When Masai Ujiri surprised the basketball world by leaving Denver, where he had just been named the executive of the year, to come to Toronto to lead the Raptors in 2013, a lot of time was spent trying to determine what his core team-building beliefs were. In an attempt to do that, it was easy to look at the team he had built.

Those 2012-13 Nuggets, the surprise winners of 57 games, were long, deep and athletic. The Carmelo Anthony trade, which went down in February 2011, landed the Nuggets Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, among other players and assets. Those two players, along with Andre Iguodala (acquired by Ujiri in a four-team trade in 2012) and Corey Brewer (acquired by Ujiri in December 2011 trade) gave the Nuggets an excess of length, athleticism, versatility and shooting on the wings. With dynamo Ty Lawson running the show, that was believed to be Ujiri’s preferred model: a team that played with pace, created turnovers and overwhelmed you with depth. That it fit with the Nuggets’ altitude-aided home-court advantage was an added benefit.

It was never that simple, though. For one thing, the sample size was too small — three years in charge of a team is not a very long time, and becomes less meaningful when considering Ujiri spent his first few months in charge dealing with Anthony’s franchise-halting desire to leave. Beyond that, there was little evidence that Ujiri was anything but a pragmatist: The Anthony trade yielded what it yielded, and Ujiri had little choice but to build around what he negotiated for the Nuggets.

So when Ujiri ultimately decided to roll with a team that was largely built for him in Toronto — a slow-paced team that played a conservative defensive style, close to the antithesis of what he helped build in Denver — maybe it should not have been a surprise. Obviously, the context of how the Raptors played in the immediate aftermath of the Rudy Gay trade was the biggest factor in how the Raptors were built (or, more accurately, kept together with mere augmentations along the way), but the notion that Ujiri has always been building to a specific style is overstated.

You can see that with his draft history. Perhaps Ujiri is slightly inclined toward athletic, long-limbed players, but he has drafted against that type a few times. He has selected international players, he has selected underclassmen and college seniors. He has picked sweet shooters and players who would have to develop their jumpers over time.

Judging by his six first-round selections as the chief decision-maker in an organization, Ujiri has done fairly well, especially given that five of them have come at the 20th spot or after. As the Raptors are set to pick 23rd in Thursday night’s NBA Draft, though, looking to Ujiri’s past does little to illuminate the future.

Kenneth Faried, still with the Nuggets, was Masai Ujiri’s first ever draft pick. Credit: Steve Mitchell – USA TODAY Sports

2011

22nd overall – Kenneth Faried, forward, 6-foot-8, 228 pounds, 21 years old

Morehead State, senior

Career: 409 games, 19.7 player efficiency rating, 34.6 win shares in six seasons (5.77 per season)

Notable players left on board: Reggie Jackson, Jimmy Butler, Chandler Parsons, Isaiah Thomas

Grade: B-plus

Ujiri’s background is in scouting, which makes his affinity for drafting college seniors (which he has done a few times with the Raptors in both rounds) a bit surprising. Faried was pegged as a one-skill player coming out of college — he was the NCAA’s foremost rebounder — but Ujiri bet on that, combining with his high work rate, producing a solid NBA contributor. While the progression of the NBA has veered away from Faried’s best skills, he has proven Ujiri right, providing the Nuggets far more than than you can expect with a pick in the 20s. Using Roland Beech’s admittedly dated analysis, here, it is likely that a late-first-round pick will either wash out of the league or be a deep bench player. Faried has been a rotation fixture for the Nuggets. He is not the potential star he seemed like he could have been early in his career, but he has definitely been a nice piece for the team. (By Beech’s simple-for-the-sake-of-the-task math, Faried, averaging 11.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game actually qualifies as “a star,” even though that does not represent his true standing in the league.) Ujiri passed on a pair of actual stars, Butler and Thomas, but he has good company in that regard: They were the last picks of the first and second rounds, respectively.

Evan Fournier is the only player Masai Ujiri has ever selected in the first round from outside the NCAA. Credit: Tom Szczerbowski – USA Today Sports

2012

20th overall – Evan Fournier, swingman, 6-foot-7, 205 pounds, 19 years old

Poitiers (France)

Career: 319 games, 13.2 PER, 12.9 win shares (2.58 per season)

Notable players left on board: Jae Crowder, Draymond Green, Khris Middleton, Will Barton (all second-round picks)

Grade: B

Fournier’s career statistics do not jump out at you, but he showed enough promise heading into last season to earn a five-year, $85-million contract extension from Orlando, where he was traded a year after Ujiri’s departure. Fournier has found himself in two poor situations to start his career: In Denver, he struggled to find a role given the Nuggets’ depth on the wing, although he showed some potential as a scoring guard; in Orlando, he has played for one of the least stable franchises in the NBA. The back half of the 2012 Draft was a tire fire — look at it here — making Fournier one of the better picks in his slot. More to the point, should the Magic ever get things straightened out, Fournier looks like the type of player that can thrive in today’s game: He is nearly a 38 per cent three-point shooter, can make plays off of the bounce, and has the size to defend multiple positions. If former Raptors general manager Jeff Weltman can turn the Magic into a functional organization, here’s betting Fournier’s selection will look progressively better.

2013

The Raptors traded their first-round pick to Houston for Kyle Lowry (12th overall, it was ultimately used on Steven Adams by Oklahoma City). Ujiri, in his first draft in charge of the Raptors, reportedly tried to attain a pick to draft Giannis Antetokounmpo, who went 15th to the Bucks. Oh well!

Grade: N/A

Just one year away! Credit: Tom Szczerbowski – USA Today Sports

2014

20th overall – Bruno Caboclo, forward, 6-foot-9, 218 pounds, 18 years old

EC Pinheiros (Brazil)

Career: 23 games, 2.0 PER, minus-0.3 win shares (minus-0.1 per season)

Notable players still on board: Rodney Hood, Clint Capela, Nikola Jokic, Jordan Clarkson

Grade: F

If content inspired per minute played were an officially monitored statistic, Caboclo would be a surefire Hall of Famer. It isn’t. The Raptors still have hope that Caboclo’s absurd wingspan, combined with an improving jump shot, can eventually turn him into a rotation player for the Raptors. It’s not out of the question, but the path he would take to get there would go down as one of the most unusual ones in NBA history. Playing primarily in the D-League (now G-League), Caboclo has often looked overwhelmed there. True, he had a huge game in Raptors 905’s championship-clinching game, but he was still hit-and-miss this past season. This is the type of pick that people associated with Ujiri, though: Caboclo was raw, long and athletic. However, those traits mean little without solid player development, and both player and team have failed on that front so far. Turning 22 just before training camp opens in September, Caboclo and the Raptors still have time to justify this pick.

Delon Wright’s play in the second half of last season confirmed he should be a productive NBA player. Credit: Nick Turchiaro – USA TODAY Sports

2015

20th overall – Delon Wright, guard, 6-foot-5, 183 pounds, 23 years old

Utah, Senior

Career: 54 games, 15.9 PER, 1.7 win shares (0.85 per season)

Notable players still on board: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Josh Richardson, Norman Powell

Grade: B-plus (highly speculative)

There are a few Ujiri staples evident in the Wright selection: He was an older player who, because of a relative lack of high-end experience, still had some upside, and he was extremely long for his position. When Wright was drafted, he seemed likely to fill the role of Kyle Lowry’s backup. However, Cory Joseph hit the free-agent market in a bit of a surprise, and the Raptors jumped on him at a reasonable rate. Combine that with Wright’s shoulder injury suffered in the 2016 Summer League, and his opportunity to play has been limited. When he has played — both in the D-League and the NBA — his preternatural feel for the game has shone through. He will be rotation player for the Raptors or another team before long, which is a solid return on the 20th pick. He could be more than that, given the opportunity.

Although not nearly the curiosity as Bruno Caboclo, Pascal Siakam was still considered a reach in the first round in the 2016 Draft. Credit: Kevin Sousa – USA Today Sports

2016

9th overall – Jakob Poeltl, centre, 7-foot-0, 248 pounds, 20 years old

Utah, Sophomore

Career: 54 games, 12.2 PER, 1.6 win shares

Notable players still on board: Domatas Sabonis, Taurean Prince, Caris LeVert

27th overall – Pascal Siakam, forward, 6-foot-9, 230 pounds, 22 years old

New Mexico State, redshirt sophomore

Career: 55 games, 11.5 PER, 1.6 win shares

Notable players still on board: Dejounte Murray, Malcolm Brogdon, Patrick McCaw, Paul Zipser

Grades: Incomplete

It is obviously too early to judge how well Ujiri did last year, but his selections show the breadth of his taste. Siakam is another “classic Ujiri pick” — that is, a long, athletic player whose skills are still developing. However, with his highest pick ever, Ujiri went as “safe” as he has ever gone, taking a player whose floor was said to be a backup centre, but whose skill set does not scream modern NBA star. Both performed reasonably well in their rookie seasons, with Siakam’s boundless energy and Poeltl’s intuitiveness figuring to help the Raptors as they get more experience. The two picks just shared little in common, both philosophically and stylistically. Given Ujiri’s drafting history, that makes perfect sense.