Draft workout notes: Brice Johnson, Malcolm Brogdon, and more

The Toronto Raptors held their latest set of pre-draft workouts with media availability on Monday, and the readership will surely be excited about one name who was present at BioSteel Centre.

In a weekend poll with just shy of 2,000 responses, UNC senior Brice Johnson was the most popular potential selection with the No. 27 pick with 23 percent of the vote. There’s no assurance he’ll last that long or that the organization will take into account the desires of the RR readership (they obviously should), but this may be the most interest the readership has had in a prospect who came in to workout since Domantas Sabonis. And again, not that our poll should matter, and while it’s probably cool for Johnson, a bubble first-round pick, to hear, he’s not going to let that go to his head in any way.

“Naw,” Johnson said. “I’m out here auditioning for a job. If they decide to pick me, hey, I’ll be thankful for the opportunity…I’ma be humble about it.”

Outside of Johnson and Malcolm Brogdon, the workout was a little light on targets for the Raptors’ two first-round picks. That’s been par for the course, and it’s worth remembering, again, that in-house workouts are just one part of the process, and that they’re designed to help identify potential longer-term players of interest for summer league and the D-League, too. For now, the team’s growing confident in their options with the second selection.

“Very much so, yeah,” assistant general manager Dan Tolzman said. “A lot of our discussions are, of course, tailored around No. 9. We’re pretty good with the group of players we’ll likely be picking from around 27. We’re pretty comfortable there. Now it’s a matter of really hammering on the No. 9 pick and seeing what direction we can go with it.”

My gut is still that they’re trying to shop the No. 9 pick, but if that happens, it may benefit the team to make the actual selection and then trade it later (for cap-matching purposes – more on this Wednesday).

Player Notes

Here’s the full list of players who attended the workout:

Julian Jacobs
Chad Ford Rank: 146, DraftExpress Rank: 98

Jacobs isn’t close to on the draft radar, and it’s a little surprising he’s forgoing a senior season at USC to put his name in the hat. The potential is there, though, coming off of a season in which he took on a larger role for the Trojans, flashed extended range, and worked as the team’s lead ball-handler. Given his length, the team probably sees some defensive potential here (despite a modest steal rate), but he’s a potential D-League target at best, I’d think. At least he didn’t Brita his workout (sorry, I had to make the name joke).

Rasheed Sulaimon
Chad Ford Rank: 149, DraftExpress Rank: Unranked

If a team wanted energy off of the bench in a hurry, it would be tough to find someone who brings more of it than the Maryland product. That doesn’t make him an NBA prospect, necessarily, but it’s what always jumped out watching him play. With deep range and a knack for getting to the rim – and finishing – Sulaimon has the profile of a potential microwave man, scoring in bunches in a second unit. As those player types often are, he’s pretty inconsistent, isn’t the best defender, and is undersized if he’s going to be tasked with playing the two while lacking the playmaking if he’s going to play the one. Think Lou Williams, or former Raptors 905 guard Jay Harris, if he’s a D-League target. He was once believed to be a likely first-round pick (coming out of high school and as a freshman), so the talent’s there to entice. He may just need to play his way into the NBA.

Malcolm Brogdon
Chad Ford Rank: 38, DraftExpress Rank: 41

The Raptors continue to take a lot of looks at seniors, particularly those for whom the scouting report suggests high character and a relatively seamless transition to the NBA. Brogdon fits that bill, and as is often the case with seniors, he may be a little under-appreciated as a prospect, as friend of the site Dakota Schmidt recently wrote. He checks off a lot of boxes, providing steady play at both ends of the floor and displaying a terrific feel for the game, and his range improved in his fourth year at Virginia.

“A guy like him, it’s a little bit more of getting to know him,” Tolzman said. “With him, you know what you’re getting. He’s such a well-balanced player. He’s been one of the better all-around players in the ACC for years. So, you get to see his shot, see his defensive approach, see how he competes against guys who are trying to get up in him.”

He gets knocked because he’s already 23 and doesn’t have great length or athleticism for the two, but he has nearly a 6-foot-11 wingspan and is already 223 pounds (Raptors Republic can confirm that he definitely doesn’t skip leg day). This is a First-Team All-American, an NABC Defensive Player of the Year, a Naismith Award finalist, an honor roll student who’s already completed a Masters, and a likely bet to be able to contribute if called upon. Count me in, even without the guard spots standing as positions of need.

“Hopefully I fit the mould for the Raptors. I think this is a great organization. I’d love to play for them,” Brogdon said. “They like their guards to be aggressive. Of course, I wouldn’t come in being as aggressive as Lowry or DeRozan, but I think I could be a solid role player coming off the bench my first year. Just knock down open shots and play lock-down defense. I think that would be a great role for my on this team.”

Justin Edwards
Chad Ford Rank: Unranked, DraftExpress Rank: Unranked

Well off the radar of most draft experts, Edwards spent two years at Maine before transferring to Kansas State (shout out to Supercool Beas), which renders him a little old at 23. Still, the Whitby native could make for a solid local Raptors 905 addition, particularly if the organization thinks they can help him along with his jumper, the biggest knock against his game. Edwards can score, rebound, and distribute, and it’s encouraging that he was able to (eventually) produce at the same level in a larger program as he did at a smaller one, carving out a larger role with the Wildcats last year.

Brice Johnson
Chad Ford Rank: 37, DraftExpress Rank: 30

The Raptors have long needed help at the four, and after four years at a top program, many see the 21-year-old Johnson as someone who can help fill those minutes in the near-term. It’s tough to argue that, given how well he performed as a senior at UNC and how well-suited to the NBA his game seems. How well he plays in game scenarios almost puts him at a disadvantage in workout settings like this, where his instincts and 5-on-5 value maybe aren’t on full display, something Tolzman admitted. The Raptors were still able to get a good look at him, and Johnson was hoping to show off some range he wasn’t able to put on display as a Tar Heel.

“Overall I think it was a pretty good workout,” Johnson said, conceding that he started a little slower but picked it up late. “I can definitely fit with a team like this. Those guys, they had a fantastic year. They really did some great things. I can definitely come in here and help them get over that hump again, if they need me to.”

Johnson definitely has the mid-range jumper down, but it’s unclear if he’ll be able to step out to where he can fit seamlessly next to a traditional big, at least on offense. It looks smooth, but he didn’t shoot particularly well in the open portion of today’s session and didn’t hit a single three in college. Defensively, Johnson has the length (7-foot-1 wingspan, 8-foot-11 standing reach) to handle the four and elite athleticism for the position, though he needs to add some strength, something he’s confident he’ll be able to do.

There’s a lot to like with his rebounding, defense, and post game, and his inclusion on the USA Basketball Select Team is a positive indicator, so I understand the fascination. He’s an NBA player.

Jalen Reynolds
Chad Ford Rank: 92, DraftExpress Rank: Unranked

It would seem Reynolds was brought in largely to push Johnson in 3-on-3 portions of the workout, but it’s not as if he’s without potential himself. The junior out of Xavier is, like most in this group, on the older side at 23, struggled with some off-court issues, and never really improved at the offensive end. At the same time, he has the size and athleticism to play the four in the NBA, and he already uses those tools well at the defensive end. He’s an interesting case study in that he would be a pick (or undrafted signing) based on potential over production, when nearly every other prospect his age is the opposite.

“Jalen from Xavier, he’s a big guy,” Johnson said with a laugh. “He kinda hit me there at the beginning of it, and I had to readjust my thinking a bit.”

Assorted

*Shaquille Keith joined the workout today. The Raptors generally have an extra body on hand (Negus Webster-Chan was here last week, for example), and Keith was participating late in the session.

*Also around were Norman Powell, Delon Wright, and Lucas Nogueira.

Delon, Norm, and Bebe getting in work pic.twitter.com/lXjb1FkIRF

— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) June 13, 2016

*In following up on the news that Jesse Mermuys will leave Raptors 905 for the Lakers, the Raptors were not at liberty to comment. Raptors Republic can confirm, however, that Jama Mahlalela will coach the Las Vegas Summer League team, and that the Raptors gave permission for the Lakers to talk with Mermuys.

*A few of the Raptors’ staff were in Treviso, Italy, over the weekend for the 2016 adidas EUROCAMP, an annual scouting event founded by familiar face Maurizio Gheardini. Bill Bayno was the event’s coaching director, and Nick Nurse was among those assisting at the camp. It’s a pretty big deal from a scouting perspective, and at least three on-the-radar potential 2016 picks are participating in Petr Cornelie (France), Ante Zizic (Croatia) and Paul Zipser (Germany).

There’s more than just the benefit of getting to know players, though. The June 10-12 event helps the organization get a feel for the general quality of the prospect pipeline, which can help determine the value of current prospects and assets, and it acts as a sort of executive summit to get conversations rolling about potential trades.

*The deadline for players to pull out of the draft is today at 5 p.m., so we’ll know the complete draft pool this evening.

*As a result of the trip, the Raptors didn’t have any workouts over the weekend. So far, they’ve brought in 40 players to BioSteel (only two of who register as potential top-10 picks), and, of course, they’ve surely done some off-site or private workouts that were kept quiet for a reason.

*ONE IMPORTANT NOTE ON THIS PROCESS: We’re going to hear a lot of names rumored or reported to be coming in/meeting/working out/etc. I’m not always going to pass them on, especially this early in the process. A lot of it is due diligence and doesn’t mean a ton (Jaylen Brown, for example), and they’re also just low-value posts (“Rumor: Player X to work out”). And sometimes there will be (good) reasons the team doesn’t want the names public. Obviously, feel free to comment and discuss those rumors (Hoops Hype is a good source for rumor aggregation) in the comments/forums, I just may not always throw a post up. Closer to the draft, that information becomes a little more important.