The Toronto Raptors entered the 2010-11 season as a young team with leadership issues after the loss of All-Star Chris Bosh to free agency and exited the season even younger with the team’s only vocal leader Reggie Evans an unrestricted free agent.  For all the calls of needed upgrades at the point, small forward, and center positions, it is leadership the Raptors continue to search for.

Evans is a great locker room guy and teammate, but he isn’t the leader one would expect to take a team to the post season.  The Raptors veteran point guard Jose Calderon does direct his teammates well on the floor and he has their respect, but he isn’t a locker room leader.  The Raptors had hoped the Italian “magician” Andrea Bargnani might emerge as a team leader, and he still might in the future, but Bargnani only led his team in scoring and nowhere else last season.  Finally head coach Jay Triano admitted at the start of last year that the coaching staff might have to provide the leadership until someone emerged from the locker room and the Raptors recently opted to find a new head coach.

Whether it comes through trade or the draft, the overriding and unspoken goal of this offseason should be to find someone who can (eventually) lead this team.  Should the Raptors attempt to trade the number five pick in the draft in order to acquire what the team needs or should they keep it?

“I think that is always spoken about but I think it is very rarely done,” said Jim Kelly Senior Director, Scouting for the Raptors at the team’s first pre-draft workout in Toronto on Tuesday.  “Not only for the Raptors, but (when) people say what if they traded a number one or number two pick, it is very hard to set a value for what you would get in return.  It is a great philosophical question to have over a few cold ones, but I don’t see it done very often.  I think when you are up to the top picks, most teams tend to hold onto them.”

When it comes to leadership, most teams find their guy in the draft, and once they find him, he isn’t going to be traded, at least not willingly.

“Clearly we didn’t have the season last year that we wanted to,” said Kelly.  “At this point in the top part of the draft we are looking for the best possible player and there happens to be a number of very good point guards there and we will have to make decisions as we go – if we go in that direction.”

Going in that direction means one of Calderon or Jerryd Bayless has to be moved.  Toronto can ill afford to draft a point guard only to have him sit on the bench and watch.

The Raptors had just returned from Chicago where they worked out center prospect Enes Kanter and they have their eyes on possible center prospects Jonas Valanciunas and Bismack Biyombo.

“We have seen the Europeans play,” explained Kelly.  “Kanter was a little bit of a unique situation in that he had to sit the year out.

“Kanter was a big strong physical player.  Someone asked if he was a true five and I couldn’t really tell as he shot the ball so well from a face up position but he is strong enough that he could pound people inside.”

Leadership, however, is more likely to come from the point guards in this draft.

Top point guard prospects Kemba Walker and Brandon Knight were at the Air Canada Center on Tuesday.  Unfortunately “scheduling” issues prevented the two guards from going head-to-head and Walker worked out against Kansas State senior Jacob Pullen while Knight appeared as Walker was leaving to work out against Washington junior Isaiah Thomas.  Needless to say, both of these top prospects impressed their audience.

“We had two very good guards in Kemba Walker who had a fantastic college season and Jacob Pullen from Kansas State, who in his junior year had a great season,” said Kelly.  “Especially today, Walker showed very good passing ability.  I think everyone knows that he is a very good scorer from his college career, but I think most impressive today was his passing ability.

“(Size) is always a concern.  He measured 6′ 1″ in Chicago.  The bigger the guard, the better usually but I think he has enough quickness and savvy and definitely enough basketball experience that he knows how to play at his size and get his shot off or get the ball to the open man.

“(We saw) great athleticism from Brandon Knight.  That was about what we expected.  We had seen him last week and the week before as well as numerous times this year.  He is a big time athlete with a big time motor and can really fly up and down the court.

“He has a bit more size to him, if size is a determining factor, but I don’t think it is. He is a little bit bigger than Kemba, probably a little bit quicker straight ahead.  I think Kemba has a little bit more on the ball maneuverability and a bit more experience.  He has three years college basketball and got his team to the championship this year.  You can’t knock experience, especially at that high level.”

The 19-year-old Knight was a scoring guard in high school who Coach John Calipari converted to the point and Knight struggled early in the season with his decision making and turnovers. In the NCAA tournament Knight led his team to the Final Four before losing by only a single point to Walker’s Huskies.

Knight believes he is ready to make his mark in the NBA after his freshman season where he averaged 17.3 points and 4.2 assists.

“I am sure that it is going to be a learning process,” explained Knight.  “I can’t say that I am going to come in and be able to change this team around immediately, or any team, but that is going to be one of my goals, I am going to come in and have an impact.  I think that is what any player wants to be able to do.

“I think I am ready and capable.”

{AUTHOR_BOX}The Raptors are obviously enamored with Knight’s athleticism and skill and Knight is working hard to ensure teams want to draft him.  He was still running drills at full speed at the end of the work out while most of the other participants had shifted down to first gear.

As a junior, Walker was the leader of the UConn Huskies and led his team to the conference and NCAA championships.  Walker exudes confidence and averaged 23.5 points and 4.5 assists last year.

“The Connecticut team, they did not have a great scoring punch,” said Kelly. “He was basically the first and second option they had on their team.”

“A lot of people question whether I am a scoring guard or a passing guard,” said Walker.  “I had to score out of necessity for my team.  This is the first year that I had to score a lot but if you put me in a situation where I can get guys the ball or there are guys who are willing to score, I can do it.

“At one point people questioned if I could score or not, now that I am scoring they question if I can pass or not.

“It is going to be tough coming in as a rookie just 21 years old and try to lead a bunch of guys who have been here already,” said Walker.  “But it is going to be up to me to try and get those guys to respect me and I am going to do whatever is possible to get their respect.”

Most mock drafts have the Jazz taking Knight at three because Knight is the bigger, younger, and more athletic player, but there is a chance he is still available when the Raptors pick.

“I think we have a chance at him,” said Kelly about the Raptors drafting Knight.  “There are a lot of different scenarios that could take place on the top there.  That is a very talented player.

“He is a very bright, intelligent, on-the-ball kid who seems serious about the task at hand.  He knows what he wants to accomplish, a very classy individual.”

If Knight has been drafted before the Raptors can get him with the fifth pick, Walker will be available as Cleveland selects first and fourth and will not take two point guards.  This shouldn’t upset anyone in Toronto however as Walker is more experienced, NBA ready, and has demonstrated the leadership traits under pressure that the Raptors have been missing.

“I have played with Kemba for a long time,” said Pullen.  “All the Nike camps and that stuff, we have known each other for a long time.  I think he is a real talent.  He is one of the best point guards in the draft.”

One more factor in Walker’s favor is that he is the same age as the Raptors’ favorite young wing player DeMar DeRozan.

“I have met DeMar,” said Walker.  “I have known him since high school.”

It seems like DeRozan has known everyone that the Raptors have brought in recently.

The Toronto Raptors will not be dealing themselves down or out of the 2011 NBA draft and with the fifth pick the team should select the NCAA champion UConn Huskies’ undisputed leader Kemba Walker.

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