Congrats to the Lakers and to Ron Artest to winning it all. That was the greatest post-championship interview I’ve ever seen. Artest thanked his hood and his psychiatrist and pimped his upcoming album. He’s one of a kind.

I think the Celtics would have won if Perkins was in the lineup, Pau Gasol ran wild.

Now, on to Raptor draft workouts.

Thursday the workouts were headlined by Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson and Eric Bledsoe, as well as Fresno State’s Paul George and Kansas guard Xavier Henry.

All seemed to impress the Raptor brass. We only saw a bit of the workout, as usual and George and Henry getting banged up during the 3-on-3 left us with very little on-court stuff to analyze.

In the brief action I saw, George was able to break down Henry and take it to the rack, though he couldn’t finish. That at least showed me some ball-handling ability, which is the main knock on George.

Patterson looked very smooth. He’s going to be solid and dependable, like Udonis Haslem. He was nailing his jumpers.

Bledsoe looked very quick, Jim Kelly actually said he is quicker than Avery Bradley. Bledsoe said he is trying to slow down a  bit on the court in order to cut down on his high turnover rate.

Here’s the highlights of what they had to say:

Patrick Patterson:
“We all had great performances, we got to showcase our abilities.
(On draft uncertainty) The top five, you can name them, after that, it’s anybody’s game. Each team, they have so many different needs. Frustrating thing because you have so many players, teams can’t decide. Definitely want to come out and make a statement, pretty much show them why they should take you.
(Stock) My stock is just first round. I’m hoping to go lottery, just because I played on such a loaded team, we were loaded, anybody could score on any given night. I think because my numbers dropped, teams don’t believe I can score as well, can’t rebound. I think that’s why they’re a little hesitant.
Main thing (trying to show) is I can shoot the ball. Mid-range jumper and my three. Post game can improve. Just a hard worker who can run up and down and not get tired. Still more comfortable with my back to the basket, but I’m definitely improving on my faceup.
Ball-handling, to really take a big man off the dribble. Can improve on that.”

Patterson has not been invited to the NBA’s Green Room yet, but is hopeful and has bought a suit.

Xavier Henry:
“This is my 11th workout. My back was getting a little tight so I had to get ice on it. Other than that, I think it went fine.
There’s like the top four or five, but after that, it seems like it’s wide open. 

I just want to go to the right team. Number doens’t matter, you’re playing for your second contract, not your first.

Toronto. Good, young team. Seems like there is going to be a lot of movement with free agency and everything.

(Describes his game) An aggressive scorer. A complete player. Rebound and play defence.

Keep up with teams. Make sure I need their roster, know what they need and what they’re looking for. I want to go to a team where I can do well and help the team. I just attack the basket a lot make sure they know I can do that. At Kansas, coach (Bill Self, Henry is his first one-and-done player) just wanted me to shoot open threes. I did that and made a lot of them, but didn’t get to show my whole game so when I come out here I make a point of showing I can attack the rim. Two/three at the next level.

First time in Toronto, I always thought Toronto was snow all year.”

Eric Bledsoe:
“Very happy with it. Competed. Show them my decision-making. John pretty much did a lot of the decision-making. Show them that I can play the point guard position. More comfortable playing the one. Pretty much played it all my life. (Moving off the ball) I think, that helped a lot. I like Chris Paul. I like (Russell) Westbrook too because he made a big change point guard from two-guard, he was in my position. He came and had a real big impact for his NBA team.

This is my 10th workout. I’m ready to shut it down.
(Turnovers) Just going to work on my game. Turn it down (the tempo).

(On Avery Bradley who he went up against at most workouts): He’s a competitor. He’s a little bit taller but I’m bigger than him. We’ve been going head-to-head. We have a little friendship going.

Paul George:
“Little problem at the end with my hip. We’re out here competing for a job, everybody’s going hard, so (injuries) are going to happen. Just letting them know that I can compete at a high level because that was a question. Defence: Brings the crowd into the game. Get a steal, get a dunk. This draft, after the one and two, I think it’s pretty much up for grabs after that.
Position: See myself being a shooting guard, but a shooting guard who can play multiple positions. I wouldn’t limit myself to just one position. I can pretty much touch every position on the floor.

(Must improve) Just ball-handling in general, I think anybody can improve on that, that’s something that I’ve really been trying to add to my game.
Like a Joe Johnson. Joe Johnson being a 6-8 big shooting guard. He can do a lot of things on the court, so I try to model my game after that.

Jim Kelly:
“Where they are in the process: The number is probably down to about six or seven players. I think we’ve pared that down some. I can’t really say that we’ve pared down what position because I don’t think we’ll take a player by position. As you get closer to draft time, the pot starts to boil more in terms of trades (you make this trade you get this player back, etc., etc.) so a little like a final exam if you were in college We’ve done all the studying, we’re down to the five, six, seven key areas and we’ll be ready to make a decision when we have to.
It is more challenging because sometime you look at a player one time and say maybe he isn’t our player, but you watch a DVD and (he impresses). In one video they’re not dong so well, then maybe you watch another DVD and all of a sudden he jumps back out at you.
You have to have a list, because the draft doesn’t revolve on us. We have I don’t know if you call it a list, we have a group that we would consider if something else comes up there, but I wouldn’t call it a list. I don’t think we’ve gone that far that we’ve refined it.
You’re walking a thin line if you pick a player because he has, or didn’t have a good workout. Try to build a book up on them. Look at where they were, where they are now, and where they might be in two or three years.
Paul George long, very very talented wing player there.We sort of put him in wings category. We have wings, we have points, we have bigs. The two and three are kind of interchangeable.

Xavier, that was a pretty intriguing matchup they both came up a little bit lame. That’s really his strength, shooting the ball from outside. Would like to see him go to the basket, he’s got a great body. Only a freshman. Needs to develop. Going to the basket. He’s got an NBA frame.

Patterson does what he always does. Steady, consistent, unspectacular but always gives you a good effort there and a pretty good point guard in Bledsoe.
Bledsoe vs. Bradley: Bledsoe’s a little bit quicker, probably a little more offensive-minded, Bradley’s a very good defender, mid-range shooter, Bledsoe I think, is a little more into distributing the ball although if you look at his numbers from Kentucky, because he playd with John Wall, that didn’t always happen.

It’s very hard to transfer over point guard skills to three-on-three. You’d always like to get a few more guys in.

Probably not going to get anybody else in. Might bring people in next week. Talked to some people, we’ll see where we go from there.
Damion James. Brought him in last year. Two interview sessions. We’re pretty comfortable with where we are with Damion James.

(On players coming in for exceptional workouts like Vince Carter and DeMar DeRozan): That’s rare. Especially as you get farther down the draft. We’re talking 13 now, that’s probably more rare.

A little on Hassan Whiteside and Solomon Alabi:

“Alabi a little bit longer, a little bit more experienced. Whiteside does some phenomenal things. He made some jump shots (from outside). One or two real big blocks, then at other times he’s just sort of watching everybody else. you wonder let’s go, let’s go, but I think that speaks to just (one) year of college (not at the highest level). Probably needs to get a little more education in that regard (basketball experience).