With the Finals looking like they may be wrapped up sooner than you may have thought, there’s no shame in looking ahead to the next marquee event in the NBA calendar.
Fans of the 28 teams not still competing have likely been thinking about the NBA Draft for quite some time already, refreshing mock drafts and going over fake trade scenarios to move up or down the board.
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In Toronto, the Raptors have been holding pre-draft workouts for the past couple of weeks, auditioning a wide-ranging group of players— from potential first-rounders like T.J. Leaf, Tyler Lydon and Semi Ojeleye to deep sleepers and a strong contingent of homegrown Canadian talent.
Today the team will workout six players, headlined by South Carolina guard P.J. Dozier, a former 4-star recruit and the 37th ranked player coming out of high school in 2015. Dozier is a six-foot-six guard who averaged 14 points per game last season and is ranked 51st overall by DraftExpress.
Joining him are a group of players also projected to go in the second round, or could be undrafted free-agents later this summer: Gonzaga guard Jordan Matthews, Duke guard Matt Jones and Iowa State guard Matt Thomas. There will also be a pair of bigs on hand in Chattanooga forward Justin Tuoyo and recently-crowned national champ Kennedy Meeks, the North Carolina centre who averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds per game in the Final Four.
The Raps currently do not have a second-round pick in the 2017 draft, but Masai Ujiri and the front office hasn’t exactly been shy about selecting players higher than their ranking (and, as many NBA personnel will tell you, online mock drafts and rankings are hardly an indicator of how the teams themselves are evaluating prospects).
The draft takes place on June 22.
