Every day, they meet and sit and chat and digest the vagaries of this week's NBA draft, Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo and his braintrust trying to get a grip on something as elusive as the thoughts of others.
It is impossible to get any true read on what might happen Thursday night and they know it. But still they try, working the different scenarios they're hearing and reading about, trying to figure out what teams like Golden State or Minnesota or New York might do, playing out trades and surprise selections and weighing this option and that one. And even at this late date, with few, if any, workouts to be conducted and their homework all but done, they know nothing for sure.
Nothing, that is, except that if Colangelo can hit a home run like he has with his two previous picks at No. 9 in the draft, all the hand-wringing and head-scratching and attempts to pry information out of recalcitrant others will have been well worth it.
In 1999, in his reign as the general manager of the Phoenix Suns, Colangelo plucked Shawn Marion out of the miasma of possibilities and came away looking like something close to a genius as the current Raptor went on to make four all-star game appearances with Phoenix.
And in 2002, once again working to build the Suns into one of the most entertaining and successful franchises of the last decade, Colangelo again found himself a gem at No. 9, tabbing unheralded high schooler Amare Stoudemire with what turned out to be an inspired selection.
That's not to suggest there's a gem to be found at No. 9 this year. According to a variety of experts and NBA talent evaluators, the draft is thin on all-stars but deep on parity, making it more troublesome for general managers with picks outside the top two or three.
No one knows - even moreso this year than in others - whether a guy slated to go fourth will be better than someone the so-called "experts" think is worthy of the 12th or even 16th selection.
And it's not just in Toronto.
"I think it's very fluid," New Jersey GM Kiki Vandeweghe said last week.
"This is an interesting draft. I think you've got the first three, four where everyone's sort of agreed where they're going - five or six, tops. After that, I couldn't tell you right now.
"It's really up in the air."
The overall draft picture hasn't changed in weeks and remains as murky as ever.
Outside of Oklahoma's Blake Griffin, who will go to the Los Angeles Clippers with the No. 1 selection barring some huge and dramatic change in thinking, there is nothing close to a sure thing.
Many experts - and the Raptors , according to team sources - think the next five selections will be Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio, Connecticut centre Hasheem Thabeet, Arizona swingman James Harden, Davidson guard Stephen Curry and Memphis guard Tyreke Evans but no one can get a handle on who goes where when.
That leaves the Raptors where they've always been - expected to have any of five or six players to choose from.
