It might not be the Leafs, but Toronto can celebrate a Draft Lottery win as the Raptors moved up from 7th to 4th in the 2021 NBA Draft. After a season looking to the future, the team has a chance to pick-up a top talent moving forward.

Raptors HQ, the SBN blog for the team, says this draft is especially good at the top, and while the Raptors might miss out on the two consensus top picks, they’ll have a chance to get some really good players.

“The jump is especially special in a stacked draft year. With the top four, they’ll likely have a shot at either Jalen Green or Jalen Suggs, with Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley as a consensus top two. The difference in talent between these four, though, is less than in recent years — this is going to be a significant addition for the Raptors, whoever it is.” - Raptors HQ

The fourth overall pick behind a consensus top two in a strong draft? It’s 2015 all over again! At least the Raptors have Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster running the show instead of the Mark Hunter vs. Kyle Dubas rivalry playing out on the draft floor.

Speaking of GM rivalries, Lou Lamoriello was voted GM of the year again by his peers between the second and third rounds for some reason. Can someone please explain to me why the voting for these awards happens at different times, and why this award is pretty much just acknowledging “hey, we didn’t think you’d make it to the third round, congrats”?

This timing is especially funny as the Islanders got their asses kicked 8-0 by the Lightning two nights ago and are probably going to get eliminated tonight. Knock on wood, Go Bolts.

Today you discovered that Nick Robertson is without a doubt only the second or third coolest Robertson sibling. His sister, Bri Robertson is a rising jiu-jitsu star and I loved reading the feature on her written by Sean Fitzgerald. Also, petition to reunite the Robertson siblings. Bring me Jason!

We put together a somewhat round table wondering aloud what kind of questions we would ask the Leafs front office and coaching staff. The majority of questions pertained to the power play, how dare they, and if someone could recommend a good Leafs blog. The answer to all three are no, by the way.

What would you ask the Leafs coaches and management if you had the chance?

The Vancouver Canucks have broken the glass in case of emergency and brought back the two best Canucks of all time to give their frustrated fans a morale boost. Although it is a shameless ploy for serotonin, I wouldn’t mind some. Hey, Mats, wanna hang out at 40 Bay St. every day?

From The Branches