Raptors Press Conference : Dan Tolzman – June 25, 2024

Raptors Press Conference : Dan Tolzman – June 25, 2024

um not much of either I mean yeah it’s the this is that time of year where we’re trying to gather as much info leading up to the draft as we can just to ideally see which players we could be looking at come draft night and I’d say this year probably more than any year most of the people that we’re talking to are in the same boat as we are is it’s it’s wide open like um the range of players is about as wide as I can ever remember and so that really makes things difficult to try to project which guys we can safely cross off the list who could get to 19 and so there’s um there’s an added level of kind of uncertainty that that I’d say isn’t isn’t common for this this close to the draft that did that create you guys issues for you guys in getting guys in to bring in more than more than usual you were the how did it impact that uh it made things a little tougher I’d say um we still got in a lot of players but I think that uncertainty from the agent perspective was they’re getting they’re catch catching interest from a big group of of the draft where we fell on that spectrum is kind of Up For Debate um between our point of view and the agent’s point of view so I’d say there was definitely some decisions made on their part to prioritize some other teams that they felt was maybe in the more realistic range for guys that you know come draft night it might end up being that our point of view is a little more realistic and we may hopefully we could have got them in but it is kind of is what it is you wouldn’t necessarily have to take the guy that you brought in right no no I mean and I and I don’t think we would ever rule somebody out that we didn’t get in I I think there’s there’s an understanding I think on both sides that it’s a it’s a jigsaw puzzle that you you do your best to fit in a schedule of workouts and they’re they’ve got 30 teams calling them to try to fit it in as well so I don’t think you ever hold it against a an agent or especially a player that they didn’t come and visit us so we’re not going to take them because of that it it’s always it it makes things a little easier and and better for us when we do get them in because not only the how the workout goes but all the touch points of getting to know them and you know the the time that we spend with them the time they get in the city it it really adds a level of comfort with a player um but yeah it’s by no means as is whether a guy got here during the pre-draft day like a prerequisite to drafting them how many guys have you had in is it comparable for the last year uh I don’t know exact numbers I would say it’s probably pretty comparable to any other year where we had multiple picks I think that the ranges that we’re in were good for getting in a a a wide group of players that are kind of both both tiers if you would like of borderline Lottery guys to you know borderline first round guys and so there’s a big group of of players that fall in that category and I’d say within within those those constraints like I think we got in a decent amount that I would compare to any other year sorry you guys are in the unique position this year of having whatever ends up being 20 21 hours on the clock before 31 what are in your view obviously not having done this before or anyone having done this before what do you think are the pros and cons of having that much time to make a piit uh it’s going to be interesting I think everyone is kind of learning as we go on on how to approach that I’d say the we’re definitely you know we’re we’re preparing for a the phones being busy leading into that pick because as we all know the there’s always players that unexpectedly fall to the second round who who those are and and where they’re you know there’s there’s teams that like those guys inevitably how many teams those are and they call to try to get to 31 because I mean it’s essentially the first pick the next day so I think we’re preparing for what that board looks like on day two it could lead to you know maybe some more some more calls than what would normally be the case on a a single day draft um I would say there is an element too though that In the Heat of the Moment on a on a a single day Draft when that that shift from first round to second round the Heat of the Moment leads to a little more like frantic decision-making and and a little more like caught in the moment that maybe those offers they maybe get a little out of control sometimes because like you just get caught up in the moment whereas like now like teams will have a chance to sleep on it and think about it like it’s going to be a more measured um discussion I think but there could be more teams that come to the table and with that pick in mind but at the same time like we also get an extra whatever you said 20 hours to like sleep on it and think about the players themselves on the board to where I mean I think we’re probably we’re leaning towards of course keeping the pick unless you know something something comes up but it’s like we’re preparing we’re we’re approaching it as if we plan to to take that pick and you know we’ll see what the board looks like and we can sleep on it and really have meetings the whole morning and and rethink the group of players that we’re looking at as if we’re like kind of restarting the draft process how much win are you putting into a pick that potentially has a lot of potential but they’re kind of rough need a bit more development versus a guy that maybe is a little bit more polished potentially like a fourth year player but maybe the season might not be as higher as athletic etc etc how much weight do you put into balancing both of those uh I think it’s all special circumstances like to each each player comparison I I don’t think we put more we ever put more weight on a development player versus a finished product I think that the NBA is kind of it’s I should say maybe the NBA draft is going towards just having more of these finished I hate to call them finished products but like more seasoned players just because of the landscape of the NCAA more guys are going to start staying a little longer because of the nil uh rules and um it’s just a part of it and so we we just get an added level of of um of evaluation on these guys that I think that it’s um you know it’s a sense of who can come in and help us at some point whether it’s this next year or whether it’s two or three years down the road the goal is to have someone that can actually impact our games um I think we’re at the the stage of our our basketball team cycle to where you know we can give players runways to to try to get to that point and it doesn’t necessarily have to be someone that can come in and and play right away and and I would say that we’ve always been a team to worry more about the bigger picture of what a guy could do for us down the road and that and that’s on any level they don’t have to be like Allstar potential as much as just like how can a guy fit in and play for us we have a long track record of taking guys that could they just know how to play um regardless of what their upside is and then hopefully like all of these guys have some untapped development potential that even if the ceilings might not be as high as some of like the the really young enticing guys there is still some development upside the has the volatility of this graft created more trade talk in 19 like moving 19 to 13 19 to 25 no I wouldn’t say there’s any extra extra sense of that um probably just more chatter than everything of people just trying to get a feel for um maybe which picks are available because I do think there is a level of once the draft begins and certain players end up staying on the board that maybe was unexpected there could be a little more volatility at that point when certain players that you know maybe drop to a certain level that isn’t isn’t normal or isn’t usual in terms of you know who’s projected to be the top guys most there’s usually only like one or two guys that slip but maybe this year it could be a little a little wider in terms of the number of guys that kind of shift around and then yeah maybe at that point there could be some action to people to try to move up into a spot to get somebody but at this point I wouldn’t say it’s been anything abnormal you touched on this a bit ago but this is the first time you’ve really gone into this into the draft process with the core you know 25 and under except for Yak um how does that change the process for you guys if at all uh not really at all honestly like we we try to approach the draft the same way every year to where we we evaluate the group of players that we have and I say the group of players that are available to draft and then we just try to we try to stack up within our group who the best players are for for us and the way we play and and what we’re looking for regardless of what’s going on on the main team because it’s all of that can change in a blink of an eye and so we just want to make sure that we’re selecting the players that we think regardless of what happens when all the dust settles and and we’re walking into summer league like it’s they’re guys that we’re comfortable with that can grow with us long term with that said Scotty’s obviously a guy that you’re building around when you you’re going through this process how much do you consider him and his skill set in projecting fit for a lot of these prospects uh I I think that it’s I I mean I think there’s definitely a level of it because anytime you’re building around a core of guys like we have we have a group of young guys that we do have in mind building and like there’s there’s holes that we do need to address but I don’t know if the draft is necessarily like we’ve never been a team that that wants to use the draft to fill those holes it’s more of like we know what we’re going to need longterm and whether that’s a a combination of draft and free agency we know where we need to get to and and we those discussions happen but it’s never we have to pinpoint a certain position or a certain type of player to fit with where building around any any of our young guys makes sense via the draft it’s more of Best Player available is usually how we how we lean in the draft because it’s at the end of the day if you know by midseason next year things have changed a lot it’s like if we still think we have the best player or took the best player at the time like we’ll be happy with it and um You Know Rich Paul made kind of unusual comment lastek bronny and and and one of the teams that got mentioned was the Raptors and uh you know I’m only asking because Rich put it out there I mean is uh is brony James the guy you look at with one of your picks I mean I think all these all these players are guys that we’re looking at I mean he’s he’s in the mix you know like I wouldn’t say I it’d be a disservice to us if I told you like anything more strongly than anyone else but I I think I would say that yeah like every player on the board we’re we’re looking long and hard at and and I wouldn’t say that we’ve ruled anybody out um at any of our picks so that’s that’s as much as I probably say on that how would you notice second tax APR second round draft pick exception changes to the CBA impacting conversations youve had recently um I wouldn’t say a ton honestly like I think I think the the ability to sign second round I mean having 31 it’s obviously a it’s a marquee second round pick um and so I do think there’s probably a level of your ability to sign those guys without tapping into the mid level or whatever the um the processes were in the past to be able to sign a guy um being able to now have that second round exception it that is probably the the the main part that’s changed in terms of the value of being able to roster these these guys without worrying too much about the other mechanisms um but in terms of like you know other teams maneuvering to do anything to avoid aprons or whatever like I haven’t really noticed a ton of of difference than than in years past when you look at AER like there been some sort of polarizing topic on how some of the skills could translate over how do you delineate or find those indicators and figuring out what you think would translate over and know what works at proel yeah I mean I think it that’s a conversation for way more than just ed2 like it’s like all these guys they’re coming from from a different almost like a different sport like college basketball uh International pro basketball like it’s not the NBA with the way that that they they play you know there’s different shot clocks different three-point distance like all all of the things that that go into what makes players really good at that level is different in the NBA and we are it’s honestly that’s the one of the biggest parts of our evaluation process is what translates and what doesn’t and um I would say that a lot of our internal debates and the days leading up to the draft are rehashing ation that we’ve been having for the last couple months on just going over and over and over of of what translates what doesn’t why why do we think certain things will why do we think certain things won’t for one player versus another player there’s a lot of these these side by side discussions as we’re trying to stack out our order and translating skills is a big part of that but I mean I wouldn’t say anything with him particularly is is anything different than than other players you know I think um there’s players across the board that have equal number of questions on on if things can translate or not has that changed lewi like is there any sort of trend that might be happening over the last couple years that maybe you’ve noticed that no I I I wouldn’t say anything anything notable in terms of Trends I think um like the NBA for the last few years has it’s been offensively trending that and then now maybe it’s going to swing back the other way and and and Trend defensively with you know some of the um the adjustments that are being made but you know we have to ideally stay ahead of those Trends as opposed to following the trends like we’re we’ve always been a team to we just kind of do what we think um is best for us and and if it happens to be a a bigger Trend in the league like so be it but if not you know but we feel comfortable with what we’re doing then we’re just going to do that how how has this past week or whatever since the finals ended guys talk to your owness um that’s not really my my side of things like I know Ms and Bobby they they handle the free agent side a lot more I’m still with my group in the room dealing with the draft and so I I couldn’t answer that um for them but I would say from our perspective it hasn’t it hasn’t changed our draft discussions whatsoever I haven’t read your columns yet so I gotta I got to take a look to see who our top picks are

Assistant General Manager Dan Tolzman speaks to the media ahead of the NBA draft.

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