Raptors look to continue history of draft success
`Gut feeling' about prospects counts more with workouts and interviews cancelled
Dan Tolzman and the Toronto Raptors' player personnel department have been poring over possible draft picks since well before the calendar turned to a new year.
The elongated season, courtesy of the pandemic, has extended the draft process significantly. The process then got streamlined when it became apparent the normal process wouldn't be manageable with the fast-spreading coronavirus still a major issue.
What it means for Tolzman and the other 29 NBA staffers heading up draft preparations for their respective teams is that workouts and face-to-face interviews that would normally see players' stock rising and/or falling at this time simply aren't happening.
Instead, teams are relying on Zoom interviews, and the odd tape of virtual workouts by a player, to make decisions.
It's far from ideal, but not necessarily a set of circumstances that will prevent the Raptors from duplicating a recent trend of solid drafts, no matter what spot they're picking from.
This year the Raptors have two picks, both their own after a lone second-round pick in 2019 (Dewan Hernandez, 59th), no pick in 2018, and just a firstround pick in 2017.
That pick was used to select OG Anunoby, who has already established himself as the Raptors' go-to defender with an offensive game that took another huge jump this year.
Tolzman, whose title is actually assistant general manager/ vice-president of player personnel, is finally starting to receive some recognition for his draft prowess, which is only right considering the steals he's found in the draft. And let's not forget what he's done after the draft, signing talented but undrafted players including Fred VanVleet and more recently Terence Davis.
Tolzman considers this draft a fairly balanced one with a plethora of rotation players from the middle of the lottery picks well into the second round. With the Raptors picking pretty much right in the middle, Tolzman sounds confident they'll find a serviceable rotation player at No. 29, and perhaps somebody not quite as ready for the NBA at No. 59.
The Raptors have never drafted 29th in their history, but with the 27th selection in 2016 they snared Pascal Siakam, who has an NBA Most Improved Player trophy already on his mantle and many believe an MVP award isn't out of the question in the near future.
But this NBA draft will be like no other that Tolzman's overseen, with COVID concerns changing the way he and his staff go about the job.
“It's one of a kind and it seems like it's never-ending, to be totally honest with you,” Tolzman said. “It's one of those things where we're doing what we can within the guidelines the league has given us, and we're making the best of it. Thankfully, our scouting department, our front office, is designed to not be too thrown off by these new ways of doing things.
“It's just, you know, it seems like forever since we've seen these players. They might be completely different from the last time we saw them playing in March.”
Among the league guidelines for this year's draft, teams are prohibited from conducting their own workouts or attending workouts.
They can interview potential draftees via Zoom calls, but the only workout footage they have access to was conducted under
the watchful eyes of the league after 85 potential draft picks were measured and weighed and worked out.
The Raptors, at least since Tolzman joined the club, have put a huge emphasis on really getting to know the individual they're selecting, not just his on-court strengths and weaknesses, but the type of person he is away from the game.
That well-rounded approach helps avoid drafting players who look good in a game, but aren't built to withstand the rigours and pressures of an NBA season.
“We're not looking at it as a negative, by any means,” Tolzman said of the changes to the process. “Like I said, the way that we do things to begin with, we don't need to change much of our operation. I think we're a front office that spends a lot of time digging in on guys throughout the entire season, not just during the pre-draft.
So a lot of the work we've done, it happened earlier in the year while the games were still going on, so we feel pretty comfortable with where things were at when everything got changed.
“I think it's going to come down to trusting in our gut feeling in some of these players.”
The draft is just under a month away — Nov. 18 — and in the meantime, the Raptors will continue to touch base with prospective picks via Zoom calls.
The feeling, though, is that without the workouts to sway decisions, Tolzman and the Raptors already have their minds pretty much made up. It's only a matter of who has already been taken when that 29th pick rolls around.