Skipped Combine Raises Draft Questions About Michigan's Caleb Houstan, But Upside is Enough to Interest Raptors

The Toronto Raptors hosted Canadian Caleb Houstan who projects as a high-upside but raw draft prospect out of Michigan

Aaron Rose | Jun 13, 2022

Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

It wasn’t all that long ago that the Toronto Raptors were an aspirational dream for Caleb Houstan. Back then, the Mississauga native and his younger brother, Devan, used to sneak in a few extra hours of Raptors basketball late at night, glued to the television as Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan dazzled on the court.

“That’s probably like where it started. Like when DeMar was younger and Kyle first got to the team. Just growing up watching them play,” said Houstan, now 19 and on the cusp of fulfilling his life-long NBA dream.

After just one year at Michigan, Houstan has entered his name into NBA Draft waters and is expected to be among the first 30 or so players selected in the upcoming 2022 draft. It was a bit of a surprising decision from Houstan, a 6-foot-8 forward who ranked among the very top high school prospects coming into college but didn’t entirely dominate at the college level.

“Houstan is a bit of a mystery,” Michigan athletics reporter Brandon Brown of Wolverines Digest told AllRaptors. “He arrived at Michigan as one of the best prep players in the country because of his polish, elite size for a wing and shooting ability. Those traits showed up occasionally while at Michigan, but not as much as most expected. At times his shooting was erratic and he seemed to really struggle to create his own shot. If there are concerns in those areas after one year of college ball, how often will they show up in the NBA?”

The Raptors are trying to get answers to those questions. They hosted Houstan at the OVO Athletic Center for a pre-draft workout last week and things went “good,” Houstan said.

On paper, Houstan fits what the Raptors are looking for with the No. 33 pick. He’s another versatile wing with the kind of length Toronto covets. His 10.1 points per game aren’t gaudy by any means, but he averaged 35.5% from behind the arc as a high-volume three-point shooter and 37.8% from distance over his final 30 games of the year.

The chances of him being available at Toronto’s pick are a bit of an unknown. While most draft prognosticators don’t view him as a top-30 prospect, his decision to opt-out of participating at the draft combine last month has raised questions about Houstan potentially having a first-round draft promise from an unknown team.

Two players declined invites to the NBA Combine: Michigan's Caleb Houstan and Iowa's Kris Murray. For Houstan, there will now be a lot of speculation about promises and shut-downs, and rightfully so. Kris Murray may very well be headed back to Iowa. https://t.co/qpQlHO21YR
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) May 11, 2022

“At the end of the day, Houstan is a young wing who can play several positions because of his legit 6-8 frame and should be able to knock down threes consistently at least as a catch-and-shoot player,” Brown added. “If he reaches his potential, which would allow him to score more efficiently from all three levels and defend in a more physical manner, he’ll be just fine in the league. Those, however, are pretty big ifs.”

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