PHOENIX—There is just something about Tyler Ennis, a hard-to-describe quality, a “thing” that seems to make him special.

And the Raptors sorely coveted it.

Even as Ennis wanders through his rookie season with the Phoenix, bouncing between the NBA and the D League’s Bakersfield Jam because of a guard-rich Phoenix Suns lineup, there are still those in the Toronto organization lamenting the one that got away.

When the Suns took Ennis with the 18th pick in last June’s NBA draft, there were almost audible groans in the Toronto war room because the Raptors were itching to take him with the 20th selection.

Raptors coach Dwane Casey said Sunday night it’s that impossible to define the characteristic that made the six-foot-two Brampton product so wanted.

“He has that Pied Piper mentality,” Casey said of Ennis. “(He’s) not the most talented of all the point guards I’ve seen over the years, but just has that knack of getting where he wants to go, of moving the ball (and), like any other young kid, he’s got to get better defensively.

“I don’t know what’s going on here, but that was our view if him at that time.”

What’s going on here in Phoenix is that there is a logjam of better, more experienced point guards ahead of him. The Suns, who didn’t have any guards under long-term contracts when they drafted Ennis after one year at Syracuse, now employ a talented trio ahead of him.

Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe start and they have Isaiah Thomas coming off the bench, leaving no room for Ennis as a fourth guard.

That’s why the 20-year-old has yo-yoed between the NBA and the D League.

In just six NBA games, he’s averaging 3.7 points and 1.7 assists per game; in a half-dozen D League contests, he averages more than 18 points per game.

He may eventually find a way to stick with the Suns, but not until they can free up a roster spot and some playing time.

But if ever gets to stay up and play in the NBA, there are many who think he’ll turn into a solid point guard. He is not flashy, but he is a pass-first ballhandler who can score if need be and, like all NBA rookies, he’ll learn how to defend NBA opponents.

The Raptors would probably still want him, even though their guard spots are filled with Kyle Lowry, Greivis Vasquez and Lou Williams.

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“He’s a heady point guard, good leadership,” said Casey. “In all the research we had done at Syracuse — Jim (Boeheim, the Orange coach) is a good friend of mine and he was really selling him as a point guard.

“He’s not as good as John Lucas was, but that type of point guard, getting the ball where he wants to go. It’s hard to compare.”

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