RaptorsHQ Recaps Demar DeRozan’s Individual Workout

Everything aside,no true workout...who would everybody pick? assuming no Evans,Hill
We have 3 choices only !!!
DD
Henderson
Jonny

I am intersted to see what our readers would do....
Tks
BC

Henderson, bec im not a gambler. DD might be an all star or gerald green but Henderson is a sure role player off the bench or at best a solid starter.

That's the kind of logic that netted us Joey Graham instead of Danny Granger. If BC is serious about acquiring a mid-late first rounder, I think Henderson could be had a bit later in the draft.

chutney, from what i recall, there were concerns about danny granger's knee back in the day, and that's why he fell all the way down to #17... compared with joey at that time, who was billed as the most athletic of all draftees from that year, it's easy to see why the raps took him over granger...
in any case, the draft's a crapshoot anyway. you win some, you lose some.

Draft the most talented player available in the SG/SF positions in the following order.
1. DeRozan SG
2. Henderson SG
3. Johnson SF
4. Clark SF
One of them is sure to be available at 9. Forget the PG's unless they go for one late in the 1st or early 2nd as a 2nd pick. The priority has to be the wings, where they must improve to compete.

Although all the discussion at 9 has surrounded DeRozan and Henderson I am not sure if you can count out guys like Jordan Hill and even T. Williams (although maybe with a later pick should one be acquired).

This year it is such a crap shoot at the top of the draft. This year, perhaps more than any other, you could be surprised with picks. Think a Jason Thompson like pick but maybe even higher in the lottery.

Id take derozan for sure just on upside. Even if he only becomes gerald green perhaps gerald green wouldnt have become gerald green if he had been developed somewhere outside of that (at the time) horrible celtics team - who knows.

DeRozan should be available at the #9 spot, as the Raptors are the logical spot for him to go, and other teams have different priorities. If the Raptors don't take him, he can slide all the way down to #15.

After watching as much footage as possible, and seeing him being interviewed, I like the look of this kid, and I have no problem with waiting two to three years for him to develop. He is no Gerald Green, just by his attitude and demeanor.

His hops are Vince Carterlike, and we desperately need that, even at limited minutes in his rookie campaign.

TBERE IS ONLY ONE CHOICE!!!!!

If Demar is there at 9, the Raptors MUST take him.

HAHAHA is that POB creepily staring at DeMar in the background from the weight room in the 2nd picture? Priceless.

I'm with Johnny19;

1. DeRozan
2. Henderson
3. Johnson
4. Clark

John Hollinger is out with "Draft Rater: Prospects 1st to worst" here:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2009/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=DraftRater-090618&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2fdraft2009%2finsider%2fcolumns%2fstory%3fcolumnist%3dhollinger_john%26page%3dDraftRater-090618

This is what he has to say:

The unpleasant surprise: DeMar DeRozan

I'd be hard-pressed to name a potential high lottery pick through the years that the Draft Rater has been less excited about. I rated 90 prospects for this draft, and DeRozan ranked 54th among them. Two of his teammates -- Daniel Hackett and Taj Gibson -- outranked him, as did assorted other non-entities like Kevin Rogers, Chinemelu Elonu and Ben Woodside. I'll wait here while you Google them.

Why? Because there really isn't anything in DeRozan's statistical profile that makes you think "NBA star." He rarely took or made 3-pointers and he had a strongly negative pure point rating, which are two powerful indicators for a wing player, and his numbers in other areas were unimpressive, too. In particular, he was a bad free-throw shooter, which indicates that his outside shot might not ever be a strong suit.

Some scouts I have talked to have compared DeRozan to Rudy Gay in terms of being an NBA athlete but having a questionable motor, but that comparison falls flat, according to the Draft Rater: Gay was the top-rated player in his draft class, while DeRozan is nowhere close. And while he's supposed to be a great athlete, he didn't show it on the court often enough: His rebound, block and steal totals were all very ordinary.

As I mentioned above, one-and-done players sometimes fool the system -- they're the youngest, least experienced guys in the pool, and, thus, a major factor is how much they improve post-draft rather than just how good they are pre-draft.

Nonetheless, I'd back away from DeRozan if the 12 relatively safe guys at the top of the Draft Rater are still on the board.

Speaking of which, let's take a look at the collegians for 2009.

I think yall are missing the big picture here. The wing position is not very deep and I would rather the Raptors took the best player available in the 9 spot or trade down rather than reach for a wing player just to get a wing player. That is what netted us Arbusto in the first place. If the best player available is C or PG, take him and worry about other positions later. This team cannot afford to miss in the draft by taking someone strictly on their potential. If the Raptors really want to do that they can drop down in the draft and take a Euro who they can hide for a few years (like the Spurs do) and get the help they need somewhere else. It is my belief that they need a player who can contribute right away or they may as well just trade Bosh now and start over.

Zona - You beat me to it, nice post. Some worrysome things there for sure but as Hollinger himself pointed out in his article, the stats don't say everything.

It's tricky because before his end-of-the-year run, I never had DeRozan on my top 5 prospect list on our home page. All year we had players like Evans, Blair, Clark and Henderson, all ranked in Hollinger's top 15 from the list. But there was no question that his late performances turned heads, and you could indeed see the potential there.

For the Raptors, they'll need to decide if that potential was just starting to show through towards the end of his USC career, or if it was a mere tease.

Again, Henderson, the safe pick. I only watched abt 4 or 5 USC games last yr and kept my eye on DD bec he was suppose to be the star player and he never looked like anything special, the last 2 games I saw he looked improved but still not impressive to me. On the flip side, I watched Henderson numerous times throughout the yr and he always looked decent to solid, never great but never bad either.
I don’t think any of the wings available after the top 8 picks are going to change this franchise so whether its DD, Henderson, T. Will, Clark, James or Holiday, I doesn’t matter to me bec they’re all flawed in some way and none will be all stars. I’m cool with anyone one fo the above; if Jordan Hill is still available I’d pick him over all of them tho.

Normally I don't pay much attention to Hollinger's number crunching voodoo, but this is kind of scary about DeRozan. Given the choice between the two - Henderson and DeRozan - I'd go with Henderson. Safer pick. Maybe not as much "upside". But, I'd rather have a Brandon Roy'ish type like Henderson. Not as talented as Roy of course - but solid, and I'd guess more NBA ready.

That ain't POB, it's the ghost of Raptor's past draft picks staring out at us.

I'd take Henderson (and I hate Dookies), then DD. Then trade and take Lawson later in the first, if he's still around.

I would take Henderson over DD, just because he would be more of a team player and would understand systems better. Henderson would be able to make quicker adjustments offensively & defensively, works harder and is a role player, doesn't matter what team he plays on. That's what I like about him, team player. DD might be a better athlete but I would take a team player over the athlete, Parker type player. Is DD only going to be a offensive player and choose when he wants to play "D". If he does come to Toronto is he actually going to play his heart out for us canadian fans? Where I think Henderson would do that. But like you guys say it is a crap shoot.

Derozen's athelticism sounds great, almost in the Jamario Moon category!
Please, if you're greatest attribute is that you are an athlete, and you won't do workouts with other, lesser athletes, then you you know that you are not much in a game. It's like hiring Ben Johnson and trying to make him into a football receiver.Sounds great, but does not work.

If you want to get a good swingman, take the best player at whatever position they present themselves. If they are good, they can be flipped pretty easily for a good swingman. If you draft a swingman who sucks, then you have nothing.I like Flynn at the point adn Ukic at the 2 better than Derozen.

I just watched the J.Flynn draft diary and I have to say this kid impresses me on so many levels. I would love to see this guy in a raptors jersey.
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Jonny-Flynn-draft-diary-3265/

LOL....I just went to www.nbadraft.net. I don't know who their sources are, but they've got Tyreke Evans slipping to 12. Ummmmmmmmm... no.

But I gotta say, a tandem of Evans and Williams outta this draft would be awesome too!

6 more days til Christmas!

I got one for you...Bosh, take a pay cut so your team can sign some real players. Don't understand these guys sometimes. Really?? What's the difference between $15M and $10M in the grand scheme.

Take Bron for example, why not call Kobe tell him to renegotiate his contract for $7M per and then sign with the Lakers for $7M. 5 more titles each. Not like either of them need any more money. Fricken egos get in the way. They don't even need NBA salaries with the money they get from endorsements.

I know it's wishful thinking, but would love to see someone do it. Stern would have a heart attack.

Well, I guess DeRozan finally came, although he

Whoops, must be a case of premature submission. I'd much prefer to see a guy compete against his peers. He may be athletic, but I'd rather have Flynn.

Loving Flynn and Henderson - you can tell they are type of people that would really fit well with the team.

Flynn's draft diary is good.

I think the reason players don't often take less than they should is because it could lead to a dangerous domino effect.

Players are concerned with making sure everyone who plays in the nba makes as much money as possible. If Kobe takes 10 million then people would tell bosh look kobe makes 10 make the same sacrafice and take 7. Then someone tells a guy like Calderon Bosh makes 7 and made the sacrafice take 5...and then so on.

My guess is NBA players would take a lot of head from the players association and other players for taking less money. A guy would have to be very well respected and have to had spent a lot of time in the league (Vet looking for a championship) to give up money.

I'm sure NBA players know when they have 50 million in savings that making 8 million instead of 5 isn't going to make a world of difference.

Pretty interesting some draft gurus seem to think Tyreke will go top 3 and some have him around 10. I think NBAdraft.net is way off and they will change his positioning right before the draft.

Does anybody know how Gerald Henderson's asthma will effect his nba career or is it a non-issue? Didn't seem to impact him in college.

Since this draft is incredibly weak I'm looking forward to a lot of trades being made....hopefully it makes up for the lack of excitment in the actual draft.

Sounds like this forum is slowing turning away from DD as our best option.

Lots of great posts!!

I read a lot of sites, blogs like most of us I imagine and it sounds like there are some deals out there for the raps..I like to post scenarios.. Would love to hear people's thoughts..

1) Trade Bosh to Memphis for Rudy Gay and the #2..

He might not resign in Memphis, but thats not our problem.. On paper, Conley, Mayo, Bosh, M. Gasol is a nice core (Id take it for the Raps) plus Memphis would welcome his salary off the books next season

2) Acquire Amir Johnson and #15 for a future 2nd rounder, or a non guaranteed contract.. (Det. wants cap space)

3) Trade #9 to Boston for Kendrick Perkins. Boston is rumored to want to get into the late lottery

4) I would move Calderon to Portland if we could get BAYLESS and the #24.. Evans and him would be the most dynamic young backcourt..

Bottom Line, We should move #9 if we can get someone like Perkins. He fits perfectly with Bargs

Tyreke Evans
Kendrick Perkins
Rudy Gay
Jerryd Bayless
Bargs

_________________
Bench

Amir Johnson
Reggie Evans
#15
#24 These could be our wing
and backup PG's
Ukic

THats a real solid 10 deep

EricCoach 8 - I don't know man, that gives us a team that's soooooooooooooooo young and inexperienced. Plus I really think people are over-hyping this draft and Bayless hasn't done jack yet in the L. Sorry man, no go on my end but I do like some of those moves individually.

at least i wasn't the only who thinks demar is going to be a bust cause according to hollinger they guy shoot 65% from the free throw line and he supossed to be a 2 guard pshhh please .

like i said he i would rather take henderson, evans and flynn over this guy

I've never liked this logic. We're drafting a basketball player, not a track and field star. We need a basketball player, not an athlete. Henderson all the way.

It's a damn good thing he declared this year or his next coach would be KO. aka the "knockout" (if grind it out half court 68 point games puts ya to sleep or you happen to be a lamp)