Raptors Will Have Options in "Balanced" 2020 NBA Draft

The Toronto Raptors have been forced to adapt to COVID-19 regulations during the NBA's pre-draft process but options remain in a "balanced" 2020 draft class

Toronto Raptors assistant general manager Dan Tolzman and the Raptors scouting team were planning on spending their March at the OVO Centre with TVs scattered across the wall watching March Madness. For basketball scouts, March is the most wonderful time of the year. NCAA Conference tournaments and March Madness bring almost all of the world's top basketball prospects to the same few cities to play each other almost every single day.

But then came the COVID-19 pandemic, ending collegiate basketball seasons and totally reshaping the NBA's 2020 draft process.

Over the past seven months, Tolzman and the Raptors have tried to make the best of a bad situation. They've held virtual pre-draft interviews, reviewed scouting tape, and tried to figure out which players to go after during November's NBA Draft.

"It's very different than what we're used to," Tolzman said during Wednesday's Zoom media availability. "It's one of a kind and it seems like it's never-ending, to be totally honest with you. It's one of those things where we are doing what we can within the guidelines that the league has given us, and we're making the best of it."

Scouting and player development have been the hallmarks of the Raptors organization for the past seven years under president Masai Ujiri's leadership. The team has repeatedly found diamonds in the rough, turning late picks and undrafted free agents into contributors and borderline stars.

Even with all the uncertainty surrounding this year's draft, Tolzman said he thinks the Raptors will have a variety of interesting options at their picks, numbers 29 and 59, and potentially after the draft in the undrafted free agent market. 

"It seems to be a very balanced draft this year, which for picking almost smack dab in the middle of it, at 29, we feel pretty confident that we could be looking at 50 different players," he said. "I'd say the best way to describe it is very balanced, there's going to be a lot of rotation level players that come out of this draft, kind of all across the board, and I think probably more than usual the undrafted market is going to be huge because like usual." 

Drafting this year is really going to come down to gut instincts, Tolzman said, because of the pandemic changes. The Raptors won't be able to hold in-person workouts the way they have in the past and won't be able to really gauge how players react to instructions from their in-house coaching staff.

As for who exactly the Raptors will select, Tolzman jokingly evaded the question, asking the media if they had any advice for him. He did say that the team's pending free agents and uncertainty around who will be back next year will not impact the team's draft process.

"We try to never base our draft decisions on what may or may not happen in free agency any year," he said. "I think everyone's pretty well aware we have a larger than usual free agency class and it is something that we'll address when free agency comes, so we're going to tackle the draft like we always do, and take it from there."

The draft is scheduled for November 18, 2020.