2015 NBA Draft results: Delon Wright picked by Toronto Raptors
Utah’s lanky point guard will head north of the border.
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
The Toronto Raptors have selected Delon Wright with the No. 20 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. The senior guard was considered a fringe prospect not long ago but after transferring to Utah, he turned his college career around, finishing with a Sweet 16 appearance and a berth as a second team All-American.
Wright is a late bloomer. After playing two years for a junior college, he joined the Utes. He made an immediate impact upon arriving, earning first team All-Pac-12 honors in consecutive years, as well as the Bob Cousy award in 2014-15. With Wright as their leader, the Utes made the tournament for the first time since 2009 and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in a decade.
Wright is 23 years old, so he doesn’t offer the upside other prospects do, but his work in college suggests he could be a solid pro. Not many prospects come with the credentials he has and he only had two years to collect them. He had success at the individual and team level and showed leadership and competitiveness while doing so, becoming one of the best college players of the past year.
Sean Woodley of Raptors HQ says the addition of Wright makes a lot of sense after the team traded point guard Greivis Vasquez earlier on Thursday.
With higher-upside players like Bobby Portis, Justin Anderson, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and R.J. Hunter still on the board, Wright doesn’t exactly fit the mould of a typical Masai Ujiri draftee, but he should instantly help solve one of the biggest weaknesses the Raptors’ exhibited last season.
The Raptors continued building on a foundation as one of the Eastern Conference's rising teams in 2014-15. However, they lacked a great defender at the point guard position, with Kyle Lowry, Vasquez, and Lou Williams all missing either the height or inclination to be pesky perimeter defenders. Wright does not, and should slide into a reserve role behind Lowry now that Vasquez is gone.
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