by Mathew Iaboni
June 9, 2003
-- raptors.com

With the 2003 NBA Entry Draft approaching quickly, the Toronto Raptors have begun individual workouts with possible draft picks.

T.J. Ford went throug his paces with the Raptors on Thursday. Getty Images

Last week at the pre-draft camp in Chicago, the Raptors held workouts for 7-foot centre Chris Kaman from Central Michigan and 5-11 point guard T.J. Ford out of Texas University.

The evaluation process will continue as the Raptors will be putting additional players through their paces in Buffalo on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

The players who will be working out Wednesday for Raptors assistant general manager Bob Zuffelato are:

Blagota Sekulic, a 6-10, 21 year-old forward from Serbia who garnered a lot of attention after growing two inches this year. Noted for his terrific all-around skills and pure talent

Zaza (Zaur) Pachulia a 6-10 centre, who played for Turkish club team Ulker Spor last season, and is pretty athletic for his size and has a good knack for shot blocking

Dwayne Wade, the 6-4 guard who led his Marquette Golden Eagles to a Final Four bid with his explosive first step

Chuck Edison, a 6-8 guard/forward from South Carolina

Sofoklis Schortsianitis a 6-9 forward who played last season with Iraklis Salonica in Greece, has a good offensive game for a 17 year old

Jason Kapono a 6-8 forward from UCLA, rounds out Wednesday's scheduled participants

Chris Alexander, 7-1, 240 C from Iowa State who possesses great quickness and agility around the basket

Thursday's contingent will consist of more European prospects, including 7-4 centre, Pavol Podkolzin from Russia. The 18 year-old’s best attribute is his athleticism as he runs the floor well and can shoot the ball.

He will be working out along with Zoran Planinic a 6-6 guard who played with Cibona of the Croatian league. Planinic has excellent size for a point guard and he understands how to run an offense. He will need to bulk up though; he's only 195 lbs.

Another giant will be hitting the court in 7-4 centre, Slavko Vranes, who played with Buducnost in the Serbia-Montenegro league. Vranes can run the floor, block shots and is big enough to defend in the NBA, however word on the street says he is very raw offensively.

In addition to the Euros, the Raptors will have in camp Thursday Bernard King Jr. out of Texas A & M, a 6-5 point guard and son of the former Laker, and Robert Jackson, a 6-10 forward who went to the Final Four with Marquette and fellow prospect, Dwyane Wade.

The NBA Draft will be held on June 26 at Madison Square Garden in New York.