No guessing what Raptors will do with 20th pick

‘We’re hiding him in plain sight,’ says Ujiri lieutenant

TORONTO • The 2014 NBA Draft should have been a lesson to all of us. With the 20th pick, there was a group of players linked with the Raptors — Syracuse guard Tyler Ennis, Swiss forward Clint Capela, UCLA forward Kyle Anderson and Clemson swingman K.J. McDaniels. With Ennis gone two picks before the Raptors went on the clock, one of the other three players seemed to be a safe bet.

And then the Raptors stumped everybody — even human draft spoiler Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports — by taking Bruno Caboclo from Brazil. This was such a bewildering pick that commissioner Adam Silver did not know how to pronounce his name, omitting the second “c” in his last name. The Raptors had stashed him in Houston after scouting him during the season in Brazil and before the year at a Basketball Without Borders camp. It turned out that the long-limbed project had submitted his name for the draft, after all.

A year later, the Raptors are once more slated to pick 20th. Again, the Raptors have designs — we think — on being a contender in the Eastern Conference. Why even wager on what the Raptors will do? Where are they hiding this year’s obscurity?

“We’re hiding him in plain sight,” joked Jeff Weltman, the Raptors’ vice-president of basketball operations, the second-in-command to general manager Masai Ujiri.

There are reasons to believe that the Raptors could go off of the board again this year. Despite the ugly, if brief, post-season cameo in April, the Raptors could credibly make themselves contenders in a weak, uncertain conference with one or two meaningful moves. Plus, with the possible acquisition of their own DLeague team — not yet a sure thing, despite outgoing CEO Tim Leiweke’s recent boasts — the Raptors could be better positioned to shepherd a prospect through years of development. One of the most frustrating aspects of last year’s Raptors season, other than the post-February collapse, was sending Caboclo down to Fort Wayne, a team shared with 12 other teams, only to watch him languish on the bench.

Yet, it is clear that the Raptors’ current position might change by opening night in October — or even by July. Amir Johnson and Lou Williams are free agents, while the team’s core was wholly disappointing in the postseason, with no exceptions. The composition of the Raptors’ roster today is guaranteed a makeover. The only question is how extreme it will be.

Arizona swingman Rondae Hollis Jefferson, a defensive terror without a jumper, and Notre Dame point guard Jerian Grant, a true point guard who struggles to finish around the rim, headlined the Raptors’ first workout on Wednesday. Both are projected to be selected around where the Raptors will pick, and it is hard to say one is a much superior fit for Toronto. The Raptors do not have one specific obvious need, because a single move could address something while opening up another hole. And if you are looking for immediate answers with the 20th pick, you will probably still be looking when training camp opens.

“There are moments where you do just say it’s just a best-player situation,” Weltman said. “Then there are moments, depending on what your team is, when you can try to fill a need. You’re always kind of balancing that against what type of deals you’re looking at and where you think the potential of your team can take you this season. So it’s all of these different push-pulls that you’re trying to kind of freeze in a moment the day the draft comes and figure that out.”

Even then, the world may change a few weeks later. Adjust your prognostications accordingly.