The most important draft day of this century for the Toronto Raptors was June 28, 2006. This point was brought home for me when I scrolled through Hoops Hype’s 2006 “redraft”.
Toronto had never before, or since for that matter, enjoyed the #1 overall draft pick. Grand pooh-bah Bryan Colangelo was torn between Il Mago (Andrea Bargnani) and Texas center LaMarcus Aldridge. He chose Bargs, a decision which looked terrible for several years until the big center turned the corner.
Aldridge is deemed the best pick of this draft, a conclusion I concur with. The second-best 2006 selection has turned out to be none other than our starting point guard, Kyle Lowry.