of Syracuse, worked out with the Raptors this week and left a great impression with team brass. You never know, but most figure Ennis will be off the board by the time the Raps draft at 20. Still, it sounds as though if the opportunity presented itself, he’d be happy to play not far from his hometown of Brampton.

“I think it would be a great opportunity,” Ennis told reporters. “I think anybody that’s lucky enough to play in Toronto with the fan support that was shown in the playoffs and the great organization that the Raptors have, I think anybody that gets drafted here is lucky.”

Former Michigan sharpshooter Nik Stauskas would look good in a Raptors uniform too, stretching defences with his outside jumper, but holding out hope for him falling to Toronto might not be realistic either. The latest mock drafts have Stauskas going anywhere from ninth to 17th, so the Raps would probably have to move up for him as well.

But even if the Raps stand pat where they are in the first round, there still should be a number of Canadian options in the second including Melvin Ejim, who was the Big 12 Conference player of the year, Jordan Bachynski, Dwight Powell, and Khem Birch.

“To have a Canadian would be great for the city,” Ennis told reporters. “I think everybody would get behind him and I think it would just be a great opportunity.”