Who have the Raptors given draft promises to?

Imman Adan is joined by Rafael Barlowe, Director of Scouting/NBA Big Board, to discuss the latest rumours around the Toronto Raptors, including who they may have given draft promises to and some of the best combo guards in the draft. Listen to the full episode also touching on Leonard Miller's eye-popping close to the season among others on the 'Raptors Over Everything' podcast feed.

Video Transcript

IMAN ADAN: OK, OK, and then you had Hood-Schifino second of the group and [INAUDIBLE] number three. Why do you have Hood-Schifino higher than--

RAFAEL BARLOWE: I just went with my gut. And I've learned just trust your gut.

[LAUGHTER]

I like the size, 6' 7". And he's a big point guard. I think he's really, really good at attacking drop coverages. He had a game against Purdue this year. And Purdue had Zach Edey, like the 7' 4"-- well, he's Canadian you may know Zach Edey. He's 7' 4", National Player of the Year.

And Hood-Schifino just torched Purdue's drop coverage defense because he's a very good midrange shooter. And he's actually a pretty good shooter off the dribble from 3, not a high volume of attempts. But he shot 38% from 3 off the dribble, which is good.

IMAN ADAN: Yeah.

RAFAEL BARLOWE: So he is a guy that is not the greatest athlete, not very explosive, doesn't have this great blow-by speed. But he has the size and strength to get to his spots. And his bread and butter is his pullup and his floater. And I think that his game is built for NBA defenses because he loves to attack drop coverages.

IMAN ADAN: Hey, that's great. I mean, speaking of guys who have a floater, a graphic came out. And it had a bunch of guys who were-- where guys shot, between 5 to 10 feet and what percentage they shot at. And of course, there were two Raptors right at the bottom there in Fred VanVleet and Precious Achiuwa, who are both poor finishers as well but also just have no floater in their game either if it's not for the outside shot.

So getting someone in there for the Raptors who can something like that, I think, can be really beneficial. And then let's close this off on Kobe there. What are your thoughts on him in this draft and why you have him sort of third behind some of these other guys but ahead of Podziemski there.

RAFAEL BARLOWE: Yeah, I mean, I like Bufkin. I think that you can make a strong case and say he is-- he'll be the first player drafted out of this group. And the case for that is he is a sophomore-- well, he just finished his sophomore season. But he's the same age as a lot of the freshmen.

So as a freshman, he showed flashes. But I mean, he wasn't really productive on paper. And then he had a breakout sophomore year. At the start of the season, he was probably considered Michigan's third best player, at best. And then slowly throughout the season, they kind of gave him more and more freedom.

And once he kind of got the keys to the team, he just showed what he's capable of. What I do like about him is that he doesn't have any real glaring weaknesses. You can't look at his stats and look at his game and say, this is a major area of concern, other than the fact that he needs to get stronger, which I mean, you can put that on everybody in the scouting report except like three guys.

But he was very efficient at the rim. And why I think that Toronto could be a good fit for him is because, if I'm not mistaken, out of all the guards projected in this draft class, I think his numbers, statistically, were the best at the rim. But he shot 71% at the rim this season, which is incredible.

IMAN ADAN: Insane. We were talking about that, yeah.

RAFAEL BARLOWE: And that's what I-- floor space versus NBA spacing--

IMAN ADAN: Yeah.

RAFAEL BARLOWE: Which is really good--

IMAN ADAN: Do the Raptors have that? [LAUGHS]

RAFAEL BARLOWE: What's that?

IMAN ADAN: Do the Raptors have floor spacing? Do the Raptors have NBA--

RAFAEL BARLOWE: No, and that's why somebody who can-- somebody mentioned to me-- and it's an article that I'll drop on Monday. But a person that I respect was like, in reality, if Grady Dick is available, that's who Toronto needs because they need shooting so bad. And that's what he can provide.

They were like, it may not be the sexiest pick that Raptors fans want to hear about because you want guard help. But he was like, he immediately comes in and addresses their biggest need, at least that's what's the guy's opinion.

IMAN ADAN: And hey, that's valid. I think we talked a little bit about it because that was the last question that I left you with. I was like, I can't let you go without asking about shooting because it is the one thing that the Raptors need, talking about a guy who can finish without NBA spacing will come to the Raptors and find that he doesn't have any of that here either.

[LAUGHTER]

So you mentioned it. You think that Kobe Bufkin goes probably ahead of any of these guys mentioned here. And I think we talked about possibly him being the first guard out of Michigan. But you have Keonte as your sort of top of the list guy.

I have a question for you. Do you think that he sort of falls into the lottery? Do you think that-- or do you think he falls out of the lottery? Where do you project he goes?

RAFAEL BARLOWE: I've actually heard someone tell me, someone close to him that's kind of in the loop. And they mentioned that, unless Toronto trades up, they don't think he gets past Toronto if he's--

See, of course, like if Bilal is available, then he thinks they'll take Bilal. But he mentioned that if-- the way that a lot of people are projecting it to go, that Keonte won't get past Toronto. And he told me that he thinks that they prefer Kenote over Nick Smith and some of the other guards and in that draft range.

So I think he can go lottery. I mean, he was invited to the green room. So I mean, he can't be falling too far, even though-- I mean, I think there's 20 guys that have been invited since then, since the list came out. But I do think that he'll be a lottery pick because, like I said, the stock that he had or the momentum that he had coming into the season right before he got hurt, I think he's picked it back up with his individual workouts and his pro days because he is slimmer.

He is healthier. And I mean, he just has a beautiful shot. He's a good shooter, but it's like you would think the shot should go in more than it does.

IMAN ADAN: Yeah.

RAFAEL BARLOWE: But we'll see if the lack of elevation hurt a little bit or the extra weight impacted his shot. But like I said, I don't think he gets past Toronto.

IMAN ADAN: Interesting, interesting.

RAFAEL BARLOWE: As of today. You know what I mean?