It was a draft pick that stood out from the norm, and not only because Gradey Dick came to the NBA draft dressed in a ruby-red sequined suit inspired by “The Wizard of Oz.”
It stood out because Dick, the one-and-done sharpshooter from the University of Kansas, is the kind of player the Raptors have been largely averse to acquiring, let alone drafting. In a week when assistant GM Dan Tolzman insisted the Raptors would stick to their usual script and take the best talent available on the board, they did what amounts to the antithesis: They selected a skill-specific specialist.