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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - Last year at this time, Masai Ujiri and his Raptors front office team were putting the finishing touches on a bold, top secret draft-night plan that would end up shocking just about everyone in the basketball community.

With the 20th overall pick, Ujiri reached for little-known 18-year-old Brazilian prospect Bruno Caboclo, going so far off the board that even those in the know were stumped. Newly appointed commissioner Adam Silver mispronounced the forward's surname, while NBA soothsayer Adrian Wojnarowski, who had broken the previous 19 picks over Twitter, went dormant. 

"Masai swings for the fences," ESPN's Chad Ford - one of the most connected draft experts - told TSN Radio on Monday. "Not only did Bruno shock you, Bruno shocked me. I did not see that coming." 

Only it didn't exactly unfold as Toronto's general manager had anticipated.

Brampton's Tyler Ennis topped the Raptors' short list of favourites, and was their intended target at 20 before the Phoenix Suns swooped in two picks earlier. Ujiri had hoped to snag Caboclo in the second round (37th overall), but with Ennis off the board he called an audible.

The Raptors will draft out of the 20th slot for the second straight year, only this time, when the commissioner reads out Toronto's selection, Ujiri insists you'll recognize the name. That's assuming they decide to keep the pick and assuming you take the Raptors' general manager at his word - neither of which are recommended assumptions at this time of the year.

"We're open for business," Ujiri said Tuesday morning, speaking with the media for the last time ahead of Thursday's draft. "We believe we have assets. I think our young players are growing. I don't like to see them as assets. When I say [assets], I mean we have picks. So I think we're open with the 20th pick and we're also comfortable with it."

Although the 2014 draft came highly touted, particularly the top half of it, the Raptors believe this year's class is even deeper and have broadened their options accordingly. According to Ujiri, the team's wish list stands at five to seven players, a larger group of prospects than they considered a year ago, though the plan is to narrow it down over the following two days.

"I'm really impressed with the draft class this year," Dan Tolzman, Raptors' director of scouting, said earlier this month. "I think last year we had a small group of guys that we were looking at at our position, whereas this year we like a lot of guys around our area and we know, come draft night we're going to get a player that we're going to be happy with."

"There's definitely a level of comfort with a good number of players and they're all across the board position-wise to where we'll get someone that we'll be happy with for sure at 20. It's not going to be the type of thing where we come away just taking a guy because we have the pick."

If the Raptors were to move their lone pick (they sent their second-rounder to Atlanta in last summer's Lou Williams trade), it would likely be part of a bigger deal. What generally makes draft night decision making tricky is the fact that it precedes free agency, which opens following the July 1st moratorium period. 

With an early exit from the playoffs leaving a sour taste in Ujiri's mouth, this should be an off-season of change for the Raptors, at least to some degree. Toronto has six players that are set to hit the open market in unrestricted free agency, headlined by Williams and Amir Johnson. Although Ujiri gave the team's core - thought to be Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas - something of a vote of confidence on Tuesday, no one on the roster should feel secure.

"I think I messed up a little bit - not a little bit, a lot - with... the composition of the team, how we played and the types of players we had playing around each other," Ujiri admitted. "We've evaluated a lot of stuff and [we'll] maybe make a couple changes here and there but I think our core still remains the same and we'll still give these guys an opportunity to continue to grow. That being said, we're open-minded and open for business. That's the nature of the NBA. We're trying to get better. We got swept in the playoffs and that means we can only get better."

So, should the Raptors draft based on need or take the best player available? Because of the unpredictable nature of this upcoming off-season, it would be difficult to identify a specific need even if they wanted to because the roster could look very different in a month from now. As it stands, they could use some depth on the wing in light of Terrence Ross's disappointing campaign. Should Johnson leave via free agency, and perhaps even if he's retained, a high-energy, defensive-minded big man would also be a welcomed addition to Dwane Casey's club.

Fact is, they're not likely to find a replacement for Johnson, Williams, or any of their other regulars in the bottom third of the opening round anyway. Ujiri's background is in scouting and he knows the value of finding talent late in the draft. San Antonio took Tony Parker with the 28th pick, found Manu Ginobili in the second round and traded for Kawhi Leonard - taken 15th overall - on draft night.

The starting power forwards for both the Eastern Conference leading Atlanta Hawks (Paul Millsap) and the Western Conference and NBA champion Golden State Warriors (Draymond Green) are former second-rounders. But those players are the exception, not the rule. Very few players selected outside of the lottery make an immediate impact as rotation players in their rookie season. Hence the Raptors home-run swing with an eye on the future, a year ago. Could they do it again? Absolutely.

"I think the mindset we kind of approach with the draft - we did it last year with Bruno too - is that we don't need them to contribute next year no matter what," Tolzman said. "If they can do it right away, all the better. If they can't, regardless of how many free agents we're going to have, we're not looking for replacements for those guys. We're looking for guys that can be roster contributors for a long time."

Anyone who has fallen to the Raptors at 20 has probably done so for a reason. Most likely there's a hole or two (or three, or four...) in their game. Fortunately, there are a number of players with plausible upside that should be in play when Toronto is on the board, many of whom they have seen up close in pre-draft workouts this month.

Arizona forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is one of the premier defenders in the draft, lacking a consistent jump shot, while Virginia's Justin Anderson has some "three-and-D" potential at the same position. Both could help a team that struggled to defend on the perimeter last season. So too could UCLA's Kevon Looney - a 6-foot-9 forward with a 7-foot-3 wingspan - or the even longer Montrezl Harrell, a Louisville product often compared to Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets.

Whether any of them become a Raptor on Thursday is anyone's guess.