Raptors select Utah center Jakob Poetl with No. 9 pick
TORONTO (AP) - The Toronto Raptors selected Utah center Jakob Poetl with the ninth overall pick in the draft Thursday night.
The 7-foot-1 Poetl is the first Austrian drafted in the NBA.
Poetl averaged 17.2 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks this past season on his way to winning the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award as the top center. He was also first-team All-Pac-12.
He's the first Ute to be picked in the lottery since Andrew Bogut was selected first overall in 2005 by Milwaukee. Toronto acquired the pick in a 2013 deal that sent Andrea Bargnani to the New York Knicks.
The Raptors also have the No. 27 pick.
Poetl has a good scoring touch for a big man to go along with strong defensive ability. The 20-year-old center's size will be needed on a Raptors team that was looking for added depth at center behind starter Jonas Valanciunas and with backup Bismack Biyombo having declined his player option for next season.
Power forward was another position in need of attention with the likely departure of unrestricted free-agent starter Luis Scola.
After taking on long-term projects in recent drafts, such as Bruno Caboclo and Lucas Nogueira, getting immediate help was also a concern for the Raptors, who will be looking to improve on their franchise-best 56-victory season.
The previous times the Raptors had the No. 9 overall pick, they drafted Tracy McGrady (2007) and DeMar DeRozan (2009).
No team that reached the conference finals had picked as high since the Detroit Pistons picked second overall in 2003.