NBA Draft 2023: Raptors select sharpshooter Gradey Dick out of Kansas with 13th pick

Arguably the best shooter available in the 2023 NBA Draft is heading to Toronto, with the Raptors selecting guard Gradey Dick out of the University of Kansas with the 13th pick on Thursday night.

While some predicted Toronto would move up in the draft, they elected to play it safe and stood pat with the 13th selection. Many players were rumoured to be on the Raptors’ radar, but clearly they felt Dick was the best fit and helped solve one of their biggest needs — shooting, particularly from three.

According to Yahoo Sports NBA analyst Krysten Peek, dick is a "skilled offensive wing who does so many things that NBA teams look for in a productive perimeter player. Outside of his consistent shooting (40.3% from 3-point range), Dick makes the right read in the lane and cuts well off the ball."

Dick was a consensus five-star recruit coming out of high school and one of the top recruits out of the 2022 class.

Standing just under 6-foot-8 and weighing in around 205 pounds, Dick is widely regarded as one of, if not the best shooter in this draft. Three-point shooting was certainly a weak point for Toronto last season, which ranked 28th in the league in both three-point percentage and three-point attempts per game.

From day one, Dick should augment the Raptors’ perimeter shooting attack. Last season, the Kansas guard shot 40.3% from beyond the arc on nearly six attempts per game. More than half of his field goal attempts were from deep.

His length and athleticism make him an adept off-ball player, excelling in college as a slasher. If Toronto decides to bring back its core, Dick will have no problem thriving off the gravity of guys like Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes, and OG Anunoby. Overall, Dick averaged 14.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game during his last season as a Jayhawk.

While Dick shouldn’t have a problem cracking Darko Rajakovic's rotation because of his elite shooting prowess, he does have some question marks defensively. By no means a bad defender, the 19-year-old is viewed as a below-average individual on-ball defender. Opposing teams may target him on that end of the floor and try to expose his somewhat lacklustre foot speed.

On the flip side, Dick makes up for his ineptitude as a point-of-attack defender with his off-ball instincts, prudently playing passing lanes and leveraging his length as a help-side shot blocker.

Upon hearing his name announced by Adam Silver and learning that he’ll be a Raptor next season, Dick said it was a “dream come true.”