You could literally spend hours trying to figure out what the Toronto Raptors will do with the eighth selection in the draft and still not come up with the right answer.
Trade up, trade down, stay put, trade for a veteran player and so on.
The Raptors are well-stocked at power forward — as is this draft — but on Thursday, the four top power forwards in this draft not named Anthony Davis or Thomas Robinson were in Toronto to show off their skills in front of the Raptors brass.
Jarred Sullinger, Perry Jones III, Terrence Jones and John Henson were all in the team’s practice facility banging bodies and they didn’t make the team’s impending draft decisions any easier.
“I’d say this workout muddied the waters,” Raptors executive vice-president of basketball operations Ed Stefanski said.
The rub is, with the way the Raptors roster currently sits, the last thing this team needs is another young big man to develop. Unless of course, they make a deal prior to the start of next season and we see Ed Davis, Andrea Bargnani or Amir Johnson leave town. A front line featuring Jonas Valanciunas and another rookie would hardly help this team move toward playoff contention next season.
The Raptors continue to talk about “stacking”, which would mean they would draft a power forward despite the logjam it would create.
“Picking at (No. 8), I think you have to go to with the best, even if it’s the same thing because you have trades you can do down the road,” Stefanski explained.
And for that reason, all four of these players had been brought into Hogtown in order for the Raptors to get a closer look-see.
The young fours have all been linked with the Raptors at one point or another along with a couple of guards.
Sullinger is clearly the most polished product and more of a sure-thing than the others, but recent reports stated that NBA doctors have red-flagged the Ohio St. product because of back issues.
“My back is fine. Nothing’s wrong with it,” Sullinger said.
Stefanski said he wasn’t worried about the issue although the team will look into it. “Our doctors are reviewing everything – on all of the players in the draft,” he said.
The reports have caused Sullinger to drop down some mock drafts although no one can really know if this information was leaked by some team hoping to cause Sullinger’s stock to slip.
Either way, Sullinger appeared tired of answering questions on the issue when asked by reporters after the workout.
“Half of you have never played basketball a day in your life,” Sullinger said to the group of reporters on hand. “Maybe in an open gym or around the rec or something, but most of you have never played organized basketball in your life. It is what it is. If I am slipping, I am slipping.”
After the first pick in the draft, trying to figure out who is going to be selected by whom is a bit of a crapshoot and one of the biggest unknowns is where Perry Jones III will land.
The former Baylor Bear has as much potential as almost anyone in the draft but is full of question marks.
He is considered a ‘tweener, which means people are undecided on whether he should be a small forward or a power forward.
“The question you have to figure out is: Is Perry Jones a four-man or is he a three-man?,” Stefanski said. “That is something we will discuss but he’s extremely skilled, extremely.”
Jones III also tended to fade into the background on a Baylor team that reached the Elite Eight. It was a stacked team that featured two other potential draftees in Quincy Miller and Quincy Acey but Jones has the most upside of that trio.
“The biggest question is ‘if I can compete every night?’ and that’s what I have been doing in every workout,” Jones III said.
The other Jones at the workout, Terrence, is also causing issues as teams try and identify where he will play as a pro but Stefanski figures he is strong enough to battle with the big boys inside.
“He’s a four man that teams will probably hope his skills will get better to become a three. He’s definitely a four. He’s over 6-9 and he’s as strong as an ox out there,” Stefanski declared.
Perhaps the rawest player at the workout was John Henson. Like the Raptors’ Ed Davis, he is a left-handed power forward who played for North Carolina and is ever-so long.
Henson, and the Jones’ flew to Toronto last night after they battled each other in a workout in Milwaukee on Wednesday. It was not the first time the group has worked out together as all four players have been battling each other at various stops along the way.
They have formed a friendship which Henson said may have contributed to a slow start at Thursday’s workout.
“We got in a little trouble today because the intensity wasn’t there, Henson said. “I don’t know if it is because we flew into Canada last night and got in late or if the energy level is winding down but we picked it up towards the end and coach was happy.”
So things continue to be clear as mud in Raptorland and this workout certainly did little to answer questions.
“I think we are going to have a good, hard discussion over the weekend about this workout,” Stefanski said.
And by next Friday, the water in Toronto will become much clearer.