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Ujiri, Raptors Keeping Options Open With 20th Pick

Holly MacKenzie - Raptors.com

With about 48 hours until the 2015 NBA Draft, Masai Ujiri and the Toronto Raptors are narrowing down their list of potential targets. Slotted to pick 20th, the organization has conducted five pre-draft workouts, with Tuesday’s session featuring Kentucky big man Dakari Johnson. Bowling Green’s Richaun Holmes and Stanford’s Stefan Nastic filled out the three-man workout.

Regardless of how much preparation goes into draft night, the only team that can ever truly know what will happen is the one selecting first. While everyone expects the Minnesota Timberwolves to select Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns with the first overall pick, from there, everything gets hazy.

“We feel comfortable we will get a player, but also we might move the pick or we might move up or down,” Ujiri said. “There’s lots of flexibility this year.”

A year after shocking the league by selecting unknown Brazilian forward Bruno Caboclo, it is unlikely that there is another off-the-board player waiting in the wings for the Raptors on Thursday night.

“We are open for business,” Ujiri said. “We believe we have assets. I think our young players are growing. I don’t like to see them as assets but when I say that, we have picks, and we are open with the 20th pick and also comfortable with it.”

Ujiri reflected on last year’s draft and said the franchise went into the night planning to select Caboclo with its 37th pick. After realizing there was a great possibility he would not be available when they were on the clock, they decided to change course and select him 20th.

There have been some fantastic players selected late in the draft in recent years. Recent NBA champion and 35th pick Draymond Green has been making headlines all week. Players like Jimmy Butler and Nikola Mirotic were taken in the 20s, while Wesley Matthews went undrafted. Isaiah Thomas was the 60th pick in 2011. There are gems to be found in every draft, but when you’re projecting based on potential, little is guaranteed.

Much of what the Raptors do with the 20th pick depends on what happens with the 19 picks before they are on the clock. Ujiri said on Tuesday that he and his staff have a list of five to seven names of players they’ve honed in on after taking 19 players off the board.

Understanding that anything can happen on draft night, the Raptors are covering their bases and preparing for every possible outcome. Ujiri said they have been able to see all of the guys they’re interested in, either in pre-draft workout sessions in Toronto, during the season or at the combine. By working out guys projected to go in the second round, the team will have options if things change on the fly.

“You could move up or move back or buy a pick,” Ujiri said. “There are so many ways you have to look at it. It could be based on deals that we have been offered that we like. There might be a workout we might have to do on draft day depending on what other teams offer us or what we feel is on the table.”

It can be difficult to draft for need when need often depends upon the fate of an organization’s free agents. With the draft occurring before free agency and the Raptors having six free agents, there are a lot of moving pieces. While some would consider this a challenge, Ujiri and his team have chosen instead to not get backed into any corner with their pick.

“The strategy now is to pick the best available, pending what deals come to us or what deals we make,” Ujiri said.