Raptors’ No. 13 pick: Jalen Hood-Schifino plays at his own pace

Indiana's Jalen Hood-Schifino has size, skill and an enticing pull-up jumper. Imman Adan and Stephen Gillaspie discuss why he's an option for the Raptors in the first round. Listen to the full episode on players the Raptors will consider with their first-round lottery pick on the ‘Raptors Over Everything’ podcast feed.

Video Transcript

IMMAN ADAN: Is there that quick guy, is there that quick guard who can take people off the dribble and really get to the rim? Because I think that that's-- as much as the Raptors need shooting, they also just need someone who can get downhill. Are there some guys in there that can do a lot of that, that the Raptors should be looking at as well?

STEPHEN GILLAPSIE: So I'll give you three names here. The first one is the guy that I was referring to earlier that I have eighth on my board. But everywhere else, I'm seeing like he's falling significantly further down. And that's Jalen Hood-Schifino out of Indiana. And the reason that I like him a lot is that he plays with a pace unto himself.

And typically, when you see a player that plays at his own unique pace, that translates really well into the NBA. Now, I don't mean to get crazy high hopes up for people. But I love him, right, like absolutely adore him. So he is about 6' 5" to 6' 6" and is a guard. So he's got good guard size, which would kind of that Toronto Raptor mold.

The reason that I like him so much is because he plays with such a mature manner to his game. And with the size that he has in the field that he has, he reminds me-- I'm not saying he's going to beat them. But he reminds me of like guys like Tyrese Haliburton and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander just because of the intersection of size and feel for the game.

His best games this year like measure up to anybody's best games this year. And he's being able to play off of a guy like Trey Jackson-Davis in Indiana, who was another high-efficiency player in college basketball. So he doesn't have to do everything himself. He's used to playing off of another player, especially in the front court, so that music to Toronto fans' ears.

I just love that the unique style of play that he has. He's not really like a gunner. He's not like super quick like Amen Thompson or anything like that. But he understands angles, works well off of the pick and roll. I think there's so much more to his game that he's going to be able to unlock as a true blue freshman within this class at his age.

I think the sky's the limit for him. And usually, when we see these guys-- like, look at where Shai was drafted, look at where Tyrese Haliburton were drafted in their respective draft classes. And now one is like getting MVP votes, and the other one is a league leader in assists.

IMMAN ADAN: All-star and all NBA.

STEPHEN GILLAPSIE: Exactly, right? So like, tremendous players that revisionist history would say, oh, OK, well, if you looked at this, this, and this is why they filled. This is why this should have been higher. I think Jalen Hood-Schifino is that next style of guard that's in line.