You'd have to be as "inspired" as this guy to figure out the Raptors' current contract situation.

It's been a while since we've had a deal to genuinely get excited about here in Raptor-land and there are just so many ways to look at this particular deal – and therefore a number of ways I want to break things down.

On the one hand, you just have to be impressed by the magnitude of this entire trade. Involving four teams in a trade situation is never an easy task, and it gets even more interesting when not every single team is just going after players, but actual cap room and financial obligations. For example, Orlando was seen as a team that could get absolutely no benefit from this trade and would potentially strengthen their Eastern Conference rivals. And yet, here we are talking about how Orlando has facilitated a sign and trade that allows the Raptors to keep their Mid-Level Exception (MLE) as well as their Bi-Annual Exception (BAE) for this off-season. Orlando in turn, gets some cash (from both Toronto and Dallas) and a meaty trade exception from the Jerry Stackhouse deal.

Speaking of Stackhouse, the only reason Memphis was involved was to pick up his contract in order to gain extra cap room. A 2016 draft pick was also included in order to facilitate the deal since Quincy Douby was unavailable to be traded due to the nature of his contract. Extra cash from Toronto and Dallas was also sent to bolster the deal.

Then of course, there are the "human" pieces.

Dallas gains Shawn Marion, Kris Humphries, Nathan Jawai, and Greg Buckner. Toronto gains Hedo Turkoglu, Antoine Wright, and Devean George.

The Toronto Raptors have positioned themselves to remain active in this off-season while shoring up some of their depth in troubling areas. What has long looked like a possibly sticky contract for a very good player in Hero Turkoglu has turned into a deal that also nets the Raptors SG/SF Antoine Wright and SF Devean George all at the cost of Kris Humphries, Nathan Jawai, some cold, hard cash and the Raptors' trade exception. While neither George nor Wright will be All-Stars, they are veteran pieces that have been through several playoff battles and shoot a decent percentage from the free throw line. They both have size and address the Raptors dearth at the wing positions and their contracts are only for one year.

Oh, and the Raptors keep their mid-level and veteran exceptions.

But here's the deal. The plan isn't complete. It's obvious that the Raptors still have a few more steps to go in the summer.

Yesterday they kept inching towards a completed roster by signing DeMar DeRozan to a two-year rookie deal with team options for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons.

Then there is Anthony Parker, and Carlos Delfino.

Anthony Parker has yet to officially sign his deal with Cleveland at the time of writing this post, and Bryan Colangelo has been saying in public that he's still willing to inquire to see whether Parker is available.

As a mentor, a backup point guard, a team leader, and a pretty good defensive/offensive player, he's a person that should be on Colangelo's radar, especially since he's a Larry Bird Exception candidate who can be re-signed without the use of either exception. Similarly, Carlos Delfino also can be re-signed without the use of exceptions thanks to the Raptors attaining him in the trade with Detroit from a few years ago thus retaining his rights. Oh, and all qualifying offers are still on the table, allowing the Raptors to match contracts.

Which just might leave the entire Mid-Level Exception open to grab another big piece.

As Bryan Colangelo mentioned yesterday, his phone has been ringing off the hook with offers and inquiries. There are many players still available for purchase, including the much talked about Linus Kleiza. If the Raptors need to take on more than one player (i.e., if Parker finally signs with Cleveland) they could use their MLE to sign more than one player, say for example Jarrett Jack and Linus Kleiza. (If indeed both players were available for that discount price.)

However, the Raptors may want to look even further. What if they were to use the entire MLE on just one player? Would that allow the Raptors to go after such players as Marvin Williams, Josh Childress, or Ramon Sessions?

The possibilities available to Colangelo have just increased exponentially, and TSN.ca’s Tim Chisholm in this piece presents a few more possible ideas for Raptors’ fans.

In the days leading up to this deal, I've been waiting to pass judgment on the whole deal until it was finalized. My hope was always for a sign-and-trade that would help the Raptors keep their exceptions and Colangelo has done just that. The surprising parts of this deal are that the Raptors have added two more pieces bringing the roster size up to 12 players. The Raptors could even possibly waive a player and take on four more contracts. I'm very comfortable with how things have shaped out financially on this deal and while we'll be arguing about how this roster will look together on the floor all summer, at least Colangelo has secured key pieces without tossing away flexibility on his secondary talent. After all, it's been his golden plan to re-establish a team that will be comparable to his 2006-2007 club and he's finally got a chance to do so, with the coaches he wants, and the situation he's designed.

The Raptors are far from done this off-season and it remains to be seen just how Colangelo will bring his plan towards completion.

This isn't the end of the ride, but merely crossing the first hill.

Vicious D

PS – The entire Raptors press-conference with Hedo can be viewed here at Raptors.com.

It's been a long time coming but the day has finally arrived, RaptorsHQ.com has moved!

We're thrilled to now be part of the SB Nation family and to find us at our new home, simply type in www.raptorshq.com!

So update your bookmarks, tell your friends, twitter it, and phone Hoffa in Siberia to tell him the good news!

THE HQ TEAM

Could Wright be defending the likes of Bryant as Toronto's starting 2 next year?

After yesterday’s Star-Trek related post, the title of this morning’s may suggest that I’m continuing with the sci-fi theme and using X Files as the analogy for today.

And while I was a big fan of the show, and even David Duchovny’s sleaze-filled performances in Californiacation, that’s not the case.

Instead, the title simply reflects that while I’ve been quite skeptical of Colangelo’s work so far this off-season, I hope more than anything that I’m wrong in my criticism. After all, it now sounds like he’s managed to extract two wing players from Dallas via last night’s convoluted sign-and-trade for Shawn Marion; something that seemed unfathomable just days ago.

To top it off, from the sounds of things and because of this deal, it also seems like BC now has regained the mid-level exception!

If this isn’t a stroke of genius I’m not sure what is frankly.

Marion looked to be a goner, the team was cash-strapped despite what the most ardent fans would have you believe, and as I wrote yesterday, after the top four guys, this team was essentially a Klingon (Evans), a member of the Borg (Humphries) and the security crew in red shirts from the original Star Trek series.

Now, things are starting to look quite different.

While neither are stars, both Devean George and Antoine Wright are upgrades over…um…nothing, which was in essence what Toronto was working with at the wing positions outside of DeMar DeRozan and Hedo.

Because of his size defensive abilities, I could even see Wright starting at the 2, suddenly giving Toronto a very big starting line-up, with spots 2 through 5 being manned by players 6-7 and over.

The possible arrival of Wright is ironic in fact considering that a) he essentially replaces Joey Graham as another forward from that draft class who has failed to live up to expectations and b) this was a player as one of our readers pointed out, who the master of condescension Doug Smith referred to as being essentially useless and out of the league this season.

Interesting then this morning that suddenly Mr. Smith is referring to him as "serviceable" isn’t it?

Now Toronto’s line-up (including the mid-level) could foreseeably look something like this:

PG: Jose Calderon, Roko Ukic, Marcus Banks
SG: Antoine Wright, Carlos Delfino, DeMar DeRozan,
SF: Hedo Turkoglu, Linas Kleiza, Devean George
PF: Chris Bosh, Reggie Evans, Nathan Jawai
C: Andrea Bargnani, Patrick O’Bryant

That’s a bit better isn’t it?

I plan on looking at the impact of these additions statistically once things become official but on paper, this is already a better scenario than 24 hours ago and don’t expect the Legomaster to rest on his laurels.

In fact looking at that roster, she’s a bit thin up front so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Toronto go after only one of Delfino or Kleiza, and use the rest of the mid-level on a respectable big man. (Rasho?)

I’d still like to see a bit more athleticism added into the mix and perhaps a real back-up PG, but it’s tough to complain much when Colangelo managed to rid the team of Humphries’ contract and fill some gaps all in one fell swoop.

Do I still feel that the team should have waited until next year to sign Andrea?

Yes, this is still something that I can’t understand.

With the salary cap expected to fall sharply, I’m still bewildered as to why you pay Bargs $10 Million now, when you could probably get him for half that next year? It's not like he's going to be an unrestricted free-agent so Toronto can always up the ante to match and based on the league’s financial situation, I’d fall out of my chair if that amount ended up exceeding what they’re presently paying him.

Think about this for a second.

If the cap falls down to the $50 to $53 Million range, that means everything else, mid-level included will drop. This year's restricted free-agents are having serious trouble getting the offers they feel they deserve (see Lee, Millsap and Marvin Williams) mostly because of teams tightening wallets and over-spending on unrestricted free-agents with mediocre upsides like Ben Gordon.

So how bad is it going to be next year when names like James, Wade, Nowitzki and Stoudemire could be available unrestricted?

Does anyone really think that suddenly teams are going to throw $12 Million at Bargs knowing that Toronto could look to match? That scenario hasn’t unfolded this summer with much less talent on the market so I’m not sure why things would suddenly change next summer when there’s LESS money to be had!

Both with that and the Hedo signing I really think that Bryan Colangelo is rolling the dice here but I understand that at times as a GM that’s what you’ve got to do.

Sometimes it results in an over-the-hill Jermaine O’Neal, sometimes it results in drafting Amare Stoudemire.

It’s much easier however for me to swallow said gambles when other more sure-fire pieces are put into place around these moves. The proposed Marion sign-and-trade isn’t alleviating all my concerns, but it’s certainly helping.

In fact, you could argue I think that this could be Bryan Colangelo's best trade yet, one-upping getting something for nothing in the Hoffa deal.

Again, I want to believe that BC’s big moves are indeed shrewd maneuvers that take this team to the top.

He’s made some major changes to last year’s motley crew, and now I’m just hoping for a few more Lego pieces over the next while to really get me excited about next season.

FRANCHISE

Franchise wonders just what direction Captain Colangelo is guiding this spaceship in...

In the early hours this morning it was announced that the Toronto Raptors had signed Andrea Bargnani to an extension starting in 2010-2011 for five years at about $10 Million per year.

This, coupled with what should be the official signing of Hedo later today, means that Toronto now has what it views as two major pieces of its puzzle locked-up for the next half a decade alongside Jose Calderon. Should Bosh re-sign next summer, that would mean approximately $50 Million tied up in four players, a number that would remain consistent for at least the next four seasons before Jose Calderon’s salary came off the books.

That’s a lot of loot.

Our colleagues at Raptors Republic noted this morning that "the Spurs have $48 Million tied in 4 players next year, the Lakers have $52 Million tied in 3, the Magic $50 Million in 3 and the Cavaliers $55 million in 4." This means that Toronto will still have room financially to add other pieces to their core, however as the Arsenalist points out, it’s easy to argue that the aforementioned teams are getting a lot more bang for their buck.

And this is really now what it comes down to.

At the height of potential, should Andrea continue to improve at both ends, then suddenly $10 Million a year for a Dirk-clone seems like a steal.

However should he continue to be an off-and-on contributor who struggles defensively, then suddenly this contract could look a lot worse than that of Marcus Banks, the player apparently that BC is trying to include in the sign-and-trade deal with Dallas regarding Shawn Marion.

Essentially, Bryan Colangelo and his crew must feel that a core group of Bosh, Bargs, Jose and Hedo is good enough to remain very competitive in the East, and a few savvy additions will put them in contention with the Clevelands, Bostons, and Orlandos at the top of the ladder.

I’ve got my doubts.

First of all, I don’t think Toronto’s foursome is anywhere near as talented as those of the aforementioned clubs. I’m not even sure Toronto’s group is on par with a club like Philly, who if they can re-sign Andre Miller and re-acclimatize Elton Brand, could still be a very dangerous bunch.

The other piece of this is the depth issue.

$50 Million spent on four players is a lot of money and considering the salary cap just came in at $57.7 Million and the luxury tax at $69.92 Million (a drop from $58.68M and $71.15M respectively), that doesn’t leave a lot of room for change should this starting four not work out – especially when players like Marcus Banks and Reggie Evans are eating into about $8 Million of that room and are still on the books for a few more years.

Essentially the Legomaster is putting most of his eggs into one basket yet again.

Last year we saw the results of this and unless BC can find a taker for Banks and/or Hump, again this year there won’t be much of an upgrade to the bench group. In fact at present, the bench looks to be in worse shape than last year, a notion that is echoed by glancing at Toronto’s summer league roster, which at present accounts for most of the group.

That’s one reason Howland and I are particularly keen to see Toronto’s Vegas entry in action this weekend.

The Raptors have signed off on allowing us media access so we’ll have coverage of the first three games, games that may very well prove to be a good indication of what to expect this season from Roko, Jawai and co. Again, Summer League is hardly an indication of who is going to shine come the regular season, but it definitely will identify who still isn’t ready for the big time. Should the core of Ukic, Jawai, O’Bryant, Douby and DeRozan struggle, things could be ugly this season, especially if Toronto’s expected starters can’t stay healthy.

In fact remember in the original Star Trek series whenever Captain Kirk put an away team together, there were always those "security" guys in red shirts?

Isn’t that Toronto’s bench right now?

You KNEW those Red Shirt guys were going to get blasted as soon as they got down to the planet and if Roko and co. are expected to play major roles for the Raptors this year, it may be a similar situation when they come into a game.

Uh oh Roko, keep a tight grip on that phaser...

Even the original Star Trek group had seven key personnel (Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scottie, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov) with one or two other minor players thrown into the mix. This team at present has four, which means a lot of "red shirts" trying not to get killed on the court come regular season.

Over the next few days hopefully we’ll see some additions to this lot, be they via the rumoured Shawn Marion sign-and-trade or perhaps even via some sort of other creative maneuvers. There aren’t a lot of free-agent options left in Toronto’s dollar range, especially at the 2 and 3 spots, so it’s going to be interesting to see just what Colangelo can do.

And while I’m not a big fan of cementing this current "core," there is one big positive about BC’s strategy from my point of view – he’s got this season as a test run.

As opposed to last year when Marion came in as the season was wrapping up, the Raptors this year have training camp and a full-season to see just what this roster can do. If it turns up being a disaster, Toronto can attempt to make some major changes next summer when Bosh’s contract comes off the books.

For those of us who aren’t fans of the direction this team is taking, we can take some solace in that I suppose, but for all intents and purposes this is your Toronto Raptors team for the next few years.

And while some may be applauding Bryan Colangelo’s moves, let’s just say I’m not ready to beam this group into the Eastern Conference Finals any time soon.

FRANCHISE

How great of a fit would Hedo and Roy been in Portland's back-court?

Last night while browsing through various posts on Twitter, I came across this note to Chris Bosh from Jason Kapono:

@chrisbosh woulda been sick to play with turk and you, but imma beat you guys with iggy and brand

This immediately caught my attention, not only because I always find these sort of athlete-to-athlete messages interesting, but also because Kapono, like many other NBA’ers of late, seems to be quite enthused about the addition of Hedo to Bosh and co.

It got me wondering about other individuals takes as well outside of the Raptor fan base.

I mean, what about other coaches and GM’s? If every NBA team had a chance to make a run at Turkoglu this off-season, even at the rumoured price Toronto is going to pay, would they have done so?

Of course I didn’t have that information at my disposal but taking things one step further, I wondered if via the NBA blogosphere, it would be thought-provoking to get the other side of the coin in this situation; ie a Portland Blogger’s take?

And who better to touch base with then Ben Golliver of the Portland Trailblazer’s blog, Blazer’s Edge.

I shot Ben a quick note yesterday therefore to get his take on 3 questions, sort of an off-season edition of our usual "Blogging with the Enemy" feature.

Here’s what he had to say:

1) RaptorsHQ: Originally, were you in favour of Portland's attempts to sign him?

Blazer’s Edge: Hedo has been talked about for weeks and weeks and weeks as a potential Portland free agent acquisition. Back in Mid-June I wrote,

"I wouldn't break the bank for Hedo although he would be a noticeable upgrade at the 3 and would certainly provide some starting lineup clarity. You can maybe shift Nic Batum to a reserve role but it's Martell Webster that really complicates things. Webster would be seeing negative playing time in that scenario, unless you can trade him, which would require convincing another team to take on 3 more years for a guy that hasn't stepped on an NBA basketball court (except to seriously injure his foot for the second time in 3 months) since the Spring of 2008. At this point Hedo feels like a long shot. Indeed, just about any move for a big time 3 seems like a long shot given Webster's (questionable) health and Batum's publicly-discussed role in the Blazers future."

Obviously, it didn't turn out to be a "long shot" given how hard and how far Portland pursued Hedo, but it never felt like exactly the "right fit." Not only because of the lineup questions posed above but because Hedo's status as the premier free agent on the market meant Portland would be cashing in years worth of salary cap flexibility chips to obtain him. It seemed like a departure from the Kevin Pritchard/Tom Penn tradition that we've seen over the last few years. Also, it didn't directly address either of the team's two biggest weaknesses: point guard and frontcourt toughness.

Don't get me wrong, though: it's important to add talented pieces even if they don't fit perfectly. Had the Blazers signed Hedo I wouldn't have been complaining. The question to me was always "Is Hedo the best option?" rather than "Is Hedo a good fit?" The Blazers punted at last year's trade deadline and this year's draft to put themselves in the best possible position to pursue... Hedo Turkoglu. Really? That was surprising to me given the other players that were out there available as salary dumps.

2) RHQ: Why or why not, and do you think he's worth the money that both Toronto and Portland were throwing at him?

BE: I wrote about 10 days ago that the fifth year of his projected deal seemed "almost out of the question" and even the 4th year was questionable when taking into account the growth curve of the rest of the Blazers. Hedo is going to make his biggest impact in the next two years, no one disputes that. I actually think that had the Blazers acquired Hedo, they were odds-on to make next year's Western Conference Finals. That's a huge step for this city and team and NO ONE would have been complaining about the extra 2 years on his deal if that had happened (at least not until a few years later). So for the Blazers you can definitely make the argument that he was worth it for the next two years and arguably the third year. After that, it gets hazy. You certainly know the Raptors' salary cap situation better than I do but it's hard to imagine anyone (especially a guy like Colangelo) banking on big production from Hedo come 2012-2013.

3) RHQ: And finally, what was the fall-out in Portland? Some Blazers' fans that I spoke to were furious with Turkoglu and others have been comparing it to Carlos Boozer's reneging on his handshake agreement with the Cavs a few years ago. Thoughts?

BE: I think there were two different trains of thought that immediately crystallized.

First, there were feelings of relief from the group that was against acquiring Hedo. This included a sub-group of fans that were initially against Hedo but rallied around this management group's decision to pursue him because of a strong faith in Pritchard and company established by their past performance. Once Hedo decided to go to Toronto, that support crumbled almost instantly, giving way to relief.

Second, and more interestingly, there were those fans (and there were many) that truly did want Hedo. For them Hedo's flip was a gut punch. Those are most likely the ones that are "furious" and feeling jilted that you've talked with. I think they have a right to their frustration. I felt the same way when Pritchard drafted Oden over Durant. "So close!!!! Yet so far."

Feeling powerless over a franchise that you care deeply about can be really, really frustrating.

In the end, though, the real fallout is a citywide confusion: "Oh crap, what's coming next?" The organization went all out for Hedo and failed. The fans right now are getting the impression that the organization didn't have any serious contingency plans. Hedo was plans A, B and C. Maybe D too.

Only time and action by Kevin Pritchard will resolve that feeling of confusion. So, I guess we'll see.

FRANCHISE

With Hedo on the way, Raptors' fans are patiently awaiting the Legomaster's next moves...

So now what?

That’s probably the top question on most Raptors’ fans minds with the impending free-agent signing of Hedo Turkoglu on the way.

By all accounts now it’s just a matter of seeing how much money Bryan Colangelo has left to spend and how he decided to divvy it up to fill out the remaining roster spots.

The problem is, and as our poll on the home page reflects so far, it seems that fans are pretty divided about the Hedo signing in the first place.

Issues of depth, costs, Bosh, and even DeMar DeRozan starting at the 2, who we discussed recently on The Score.com with some of our other HQ Associates, all keep popping up, and it’s going to be very interesting to see what BC does next.

I’ve of course been quite steadfast in my belief that this signing is a bad idea but I’m not going to rant on that more today. Instead, I’m hoping that bringing one of the top free-agents causes the "Celtics effect" here in Toronto, thereby bringing other assets in for cheap who wish to play for what they believe will be a top squad.

Boston continues to play this card quite well and yesterday grabbed Rasheed Wallace in their continuing attempt to lead the "Eastern Conference arms race."

To me this move gets them back at the top of the ladder if everyone stays healthy, with Cleveland and Orlando occupying the next two spots. Suddenly KG can play less minutes, Wallace becomes a legit "sixth-man of the year" candidate, and talk about the most intense team in the league! (And as an added bonus, they can let some other club over-pay for Big Baby Davis.)

But getting back to the Raptors, how does the rest of the HQ feel about the Hedo signing?

Read on as both Howland and Vicious D give their thoughts:

To me, this is, once again, BC trying to catch lightning in a bottle. This is a great approach when it works (aka Boston two seasons ago) and possibly the worst approach when it doesn't (aka JO and the number of assets required to make the deal and then rectify the situation). I for one believe that you build a team over the course of time and take advantage of particular situations at a given time.

The problems I have with this deal are as follows:

1. Hedo is 30 and it is a five-year deal. If you want to know why Orlando let him walk it was for exactly this reason. It made more sense for the long-term viability of the roster to acquire Vince for a few seasons rather than re-sign Hedo for five. I have a hard time believing Hedo is going to be a $12M a year player five years from now. His contract may not be a cap killer yet, but it will be. I truly believe that we are not that far off from readers rightfully complaining about Hedo and his contract.

2. If the cap situation dictates nothing more than minimum players then this deal really hurts in the short and long terms. This team now has four core assets, a rookie, and little else. The lack of depth hurt the team last year and could easily be the downfall of the team going forward unless BC manages to sign a few talents on the cheap.

3. I have said this a number of times - Bosh is not a max player. If the Hedo signing is to appease Bosh so he will sign a max contract next summer then this will be a crippler for the franchise.

4. Right now DeMar DeRozan would have to start. Am I the only on who thinks this is a bad idea? Having watched him play this past year there is no question he grew as a player but start? Even if the T-Mac comparisons are justified it took McGrady a while after he arrived on the scene. Further, if DD starts, is he the guy who will have to match-up against players like Pierce, Lebron, Wade, Kobe etc.? This could have a detrimental effect on the development and confidence of the rook. I don't think he should start this season. In my opinion he is not ready and having him start would be mismanaging an asset.

5. From a defensive standpoint and from a toughness standpoint this team remains very flawed. There are guys who could be signed for around the minimum and play solid D (Dahntay Jones, who the Raps frustratingly passed on signing last year) so this could still be fixed, but this team remains VERY soft. Sure Reggie Evans is a thug but the rest of the guys are anything but. Hedo doesn't address the toughness or defensive issues. Further, he doesn't help this team on the glass, something that has killed this team time and time again. As long as Bargnani is at the 5 the Raps need a 3 who rebounds like a fiend.

All that being said there are positives.

Hedo can, at times, be a spectacular player. Although this past season was not as strong as the season past, he does give the Raps a really good wingman.

However I find it odd that people would reference his playoff performance as the ultimate indication that this was a great signing. His points, rebounds and assists were all DOWN from his regular season numbers. Turk did have some GREAT plays, but he had an equal number of bone headed ones as well.

I could end up being wrong, but even after reading all of the comments over the past couple of days I still have a feeling that this won't end well.

I have a tough time believing this acquisition will turn a 33 win team into a 45 (plus) win team, which is what needs to occur to make this signing worth while.

HOWLAND

When the season ended, I said to my friend that the Raptors will probably target Hedo Turkoglu, but I just didn't know how that was all gonna play out. I mean to sign Turkoglu, the Raptors would need about $10 million, of which they really had none if they wanted to keep the rights of their restricted free agents.

Of course late last week, Turkoglu shocked everyone by renouncing his rumoured verbal agreement and is now your newest Toronto Raptor.

Already, I know that we at the HQ will debate this new player throughout the summer.

At face value, Turkoglu becomes a great offensive threat who is streaky, can finish at the basket, and is able to make clutch shots. On the other hand, his defense is somewhat lacking, he's not nearly the rebounder that Shawn Marion is, and of course comes at a much greater cost than the Matrix.

In fact, some people may even say that Turkoglu is merely a better version of Jason Kapono.

So here's the thing.

Would you rather have a guy who has been decent but not spectacular since his days playing with a number 1 point guard, a guy who can rebound and has proven himself to be a player that can do many things, but has never been particularly strong at clutch baskets, shooting, or leadership? Or would you prefer the man who was an integral part of the Eastern Conference champions, who can play the pick and roll to perfection, shoot the daylights out of a building when on, and can play a little point guard, but has difficulties defending and rebounding?

Whichever it may be, what matters to me more is just how Colangelo manages to resolve this deal and how he chooses to fill out his roster. Depth has now once again become an issue as has toughness and rebounding. The Raptors simply cannot hope that DeMar DeRozan is the only answer for athleticism and defense, and unfortunately, Anthony Parker and Carlos Delfino may not even be re-signed. Heck, the Raptors may not even be able to squeeze Linas Kleiza into the club.

At the end of the day, one thought is prevalent in my mind: Colangelo is indeed trying to rebuild much of his 2006-2007 miracle team. A large European interest coupled with a deft shooting touch and a club geared towards offense, the Raptors may very well be repeating the sins of their immediate past, however time will tell.

VICIOUS D

Could the Raptors look to replace the Matrix with Barnes for cheap?

It’s been very interesting to read through the comments on the site the past few days.

Obviously the forthcoming Hedo Turkoglu signing has left Raptor-nation extremely divided, something that’s already being reflected in our latest poll.

But as many readers have noted, perhaps the best plan of action now is to sit and wait.

Tomorrow morning we’ll dig deeper into just what the Turkoglu signing means for the rest of the roster but until we see final financial details (not just for Hedo’s contract but also the new salary cap and luxury tax limits etc), there’s not much we can all do but speculate on what "might" occur.

A few quick hits though:

-Great financial breakdown here by TSN’s Tim Chisolm, one of my favourite writers in Raptorland. Key point; if the Raptors haven’t renounced their rights to the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions then unlike the Jermaine O’Neal situation, they still would have $8 to $10 Million to spend. If they have renounced the rights, that’s when BC is going to have to get very creative.

-Both the Orlando and local Toronto press is now reporting that a sign-and-trade deal involving Hedo is out of the question for various reasons. This means that while Toronto won’t be further upgrading Orlando with the likes of a Marion, they also won’t be getting any extra financial breathing room via such a proposed move.

-While it’s great to see Toronto getting the US exposure by Hedo’s change of heart, fans in Portland are not impressed. As a Blazer fanatic and friend of mine put it; We Portlanders have immense pride in our team and our lil city and to be made to look like fools and played so hard in the national media is something we don’t take lightly or forget easily...regardless of if you wanted Hedo or not." It’s funny but I think Raptors’ fans can really relate to this statement based on past free-agent experiences…

Moving away from the Raptors for a minute, our Canadian Hoops correspondent Ray Bala continues his look at the local basketball scene in our nation. Today, he talks to Paul Sir, coach of the IBL’s Edmonton Energy.

FRANCHISE

At the end of last year’s IBL season, the Chill blew out of Edmonton just as quickly as they blew in.

Despite having a great first season with a respectable record and a talent laden squad that included three league all-stars, the Chill were forced to cease operations thanks in large part to a shady owner that had taken the money and run.

With that as the prelude, the local basketball community banded together to resurrect the team. Now like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, the Edmonton Energy has gone on to be the best team in the International Basketball League posting a league best record 17-3.

The Energy have made their best attempt at making the Chill experience a distant memory and the force of the team both on the floor and in the board room has been local basketball stalwart Paul Sir. Coach Sir has been a fixture in the provincial and local basketball scene for what seems like forever and has helped to keep the now first-year IBL franchise at the top of the league standings. I had a chance to talk to Coach Sir about last year, this year and the future of the Energy.

Ray Bala: There was a pro basketball team Calgary last year. How does this season compare to last season?

Coach Sir: From a team standpoint, last season the players were good but we are a better team this year. We have a better mix of players this year than last, but we were still a very good team last year. (They’re all) just a great group of individuals to work with.

The problems we had were off the court with an owner who was less than honest and honorable who at the end of the year had left town with people’s hard-earned money. After the season was over I spent a great deal of time dealing with the problems that existed. We saw last year that there was a great connection with the team and the community so we got an ownership group together this year of very good business people who were committed to the team and we decided that it was important to rebrand the team and not go with the Chill. We came up with the Energy and we’re excited to have the team going again and we’re looking forward to finishing the year up and preparing for next.

RB: Now was there a transition with getting people back on board with the Energy after last season? Was there a period where people were still skeptical of the team?

CS: Oh yes, to a certain extent people still are (skeptical). Minor league sports, that in itself raises skepticism for good reason. Last season we had the Edmonton Cracker-Cats Golden League baseball team that was very poorly managed. So you (essentially) had two minor league franchises that failed (the same year). I think we’ve gone a long way this year in building the community trust in what we’re doing (this year).

RB: How do you feel the public have come out to support you guys this season?

CS: Our crowds have been disappointing, to be honest. We’ve been surprised but we feel this is all correctable. We know we have made some mistakes in terms of marketing the team and we’ll review all of our systems and process at the end of the season. Our website has had over 600,000 hits on it and that’s astronomical. But for some reason we have not connected with the public to get them to come to the games in numbers that we would like to see. Now having said that, 300 to 400 people are at every game and that by some standards for minor league sports is not bad. We envision one and two years from now where there will be many more people when we apply the lessons we learned this season from our experiences.

RB: Now you mentioned two and three years down the road. Was there long-term planning since the team’s inception this season?

CS: Yes. Everyone who got involved made a commitment to make this (team) a long-term part of the Edmonton sports community.

RB: With the team in mind, how do you balance the role of businessman/GM with basketball coach?

CS: I think I have the good fortune of being number one, old, and that means that I have a lot of experience. My background is in business, I have owned my own business for 20 plus years, so I have a lot of business experience. And during that time me and my wife were balancing my life coaching at various levels of basketball. Eventually I phased into coaching university basketball so I don’t have a difficult time seeing both the business and coaching side of it.

RB: That’s great! Having that background obviously helps you with whatever you have to do when it comes to decisions for the team or the players. Most people don’t have the balance of basketball or business when it comes to a dual role in a minor league franchise and that tends to doom a lot teams from the start.

RB: Was it hard for you to find or even get local talent to come out for the Energy for this season?

CS: In terms of wearing the GM hat, the foundation of the team is local talent. Players like Steve Sir, JR Patrick, Andrew Parker, Alex Steele, these are all players that born and raised and have come up through the Edmonton basketball system. Then trying to build around them with more Canadians who can contribute and then bringing guys who compliment them. Kevin Shand was a friend of a fellow who assisted the team last year, Lunzaya Nlandu works out here in Edmonton and the wild card was Skousan Harker. Skousan was good friends with Will Funn who he played with in England who plays with us. I feel fortunate and proud because I think the pieces I’ve picked have managed to come together.

RB: With regards to last year’s team, are there any holdovers from last season’s squad?

CS: We kept a strong nucleus together from last year [Note: the Energy have six players from the roster that the Chill had last season] and we made it better with the additions of Kevin and Skousan. Now we did lose Rashaun Broadus who but he had a great year in Romania. He did intend to come back for this season though.

Kevin Shand is one of the reasons for the Energy's on-court success this year...

RB: Now looking at the team you have, this looks like one of the better minor league basketball teams out now. The Energy has a lot of star power and the team looks like it’s coming together. It’s good to see that there’s a minor league franchise that’s being successful in Canada because so few of them do get to this point.

CS: I appreciate it very much. That certainly has been our goal and objective. I really wanted to do everything I could that was based on fundamental business practices but with a team that was truly a team. I have always liked tougher, grittier kinds of teams, teams made up off people with character who put team and community first. We’re really trying hard to entrench this team into the community. We want this to be something that kids look up to and say "I want to be like that someday."

RB: Now after last season, the team has overcome some challenges as far as the situation last season with the Chill. Now have there been any other challenges that you feel you’ve also overcome?

CS: I think you summed it up well. I think it’s the progression of taking baby steps to rebuild something that we knew was very positive for the community. But also having the willingness of the ownership group to take on that challenge and risk and then work in tandem to give it a foundation from a business standpoint to allow me to put the team together and for the team to go out but not only play on the court but also reach out to the community. I think that we’ve laid in many respects solid groundwork to progress in the future.

RB: And the future definitely looks bright, by record alone. Now I’m wondering what goals you’ve set for the team this year and have you hit them?

CS: I think we’ve hit our goals to date. Our goal is to win the IBL championship this year. But the way we believe we have to prepare to that is to lay track every day and do our best on that given day to be a better player individually and a better team collectively. Now we’ve tried not to get ahead of ourselves and tried to not interpret our success in any way other than it being a part of a bigger plan. Our record is great but going into the next game the only thing that matters is the 48 minutes. That’s our philosophy and the guys have bought into this.

RB: What are your hopes for the team going forward after the season is done?

CS: The hope for the team is that this helps prepare guys for their pro careers next year. And beyond that the planning will start and then the execution of that plan for next season. Raising the profile of the team and keeping the name in the community, build momentum up. Once again we’ll be looking to compete at a high level again next year and fill the stands.

RB: Thanks for taking the time Coach. We’ll look forward to hearing great things from the Energy in the near future.

For more on the Edmonton Energy please check out www.edmontonnrg.com or www.iblhoopsonbline.com

RAY BALA

Summer League Action Soon Begins

There is no rest for the weary.

As general manager’s around the league continue to play a game of cat and mouse with many NBA agents they also need to prepare for the upcoming summer league games which are just around the corner.

The Raptors released their roster yesterday and here is the press release:

July 2, 2009

RAPTORS ANNOUNCE 2009 LAS VEGAS SUMMER LEAGUE ROSTER

The Toronto Raptors announced Thursday their 12-man roster for the 2009 Las Vegas Summer League presented by EA Sports. First-round draft pick guard-forward DeMar DeRozan will join guard Roko Ukic, guard Quincy Douby, forward Nathan Jawai and centre Patrick O'Bryant for five games at the Cox Pavilion on the campus of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas from July 10-17.
DeRozan was selected ninth overall by Toronto in last month's NBA Draft and will become the third first-round draft pick to participate in the Las Vegas Summer League, joining Andrea Bargnani (2006) and Joey Graham (2005). This summer marks the third time Toronto has participated in the Las Vegas Summer League since its inception in 2004.

Ukic will get his first taste of summer league action after appearing in 72 regular season games during his rookie campaign. Jawai also suited up for the Raptors during six games last season, in addition to participating on last year's summer league squad. Both Ukic and Jawai will return to their respective national teams (Croatia and Australia) at the conclusion of summer league action. A total of five players on the Raptors summer roster have experience in international competition, including Newfoundland native Carl English, a three-year veteran of the Canadian national team, Ekene Ibekwe, who represented Nigeria during the 2006 FIBA World Championships, and David Doublas, a member of Spain's 2001 Under-20 national team.

Other notables on this year's summer league roster include two-time NBA D-League Slam Dunk contest winner Brent Petway and NBA veterans Paul Davis, Smush Parker and Demetris Nichols.

Eric Hughes has been assigned summer league head coaching duties for a second consecutive year. He will be joined by assistants Micah Nori and Alvin Williams. Toronto opens its summer league schedule against the defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers on Friday, July 10 at 8 p.m. (ET).

It’s an interesting squad, but not necessarily one that I am all that impressed with.

In terms of Raptors currently under contract having DD, Ukic, Jawai, O’Bryant and Douby in Vegas makes sense. I actually hope this will be the team’s starting five for the upcoming games.

It’s great to see Ukic on the roster given the rumours about him being unhappy in Toronto. This is an opportunity for him to lead a team and should give the Raps coaching staff a better sense of what improvements he has made since the season came to an end. If Ukic plans on making strides similar to Calderon in his sophomore season, this is his first chance to show it’s not only possible but likely.

Having both DeRozan and Jawai on the squad is not surprising. Given last season was a total wash for the Australian big-man, Jawai needs to get some game action under his belt. Jawai was, and continues to be, a major project for the Raptors coaching staff. This is just another small step on what looks to be a long road. For DD, this will be his first opportunity to show the Raps staff what he can do when there are real bodies on the floor rather than pylons and chairs.

O’Bryant and Douby continue to work hard this off-season and it’s great to see both these guys on the roster. Both players have been frequent visitors to the Raptors facilities during the course of the off-season and hopefully their hard work starts to pay-off. Remember what BC says about O’Bryant at the end of the season – this may be his last chance.

Now what about the rest of the roster?

Let’s just say it is a little underwhelming.

Out of the remaining guys on the roster there are really only two players who interest me, Smush Parker and Demetris Nichols.

It wasn’t that long ago that Parker had a significant role on a very solid Lakers team. Since his time in LA however, the wheels have fallen off and Smush now finds himself looking for an NBA roster spot. It will be interesting to see how he performs as compared to Ukic. If Parker really shines it is possible that he earns a roster spot. Parker may have some red flags but he has proven that he can play.

Nichols is the guy who intrigues me the most. He is a very solid offensive player who absolutely filled it up in the D-League this past season. The 6’7" second round pick has always been known for his solid shooting stroke and ability to score but in the D-League he really did it all. Outside of averaging 20+ points a game and shooting great percentages from the floor, including from beyond the arc, Nichols put up good rebounding and assist numbers. He also averaged more than one steal and one block per contest. Nichols also has a huge wingspan and is a decent defender. The Raps still need to add more athleticism to the wing position and Nichols could be that guy.

Outside of Parker and Nichols however I am left wondering what the Raps think they can get out of the likes of Carl English, David Doublas et al. and why the team didn’t take a flyer on some of the players who found themselves undrafted last month. Unfortunately for us at the HQ Jerel McNeal is going to be playing with Sacramento. You can find a complete list of summer league rosters here, and I have to say some of the rosters are rather impressive including the Spurs, Sacto and the Wizards.

The one guy who isn’t on the roster, and probably should be, is Marcus Banks. Banks is a guy that, despite the contract security, needs to be playing in Vegas. After another poor year Marcus needs to be getting some PT in an organized setting. He has essentially done nothing to warrant the contract he has and if he is not careful, will soon find himself in a position much like the aforementioned Smush Parker…on the outside looking in. His absence is even more surprising given where Summer League is taking place. Banks, the former UNLV student, is known for spending the off-season in Vegas. I would be surprised if the Raps didn’t ask him to partake in these games.

Nevertheless the Raps summer league roster is made up and most, if not all of the players have something to prove. These games may not show the Raps coaches who can play at the next level but they will definitely show who can’t.

HOWLAND

Great...now the Dinos might get to pay a 41% shooter to take crazy shots like this for THEM!

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?????

That was my first reaction to the 18 text messages I had on my phone after finishing dinner my Mom who was in town from PEI for a few days.

I had put my phone away hours before, content that with Mr. Hedo Turkoglu well on his way to Portland, I could now relax a bit and let Bryan Colangelo work on David Lee, Shawn Marion, and maybe even Marvin Williams.

But after flipping through the first few texts and seeing the same messages regarding Hedo’s last minute change of heart, I suddenly felt sick to my stomach.

Indeed, both ESPN.com and Yahoo Sports are stating that Hedo, after a verbal agreement to sign with the Blazers on July 7th, has changed his mind and is prepared to accept a whopping $53 Million offer over five years from the Toronto Raptors.

And really, I’m at a loss for words here.

I thought Bryan Colangelo had learned about over-paying past-their-prime players with the Jermaine O’Neal experiment?

And even if Hedo isn’t past his prime, at 30, he’s getting damn near close to it, and regardless, even a productive Turkoglu still puts a major kink in Toronto’s cap situation for years to come…

…not to mention right now.

If this deal does indeed become final (and as an aside, at the 2:30 AM time of writing this blog post we’ve received no official word from the Raptors via their media line), this means that suddenly Toronto’s Summer League team looks to be a good bet to be the majority of the bench.

Nope, not a pretty sight.

In fact from ESPN’s link to the change in heart by Hedo, I had to laugh out loud at this passage:

As for the Raptors, the signing signaled their intention of trying to immediately assemble a championship-caliber team that could present match-up problems for Orlando, Boston and Cleveland as they try to persuade superstar Chris Bosh to stay in Toronto when he becomes a free agent next summer.

Toronto's projected starting five for 2009-10 now includes Turkoglu, Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon and rookie DeMar DeRozan, with Reggie Evans, Kris Humphries and Roko Ukic the key reserves until general manager Brian Colangelo fills out the roster with minimum-salaried players.

Are you kidding me?

If Roko Ukic, Reggie Evans and Kris Humphries are the key reserves, and DeMar DeRozan is now the defacto starting 2, explain to me again how this club is going to be a "championship caliber team???"

Unreal.

And again, it’s not that I don’t think Turkoglu is a good player, he is.

But he’s not an over $10 Million a year good player, and frankly, I don’t think he’s even as good an option as Shawn Marion.

I mean what happened to the whole "we need more fight in our players" thing?

What happened to the whole "we need to get more athletic" idea?

What about becoming a much better defensive club?

And wasn’t BC selling fans on the whole "we’re building a team that gets out in transition" plan?

Hedo isn’t tough (watch how he angles himself when driving to the basket), he’s not athletic, only defends when he wants to, and while he can get out in transition and control the tempo like Marion, he’s going to have to do a lot better than his 4.2 rebounds per game career average if Toronto wants to be the team starting the fast-break.

Bottom line here for me is that even if you consider Turkoglu an upgrade over Marion, it’s impossible to argue that it’s a huge jump (especially statistically) and in making this move, Toronto sacrifices depth once again (arguably even more so than last year at present) and throws their financial situation once more into disarray.

One of our readers mentioned Michael Dickerson and it’s quite possible that players like this will now be brought in to fill out the roster simply because they come cheap. At the estimated salary Hedo will be commanding, there’s nothing left outside the mid-level, and unless BC pulls a rabbit out of his hat and manages to convince Marion or Marvin Williams to bite on that, I’m not holding my breath for much more in terms of upgrades.

Again, I like Linas Kleiza, but is he and another bench option really the answer to the Clevelands and Bostons of the East?

Considering it’s almost 3 AM, I’m going to go to bed now and try to get some sleep.

I’m sure tomorrow our local beat writers, who have been curiously quiet on all of this, will fill in some more details by the time I wake up, and we’ll be able to digest things further.

However for now, as one of our other readers recommended, I’ve ordered my sedatives and am ready to try and look on the bright side of things; the lone bright side that I can see right now being that the Raptors made a statement to Bosh and the rest of the league about their intent to win now.

And really that’s all fine and dandy, but I can’t help but go back to something Kelly Dwyer said in this recent article on the topic;

Hedo Turkoglu is 30.

He's a fine player, but an average one, especially after you factor defense in. Please act accordingly.

Unfortunately in my books, Toronto completely missed this memo.

ANGRY AND CONFUSED FRANCHISE

Franchise can't see Alvin and AI on the same team next year...

And they’re off.

At 12:01 this morning, the NBA’s free-agent frenzy kicked off with a bang...

...or should I say the sound of crickets.

Unlike past years when NBA teams jumped out of the starter’s block to sign players, this year was quite different.

The word around the league is that there are talks going on, but aside from Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur deciding not to opt out, so far we’ve got tumbleweeds.

On the Raptors side of things, the same is true.

I expect Bryan Colangelo has been talking with Shawn Marion and his agent, and perhaps a few other names as well, however I wouldn’t be surprised to not see anything transpire today, or even tomorrow.

However with so much discussion on the site yesterday regarding potential free-agent targets, while we wait for BC to make his move(s), I thought it might be good to take a closer look at some of these names.

For this purpose, I’ve bucketed players into several categories categories.

The Good – Linas Kleiza and Walter Hermann

I think Kleiza is one of the more realistic options out there for Toronto. Why? Well for starters he could play the 3 and 4 so kills two birds with one stone there. Plus his arrival would negate getting another big in case the Jawai-O’Bryant experiment doesn’t work out. Second, you could probably sign him to a reasonable deal considering he’d have a much bigger role with the Raptors. Add on the fact that he’s still quite young, has nice upside, can stretch the floor with his shooting, and has the size and toughness this team needs. More Kleiza!

I left Fabio off yesterday’s list only because with Michael Curry gone, I think Detroit will attempt to retain Hermann. If not, he’s a bit like Kleiza 1.0 on my list, another player who can hit the outside shot, play the 3 and 4, and bring toughness and intensity. If Detroit doesn’t want to ante up for him and the price is right, he’s another player I hope BC takes a close look at.

The Bad – Channing Frye/Nate Robinson/Ben Gordon

In this group I’ve bucketed players who I’d rather not see in a Raptors uniform next year, not because they don’t have talent, but more because I don’t think it’s a great fit. Frye to me is a player who still has some upside, and probably didn’t get enough playing time with the Blazers. However isn’t he simply a better version of Patrick O’Bryant? Neither are great rebounders, and both are face-up shooters in the paint, not low-post presences. To me, Frye would be a much better option off the pine but with P.O.B. working with the coaching staff and expected to be on the Summer League roster, my bet is that he’ll be coming off the bench next year, not Frye.

Nate Robinson and Ben Gordon are quite similar in terms of their size and offensive prowess, with Gordon being the superior shooter and pure scorer, and Robinson being the athletic marvel. Toronto could use doses of both of what these players bring to the table, but Gordon will probably be too expensive (and will want to start) and I think the Knicks will let Lee walk based on their draft day moves, and therefore look to keep Krypto-Nate.

The Ugly – Allen Iverson/Rasheed Wallace/Rashad McCants

Let’s start with AI. Allen Iverson is one of my five favourite players of all time. Is he a proven winner? Not exactly. But pound-for-pound he’s one of the toughest and most competitive players in NBA history. While that sounds like exactly the type of player Toronto needs, I can’t see how this would work. Time and time again Iverson has shown that to be effective, he needs to be in a system where he can dominate the ball and control the offense. That’s problem number one for a Raptors’ team apparently looking to move the ball more on offense and get out in transition. Secondly, we all know about Jose’s defensive issues, so is playing Iverson at the 2 even an option? And just how long would it be before both Bosh and Bargs started to complain about Iverson’s ball-hogging ways?

The shame of it all, is that if Iverson was content to come off the bench, he would be an amazing asset for a team, Raptors or no-Raptors. He can still get to the rim with ease, and is relentless offensively. However between his need to start, his shot-happy style, and the over-zealous financial contract he’s likely seeking, I think we can put this one to bed.

Rasheed Wallace is somewhat of a similar situation; malcontent behind the scenes when not starting, trigger-happy at times, and probably not someone the Raptors want to take a chance on. Frankly if Toronto was going to invest in a long-range shooting power-forward off the bench, I think Charlie Villanueva is a lot higher up on their list. That’s not even taking into account that I doubt Wallace would even consider heading north, especially when rumours abound that championship contending clubs have their eyes on him.

And that brings us to McCants. At face value, Rashad seems like a very interesting option. He’s a bit undersized, but is gritty, can shoot the ball, and can be a very able defender when he wants to be. Hell, before last weekend, I would have thought offering him part of the mid-level was a good idea too.

Then last Friday night in New York, a former North Carolina alum who now writes for the Nets, gave me the goods on McCants. Let’s just say he makes Iverson and Wallace seem like Grant Hill and Kyle Korver. I won’t go into all the gory details but here’s one perfect example of how McCants simply lives by his own rules:

At North Carolina, the writer’s friend, also an aspiring journalist, had set up in advance an interview with McCants. The idea was to simply go through a few questions to get a feel for the team, especially since this was a Tar Heel squad that looked to be on the brink of an NCAA Championship. So to that end, the writer’s friend had prepared 50 queries, just to ensure that if the first 10 or so went too quickly, or didn’t provide much depth into the team, he had back-up options.

Well…the writer’s friend used all 50.

Why?

Because McCants decided he was going to answer every question with "yes" or "no," and made the writer sit through this whole charade until every question was done.

Yep, great guy.

I know the Raptors need some more grit, and even some edge, but let’s not confuse "fight" with "I live in my own world."

The "Not Going to Happen" Group: Trevor Ariza/Lamar Odom/Chris Andersen

The three names in this bucket would all represent big boosts in talent for Toronto, but I’d fall out of my chair if any of them were in a Raptors uniform anytime soon. Let’s start with Mr. Ariza.

I’m first off going to say that I don’t even like talking about Ariza, mostly because this is a player Toronto could have easily had years ago. As a Knick, Ariza was tops on Howland and I’s off-season list as a high-upside player the Raps should go after. He was languishing under then-coach Larry Brown, and seemed ripe for the taking. Unfortunately, the Magic did the taking when they acquired him and Penny Hardaway in a deal for Steve Francis. Ariza didn’t move any mountains there either, and was largely forgotten until being dealt to the Lakers, where he then began to break out.

Yes, Ariza in a perfect world would be the top option for Toronto’s off-season dollars. He’s athletic, can defend multiple positions, has improved his ability to put the ball on the floor, and is now a threat from long distance. Essentially what the Raptors desperately need in the starting line-up. But there’s no way LA lets him go.

Odom isn’t quite the same lock as Ariza and while another team might outbid LA for his services (Detroit, Cleveland etc), I don’t see him in red and black in the next few days either.

Andersen, much like Ariza, was a player I wanted BC to take a chance on last summer when he was reinstated by the league. He stays within his designated role, is a huge boost defensively off the bench, and provides a level of energy and intensity that’s rare in the league. And for those reasons again, I’d be shocked to see Denver let him go.

The "I Don’t Understand It" Group: Rasho Nesterovic/Charlie Villanueva

Next, we come to two former Raptors whose names have been mentioned in Raptors’ free-agent rumours for quite some time.

And personally, I don’t want to see either with the club next year.

I like both of these guys, CV in particular who I defended from the moment Rob Babcock plucked him in the 2005 draft. However isn’t Villanueva looking to start for a team next year? In Toronto at best, he’d be coming off the bench behind Bosh and Bargs, a luxury for sure, but probably a pricey one. And it sounds like Detroit and other teams who could offer him more money and playing time are coming a calling.

As for Rasho, yes, great locker-room presence and basketball IQ, but with Reggie Evans on board and Hump still around, unless he could be had for an extremely reasonable deal, I’m not sure how useful he would be except in a sort of Darrick Martin role. Of course if Hump is dealt, then this makes more sense but right now, there are other bigs I’d prefer the Raptors to take a look at like Zaza Pachulia and Marcin Gortat.

So with all that said, what do I think the Raptors’ roster will look like next year? Well I think Marion and Delfino will be part of the rotation, but filling out those final spots, I’m not sure I have any idea which way BC is leaning.

However how about the following final line-up?

PG: Jose Calderon ($8,219,009)
SG: Carlos Delfino ($2.5M)
SF: Shawn Marion ($7M)
PF: Chris Bosh ($15,779,912)
C: Andrea Bargnani ($6,527,490)

Bench 1: Jarrett Jack ($3.2M)
Bench 2: Linas Kleiza ($2.8M)
Bench 3: DeMar DeRozan ($2.5M)
Bench 4: Reggie Evans ($4,960,000)
Bench 5: Roko Ukic ($1,350,000)
Bench 6: Kris Humphries ($3,200,000)
Bench 7: Quincy Douby ($855,189)

DNP: Nathan Jawai ($736,420)
DNP: Patrick O’Bryant ($1,620,000)
DNP: Marcus Banks ($4,464,000)

It’s not the Cavs or Magic, but if healthy, it has the makings of a very well-rounded top 10, with some options beyond that.

I’ve put the salary of each player in brackets, and regarding a returning Marion and the other new additions, the salary I expect each of these four to command. This is by no means a sure thing, but considering that the Raptors are reportedly going to offer Marion about $7 Million and Delfino should be available for around the $2.5M mark, I don’t think that’s too far off. With those two under contract, Toronto’s total committed salary would sit at about $60,012,020, putting the team a few million above the salary cap, and thus able to use the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions.

With the mid-level, expected to sit at around $6M, hopefully BC could split things up between Kleiza and Jack. Their new salaries in brackets would represent a fairly substantial raise over their previous deals ($2,002,623 for Jack and $1,824,493 for Kleiza last year), but both could of course make more than this on the open market.

Kapono won't be in Raptors' red (or green) next year, but how about Jack?

My hope is that the economy forces things down a bit, and so both would be happy to take raises, and bigger roles with the Raptors. We’ve talked about the benefits of Kleiza in depth but Jack I feel would be a big asset too. He’s a steady point guard, so a huge boost behind Jose, but also a player who’s big enough to play some 2 and who can score and defend both the 1 and 2 spots.

That would put Toronto’s total salary count at about $66 Million, so a few million under the expected luxury tax should it drop from about $71M to about $68 M, and thus giving the team some wiggle room and still allow them to hold the bi-annual exception.

Again, this is far from academic but the point of this exercise is more to provide a visual of what the Raptors are faced with financially.

You’ll notice that Pops Mensah-Bonsu is not on this list, and while I’d love to see him retained over the likes of Hump, Jawai and O’Bryant, the Raptors really haven’t given any positive signals that they want to retain him.

Marion is obviously priority A1, and as Michael Grange of the Globe broke down yesterday, things really start with the Matrix. From Grange:

Keeping Marion or doing a sign-and-trade with another team would mean the Raptors would stay above the NBA’s salary cap threshold, which in turn would enable the Raptors to use the mid-level exception and the bi-annual exception – available only to teams above the salary cap – to sign additional players which in a buyer’s market would allow the Raptors to add at least one and possibly two rotation players.

This is a huge point and one that I negated to mention yesterday.

If Marion walks for nothing, suddenly the Dinos are in a very precarious position. First and foremost, the price to acquire Marion was steep (Marcus Banks, 14th on ESPN.com’s recent "Cap Killer" list, and a first-round pick), and second if he walks for nothing, there aren’t a lot of great replacement options. Toronto might be forced to overpay for a player who isn’t as good a fit, and that of course would again leave last year’s depth issues un-addressed.

In fact, I think the reality in this whole free-agency situation is that regardless of the moves Toronto makes, for this team to get back into the playoffs, improvement need to come from inside.

If Jose and CB4 stay healthy, if Andrea continues to develop, and if the Raptors receive an unexpected boost from the likes of DeRozan, Jawai, Ukic or even Delfino, then maybe 40 or so wins is within reach.

However as I mentioned to one of our HQ team yesterday, that’s a lot of "if’s" and the bottom line is that regardless of what transpires over the next few days, you again have to question if this club’s core is simply good enough, or if a major overhaul isn’t needed.

FRANCHISE

Wait...was this Transformers II, or "Be All You Can Be - the Extended Version?"

This morning, I got up early to complete the following article on Free Agency, and in particular, evaluating the options for the Toronto Raptors.

Unfortunately last night I saw Transformers II, possibly the worst movie I’ve ever sat through in a theatre, and I feel obligated to start this piece with a mini rant…

…WHAT THE HELL WERE MICHAEL BAY AND STEVEN SPIELBERG THINKING???

For any of you who have not seen this $200 Million piece of garbage, I urge you not to.

Howland and I went last night at by the time one of the little robots who swore and spoke in slang was humping Megan Fox’s leg, we were about to walk out.

Yes, it’s that bad.

The plot jumps all over the place and makes no sense at times, many of the characters are not only needless and annoying, but a few are essentially racist, you can’t even tell which robots are which half of the time, and I’m not even going to get into the over-the-top sexual references.

This is not a kid’s movie and it was slightly awkward to sit in a theatre with seven-year-olds asking their parents why robots were acting like beings who fed off Viagra, not Energon.

And the worst part is that MAYBE I could have forgiven the studio’s lame attempts at targeting certain demographics, but the action wasn’t even that great! Devastator was reduced to essentially a giant vacuum and didn’t seem powerful in the least, and by the end of the movie, I was wondering if I was watching Transformers, or a glorified extra-long US Army commercial.

Look, the premise is simple - robots in disguise fighting other robots in disguise. Why the need to have kids going to Playboy U and mothers eating hemp brownies??

I feel like one of Dwight Howard’s imitations of Stan Van Gundy…

Nevertheless, I saw online that the movie has grossed an absurd amount of money considering its on-screen performance.

Aaah…much like Hedo Turkoglu after tomorrow’s start to NBA Free-Agent Frenzy!

And will the Raptors be the ones making like the audience for Transformers 2, duped into overpaying based on the prequel (or the NBA playoffs in Hedo’s case?)

We’ll probably find out over the next few days. But regardless of Hedo’s worth, something we’ll discuss in a bit, by all accounts, as of this morning, the Toronto Raptors’ roster looks like this:

PG: Jose Calderon
SG:
SF:
PF: Chris Bosh
C: Andrea Bargnani

Bench 1: DeMar DeRozan
Bench 2: Roko Ukic
Bench 3: Reggie Evans
Bench 4: Kris Humphries
Bench 5: Quincy Douby
Bench 6: Patrick O’Bryant
Bench 7: Nathan Jawai

DNP: Marcus Banks

That doesn’t exactly look like an Eastern Conference contender does it?

As we discussed before and after the draft, the real meat of the 2009-10 Toronto Raptors will need to be filled-out via free-agency.

There are plenty of options out there, but as you can see from the above, the Raps have some very specific starting needs, ones that they’ll need to address if they want to be a competitive club next year.

So let’s start there and look at the options at the swingman spots.

Personally, I’d prefer if Shawn Marion was the starting 3 next year.

Looking at ESPN.com’s group of unrestricted free-agents next year, there aren’t many other options.

Yes, some will say Hedo, which we’ll get to in a minute, but considering what the Raptors are trying to build and the style they want to play, in my opinion there isn’t a better option out there...

...provided the price is right.

What is the right price?

Well ideally if you could convince Marion to sign for just above the mid-level, you’d be jumping for joy. I’d even be willing to go up to around $8 Million to retain his services but above that, no thanks.

It’s a tricky situation for Raptors’ management because Marion provided intangibles towards the end of last season that this team hadn’t seen in years. He was efficient offensively (except his put-backs around the rim which could use some work), surprisingly controlled in his shot-selection, particularly from long-range, and was a monster on the glass.

It’s this last point in particular that I want to emphasize.

Considering that Toronto wants to get out on the break and run, I’m not sure how you can do without Marion. To be an effective fast-break team, you NEED to be able to consistently rebound the basketball. That’s how things start - missed shot leads to break-out leads to quick transition basket.

Who else on the ESPN list can do this?

I expect Ariza to be re-signed by the Lakers, and don’t think Toronto will take a chance on Artest, so outside of these two, it’s Marion or bust. Yes, Hedo is a solid rebounder, and players like Childress (should he return to the US) and Marvin Williams might help, but let’s not confuse any with The Matrix.

Looking at the league’s financial landscape right now, the Raps appear to have the best chance at keeping Marion. The only teams with significant money to spend outside of the Dinos include the Pistons, Grizzlies, Thunder, Blazers, Kings and Hawks.

Of those, perhaps the Pistons make some sense once Rasheed Wallace is gone, and maybe the Blazers or Kings look to make a push. However it sounds like the Blazers are much more interested in Mr. Turkoglu, and would Marion really rather play for Sacramento then Toronto?

The other clubs either don’t seem to be a great fit, or involve teams who aren’t likely to open the coffers this summer.

And what about Hedo the great?

For all of the venom I’ve spewed against the former King, I want to say that I wouldn’t shut down RaptorsHQ and follow another team should he be signed. I do think he’s a talented player, and would clearly be an upgrade over most of the "talent" that the Raptors were saddled with last year.

However much like Marion, this all depends on how much the Raps are willing to pay him, and considering he just opted out of a fairly decent deal, it sounds like he expects to be paid, pretty much the entire amount of Toronto’s remaining cap room, let’s say about $10 Million.

No thanks.

So if Marion can’t be retained, and Toronto can’t/won’t afford to pay Hedo, what’s left?
I’m going to discount certain names like the Birdman (I can’t see Denver letting him go) and Allen Iverson (really??)

But does the team take a flyer on Ben Gordon?

Make a run at Anderson Varejao or David Lee?

Take a close look at players like Al Harrington and Marvin Williams?

The salary cap is estimated to sit at around $58.7 Million this year, essentially the same as last, so there isn’t a lot of wiggle room. Yes, Bryan Colangelo is quoting a $21 Million dollar breathing room number, the difference between the expected luxury tax threshold and the current pay-roll (if the Raptors renounce the rights to all their free-agent players etc), but that’s a bit of an illusion. If Toronto wants to keep Marion and a few other players, after all is said and done they’ll likely only have about the mid-level exception to work with.

Therefore it’s going to be very interesting to see how this tug of war unfolds.

In the past, players held the power in many of these off-season negotiations and over-paying for mediocre talent was almost expected.

This year could be quite different however as a) there aren’t many teams that have money to spend and b) even those teams that do have room to spend won’t be spending as much because of the economy.

So the likes Carlos Boozer and Ben Gordon, players who at one point believed they were in for big raises this summer, might be having second thoughts.

The same is true for Lamar Odom, a player who LA might not retain and who outside of Marion and Hedo, might be a good option to fill Toronto’s starting small-forward spot at the right price.

This financial crunch of course could benefit the Raptors.

Suddenly, under-the-radar players could be had at discount prices and to that end, RaptorsHQ takes a look at 10 such players:

1. Grant Hill – I don’t believe he’ll leave Phoenix but this is someone who would be a great addition to the Raptors. He could start or come off the bench, play a few positions on the court, and would be a great replacement for Anthony Parker in terms of locker-room presence and professionalism.

2. Leon Powe – The Celtics are strapped for cash and need to keep Powe and Big Baby Davis. I’m not sure they’ll do both, and while Powe is a bit of an injury risk, he’d look great off the bench behind Bosh.

3. Chris Wilcox – The Raptors seem to have plenty of bigs right now, but that’s if you believe that Hump and Pops will still be around for training camp, and that Jawai or O’Bryant will ever get off the bench (although the Raptors did extend a qualifying offer to Pops yesterday.) I’m not convinced of either situation and Wilcox is an athletic and aggressive 4-5, who looks like a great fit in the offense Toronto is trying to run.

4. Rodney Carney – Carney has been pretty much a bust since he left college but did show some flashes last year. He probably could be had for cheap, and considering the Raptors’ needs at the 2-3 in terms of athleticism, might be an interesting option.

5. Linas Kleiza – If Denver is going to keep Jones and The Birdman, Kleiza will be on his own. Toronto has made a play for his services in the past and he would provide the toughness and all-around game off the bench that Toronto needs.

6. Marquis Daniels – One of our commentors mentioned that they expect to see BC over-pay for Daniels next year. I hope that isn’t the case, but in terms of a scoring 7th man off the bench, he might be one of the best options out there.

7. Sean May – Like Williams, May has been a bust so far in the league as well. However there’s no denying his talent and if he could get his weight under control, might be a huge low-post boost off the bench for a team. Could that be the Raptors?

8. Von Wafer – Wafer has been a favourite of mine for two season now and while he’s a bit hot-headed, I’m not sure Toronto couldn’t use a bit of that. He’s one of the best off the bench at getting to the rim as well, something TO desperately needs.

Franchise would love to see Wafer doing this sort of thing off the Raps bench next year...

9. Ime Udoka – We’ve talked a lot about offence in terms of filling out roster spots, but what about the D. Udoka could do that in spades and might look great at the 2 to help out Jose in a Dahntay Jones type role.

10. Matt Barnes – Similar to Udoka, Barnes can play some aggressive D but can also score and get to the hoop. He excels in the up-tempo style Toronto is looking to play and his time in Phoenix might be over.

FRANCHISE

Dude can jump...no doubt about it.

With the 9th pick in the 2009 Draft, the Toronto Raptors choose...

When David Stern came to the podium at the 2009 Draft and announced that the Toronto Raptors were selecting Demar Derozan, it was clear that the Raptors as an organization were going out on a limb. Although not what many would consider the "safe" pick, the Raps felt comfortable selecting not only the best athlete but also the prospect with the best "upside" and raw talent.

I am left wondering why the Raptors decided to go in this direction.

We all know about the immediacy of the Raptors situation, but rather than picking a player that would definitely be able to contribute now, the
team chose a player who only performed at a high level for half a college season, went to great lengths to make sure he had individual workouts and is perhaps the most questionable shooter out of all the players who were available to the Raps. It's concerning.

Nevertheless, the Raptors have assembled a coaching staff that has always been good at player development. With Marc Iavaroni and Jay Triano, the Raptors have coaches that have worked with developing young stars such as Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, and current Raptor Chris Bosh.

DeRozan has shown an ability to defend as well as attack the rim, two qualities that the Raptors have unsuccesfully tried to get out of Joey Graham and Jamario Moon in seasons past. With two front court players that are good shooters, the Raptor's should benefit from having a player whose best avenue of attack is to initiate his offense off the dribble; something only Andrea Bargnani and Shawn Marion have been able to do in the past six months.

So what should be DeRozan's workout regiment for this summer?

The first thing the Raptors coaching staff must do is get DeRozan in to a gym and nail him down at the free throw line. With his athletic ability and his inability to shoot, the Raptors must turn DeRozan into a free throw shooting machine. There's no question that DeRozan will
be challenged around the rim, and in order to make him an effective part of the Raptors' future plans, he simply must increase his shooting percentage from the charity stripe to make it an important weapon in his arsenal. His secondary work assignment should be geared towards his strength and conditioning as he's only had one year in college and the Raptors may require his athletic prowess down the later parts of the season.

But for us fans, the biggest thing we must do is manage expectations.

If DeRozan has difficulties hitting his foul shot, the Raptors will not be able to keep him in during late game situations. Should the Raptors retain Anthony Parker (more on free-agency tomorrow), we may see DeRozan come off the bench. Of course how much playing time DD gets will, for the most part, be up to DeRozan. If the former USC student gets off to a slow start, we should all remember that his only year of college ball also had a similar start.

Maybe most importantly, we have to remember that this kid is still believed to be a "project" who may not reach his full potential even with two seasons under his belt. After all, Tracy McGrady, on a very bad Raptors team, couldn't even find court time under Darrell Walker and Butch Carter.

However, as with every rookie, he gives Raptors fans something to think about over the summer.

He gives us excitement and hope for the future.

And that's the power of the Draft.

Vicious D

Home of the NBA Draft.

It's been a whirlwind 48 hours.

What started off as a last-minute acknowledgment of press access to the draft from the Raptors and the NBA, turned into a full-blown media frenzy by Thursday evening, and an amazing opportunity for myself and for RaptorsHQ all-around.

From having post-draft drinks with the Draftexpress staff, to meeting folks from Slam Magazine and ESPN.com, many of whose work I'd been reading since I was about 15, the entire weekend has certainly been one to remember.

The hope is that overall, this weekend is one to remember for Raptors' fans, with the selection of Demar DeRozan being the start of something extremely special and a moment fans will look back upon in three or four years as a "franchise-changing event."

As I've discussed many a time in the past few days, the DeRozan pick is going to take some time to grow on me. It sounds like the kid is going to work his heart out and is extremely excited to be heading to TO, two huge first steps, however I'm not sold. I worry about the time it will take for him to have an impact, if he has one at all, and still feel like there were other options for Bryan Colangelo that would
have had a more immediate and definite impact.

However I hope I'm wrong.

As many of you saw in the video I shot in the MSG Media Area, DeRozan sees himself as an important part of the Toronto puzzle next year, and if that ends up being the case, it's a huge step forward for the franchise.

It's quite possible that the HQ will be in Vegas to watch DeRozan's first steps via Summer League, so we should be able to gauge just how big of a learning curve there'll be for the youngster from Compton.

However even with the DeRozan selection, something that seemed to make a number of fans happy, there was some general discord about the way the rest of the draft played out for Toronto. Seeing players like Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and Patty Mills go so late in the draft had to make you wonder why Bryan Colangelo wasn't looking to snatch any of these players up.

The word in New York was simply that the price for second round picks this year was too high, but when you saw teams like Houston buying up multiple picks, you had to scratch your head a bit. While other teams like the Spurs and Eockets were snatching up second-round steals like DeJuan Blair and Jermaine Taylor, Toronto seemed to simply be waiting things out, looking forward to July 1.

The one positive fall-out in my opinion though was that a number of players with NBA potential weren't drafted including HQ favourites Jerel McNeal, Paul Harris, and Wes Matthews. One of our readers posted some other solid options too including UConn forward Jeff Adrien and guard Dionte Christmas, a player who the Raptors liked the look of in pre-draft workouts. Hopefully some of these names will find themselves on the Dinos' Summer League roster.

Speaking of which, the following is the schedule for Toronto's Vegas entry:

DATE, OPPONENT
TIME (ET)
Friday, July 10 vs. L.A. Lakers
8:00 p.m.

Saturday, July 11 vs. Detroit
4:00 p.m.

Monday, July 13 vs. Portland
8:00 p.m.

Wednesday, July 15 vs. Milwaukee
4:00 p.m.

Thursday, July 16 vs. Phoenix
4:00 p.m.

This year's Raptors entry should be very intriguing as aside from DeRozan, Toronto actually has roster spots to fill so besides the likes of Jawai, Douby and O'Bryant, we could see other individuals from the squad get training camp invites.

I'll be back from New York on Sunday and ready to switch from draft to free-agent mode. The early word is that with the Vince Carter deal, one that I actually like more for the Nets than the Magic, Hedo will be on the open market and the Raptors will be making a solid push.

This frankly scares the hell out of me.

Not because I don't think Hedo could help the team, I definitely think he could be a huge boost at the 3 spot. No, it's more because I worry about overpaying an inconsistent player, especially one who I feel accomplished much of what he did because of the system he played in.

However he and Maurizio go way back, so I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Toronto make a serious play for his services.

If they can get him for cheap, then fire away.

If not, I'm hoping that the team has a major plan B...

...or DeRozan really is ready to take on the "Air Canada" handle...

FRANCHISE

The HQ team is getting the feeling that Holiday will be in Raptors' red next year...

D Day for the Toronto Raptors.

Yes, draft-day, and also decision day in a process that’s been about as murky as Lake Ontario.

For the first time that I can remember, less than 24 hours away from the draft there seems to be only one thing that’s certain – uncertainty.

Chad Ford’s latest mock draft on ESPN.com has a "confidence" level attached to each of his mocked picks and after Blake Griffin, there aren’t a lot of high percentages let’s just say.

And for good reason.

Memphis, Oklahoma City and Sacramento could go any number of directions and in fact, Ford has James Harden falling all the way to the Knicks in the latest scenario.

For many Raptors’ fans that would indeed be heartbreak hotel as previous to this morning, there didn’t seem any way that Harden would fall so far and to have him go with the pick right in front of Toronto would sting.

So who in the end do I think Toronto will choose?

Again, I think a lot hinges on who’s left on the board when the Raptors roll around. Up until yesterday evening I thought James Johnson was the top choice for Toronto, but word from some of my sources already at the draft in New York is that Flynn is in fact suddenly the forerunner.

However with most mocks now saying that Flynn could go at 4 to Sacramento, I think Jrue Holiday and not Johnson, will be the final choice.

Of course if Holiday gets chosen too prior to the ninth pick, things then get VERY interesting as someone in the ilk of Harden or Evans will have to drop. This would be a dream scenario for me personally as Harden and Evans would be my top two options at 9. In the end though, I have a feeling that Holiday will be the pick, bringing me back to my thought process immediately after his first workout here in Toronto a few weeks ago.

Would I be thrilled with Holiday joining the team? I prefer him to DeRozan or Johnson and would be fine with the selection, but would be happier with Flynn or Henderson. I don’t think Holiday’s season at UCLA did him justice and while I wasn’t a fan before the draft process began, a closer look at Holiday’s metrics recently have warmed me up to him as an option. Considering his ability to play the 1 and 2, Toronto’s needs, and his defensive intangibles, it looks to be a fairly safe pick.

The big question for me though is what happens with Roko if either Flynn or Holiday is the choice in the end.

One of the first errors in judgment made by BC was to under-estimate Jose Calderon’s abilities and had he known that Jose would rise to be a top-level 1, then perhaps Villanueva is either retained or moved for another need. In any event, it avoids the pressure of having to move TJ Ford, and therefore the last thing I want to see is a repeat of history. If Roko suddenly takes a giant step next season and outplays whomever Toronto drafts, it could be a tough road to start to go down again for fans.

It will be interesting to see what direction this team goes in though tonight in any event.

Will BC draft for need, for a player who has the best upside, or take the best player available – ie – one that can impact this team immediately? With the recent moves by Washington, Milwaukee, and now Cleveland (Shaq???) the one thing that’s certain is that the East isn’t getting any easier. Therefore I’m hoping that Toronto looks at drafting a player with an NBA skill-set that can impact this team immediately and Howland is thinking along the same lines. The organization needs to start collecting assets again and the draft is one of the best ways to do that.

Also, Howland believes that the best case scenario for the Raps, no matter how unlikely, would be to somehow turn the number 9 pick into a lower round pick and a future number one. His argument to me last night was that this year’s draft class is just so weak that picking up a first rounder in a future draft would be a coup. In comparison to the upcoming free-agency period, we both believe that the draft is a distant second in terms of the future of this franchise. So unless Toronto gets lucky and as mentioned, Evans or Harden somehow fall, we don’t believe that any of the prospects the Dinos are considering at 9 will have a huge impact this coming season.

Vicious D is essentially on the same page as us and is worried about the whole "Go big or go home" mentality. Here was his take when I spoke with him last night:

"If you're a Raptors fan, you're probably worried about that mindset. Heck, I certainly am. Yes, it's possible to swing for the fences and get a draft pick that turns into the next superstar athlete and the entire NBA knows that Toronto needs one if they hope to compete with the best of the East. However, I'm of the conservative mindset. We've already been warned to death regarding this draft's lack of superstars. In my opinion, that means you look for guys that can contribute now, have a lot of hustle, and can bring intangibles. Which reminds me of a time when the Raptors had a late first round pick and drafted Morris Peterson, a player who arguably in this weak draft class, would be a mid to late lottery pick.

That's why I'm hoping the Raptors go for Gerald Henderson. He may never be a flash player, but the people we've struggled to replace in the past two years never were. Peterson and Garbajosa were simply players who came and put spirit and a calm presence to the Raptors. I believe we'll see many of those same qualities from Henderson if we draft him."

I’d love to see Henderson here of course, but right now it looks like he’s at the bottom five of Toronto’s list.

A few other interesting questions Howland mentioned to me last night regarding tonight’s draft:

-Although BC has stated he is not necessarily looking to get back into the draft, it's clear from some of the recent deals this week (Jefferson and Crawford) that certain teams are making moves with only financial considerations in mind. It would be wise for BC to leverage this somehow to pick-up another asset.

-Do you think BC regrets not dealing the team's second round pick (which was used on Jawai) for the handful of future second round picks offered at the time?

-There is a lot of discussion about why Toronto can't be more active in deals prior to the draft. The reason for this can be traced back to when BC packaged a plethora of assets for JO. As we all know, BC took a risk and the results were not pretty. The effects of that deal continue to be felt today. Although Marion is off the books the Raps just don't have any assets to get heavily involved on the trade market. The roster is currently made up of three core pieces in JC, Bosh and Bargs, a handful of scrubs in Banks, Douby, O'Bryant and Jawai and little else in terms of guaranteed deals. By dealing so many assets to Indiana BC severely limited his future options. In comparison to say San Antonio, the Raptors just don't have a variety of middle-of-the-road contracts to deal. As time goes on we see just how bad that deal was for the franchise. Of course hindsight is 20/20.

Adding to this last piece of Howland’s, it sounds like the going rate for second-round picks this year (cash + future second round picks) is extremely high. This is probably because of the parity in the draft, where early second-round picks could easily end up being more productive NBA players than many first-rounders.

Unfortunately after hearing that, I doubt we’ll see Toronto throw its hat in the ring for a second draft choice now, a shame as I believe that there are indeed many good prospects who will be available in round 2.

Finally, don't forget that we are hosting our annual draft party at Harbour Sports Grille tonight. Howland will be holding down the fort so if you think you’ll be dropping by, let us know in the comments section so we can book additional seating if need be.

I’m not sure what sort of set-up I’ll have in New York, but if possible will be live-blogging and sending up-to-the minute updates, interviews and other exclusives to Howland for posting.

It should be a very exciting night, and hopefully Toronto is able to grab some key pieces for the coming season(s.)

FRANCHISE

Oh and if the Draft isn't enough for you we have National Program news. With a jam packed summer scheduled for our many national teams, Canada Basketball has just released the men's and women's rosters that will be competing at the World University Games.Both teams, comprised of players from both the NCAA and CIS ranks, are scheduled to head out today for Europe. For more info on the event and the teams click the link.

With all the deals and rumours floating around it looks to be an action packed and exciting night. Keep refreshing this page as we make our way through tonight's festivities.

Eric Smith is also running a live blog and of course we will have updates on our twitter feed (raptorshq).

FRANCHISE: A big shout out from MSG!!!! So first off, the Raptors. From everything I've heard in New York, the team is deciding between Holiday and DeRozan. Some like DeRozan's upside, others who want to get a player with an immediate impact want Holiday. The problem is, Golden State and New York could both throw major wrenches into the Raps plans. If G State pulls off a rumoured deal with Phoenix, then DeRozan might be the Suns choice at 6. And while it sounds like Curry is now going to fall to New York, who knows for sure. If both are gone, I'd say Johnson is the choice. The loonies are filing into MSG right now, so we should be set to go soon for lots of booing!

HOWLAND: We have been told by three sources that the Raps are taking DD provided he is there. Looks like a project, but considering how far off this team is from say....Orlando, the pick could look great a few years from now.

FRANCHISE: We're hearing that Sacramento and Portland are closing in on a deal that
would send Sergio Rodriguez and the #38 pick to Sacramento for #31.

HOWLAND: Do we really need the commissioner to put the Clippers on the clock?

HOWLAND: Hmmmm. Ricky Rubio was going to make less than 100k this season in Europe? No kidding he wants out!

FRANCHISE: I love the Ricky Rubio footage - it looks like he's passing the ball to Howland and I.

HOWLAND: And away we go!!!!!!

FRANCHISE: Draftexpress is reporting that the Warriors don't want to include the 7th pick...so again, this is the real Wild Card pick. WOW - guy in a Bulls jersey right near me standing with a sign that says, "Hey Gar, Go Get Bosh." Gar = GM of Bulls I guess, Gar Foreman.

HOWLAND: If there isn't a trade the Clippers just wasted five minutes that we can't get back....

FRANCHISE: Man, was hoping Stern would say TAYLOR instead.

HOWLAND: Now it gets interesting....

HOWLAND: Who exactly is going to teach Thabeet to be a big man? He also looks like a spaceman in that suit.

FRANCHISE: Man I'd hate to be the Grizz with that pick...just a real project for someone taken that high. Now what though - what's OK City do? Rubio? And really, with all the recent
trades, even if he is the choice, there's no guarantee he'll stay with them long.

HOWLAND: First surprise of the night. Rubio goes where now?

FRANCHISE: Very interesting...so how low does Rubio go? It sounds like Minnesota wants him but if Sacto plucks him, does this mean Minny takes Curry and causes a stampede here at
MSG?

HOWLAND: Well this is a PERFECT scenario for Minny.

FRANCHISE: Wow...so Minny is loving that Rubio is still there, but imagine if Washington wanted Rubio all along? That can't sit well with them...And now what about Minny's second pick? Could they suddenly grab DeRozan?

HOWLAND: Interesting reaction from the MSG crowd to the Rubio pick; some USA chants (dumb), some cheers because it means Curry is still there, and some boos because there was a
fairly large contingent who wanted him as a Knick. Here's the real worry for BC right now. DeRozan makes a lot more sense now that
they've got a real point guard. TENSION.

HOWLAND: Flynn?! Now they have two pure points....how does that work....trade in the making? Knicks fans are loving Curry being within reach.

FRANCHISE: Wow - so that was interesting. MSG going crazy because Curry is getting closer and closer. Watch Golden State screw everything up now. Sigh of relief from the Raps brass I'm sure but again, who knows what G State does.

HOWLAND: This pick has huge influence on what the Raps do. If GS goes off the board someone will fall...like Jordan Hill? Let's hope GS goes with someone like Williams, Johnson....anyone but Hill.

FRANCHISE: Also...have to say that this is the first time I've seen any promise from Minnesota since KG was there and the team acquired Spree and Cassell. PS - Nice, MSG fans heckling Rubio with "USA" chants as he walks to the media area...

HOWLAND: Now that is a kick in the....ya know. Knicks fans must HATE that. Could the Knicks pass on Hill now? The anticipation is killing me!!!

HOWLAND: DAMN IT! Unfortunately no-one fell. Looks like centre-sports is going to be selling Derozan jersey's this year. Being 9 was the worst spot this year. I woldn't be upset with someone else....but all indications are DD. Just wondering if Phoenix wanted Curry in an Amare deal....

HOWLAND: And there it is DD. In some ways not that surprising...albeit a little disappointing. Franchise will be trying to grab an interview ASAP and we will post it when available.

HOWLAND: And there goes Jennings. A bit of a surprise...wonder if he regrets backing out from the Green-Room. In my opinion....Stephon Marbury....moving from Europe to Milwaukee could be a real downer.

HOWLAND: Speaking of downers....what's with the Nets taking HQ favorites? Last year CDR and this year Williams. Great to see him picked however. Bilas is loving him...that's not making this any easier on us.

HOWLAND: Bobcats continue to take guys close to home. Holiday is still available...they have TJ and Jack and Chad Ford is saying Tyler. This could be an interesting pick. Waiting for Franchise to come back from his interview with DD.

HOWLAND: Jennings coming on stage may have been the STRANGEST thing in the history of the NBA Draft....next to the Raps drafting Hoffa. HEAD CASE.

HOWLAND: Video with DD will be available in about 15 mins. Minny takes their third PG. I know they want to get Jefferson the rock but this is crazy....on no wait....to Denver. Love that for Denver.

FRANCHISE: Alright, back. Finished the media session with DeRozan...it was a bit "cricket cricket." As you'll see in the video I took, which we'll post a link to in about 20 minutes, it was basically me asking him questions...and defending the Canadian tax system. I also sat in on the Stephen Curry session so I could ask if he was going to do a "I love college - Davidson extended remix." Cracked him up although not sure most of the media knew what I was talking about. Here's the link if you haven't seen the clip and Curry's skills.

HOWLAND: There are some interesting players available here...Blair, Young, Mullens....any chance BC makes a move here?

HOWLAND: Derozan's twitter page: "Toronto here I come. Air Canadas back."

FRANCHISE: So thoughts on the DeRozan pick, looks like most commentators are fairly happy with it. I'm worried personally. While I didn't love a lot of the other options, there were players like Henderson and Holiday that I preferred. I hope more than anything that I'm wrong but I think that a) this is a major project and b) one that has a good chance of being Gerald Green part II. Seems like a great kid, think he'll work his ass off, but if he gets to be a dominant player, I worry it will be in 3 years when it's too late. That being said, I'm more interested in what Toronto does come July 1 as that, and not this draft, I think will set the tone for next season.

FRANCHISE: And here's your first look at the Derozan video. Don't forget RHQ brought it to you first. Sorry about the quality, recording and asking questions at the same time.

HOWLAND: Start the chant....we want Blair! We want BLAIR!

FRANCHISE: Ok so what's up with Blair?
This is like Granger times 50. I can't understand this. I like Carroll, but were Blair's MRI's that bad? I mean are they metal? Carroll may need a liver transplant and he STILL goes ahead of Blair?

FRANCHISE: Rumour in media room...Curry might have been Golden State's pick just to
spite Walsh and the Knicks...

HOWLAND: One pick left in the first round. Apparently the price is too high for the Raps to get back into the first round but is looking into acquiring a second round pick. We are shutting this down after this pick but if there is more news we will be back.

Like DeRozan, Johnson has some of the best "upside" in the draft...

This is why I love the NBA draft.

Two huge trades already, and we’ve still got another 48 hours to go!

I think from here on out though we’ll probably only see small manoeuvres, but that doesn’t mean the actual draft is going to be any less entertaining.

For instance, what impact does Minnesota grabbing the fifth pick from Washington have on the Raptors?

Well, at face value, the impact appears to be zilch. From all reports, it sounds like Minny is targeting three players at 5; Rubio, Evans and Thabeet, all of whom were slated to go well before nine anyways. The problem for Minnesota of course is that all three could easily be gone before they get their shot at any of them. If that’s the case, the Wolves will be looking at the likes of James Harden and Stephen Curry in all likelihood with their next two picks.

So again, no impact on Toronto right?

Not exactly.

What if with their top three choices gone, Minnesota suddenly takes a liking to Demar DeRozan?

Then things could really get interesting.

As I discussed with the HQ Associate last night, the dream scenario would be for players like Holiday and Flynn to now jump into the mix in the top 8, thus causing someone like a Harden or Evans to fall.

However the chances of that happening are probably about the same as Chris Bosh signing a contract extension in a few weeks.

So for now, let’s assume that DeRozan is in play at 9. Based on his discussion with the media yesterday afternoon, Bryan Colangelo has his draft-list narrowed to five players:

-Demar DeRozan
-Gerald Henderson
-Jrue Holiday
-Jonny Flynn
-James Johnson

No big surprise there.

We first broke this story regarding three of the options weeks ago and Henderson was a natural addition once he came to work out. Therefore prior to last week, my guess would have been that Toronto had their group ranked as follows:

1) DeRozan
2) Holiday
3) Henderson
4) Flynn

So what about James Johnson?

I personally think that the Raptors extensively scouted Johnson this past year, and that he was always on their radar. However it was only upon closer inspection, that they vaulted him into their top five. And even though he had a sub-par workout for the Dinos recently, something we recapped here, he must have shown enough to warrant a second look as the Raptors apparently brought him back for another look in the past few days.

Holiday returned as well for a last-second glimpse so again, you have to wonder just what the final order of Toronto’s top five will look like come Thursday.

I personally think Henderson and Flynn, my two favourites of the bunch, are sitting in seats 4 and 5 respectively, and that DeRozan is still the top gun, but really, it’s anyone’s guess how this plays out, especially now that Minny holds picks five and six and has a back-court of Sebastian Telfair and…um…me.

If the Wolves decide to swing for the fences on DeRozan (which personally would astound me based on the success of a recent "upside" pick in Corey Brewer), then I’ve got a feeling that James Johnson suddenly emerges as the top candidate. That would leave really throw the rest of the draft for a loop wouldn’t it?

In fact Draftexpress.com’s newest mock shows that scenario, and I have to say it looks to be pretty bang on.

But if James Johnson is now indeed top dog at 9, how does he stack up against the rest of the prospects?

Recently, everyone and their dog has been firing out various statistical analyses of this year’s draft prospects, so I thought I’d throw my hat in the ring. But instead of coming up with new metrics, I put together a sort of "mega-analysis," and combined key stats from John Hollinger and ESPN’s D.R.A.F.T. initiative, and those compiled by our friends at DraftExpress in their recent five-part positional series.

To see the result, you can click on this link which should open up a Google spreadsheet but first, let me explain my methodology.

For starters, I looked at only positions that were of interest to the Raptors in this draft. Therefore all centers were eliminated from the compilation.

Second, I eliminated the following top prospects, who seem a lock to be gone by the time Toronto drafts; Blake Griffin, Ricky Rubio, Hasheem Thabeet, and James Harden.

Then, I looked at only the remaining US college stars, as their stats were much more readily available and probably a lot more sturdy in terms of projecting off of (not to mention much more likely to be taken at 9 by Toronto.)

In terms of metrics, I also examined only stats that I felt were key to the Raptors this coming season. Therefore metrics like "points scored," "3-point attempts," "assists" and "free-throw percentage" I threw out the window. As you can see from the spreadsheet, I focussed solely on stats that spoke to areas of need for Toronto, and therefore statistics that would hopefully identify which players would be most beneficial to the Raptors in terms of upgrading key areas. These included:

-Free-throw attempts per possession (attempting to measure a player’s aggressiveness in terms of attacking the basket.)
-True-shooting percentage (attempting to measure a player’s true offensive efficiency by factoring in free-throw and 3-point shooting.)
-Assist to Turnover Ratio (classic measure of how well a player takes care of the ball and makes decisions with it)
-Rebounds per 40 Minutes (attempting to garner a player’s rebounding propensity)
-Steals and Blocks per 40 Minutes (not a perfect way to measure a player’s defensive abilities but does take some of these things in addition to athleticism, length etc, into consideration)
-PER – John Hollinger’s measure of a player’s value on the floor
-Hollinger Draft Rater – From ESPN’s analysis this score is a forecast of what level Hollinger expects a given prospect to produce at at the peak of their NBA production.

Finally, I applied these metrics and rules to a list of 30 players, all of whom had been graded by Draftexpress.com, and most of whom had been graded by Hollinger as well.

(For a full explanation of metrics, see this link.)

The results were quite interesting.

As per Hollinger’s article, his top prospect was Ty Lawson. Lawson also tested out extremely well using Draftexpress.com’s analysis and I truly believe that whoever drafts him, probably later in the first round, will have one of the more productive NBA players when we look back at this draft in a few years.

But for our purposes, I want to focus on the Raptors’ top five list to see how each shook out, starting with Mr. DeRozan.

To be honest, my analysis has DeRozan in a similar light as what John Hollinger reported about a week ago; there’s just nothing statistically that indicates that Demar will be a huge success in the NBA across my key metrics. He ranked right in the middle of the prospects I surveyed in terms of ability to get to the line (behind several less-mobile bigs in fact like DeJuan Blair and DeMarre Carroll), near the bottom of the group in true shooting percentage (and obvious red flag), had the fifth-worst assist-to-turnover ratio of the 30 prospects I surveyed, and while was slightly better in terms of rebounding, for someone so athletic his steals per 40 minutes and blocks per 40 minutes were quite poor. In fact his blocks per 40 were in the range of many of the point guards in my survey. Of the group he also posted the second worst PER.

Of course if Toronto is drafting DeRozan it’s on his upside and with only one year of college experience, one could argue that these stats don’t tell the whole story.

Therefore I did a compare of sorts, and matched DeRozan’s key metrics to those of another one-and-done athlete, Thaddeus Young. Unfortunately, Young’s stats surpassed those of DeRozan in virtually every area with the exception of blocks per 40 minutes, both sat at 0.5.

Jrue Holiday fared better than DeRozan, especially in the defensive metrics (his 2.3 steals per 40 minutes was one of the top marks in my group of 30), but he hardly blew anyone away either in many categories. Unfortunately, much like Rajon Rondo at Kentucky, it’s hard to take many of Holiday’s stats at face value because of the system he played in; it simply didn’t take advantage of his offensive abilities.

Jonny Flynn and Gerald Henderson tested out as the two top prospects of Toronto’s group of five and while their PER scores weren’t great, again, Syracuse’s zone and Duke’s "spread the floor" system probably factor in a lot here as well.

So what about James Johnson, the new dark horse option for Toronto at 9?

Unfortunately he wasn’t far from DeRozan in terms of under-performing in key areas.

His free-throw attempts per possession were fifth worst in my group of 30, and his assist to turnover ratio and steals per 40 minutes metrics ranked near the bottom of the pool as well.

The two areas Johnson did excel in however were rebounding and shot-blocking, and perhaps the thought from the Raptors’ brain-trust is that they can work on improving the rest of his game – these two traits are ones that would translate to the NBA right away. Johnson’s 9.9 boards per 40 minutes was behind only DeJuan Blair and Jordan Hill in my survey, and his 1.8 blocks per 40 ranked behind only the aforementioned Hill.

Conclusions to be drawn from all of this?

For me, I’d prefer if Toronto stayed away from both DeRozan and Johnson, the latter especially. I can see what Colangelo is thinking in that both players provide potential upgrades in size and or strength/athletic ability that this team sorely needs, but I’m just not sure their stats bear this out. For players who should have had the ability to create mismatches at the college level, this sure didn’t show through statistically and going into the bigger and stronger NBA, this has to be a concern.

Perhaps what really stood out to me from my analysis however wasn’t so much the pros and cons of top-rated prospects, but which players could be huge second-round sleepers in this draft. Here are a few notable names:

-Paul Harris posted incredible rebounding and free-throw attempt per possession metrics. His length and toughness at the 3 could be a great value in the second-round.
-Jerel McNeal continues to look like a high-value late option and his 2.2 steals per 40 minutes was one of the top marks defensively in the group of 30.
-Danny Green has all the statistical markers of a solid NBA pro for years to come. He contributes positively in almost every key stat and considering Toronto has brought him in for workouts now in two consecutive years, perhaps they take a flyer on him.
-Wes Matthews and Jermaine Taylor are two other players I’d love to see the Dinos snatch up late in the draft if possible. Matthews is an excellent athlete who overall put up some of the best metrics of any of the 30 players I examined. He’s a very solid defender in the Dahntay Jones mould, excels at getting to the line, and would be a cheap replacement in my opinion for Joey Graham, providing very similar skills.

Taylor tested out as one of the best athletes in the combine (his vertical was a shade under 38 inches) and reminds me a lot of Von Wafer. Both played under the radar for lesser-known schools, both can score at will and both have questions regarding defensive intensity and shot-selection.

Franchise would love to see Wes Matthews somehow end up in a Raptors' uniform on draft night...

Due to the parity in this draft, and the fact that many teams like Portland and Minnesota have excessive draft picks, perhaps Toronto can grab someone with a great deal of upside late in the process. Considering this economy, there’s very little risk in doing so as only after Summer League and Training Camp would the Raptors actually have to commit to such a player.

As a final note, we’ll be having our annual NBA Draft Party at Harbour Sports Grille here in Toronto tomorrow night. Howland will be holding down the fort himself this year as I will actually be attending the draft in New York, an incredibly exciting development made possible by media access via the Raptors and the NBA. Unfortunately due to work I’ll be missing today’s series of prospect interviews, but I’ll heading off to NYC tomorrow afternoon and blogging live from the actual event bringing all the Raptors-news and notes.

FRANCHISE

Two of the guys discussed on Sunday.

Howland and Jonathan talked the upcoming NBA Draft of Sunday and here's the transcript.

HOWLAND: It looks like it has been another great year for DX. What has transpired over the last 365?

Jonathan Givony (JG): This year we have sent a lot of time upgrading our database. We have added a lot more stats this year and our traffic numbers continue to rise. The search engines are liking us more and more, and we’re at or near the top of the first page when you Google almost any prospect in this draft. We have a great partnership going with NBA.com which I feel adds some credibility to what we do.

The key to our year was the work we put into the site in November through February. As you can read in the New York Times article on this topic, the mock draft is fun to speculate about and the rumors as well, but the core of what we do is the database and the scouting reports. You can click on any first and second round guy and even some undrafted guys and find a wealth of information, be it scouting reports, measurements or stats.

Some of these guys we’ve been following since high school, even from their junior year. This is what sets us apart from any of the other outlets in my opinion. Everything we write about every prospect is right there, so in that regard we are very accountable, which I’m not sure is always the case with everyone else. We have almost 6000 profiles on the site, but of course not all of them are filled. Some of them are ex-NBA players from years ago. Pretty much every NBA player has something and that was one of our goals this year was beefing up the database with the Kobe Bryant's and the Derek Fisher's and everyone else. We also spent the year updating profiles as well. For example, Brandon Roy has exceeded our expectations and we needed to update.

Our staff has improved a lot as well. They are outstanding and just a huge part of what we do, starting with our programmer Doug Thonus and continuing with the guys that help write scouting reports and articles—Matt Kamalsky, Joey Whelan, Kyle Nelson, Joseph Treutlein, Rick Ditto, Scott Nadler and many others throughout the years.

That’s what really excites me about what we’re doing—I could see us becoming sort of an IMDB of basketball in a few years. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep the site free in the process. There is a tremendous wealth of knowledge there that a lot of people helped contribute to.

HOWLAND: Let's get right into the draft talk – this crop of prospects has been described as a weaker draft class than most years. What are your feelings on the 2009 draft class?

JG: I don't think there is any question that a lot of guys passed up entering the draft this year. Unlike last year where everyone you thought would be in and 10 more guys declared, this year it is everyone you though would declare except 10 or so guys. This really takes away a lot of depth, in particular at the top where the Raptors are picking. Look who is in the mix at 9 for the Raps. If would have been very different if guys like Al-Farouq Aminu, Cole Aldrich, Evan Turner, John Henson, and Donatas Montiejunas were in. Those guys would have been in the picture at 9, and at worst they would have pushed other players down.

I would say the Raptors pick this year at 9 is more like a 15-16 pick in a regular draft year. There is no way to ignore that and for this reason it has been challenging for us to cover. It feels like this year there just are not that many interesting guys to evaluate and then you start to debate whether you are over-analyzing them. I was happy to go out to Colorado Springs last week and just get started on next year. Maybe it is because we have been focusing on this draft for the last 10 months and all the speculation and drama starts to wear on you eventually, but I am ready to move on to 2010.

HOWLAND: One of the most interesting characteristics about this draft is that outside of Griffin there doesn't seem to be a consensus regarding the next best prospect. How would you break this draft class down into tiers?

JG: Well I would definitely but Rubio in a separate tier right after Blake. I would then put Harden, Curry and Jennings into the next tier, all for different reasons. After that you get Hill, Thabeet, Flynn, Evans. That's how I break it down, but there are a lot of differing opinions out there.

HOWLAND: Although you believe Rubio is the second best player in the draft there is some debate as to where he will end up. What are your thoughts on him and do you think he will produce right away or will he need time to develop?

JG: I think he will need some time to adjust because the style of play in the NBA is so radically different than where he has been playing the last few years. He's the youngest prospect in this draft, but that being said, he is the most experienced, which makes for a very unique combination. I like him a lot as a prospect in this draft. He has All-Star potential as a point guard. There are some things that he can do that very few point guards in the NBA can do. He has tremendous vision and anticipation as well as great ability to see the court and make great decisions. These are the characteristics that set him apart. He will have to get stronger and adapt his game, but he is smart enough, talented enough and young enough that this won't be a major issue. He is clearly the most talented point guard in this draft, just ahead of Brandon Jennings in my view.

HOWLAND: One of the things we talked about last year was work-ethic. Which prospects have really blown you away during the pre-draft process with their work ethic?

JG: Blake Griffin is one. You don’t go from being a borderline McDonald's All-American to a number one pick unless you have tremendous work ethic. The other guy is Stephen Curry. This guy was completely off the map in high-school and no-one had heard of him at all. Not only did he become an unbelievable scorer at the college level, but then he re-defined himself as a point guard as well which is very rare. A lot of that is his perseverance and his character as well as how smart he is and how hard he works. Those two guys really stand out this year.

HOWLAND: Speaking of Stephen Curry, it strikes me that he is going to have to succeed as a PG at the next level because there is a long track record of guys his size who failed playing the two. Do you feel that curry can succeed as a NBA PG?

JG: I think he is totally a point guard. I don't think there is any doubt that he can play the point in today's NBA. This year think of the guys they had playing with him and you will see that he didn't really have anyone to pass to and he still averaged over 6 assists a game. Outside of him there was really only one other division 1 player on the Davidson roster. I have seen him make enough smart passes to not have a problem projecting him as a point guard. He is a very unselfish player, he is very smart. At 6'3" he has above average size for an NBA point guard.

HOWLAND: What have you been hearing about the Raps and who they are targeting?

JG: I don't think there is any question that if DeRozan is on the board that they will take him, unless someone that no-one anticipated falling is available. I don't see this happening though. It's DeRozan.

HOWLAND: Speaking of Derozan, John Hollinger and his statistical break-down have him as one of the most over-rated prospects in the draft. What is your take on Derozan?

JG: Hollinger was very open to admitting that his break-down didn't do a great job of projecting one and done guys. A lot of statistical system last year were not high on Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon and O.J. Mayo but those guys turned out just fine. On the other hand people thought was Michael Beasley had numbers unlike anyone else in a long time. Beasley is a good player but both the stats and DX though he was going to be better. The stats are just a tool, one of many that NBA teams should look at. NBA teams should definitely use them and factor them into their decisions, though. I think Hollinger is clearly the best basketball mind that is out there in the journalism realm. His work speaks for itself. I respect what he says on that front and we’ve said many of the same things, but with DeRozan you have to dig a little deeper than just that. We were really critical about Derozan through the year. He started off awful and didn't look like an NBA player at all until about February. He got a lot better over the last month or two of the year. If you ran his numbers over the past few months he would have looked better, albeit with a smaller sample size.

With that said, Raptor fans need to understand that Derozan is a project. He is not going to significantly change anything for them this upcoming year in the win/loss column. He will be a rotation guy, but it is all about developing him for the future.

HOWLAND: Do you think Derozan is overrated?

JG: Derozan being considered a top ten guy obviously has something to do with how shallow this year’s class is. There just any many better prospects available. He is a guy who fits the mold of having NBA size and athleticism on the wing. He was a highly ranked high-school player and this is where his draft standing is coming from, not necessarily from what he has done on the court thus far. It's all about what he might develop into, and obviously that's a risky proposition. It could go either way. I don't think anyone has enough data on him to make a judgment on whether he will definitively be a stud in the NBA or not. He may or may not be helping himself by refusing to conduct individual workouts.

HOWLAND: Who would you consider the most over-rated player in this year’s draft based on their talent and where they are projected to be picked?

JG: In terms of overrated we have been very skeptical about Thabeet over the past three years. There is no question he has improved, but I have a hard time seeing him as a number two pick, which seems to be where we are headed. I guess we will have to wait and see how he turns out, but if you read what we have written about him throughout the years you'll see we are not 100% sold and have been very open about that.

HOWLAND: And under-rated?

JG: From an underrated perspective, Brandon Jennings. Most NBA teams just haven’t seen how talented he is because they weren’t allowed to watch him in high-school and he didn't play much in Europe. In the work-outs people are starting to see the talent, but he has even more than that if you put him in a 5 on 5 setting. From the scrimmages I attended in Rome, the Synergy footage I’ve watched and the game I was at, I was pretty floored. He has a chance to be pretty awesome.

In terms of the comments he made about Rubio…It was obviously stupid to say some of those things, and this was obviously a concern we had early on. The first article I wrote on him was in late 07 or early 08 after we watched him in a high-school tournament. The first impression I had was that he was cocky, arrogant and way too flashy. He was not very mature, but on the other hand, a lot of 19 year olds aren’t. I can tell you that I said and did some really stupid stuff at his age, but thankfully no one had a microphone or video camera to record them.

From being around him a little bit it seems like he actually is a really good guy with a great family around him. I think he might just be getting too caught up in trying be someone he isn't. He has so much desire to show people how good he is that sometimes maybe that comes off the right way. At heart I think he is a good dude, but he needs to be with people that are not afraid to tell him to put a sock in it. One thing people can't question however, is his talent.

HOWLAND: A favorite of the HQ is Terrence Williams. Since the beginning of last season he has moved around a lot on mock draft boards and now there are rumors of him to GS at 7 (DX has him at 11). What is the consensus, or is there a consensus on him as a player?

JG: There is no consensus on him as a player. If you want to take a guy like him and have him succeed you need to have the right kind of players around him which I am not sure the Raps have. Williams is a limited guy offensively. You need a point guard who can penetrate, another wing who can create and a big who requires a double-team and I am not sure the Raps have all those ingredients. If you draft the guy you are getting an all around role player but with the current make-up of the Raps roster, I am just not sure he is a great fit there. They need someone who can do a little bit more offensively I suspect.

HOWLAND: To me it seems like DeRozan is a boom/bust player and Williams is a safer pick. My preference would be to take a guy like Williams and allow him to complement the team's style. Do you think that is the wrong approach?

JG: You can find parts like Terrence Williams, but it is harder to find a superstar. Derozan's upside may lead you to believe that he will be a star and it is tough to pass on that. I am a little skeptical that he can become that All-Star, but I am sure the Raptors have more information on him than I do.

HOWLAND: What about Toronto as a destination for prospects? We spoke with Jerel McNeal recently and asked if there was a stigma about playing north of the border. Even though this is one of the biggest media markets in North America, do you hear any such rumblings from prospective picks?

JG: I think initially it is a pain for them to go and get their passports, but once they get past that, I don't think it is an issue. Once you get to Toronto, walk around and see how incredibly beautiful and diverse it is, how could you not want to go there? I would rank Toronto in the top 10 in terms of NBA cities I would want to live in without a doubt. Initially I think prospects might say "No, I don't want to go there" but first of all they don't have a choice and secondly once they get there they figure out pretty quick that Toronto is an awesome city. I don't think it is an issue that Raptors fans have to worry about. Maybe I am wrong but my initial impression is it is not an issue, except for maybe the tax situation which I’m not all that familiar with.

HOWLAND: How about Andrea Bargnani? Since we spoke last year he has really blossomed as a player, why do you think that is?

JG: I think the jury is still out on him. I think he had a really good year which is encouraging. but I think he still has a long way to go before becoming a player that should have been a top 3 or top 5 pick and that can really carry you into the playoffs. I don't think he is ever going to be the type of player you can build a team around, but maybe I’m wrong.

My personal philosophy is that the way he produces is not necessarily conducive to winning games. His rebounding is atrocious for a big man. Inch for inch, he may be the worst rebounder in the NBA. He is not particularly efficient, his 2 point percentages are low, and even though he is a great three-point shooter, that's not enough, because you need someone to create those looks for him. I am not sure he’s a guy that can create high-percentage shots for himself.

Although he made strides defensively, I would still consider him to be below average there. In terms of toughness and doing the little things it takes to win games, I’m not sure he is a good fit at all alongside Chris Bosh. There is a lot of duplication there. I’m not sure what to think about what people say about his intangibles, about his feel and passion for the game. Maybe if the team had a different style of big man, like a Paul Millsap-type, it would be more beneficial to him, but with the way the Raptors are currently built, it’s tough to get too excited about Bargnani. I could be wrong though. He improved a lot this year. Let’s see what he does next season and revisit.

Note** A big thanks to Jonathan for taking the time to discuss the 2009 NBA Draft. Our annual interview with him is definitely one of the best interviews we do all year.

HOWLAND

Even if DeRozan is the next Gay, can the Raptors afford to wait on his development?

Four days until the draft.

Four days until Demar DeRozan is the newest Toronto Raptor right?

Since we saw Jrue Holiday work out in person, the HQ has suspected that he, DeRozan, Henderson and Flynn were at the top of Toronto’s "one of these guys should be available at 9" draft board.

DeRozan appears to be the favourite, and Bryan Colangelo hasn’t been shy in recent radio interviews about his affinity for the USC product.

But is this the right way for BC to go?

Interestingly, the poll on our home page had most fans favouring DeRozan and Tyreke Evans by a long shot up until last week. Suddenly, some interesting statistical information courtesy of Jon Hollinger was revealed, and then that poll started to change. Guys like Gerald Henderson and Jonny Flynn started to gain momentum, and even the comments on the site referred to the dangers of drafting DeRozan.

There’s no clear answer of course.

As you’ll read in our interview with Jonathan Givony of Draftexpress, none of these prospects are exactly blue-chippers, and so picking DeRozan in the long run might be the best bet.

However here’s a thought I had this weekend.

Let’s say DeRozan is like T-Mac when he first came to the Raptors. In year one, he doesn’t play much, and when he does, looks years away from being able to contribute. In year two, he’s a bit better, and like McGrady shows flashes of brilliance at times. The Raptors exercise their option on him, and finally in year 3 he breaks out.

However without DeRozan being a factor in year one, and without much financial room for the sweeping talent-upgrade the team needed, the Delfino-Marion-Evans trio only brings in a few more wins for Toronto, and Bosh eventually goes south.

Without Bosh, the team continues to be mired in mediocrity and although the Raptors hold DeRozan’s rights, he makes it known then when his contract is up, he too has his bags packed.

Yes, rather a doom and gloom scenario I realize.

But is it that unrealistic?

By all accounts DeRozan is an athletic marvel but a project nonetheless. I’m not sure anyone, the Raptors’ brass included, is counting on him to contribute much next year.

But therein lies the problem.

If Bryan Colangelo truly wants the best chance at keeping Chris Bosh, he not only will probably need to pony up a max contract, but he’ll also have to put together a squad that showed a lot more promise then that of last year. As I’ve discussed many-a-time, by not moving CB4 this off-season, he’s essentially loading up a one-year game of Russian roulette where simply returning to the playoffs, probably won’t be enough.

This team needs to show that it’s on track to compete with the best in the East and even if it’s not this year, it needs to be in the near future I’m guessing for Bosh’s sake.

So does adding DeRozan really help this situation?

It reminds me a bit of Houston trading Rudy Gay and parts on draft day for Shane Battier. At the time, this was viewed as a bad move by the Rockets to give up on a player of Gay’s star potential.

But here we are three years later, and the Rockets are still reaping the benefits of that deal. Gay might be a more dangerous offensive player, and a future all-star, but Houston recognized that Battier was a better fit for their club, and they wanted to start winning now, not in five years.

So this is my question; can Colangelo afford to gamble on "upside" with this pick?

The counter-point to all of this obviously is that perhaps DeRozan DOES have an impact next year, and perhaps Toronto walks away with the player who is eventually the best from this draft class, surpassing even Blake Griffin. And perhaps even if DeRozan doesn’t develop, BC’s next moves via free-agency, which arguably are going to have a much bigger on-court impact for next season, mean that Toronto doesn’t need to rely on Demar anyways, and he can develop at his own pace.

I guess my fear is just that you only get so many rolls of the dice.

So why not play the best odds each time instead of trying to come up with the one big score?

Well, perhaps it’s just not in BC’s nature.

ESPN.com on Friday actually had Colangelo ranked as the top GM in terms of "drafting prowess" in a comparison of NBA GM’s over the past 20 years.

And looking at his track record, he has come up huge on similar "athletic projects" like Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire.

(As a side note, it’s interesting that the Raptors have had the top two executives in the ESPN survey, Colangelo and Thomas, and also two of the bottom five in Jack McCloskey and Pete Babcock, who of course was helping out brother Rob.)

So maybe, for the man who ESPN.com quoted as saying \"At the end of the day, you also have to trust your gut," this is hardly a risky pick at all.

But that’s still not saying grabbing DeRozan is the right choice.

The argument could be made that instead of the typical, "drafting for need vs. drafting the best remaining talent on the board" options, Toronto should explore a third choice; drafting for skill sets. While drafting on upside has surely been a crapshoot (Shawne Williams) and so has drafting to fill a need (big man – Hoffa), the one thing that has panned out historically is grabbing a player with a discernible skill set that translates from college to the NBA (ie; rebounding, 3-point shooting, etc.)

It doesn’t necessarily guarantee the best prospect when all is said and done, but it might make a lot more sense than simply taking a flyer on someone to simply fill a position, or who offers upside. Suddenly under this theorem, players like DeJuan Blair (rebounding) and even Jeff Teague (ability to attack the basket) become much more valuable.

Looking at things this way, you’d have to say then that Gerald Henderson probably is the best play at nine. Yes he’s a wing with some upside, so fits both the "need and best player" suppositions, but he also excels at getting to the rim and defending on the perimeter, two skills that have shown time and time again to translate at the NBA level.

However when all is said and done, I do believe that if DeRozan is there at nine, he’ll be Colangelo’s choice rightly or wrongly. The Raptors’ PR crew informed us late last night that there will be no more workouts this week so it looks like Toronto is happy with the pool of players they’ve seen, and don’t expect the likes of Harden or Evans to be around when the Raptors draft.

Of course a lot can change over the next four days.

With trade rumours flying regarding teams like Washington and Minnesota, who knows how things will play out Thursday night, and the NBA’s "Green Room" List released at Draftexpress this morning is a testament to this uncertainty.

Do the Raptors think they’re cutting through a lot of this uncertainty and grabbing a fairly sure thing in DeRozan?

Perhaps.

But I’m sure if you talked to Denver’s management about their drafting of Nikoloz Tskitishvilli in 2002, they were probably saying the same thing…

FRANCHISE

PS – A huge win for Canada Basketball yesterday as the U16 Men’s Team thrashed Venezuela 106 to 81 to claim a bronze medal, and win a spot in the 2010 World Championship’s.

Coach Rautins' program is taking a new approach this season...

It was all a dream …

On June 10 Canada Basketball announced the schedule for the Senior Men’s National team this summer with almost no fanfare. Very few media were in attendance that afternoon at the ACC, but among them was RaptorsHQ. The few of us that were there were given a glimpse into the basketball future of Canada and it all starts with a dream.

The summer road to the FIBA Americas qualifying tournament in August will be a long one for the 2K9 Road Warriors. A disappointing finish in last summer’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens saw the Men’s Team get blown out in the quarter finals to a Croatian team that featured current Raptor Roko Ukic. As a result, the team finished 6th. After having the Olympic dreams turn into a pipe dream, this year’s team is looking to begin on their path to redemption. The first stop for the group will be June 23-29 in Bilbao Spain where they will play exhibition games against some Spanish League teams as a tune up.

But this year’s version of the Road Warriors will be a little different: Different in approach, different in attitude and different in style. This season the National team will boast the addition of the Raptors’ VP and Assistant GM Maurizio Gherardini as well as seasoned Euroleague coach Renato Pasquali to help with a new European game philosophy to the staff.

The most important is a new commitment to the development of the young players in our country. The first phase of this summer’s Senior Men’s season was a seven day training camp held in Toronto at the ACC. Here Canada Basketball brought together some of the best of the country’s young talent to teach and evaluate, the goal being the identification of playesr playing in professional and collegiate ranks so as to develop them for our National Team program.

I got a chance to speak to Senior Men’s Coach Leo Rautins on the camp, his expectations and the outlook for the national basketball program.

Ray Bala: How do you feel about the direction of Canada Basketball is going into now?

Leo Rautins: Very positive. There are tremendous things happening within the organization, around the organization. Now it’s a question of putting the right programs together. We have great training and a competition schedule and now it’s a matter of accelerating the development of our players so we can get better on the floor which is where we want to get to.

RB: Are you seeing more interest from players this summer?

LR: We’re doing more things to encourage the interest (with the players). What can we offer players? We can put players in a position to enhance their careers by giving players exposure and for the younger players can develop getting great coaching and teaching. From those aspects players are seeing this as a wonderful opportunity creating a tremendous amount of interest.

RB: How do you feel about having Maurizio on board with the national team program?

LR: Honestly, I couldn’t put into words how much Maurizio has impacted the program. He’s given us a profile and much better direction. From training to scheduling to competitions and practices, he covers all the bases. We’ve been able to accomplish and prepare for this summer in many different ways because of him. He also carries a lot of clout with players so to have him in the mix is very attractive to a lot of players as well. To have him with us now is priceless.

RB: What are you looking forward to when it comes to this phase of the summer schedule?

LR: (For this camp we) want to develop players. First, we want to take younger players, guys just finishing school or first year pros in Europe and help with their development, give them tools and work with them. Second, we want to identify future Senior Team players and put them in a position to be a part and help the Senior Team down the road. Others we just want to get them involved with the National program in some capacity. Anyway you look at it it’s just a positive step forward for us.

RB: You had mentioned growing the pool of players for the National Program. Can you explain that more?

LR: The larger the pool, the better it is for the program. Ideally if you have about 25 players in the mix for your Senior Team with experience, by that meaning that have been involved in the National program. Not every player is available every summer; it’s unrealistic to expect that. Players that are in the pool are familiar with the program, familiar with each other and are ready to step in and assume the role of those not there. When you’ve reached that level then you’ve arrived. I can go back to the years Argentina was just an average team playing. They have turned a program into that and now we have to create a pool and environment to facilitate that.

RB: How do you identify the players at the camp?

LR: The camp is an invite situation. We have people we trust that scout across Canada, the NCAA, Europe and we try to determine the players we want identify and bring in. This camp not necessarily a tryout, but you can look at this trip (to Spain) as one.

RB: Are there any players that are not here who you would have liked to see at the camp?

LR: Of course. There are always logistical issues for the training camp like summer school for some. There are probably two or three guys we would have liked to have at the camp and you can plan it any way you want but some players will or will not be ready to go. There’s nothing you can really do but work around it as best you can.

RB: Thanks Leo and best of luck this year!

RAY BALA

McNeal blows by another HQ fave, Terrence Williams

Franchise: How did things go today, how was the workout?

McNeal: I felt it went really well. Early on we did a lot of skills stuff, a lot of shooting; we had the breakout between the guards and the bigs, the guards did ball handling and stuff, stuff off the pick-and-roll, a lot of shots and things like that. For the rest of the time we got into some competing drills; 3-on-3, pick-and-roll situations, screen-down situations, stuff like that. It was real competitive though and I thought it went well.

F: Yeah, it looked for a while like you and Henderson were having a little discussion back and forth, a little friendly banter. I talked to Gerald about this, you guys have obviously played against each other in college, but had you worked out against each other yet?

M: No, this is the first one. But Gerald is a real good player, and it’s always fun to go against a better player – you always have to raise your own game then to a higher level so that was one of the reasons I thought it was a good workout; highly competitive. Guys were able to get after it.

F: And how many of these workouts have you attended?

M: This is my 11th one.

F: So it’s definitely a grind eh?

M: (Laughs) Yeah, definitely, definitely.

F: Take us through the process then after you were done at Marquette. You guys had an amazing season obviously, you were one of the top players in the Big East, and then you go right into this. Talk a little bit about the mental preparation and what you went through.

M: You know first, the main thing, well for me personally, I didn’t take a lot of time off. I knew this was coming up and I didn’t want to fall out of shape or anything so I took about a week off but then was in the gym ever since working on my body, getting myself ready mentally for all of this. When it comes up you know, it’s physically challenging but it’s more mentally than anything; all the travel, I mean city-to-city, you know, you’re only in every city for sometimes not even a day, then you’re back on a plane going somewhere else. Like I said it’s more mentally challenging than anything but at the same time everyday I wake up, you’ve gotta tell yourself this is an opportunity of a lifetime to come out for different NBA teams in different NBA cities working out, something you’ve dreamed about growing up. So you know, I’ll be tired later…I’ll just worry about this right now just knocking these out.

F: Is there anything in particular you’ve been working on that you felt people wanted to see more of? Obviously last year with James out you played the 1 sometimes…

M: Yeah, that’s been the main thing, is just the ability to play both positions. I think I’ve proven that I can play the 2 guard but there’s a lot of questions at the next level if I’m big enough to play the 2 guard, or how well will I translate to play the point but like you said, I spent a lot of time with the ball in my hands at Marquette this past year and things like that. The main thing I’ve been working on hasn’t been something so much on the court, it’s been something off; I’ve really been working a lot on my film breakdowns, looking at different films of myself trying to work on my decision making a lot more. You know, pin-pointing exact spots and times so that I can change my decision making so I make better decisions throughout the course of a game.

F: Just watching you today on the court and having seen you at Marquette quite a bit, and you’re executing the offense and stuff, now you see the NBA style of game where you have smaller kind of, what they used to call maybe combo guards, who are athletic and quick and getting wherever they want on the court – do you think that’s a big advantage now for someone like you?

M: Yeah, I definitely think it is. With this style of game like you said, in the NBA, I feel there’s just so much more room to operate and you have so many more opportunities to get in the lane and create help; which ultimately leads into open shots and baskets and things like that so that’s one of the things that I think is going to benefit me at the next level.

F: What about, have you talked to Wes or Dominic or any of the other guys from Marquette?

M: Yeah, I talk to both of those guys to get caught up; I just talked to Wes a couple of days ago and they’re going through pretty much the same process. We’re just trying to keep in touch as much as we can to make sure everyone’s doing alright. But it’s winding down now, we’ve got about another week.

F: And what about, have you been to Toronto before?

M: No, this is my first time. It’s a really nice city though.

F: You didn’t get a chance to look around though.

M: No, just driving in, driving through the city it just looks really nice.

F: Would you welcome being drafted by the Raptors?

M: Oh most definitely, you know, wherever I end up, whether it be here or somewhere else it would be a dream come true. Like I said, just to be on an NBA roster and be able to contribute any way I possibly can it would a big achievement, a big accomplishment for me. I welcome myself to any city (laughs!)

F: Let me ask you that, sometimes we hear up in Toronto there’s a stigma about coming up north to play in the NBA. Do you hear anything like that from other players; do you think that’s a myth or, from other kids who are coming out do you ever hear "aaah, I’ve gotta work out for the Raptors, not so sure I want to play up in Toronto," even if they’ve never been here before?

M: Everybody has their hearsay, me personally, I don’t pay much attention to it until I see something for myself and like I said, (sounding surprised), once I got here it looked like a big time city and I’m pretty sure they get really good fan support up this way as well. I’m pretty sure fans are really passionate, playing in a major city, a really nice city like I said, and being the only Canadian team you’ve probably got a huge fan base. You know, I haven’t heard a lot about that but like I said, you’ve really gotta put things aside and go and see it for yourself first.

F: Thanks man and good luck with the rest of the workouts.

FRANCHISE

-A few random HQ draft notes.

-Spent some time last night going over last year’s NCAA footage of Demar DeRozan. It’s so easy to fall in love with prospects this time of year that you find your original take on players changing, and you forget about all the game footage you spent January to April watching. Part of this was prompted by John Hollinger’s article yesterday, where a statistical analysis of DeRozan didn’t have him faring so well. Part of this was also prompted by RaptorsTV showing a replay of the Chicago pre-draft camp drills.

Watching the footage again it’s true that DeRozan is pure upside. He didn’t shoot well at USC, and didn’t stand out in any one area in particular, part of Hollinger’s issue. So I thought it might be interesting to compare the stats of DeRozan to Vince Carter and Andre Iguodala, two players his name is often linked to.

In his final season before entering the draft, Carter averaged:

15.6 points, 1.2 steals, 1.9 assists, 5.1 rebounds, and shot almost 60 per cent from the field.

Iguodala averaged:

12.9 points, 1.6 steals, 4.9 assists, 8.4 rebounds, and shot 45 per cent from the field.

Neither were great free-throw shooters (Carter was in the high sixties) but both were fairly solid from long-range (41 and 31.5 per cent respectively.)

DeRozan? Well after one season (and keep in my Iguodala played for two seasons and Carter for three before declaring) you can see that he put up very similar numbers:

13.9 points, 0.9 steals, 1.5 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and shot 52 per cent from the field.

So at face value, I’m not so sure why Hollinger is so down on DeRozan.

However looking at his percentages from the line and long-distance, 65 and 17 per cent respectively, you see the reason for concern.

But that’s not to say DeRozan can’t improve in this capacity. As my colleague Ray reported yesterday, there’s nothing "wrong" with DeRozan’s shot in terms of overall mechanics, he just needs to put in the work.

And considering DeRozan is one of the one-and-done cases that affects Hollinger’s stats, I’m not sure you can put a ton of weight into this as a fan. Instead, I think Hollinger’s grading system is useful in identifying that he is a high-risk pick. After all, we’re talking about a Hollinger grading system that while successfully identifying many "overrated prospects," it also whiffed on a number of strong yet undersized guards like Steve Logan and Reese Gaines.

Is Gerald Henderson a safer option?

Probably. But although deep down I’d still like to see Terrence Williams taken at 9, I’d be fine as well with DeRozan. For me, I’m not expecting this draft to make or break the 2009-10 season anyways and while I love the draft, am anxious to see what BC can cook up via free-agency.

-One final note. Also from the replay of the Chicago pre-draft camp, the ESPN crew spoke with Jeff Teague about where he had workouts scheduled. Surprise, surprise, one of those spots was Toronto. Obviously Teague hasn’t show up yet so I’m wondering if his agent nixed the idea for political reasons, or if this was a simple flight issue like Robert Dozier.

If it’s the latter, I expect to see Teague, a lottery lock in my opinion for next season had he returned to Wake Forest, up here in a final session early next week.

FRANCHISE

DeRozan takes a break with the Raptors' brass yesterday...

Often the media loves to joke about individual workouts, and at times, it’s not hard to see why.

The most famous case may be the footage of Yi Jianlian going mano-a-mano against a chair, and it’s true that unless you’ve seen a prospect via game footage, it’s tough to REALLY say just what type of player said prospect may become.

However yesterday was different.

The media buzz was deafening. Demar DeRozan was indeed in attendance and I must say that he did not disappoint. Of all the players that I’ve seen so far through this workout process, DeRozan is the one player that to me screams one word more than the others: Potential.

Slated by some to be the Raptors’ pick at number nine, DeRozan is a definite athlete and when put through the paces yesterday, that athleticism was on full display.

Here’s an example. In one drill, he grabbed a rebound, hit the outlet pass, sprinted up court, received the pass and finished well above the rim. First one-way and then back down the next. I was amazed not so much that his head was at the rim or that he finished with thunder and lightning, but that he seemed to hit both rims before I even had a chance to be amazed! People I can’t say this enough: Demar DeRozan IS AN ATHLETE!

But does the athleticism warrant DeRozan to be picked so high? Is there anything else that would warrant those lottery dreams?

Well for starters DeRozan showed a good mid-range jumper, pulling-up and making the shots with ease. He also showed good range when he was in the drills making more than half of his shots when the media were watching, something that seemed to fly in the face of the criticisms of his long-range abilities. Looking at his form, he didn’t look to have any wasted motion on his shot and should be efficient with practice at the next level.

To be fair, there were no defensive drills that we were able to see since DeRozan was the only player on tap for the workout. (That is unless he went up against Boogie or Alex English when we weren’t looking!)

And again, without seeing DeRozan going up against any other competition, there’s only so much you can discern from these types of workouts.

But let’s project for a minute.

If you want to find a good perceived end to all the potential in DeRozan then you may see Andre Iguodala waving on the other side of the golden tunnel.

If you want the polar opposite, you may be looking at the next Harold Miner (remember him?).

Both had freakish physical tools but have ended up as either semi-franchise player or trivia question. DeRozan definitely has the tools to end up like an AI 2K9, but does he have it in him to not be a forgotten Dunk Champ?

Ever since William Avery bolted for the riches of the NBA from Duke, there have been a number of players that though were not primary options, oozed potential. Demar falls in this category.

DeRozan has all the potential in the world...but is he the next VC or Gerald Green?

He played on a USC team that featured two potential top draft picks and that may have stunted his player growth, especially in his first season. So my bottom line is this:

Could DeRozan use another year or two in college where he can play every game and develop as the star?

I’d have to say yes.

Could he stand to use another season playing under the bright lights of the highest level of college basketball?

Of course.

But right now it’s hard to say he wouldn’t make a great pick.

He is an incredible athlete, something that is not teachable. He also looks like a player that can learn and he’ll have lots of time for that over the next couple of years. Considering the other options that look to be available to Toronto at 9, it’s not to say that the team shouldn’t swing for the fences.

After all, you are looking at DeRozan not as the immediate solution to anything, but like a piece of fine art, hoping it will appreciate with time.

RAY BALA

Franchise talks to Gerald Henderson post-workout yesterday...

Later this morning, the prospect many have the Raptors pegged to select in a little over a week, Demar DeRozan, will be in for an individual workout.

Considering that just a few weeks ago DeRozan’s agent was saying that Demar wouldn’t even visit Toronto, this is a good sign, and many Raptors’ fans have their fingers crossed that this means he’ll be available at nine.

And yet will he?

Even after an updated mock draft from the great Chad Ford yesterday, it sure sounds like there are no locked-in picks even at this late stage.

However after doing some intel, this is what I think can be said with a fair degree of certainty.

1) After Blake Griffin, the next group will consist of some order of Rubio, Thabeet, Harden, Curry and Evans. Perhaps that’s not earth-shattering news, but essentially that means that the last 3 names should be crossed off from prospective Raptors’ draft list barring a trade.

2) As we reported after the Jrue Holiday workout, Toronto is eyeing Holiday in addition to DeRozan and Gerald Henderson. There have been whispers that James Johnson and Earl Clark are in the mix as well but I truly think the Dinos have these 3 pegged at 9 and whoever falls, again barring trades, will be the selection with DeRozan being the top choice.

Toronto finally got a look at Gerald Henderson yesterday and it’s hard not to be impressed by the kid. Yes, he’s well-spoken and articulate, and seems to have his head on straight, but on the court he certainly possesses some weapons Toronto desperately needs.

In yesterday’s workout he showed off his elite athleticism, and while he still tends to favour going left, showed that his crossover and handle on-one-one is going to be tough to stop at the next level.

However he’s far from a sure-thing.

His shooting yesterday was spotty, something that he’s continuing to try and smoothen out, and he’s not exactly a big player. Matched up against Jerel McNeal, you can see that there isn’t much difference between the two height-wise.

Again though, it’s Henderson’s ability to break down defenses that makes him look to be a nice fit for the Dinos.

That’s why it was a bit puzzling that some of the local media failed to pick up on this, with one reporter telling Henderson that scouts described him as "a guy who just scores and gets his stuff in the flow of games rather than in isolation."

Henderson too seemed confused too and answered with:

"The best thing I feel like I can do is put the ball on the floor and get to the basket."

Exactly.

Henderson is one of the top 3 players off the bounce in this draft without question and while you won’t see it on this clip from Raptors.com, I followed up with a few more questions of my own:

Franchise: "What about your game transitioning in terms of you at Duke being the focal point of the offense, and Coach K would spread things out and let you go one-on-one. Do you think that helps your transition to the next level?"

Henderson: For sure, although depending on what team I go to, that will change the role that I have, but having those skills, and taking it to the next level.

F: "What about Duke alum, did you get in touch with any of them about the process?"

H: "Sure, I talked to DeMarcus Nelson, a guy that I’ve looked up to my whole career, you know, I’ve grown up with him really, Grant Hill, those are guys I’ve talked to a lot. They’ve always you know, just encouraged me, telling me to stay in the gym and work hard at my job now, and to take it serious."

And of course I had to get one or two fan-ish questions in:

F: "What about leaving Duke, last game of course, tough to kind of go out on that note."

GH: "Yeah."

F: "Did that give you any pause in terms of taking that next step?"

GH: "That’s long and gone. That’s something I’ll look back on in 10, 15 years – I’ll be like damn that was bad but I’ve moved onto bigger and better things."

F: "What about your own career, having watched you at Duke for a couple of years you sort of took a big jump halfway through last season in terms of your scoring and a bunch of other elements of your game. Was there anything you’d say that lead to that jump or was it a confidence thing?"

GH: "Well my team needed me to do that. You know, if we were going to take our team to another level and take our season to another level, I needed to be playing my best and through December I really wasn’t doing that. I took it on myself to do that, and to play a more aggressive style."

F: "It wasn’t Wojo, he didn’t come into a huddle and yell or anything?"

GH: "No (laughing), Wojo (Wojohowski) has done plenty of that, he can get you amped up for sure but you know it was really just with me and my teammates, knowing they needed me to do more."

As many of our commentors noted yesterday, some of the expected big names weren’t on yesterday’s workout bill.

However it was interesting nonetheless.

I mean, how can you pass on the 7-footer BJ Mullens telling the media that when he ordered room service last night, some random girl came with the room service, went into his room, and just lay down on the bed???

And even though this was no epic battle between top-ranked picks, both Toney Douglas and Jerel McNeal played their hearts out, each displaying NBA-ready traits.

Douglas, can straight-up shoot. In the individual drills and in 3-on-3 play, he rarely missed showing excellent lift and rotation. He’s only about 6-1, but a tough defender and I expect to see him selected towards the end of the first round.

And McNeal, well for one of the less-heralded attendees, he put on a show and was the most dominant player on the court.

He got anywhere he wanted in 3-on-3 play, attacked the cup, made some beautiful passes while running the point, and showed just why he was one of the top 3 players in the Big East last season. It sounded like Jim Kelly was impressed as well and I’d love to see Toronto grab him with a second-round pick.

I had a great one-on-one chat with Jerel post workout and we’ll be posting that tomorrow. It’s always interesting to talk to an NCAA stud who suddenly finds himself to be a potential second-round pick and we touched on topics that ranged as wide as his workout program post Marquette, to the stigma of players wanting to come to Toronto. Stay tuned.

Finally, BJ Mullens showed some nice range and that magic word, upside, although he appears to be years away. He’s dropped some weight since Ohio State though and looks to be quite comfortable with his decision to go pro.

On a final draft note, it sounds like the Raptors are still trying to get one more workout in early next week, and one of the attendees they’d love to see is Tyreke Evans. Evans is of course slotted to go higher than 9 but perhaps if Toronto is dead-set on drafting him, we could see trade talks heat up with clubs like Washington over the next week.

The other extremely interesting thing about yesterday’s workouts was after all was said and done, who should saunter into the gym to get in some reps but Patrick O’Bryant and Quincy Douby.

O'Bryant and Douby working with the Raptors' coaches

Talking to Bryan Colangelo, it sounds like these two have been working hard this off-season already and yesterday the two ran through various drills designed to help out in areas where they clearly needed some work last year. This included O’Bryant being hammered by blocker-style padding in the post, and Douby working on various ball-handling and "fake-and-pull-up" moves.

Also, BC mentioned that Marcus Banks is working out in Las Vegas by himself as is apparently his usual off-season regimen.

In addition yesterday, the newest Toronto Raptor, Reggie Evans, was in to speak with the press. He’s already dropped some great quotes in the Star and Globe and I found it interesting that while he relished the Charles Oakley comparison, he noted that he didn’t have Oak’s jumper.

Finally, while financial details weren’t disclosed, to no one’s surprise the Raptors yesterday extended a qualifying offer to Carlos Delfino.

If Delfino comes back, that locks down another roster spot and once you add in a draft pick (or maybe two), things sure are taking shape quickly.

FRANCHISE

If the Raptors can't afford Bosh, could they look to make a play for Smith?

Before we jump into this morning’s workout at the Air Canada Center, I thought it might be interesting to get into statements made by Chris Bosh to Michael Grange that appeared in yesterday’s Globe and Mail.

It’s a good read, not only because you’ll learn that Sean Williams drives a tricked out Monte Carlo, but also because the Toronto Raptors’ Chris Bosh is apparently taking his off-season training regiment to another level.

That’s great news for Raptors fans, however if you continue reading, you spot the rub.

Bosh’s off-season regimen has been motivated by last summer’s Olympic experience and seeing the lengths to which the Lebrons of the league go in order to stay max value players; the very amount Bosh himself feels he’s worth.

Two things immediately struck me about this article.

One, does this mean that Bosh thinks he deserves his own puppet?

Two, and more importantly, this is really the first time this off-season that Bosh has essentially stated for the record that he’s going to be asking for a max deal.

Now to us here at the HQ, this is hardly shocking. But I bring up the point because I know that many of our readers recently were looking for quotes from either Colangelo stating that Bosh would expect the max, or from Bosh himself, stating something similar.

Well, I don’t think there’s much room for debate now, Bosh views himself as a max player much like Lebron James and other peers.

The problem is, he’s not Lebron James and never will be.

James wouldn’t have delivered an NBA title to Toronto last year but I don’t think there’s any question that by replacing Chris Bosh with King James, the Raptors would at least have made the playoffs.

And at $130 Million, the approximate value of the contract CB4 will undoubtedly be looking for, again you have to ask yourself how Toronto can afford to pay Bosh that much down the road. Most accounts right now have the Dinos with about $10 Million this summer to spend depending on the salary cap, and if the Raptors renounce all free agents and don’t extend any qualifying offers. Assuming they use up that $10 Million this summer, and with only tiny contracts coming off the books next summer, it doesn’t take a math wiz to see that there’s just no way the Raptors can pay Bosh max money and re-up Andrea Bargnani as well without clearing more space…or of course be willing to pay the luxury tax.

Continuing on the Chris Bosh topic, some food for thought - could Colangelo approach things from an entirely different angle and move Bosh for nothing more than cap space this off-season?

Rumours are swirling that Josh Smith is on the trading block and on paper, would seem to be a good yin to Andrea Bargnani’s yang. He’s got a massive trade kicker at $6 Million, but clearing Bosh’s salary for the upcoming season, slightly less than $16 Million, would make things financially possible, and he’s be almost half the price of Bosh for the next four years.

Few problems of course.

First of all, who knows if this rumour is anything more than the latest Chad Ford special.

And second, would Smith want to head north?

Hell, even if he would, considering his rep with coaches, is this the type of player the Raptors want in their organization, one who in many ways is the exact opposite of Bosh in terms of professional conduct on and off the court?

Switching to this morning’s workouts, from the Raptors’ media crew here are the scheduled attendees:

-Toney Douglas, Guard, Florida State.

-Gerald Henderson Jr, Guard, Duke.

-BJ Mullens, Center, Ohio State.

-Jerel McNeal, Guard, Marquette.

-Aron Baynes, Center, Washington State

-Greg Gamble, Guard, Buffalo

The first thing that jumps out is "no Evans or DeRozan."

Does this mean then that either will be attending this morning but not working out?

There was no mention of it from the Raptors’ crew so I’m guessing unless Toronto schedules one more session later this week or very early next, neither will be coming to see the Raps pre-draft.

I’m not sure if you can infer anything from that other than these are strategic moves made by players’ agents but it is disappointing none-the-less. However that’s not to say that there aren’t some interesting prospects at the ACC this AM; in particular for me, Henderson and McNeal.

Henderson is a very real option for Toronto at 9, particularly if the draft takes a crazy turn and names like DeRozan, Flynn, Evans and others are all gone by the time the Dinos are on the clock. Henderson may not be a star in the league, but he’s one of the more NBA-ready players in the draft, has the athleticism and lock-down defensive capabilities the Raps desperately need from the wing position, and while a "good-guy" in the mould of the various other players Colangelo has previously brought to TO, doesn’t shy away from gritty play. Ask Tyler Hansbrough.

Henderson brings his intensity and athletic ability to the ACC today.

McNeal has been a sleeper favourite of mine for two years now and while he’s not ninth overall pick material, I’m thrilled that he’s on Toronto’s radar, and coming in for a closer look. He’s undersized for the 2, but I’m convinced that he can be an effective combo guard at the next level based on his play for at the 1 last year in place of Dominic James. He’s also one of the best athletes in the draft, an intense defender and possesses great length and the ability to get to the rim at will. Sound like something Toronto could use off the bench if they nabbed a second-round pick?

Additionally, I’m glad Toronto is bringing in Toney Douglas, one of the players I feel is the most underrated from this year’s draft class. He’s not as athletic as McNeal, or as tall, but is a much more efficient scorer able to knock down shots from close and from long-range. He too is a bulldog of a defender and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him eventually go in the late first-round. The match-up between he, McNeal, and divisional rival Henderson should be very intriguing indeed.

Rounding out our list we have Baynes and Gamble, two players who toiled in relative obscurity last season in the college ranks, both of whom I suspect were last-minute replacements for other prospects.

Baynes in particular I think was brought in to match up against the final player in this morning’s session, 7-footer BJ Mullens. It’s interesting that Toronto is bringing Mullens in for a look considering he’s hardly even a lottery lock. There’s no question he has some intriguing traits as a prospect, especially his athleticism for such a big man, but I’m going to say right now that this is a player with "buyer beware" written all over him. I fail to understand why left Thad Matta’s program after only one year as he’s incredibly raw. He’s drawn comparisons to Chris Kaman, but to me he’s years away from being able to contribute at an NBA level, and I’m praying that this isn’t Hoffa Part II for Raps’ fans.

One final note in this morning’s mish-mash – MLSE announced yesterday that Adnan Virk would be joining their broadcast team.

Here’s the important stuff from the press release:

VIRK JOINS MLSE'S BROADCAST AND CONTENT TEAM

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) announced Monday that Adnan Virk will join the organization as a member of its broadcast and content team.

Virk will co-host the pregame shows for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors and Toronto FC home games on Leafs TV, Raptors NBA TV and GOLTV. In addition to reporting duties on the three television networks, Virk will also become a blogger on the teams' websites.

"We're extremely excited to welcome Adnan as a member of our broadcast team," said Chris Hebb, senior vice-president of broadcast and content for Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. "We believe Adnan's one of the best young sports broadcasters in the country. His passion for sports and knowledge of sports combined with his energy and sense of humour will be a great asset for our broadcast team and our audiences."

Virk began his broadcast career in 1998 behind the scenes at TSN as an associate producer. His first move in front of the camera came in 2002 on OMNI Television as host of Bollywood Boulevard and Omniculture.

Most notably, Virk is known for his on-air work on The Score network, where he began working in 2003 as an anchor, reporter and show host.

There have been rumours of this move coming down the pipes for a while now and it will be interesting to see what his full role entails with the Raptors’ broadcasts.

If it means that Paul Johnson is out, this gets a big thumbs up from me as we continue to see a remaking of the Raptors so far this off-season, both on and off the court.

FRANCHISE

Can BC unearth another gem with the ninth pick?

I love the NBA Draft. I wish there was one each week.

No surprise there as long-time readers know that the last Thursday in June is essentially my version of Christmas.

Perhaps it’s the drama involved in the entire process.

Maybe it’s because I’m such an ardent college basketball fan and have been following many of these players for years.

Or possibly it’s as simple as wanting to see which NBA teams again make bizarre choices come that Thursday:

-"Rodney White has a sketchy background but man that kid can jump – let’s grab him."

-"Nikoloz Tskitishvili dominated in those one-on-pylon workouts we put him through, plus he’s European – we can’t miss!"

"Rafael Araujo a perfect fit for our team since we need a center – it’s a no-brainer!"

And so on and so on.

Maybe it’s a combination of all of the above but in any event, there aren’t many more people who look forward to the draft more than myself.

Interestingly, over the past few years, there are suddenly an army of me’s.

Everyone has their own mock draft, and suddenly there seems to be a legion of folks devoted to the "science" of the NBA Draft.

Case in point – ESPN.com’s D.R.A.F.T. Initiative.

Besides its cute little acronym which stands for "Data-Related-Analysis for Truth," (don’t you just love when organizations put in nonsensical words to fill out the acronym they want? Seriously, ESPN makes is sound like they are trying to get to the root of the Kennedy Assassination here), it is admittedly a very ambitious endeavour. Essentially, they are looking at the real value of the draft from all angles; which position teams are choosing from, what value to expect at different draft slots, which teams have fared the best in the process…you name it.

Our associate Jonathan Givony, who we’ll be having our annual pre-draft chat with soon, and his site Draftexpress.com, are the pioneers in this field of course, and continue to provide amazing insight into individual player attributes and prognostications on their NBA futures. But ESPN’s recent work is taking the concept of "the science of the draft" one step further by analyzing things from an overall NBA perspective.

However what I found most interesting from this D.R.A.F.T. initiative was that after all of ESPN’s "science" and investigation, ironically, their research team came to the conclusion that draft impact is overrated and really, you can throw all that "science" out the window. After about the tenth pick in the lottery, you might as well be picking one of the remaining 25 names out of a hat.

This to me was quite remarkable as I always believed that if you had a good scouting service and a competent management team, you could and would always find value no matter where you were drafting from. Perhaps that’s why many of us at the HQ tend to be more excited about the draft’s second round. It’s a bit like some women stumbling upon a vintage Christian Lacroix piece at Goodwill – there are diamonds in the rough to be had.

To that end, ESPN actually took a look at how all 30 NBA teams fared since the NBA Draft was first pared down to two rounds in 1989. To no surprise, teams like San Antonio and the Los Angeles Lakers received A+ grades for unearthing gems like Tony Parker and Derek Fisher late in the draft.

However it may surprise some that receiving an A grade was none other than the Toronto Raptors.

While to me this was slightly unexpected given the Hoffas and Chris Jeffries that have turned up in the Dinos’ draft history, that could easily be countered with Morris Petersons and Tracy McGradys, players who performed at a much higher level than expected given the spot they were selected at. And basically that’s what ESPN’s methodology was; using John Hollinger’s "Player Efficiency Rating" (how efficient a player is on a per-minute basis) and various other factors, the D.R.A.F.T. team analyzed every draft choice the past 20 years to produce an "Estimated Wins Added" (EWA) statistic. This is quite similar of course to the "Wins Produced" metric that Dave Berri and the folks at Wages of Wins use.

Therefore ESPN was able to measure how many wins a certain draft player averaged for the team that selected him, and compare that to the average "wins added" score for wherever said player was drafted.

Example – let’s say Morris Peterson produced an EWA score of 2.4. That means throughout his career, Peterson added almost two and a half wins to whatever team he played for. That doesn’t sound like much however Peterson was selected twenty-first overall and ESPN concluded that over the past 20 years, the 21st pick has only produced 0.7 wins. Therefore Peterson well overshot the threshold for being drafted at that spot, and therefore that reflects quite well on the Toronto Raptors. Add in enough players like this, and this is how you get an A grade.

Another team that got an A grade interestingly was the Phoenix Suns, and with choices like Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire outside of the top 5, it’s not hard to see how this score came about either. I found this extremely interesting as Bryan Colangelo had a good hand in that Phoenix score, and while only a minimal impact on the Raptors’ score to date, from this perspective one could argue that the Raps are in good hands going into the upcoming draft.

However what ESPN’s analysis fails to do is to look at the EWA of players teams have passed on. So while statistically, selecting Joey Graham at 16 may not seem like a mistake considering the EWA score of most sixteenth picks, it’s obvious that choosing someone like Danny Granger would have resulted in a much higher EWA score at that spot for Toronto.

But really, that’s not what the point of this whole exercise was for ESPN.

Really, what they set out to do was to determine just how important the draft process is in the grand scheme of things, and as mentioned, after the top five picks, it’s just not that certain of a process. And after the top 10 picks, it really becomes a crapshoot.

From the ESPN Insider article:

"There've only been 28 superstar players (players with an EWA greater than 10 -- think Kevin Garnett or Jason Kidd) in the past 20 drafts -- one or two per year. In 1996, the Halley's Comet of draft classes, there were four: Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash. There have been many more (110) star-caliber players (EWA greater than 5) during those 20 years.

That number means there are maybe five Rasheed Wallaces in any draft class. That's it. And they're usually pretty easy to spot."

So if you consider those five usually are gone within the top seven or eight picks, where does that leave the Raptors at 9?

Well interestingly enough, the ninth pick historically is the one spot according to the ESPN data, that has traditionally produced players that have exceeded expectations while picks six to eight have been atrocious. That of course doesn’t guarantee that the Raps end up with a gem come 10 days, but it’s indeed possible that they find someone who can help their cause sooner rather than later.

From the sounds of things, the Dinos will have another group of potential "gems" in tomorrow for a look-see.

Once again we’ll hopefully have someone from our HQ team there to get a closer look, and it sounds like names like DeRozan and Henderson may be in attendance, even just for interviews even if not for full-on workouts.

Some of these players will undoubtedly draw the praises of us onlookers and in the individual settings, appear to be a nice fit going forward for the Raps.

However after piling through all of the recent draft "science," the bottom line probably is that for Toronto to get out of the basement next year, the players they need to bring in will have to come via free agency, not the NBA draft.

FRANCHISE

Could Bargs and the man on his left be teammates next season?

It’s the time of year when rumours run wild and fans scour the web looking for the latest gossip on who is going where. For many, this is the most exciting time of year. Whether something is fact or fiction is sometimes of secondary importance to simply toiling with the idea in your head or debating it with friends.

One of the rumours that made the rounds last week was a Manu Ginobili trade where he would end up in Washington. Now what the Spurs would have gotten in return was not particularly clear. It does seem clear (as reported from a variety of sources) that Washington is looking to move the fifth pick in the draft for a more established and known commodity.

It wasn’t the Washington side of the story that perked my interest however. It was the San Antonio side of things.

Coach Popovich did what all coaches would do and attempted to douse the theory that Ginobili would be traded. When discussing the subject Coach P. replied: "Manu Ginobili is someone I cannot envision trading," Popovich continued. "He has been such a huge part of our heart and soul; people like that are hard to come by. You don't even think about trading somebody like that. I can't imagine a scenario where he would be traded."

You can take that statement for what it’s worth, in particular the last sentence. I could come up with a handful of scenarios where the Spurs would move Ginobili. Everyone is tradeable.

The Spurs, despite all their talent, are watching their window for another NBA Championship close. The Spurs roster is an aged one and their best player, Tim Duncan, is bound to slow down in the not so distant future. Duncan has played 899 games in his career and has logged 33,139 minutes of PT.

If the Spurs do want to make another run at a Championship with Duncan at the helm they might be well served by making a serious roster move. The current roster just won’t get done and without a first round pick in this years draft there won’t be an influx of young talent this off-season unless trades are made.

Bill Simmons discussed a San Antonio shake-up in late May. In one of his ever popular mailbags he suggested the Spurs look to deal Parker. He then went on to defend and explain his position in further detail here.

Whether it is Parker or Ginobili, Simmons makes a good argument as to why the Spurs should be looking to shake things up which includes the following tidbit –

"Look, the biggest mistake fading contenders make is not audibling near the end of the run, when they can turn an expensive chess piece into multiple guys and an infusion of young blood."

Could CB4 be that infusion of young blood? If BC proposed a deal of CB4 for Ginobili, any one of Oberto/Bowen/Bonner and one of San Antonio’s three second round picks wouldn’t Buford’s ears perk up? The thought of Twin Towers 2.0 in Texas might be too hard to pass-up. Further, San Antonio is both close to home for CB4 and a winning franchise so getting Bosh to re-sign may not be that difficult. A core of Duncan, Bosh and Parker looks very strong and Popovich would be able to use his experiences with Duncan and Robinson to extract the maximum from the two big men.

From Colangelo’s perspective it would allow him to extra good, albeit not equal value, for CB4 all the while moving Bosh to the Western Conference. It also addresses the Raptors dire need for a 2/3 who can play defence and also attack the rim and create off the bounce. Be it Bowen, Oberto or the Red Rocket, each guy would add something to this current Raptors team. Originally when I thought of this idea I pictured Oberto in a Raps uni as I viewed him as a serviceable veteran big man who could easily develop some chemistry with Bargnani. After a little research however, I discovered that Oberto just recently underwent a procedure on his heart to correct his irregular heartbeat. I’m no doctor but to quote the Clipse, this sounds "kinda like a big deal".

Would such a deal happen? Unlikely. BC continues to be adamant that Bosh is going no-where this summer. Although I disagree with that approach, BC has always been a man of his word. Nevertheless there is nothing wrong with thinking about what sort of damage a line-up of Calderon, Ginobili, Marion, Blair?, Bargnani could do.

HOWLAND

Let's hope Evans doesn't try to do too much 1-on-1 in Toronto...

One of the great things about the current NBA blogosphere is what a community it’s become.

When we first started this site back in 2005, there were very few other blogs out there so when trades went down, or rumours were rumbling, it was tough to get much feedback from other knowledgeable basketball sources.

Now of course, that’s not a problem at all and whenever something in Raptorland comes up, you can always reach out to an educated source for further information.

To that point, in the wake of the Reggie Evans trade, we heard a lot about Evans bringing toughness and rebounding, blah, blah, blah.

But just who is Reggie Evans?

To get a better idea for fans, I turned to Jordan from Libertyballers.com, who’s been blogging about the Sixers for quite some time.

The following was his take:

Sixers fans have had a love/hate relationship with Reggie in his two-year tenure with the Sixers. Although, I'm a huge fan of the trade, Reggie will definitely be missed. As far as a night-to-night basis goes, he's one of my favorite players to watch.

Yes, his offense can be ugly at times. Yes, he tends to believe he's more of a scorer than he actually is. And yes, he gets carried away sometimes.

But it's hard to dislike what Reggie brings to an arena every night.

First and foremost, he's one the most energetic players I've ever seen.
He's the epitome of getting the most out of what God gave you. What he lacks in skill, he makes up for in everything else.

I'm not 100 percent sure what the Raptors are lacking, so I'll just get you a quick run-down of his positives and negatives.

Positives

-Fearless. Two years ago when the Sixers played the Pistons in the first round of the playoffs, the Sixers were young, inexperienced and intimidated. Reggie quickly changed that. A couple hard fouls on Rasheed Wallace here, a couple "put your head down and get to the free throw line" drives there -- next thing you know the Sixers aren't intimidated by the big, bad Pistons anymore. Reggie set the tone, and the Sixers never looked back.
-Energy. When you can get a Philly crowd to chant "REG-GIE, REG-GIE" in a intense playoff game, you know you're a special dude.
-One of the best floppers in the league.
-Gets under opposing bigs skin.
-Consonant professional. He does his job without complaining.

Negatives

-Over-rated rebounder. I'm not sure how his numbers are so good, but a lot of his o-rebs are on his own misses. Also, offensive rebounds aren't as good when you either miss or turn the ball over every time you grab one.
-Average defender.
-Makes the occasional stupid play.
-Horrible free throw shooter (although improved)
-Not a good finisher. He'll cost his teammates some assists.

Overall, he's a fun player to watch. He's tough. He can be a goon on the floor. And if he's surrounded by good offensive players, I think he'll help a lot more than he'll hurt. You'll rarely see him take a jump shot, so it's hard to get too mad at the occasional one.

And ironically, his best moment as a Sixer came on a jump shot.

With under a minute to play, he drilled a fadeaway to give the Sixers the lead or tie the game (I forget) in the playoffs against the Pistons.

A big thanks to Jordan for the feedback, some of which I found to be a bit eye-opening.

For instance my assumption of Evans was that he was much more of a "role player" than Jordan’s description, and it is a bit worrisome that Evans considers himself a better offensive player than he is. That's not to say he's Kobe Bryant in overtime last night (dude, PASS THE BALL), but it sounds like there will still be times when as Raptors fans Evans' will frustrate. It also may mean if Humphries isn’t dealt, the Raptors will have two very similar players in this respect, something obviously I'm not looking forward to.

On the flip side, the "getting under opposing bigs’ skins," and "fearless" are the EXACT type of traits this Raptor-club desperately needs and his grit against the Pistons already has me excited about his potential with our current group of softies.

I returned the favour for Jordan, giving him my thoughts on Jason Kapono which you can check out here, and again, this sounds like a win-win situation for both clubs.

Evans of course is just one part of what hopefully is a very successful makeover project by BC and co this summer.

The draft is less than two weeks away, and hopefully by that time we’ll see another piece of the puzzle laid into place.

FRANCHISE

PS - On a non-Raptors related note, the National Team's Senior Men's basketball camp is coming up next week. Our newest addition to the team, Ray Bala, will be providing coverage and we'll be taking a closer look at the squad over the next little while.

Alvin Williams talks to the media yesterday looking like he ended up working harder in the drills than the prospects themselves.

As mentioned in yesterday’s post by Howland, the move to trade for Reggie Evans helped to address the need for a rebounder/enforcer on a historically soft team.

With the draft now only two weeks away, yesterday’s Pre-Draft workout had some players on display who may represent another step in that direction should they be selected by Toronto.

In addition, yesterday represented the first time Alvin Williams officially began his assistant coaching duties with the club, and both he, and Jay Triano spoke with the media post-workout.

In terms of the workout itself, who impressed most?

Earl Clark was probably the most heralded of the forwards coming into the workout and he did indeed stand out. He showed well when he went through the team drills, no doubt a byproduct of his preparation under Rick Pitino. Clark displayed his prowess as a help defender often aiding off the weak side leading to transition chances. He was rebounding well above the rim, and was either leading the break with an outlet pass or finishing the break with a strong move the hole. He also showed well in the individual defense drills stopping both the guards and forwards alike. His length was definitely an asset, and he knows how to use it well on the defensive end.

Now in the shooting drills, Clark was hot and cold. One of the knocks on him is that he is a little streaky on the shot and that was definitely the case yesterday. He would make three only to miss five or vice versa. He may indeed be a great shooter, but I didn’t see it at the workout. He was unstoppable when going one-on-one, or one-on-two for that matter, but shooting drills showed him as the streaky Earl from college and didn’t impress at all on that end.

Another knock on Clark coming out of Louisville was that he seemed to coast in games, possibly lacking intensity…and unfortunately that Earl Clark seemed to show up during portions of the workout as well. I’m not sure if it’s just that Earl has a very calm demeanor but he looked a little too at ease during some drills to the point of appearing disinterested. One of our peers at The Score made a similar observation and it came out in his body language and on his face.

Could he have the T-Mac condition? Didn’t people say he also the same thing about him?

Coincidentally McGrady is Clark’s fav player and even in this setting, one has to wonder if Clark can truly take advantage of his vast array of talents at the next level.

Who would be a sleeper pick?

Xavier’s Derrick Brown is a player and showed extremely well in the workout. Listed at 6’7", 227 lbs, he looks like he could play 3 or 4 at the next level despite describing himself purely as a 3 to media. There is no doubt that he is an excellent athlete and this more than his basketball acumen may be pushing him up higher on GM’s draft boards.

In the shooting drills he displayed a great touch from the outside and great form, which surprised me for someone his size. In the team drills, he looked like a gazelle running the floor and was always finishing above the rim. He did look like he had some trouble in the one-on-one offensive drills when he played against equal sized defenders, occasionally taking what looked like forced shots. In addition, it should be noted is that he didn’t show much post-up game during the workout, at least none which was memorable. However he’s a long, rugged looking player and could have definitely benefitted from throwing more of his body around. That may still be a work in progress.

Brown looked good on defense both in the one-on-one and team settings but could use some work more work in this area as well. He looked like he had trouble when it got physical in the low post, but mind you I only saw the extremely athletic Clark take it to him in that area. Most others seemed to be settling for outside jumpers against him one-on-one so that may not have given a clear picture.

The other standout yesterday was Ty Lawson. Easily the most publicized of the players in the ACC he was everything he was billed to be. He looks every bit the 6’0", 195 lbs he measured at and is a bulldog with the ball going full steam into the paint. He has a strong upper body, and if there was a parallel universe out there where Charles Oakley was a six foot point guard, Lawson would be the body. He took it to everyone guarding him be it one-on-one or in the team drills, and was able to finish through contact. This was especially impressive since the next shortest person on the floor yesterday in terms of prospects, was half a foot taller than him. Yet Lawson showed he was able to take it straight into the defenders, doing a great job of using his body to finish in traffic.

We all know his handle is very good, he did run the point for the Tar Heels, but he displayed his basketball IQ as well in this environment making tough baskets look easy. He worked well with Clark and Johnson in the team drills and led his teammates to the rim with pinpoint passes.

Though undersized on the defensive end, he was able to hold his own getting his hands on the ball when the bigs tried to take him low, which was basically everyone. With the body of a running back, his strength definitely was an asset. In his only post-up situation he was able to keep Vasquez from backing him down. Vasquez is about six inches taller than Lawson, but is in about the same weight class. I don’t recall anyone scoring on Lawson trying to take it to hole, which should impress since everyone had a reach advantage.

What most impressed me was Lawson’s shooting. He didn’t take many shots during the team portions but he was money from wherever he shot, particularly in the drill that had the players running from half court to the assigned spots on the arc. Lawson’s form was picture perfect the entire time. This may have more to do with his conditioning but regardless, even the best conditioned players have their forms waver unless they are elite level shooters which surprisingly Ty seems to be at this point.

Lawson does his best Phonte from Little Brother impression for the media...

And what about the other three participants?

Vasquez showed exactly what I expected from him; hit shots from anywhere on the floor. He didn’t do anything else that really stood out outside of that. He was billed as a great shooter and he brought his guns loaded to Toronto. He looked like he had a little trouble keeping up with the quicker Lawson on "D" which may be an indication that he may have solidified himself as a two guard, possibly in the Kapono mold.

Wake Forest’s James Johnson was an anomaly to me. I didn’t get to see much of him during the college season, and honestly I didn’t hear much of him either. He looked like he had the least impressive day of the six. He didn’t make many shots in the shooting drills and didn’t show well in either the one-on-one "O" or "D" drills either. I’m sure he’s a better player than he showed, and perhaps has had an intense travel or MMA practice schedule of late, but for a player many are projecting as late lottery pick, team workouts are not the time to look like you’re throwing up bricks or moving with heavy feet.

Last but not least we have Gonzaga’s Austin Daye. Now Daye is probably the one player that most confuses so-called talent evaluators and scouting gurus. It’s a good thing he’s only testing the Draft waters because he didn’t impress at all, similar to some of the other reports that have been circulating from these sessions. As a legit 6’10", he has the height and quickness to take post guys off the dribble, but I didn’t see much of that. He has length to be good defender on the low block, but I didn’t see much of that either. In fact I didn’t see much of the skill set that had Daye pegged as a lottery pick when he declared for the Draft. Daye looked like he forced shots particularly to avoid contact of any kind, even fading out near the arc against Lawson at one point. His shooting drills looked decent but he looked a little run down.

Many are saying that Daye would be better off going back to school for another year to not only work on his game, but also to bulk up a little even at the wing. He looked routinely overpowered in the one-on-one drills against the bigs, and he looked like he was exerting too much energy just to get his shot off. Daye, who in this interview with Hoopsaddict's Ryan McNeill compared himself to Rashard Lewis, gave the impression of being a sixth man in a stickman ball game and he looks to have some major work to do if he expects to play in the D-League let alone the Big League.

With the next incoming round of players, it will be interesting to see who Toronto brings in. While rumours of Evanses and DeRozans are swirling, there’s nothing set in stone for next week according to the Raptors’ media team.

As for options in the draft from today’s workout, Lawson would undoubtedly be a solid addition if Colangelo looks to grab another pick later in the first round should he be available. And again as a sleeper, Derrick Brown is very interesting.

However if a perimeter tweener forward is indeed on the Raptors’ menu, there’s no question that a versatile player like Clark could fit into BC’s plans.

All that to say that despite newly updated mock drafts from both Draftexpress.com, CNNSI.com and ESPN.com, most of which state that the Raptors are taking Demar DeRozan, looking at the variety of permutations above and below the team, it’s quite clear that despite anyone’s "insider" information, things are still very much up in the air.

RAY BALA

PS - Sticking on the draft subject, check out this great piece on Jonny Flynn done by Slam correspondent and Score blogger, Holly MacKenzie. You can follow along with her as she does a great job blogging and twittering through the NBA playoffs at http://twitter.com/stackmack

Evans is hardly an offensive force, but his rebounding abilities and aggressivness are just what the doctor ordered for the Dinos.

The Legomaster is at it again.

In a rare early June trade the Raptors have dealt Jason Kapono to division rival Philadelphia for Reggie Evans.

This deal shouldn’t come as a surprise, unless of course you thought Jason Kapono and his salary were completely untradeable.

In our recap of Colangelo’s end of season media address we wrote the following:

The Major Needs:

Outside of the back-up PG situation BC pointed out that the team’s biggest needs were two-fold – a player who can both create offensively and be a solid defender to help protect Jose at the 2, and a rebounder. Raptors fans are craving the former but the focus during the press conference was on the latter. In regards to rebounding BC pointed out that the team, as currently constructed, will never be a great rebounding team. Although Bosh averaged ten rebounds, BC does not feel that Andrea "will ever be a monster on the glass" based on his style of play, and the team needs help in this department.

It's not just rebounding that the team needs help in however. The team is soft and Colangelo acknowledged as much saying that the team needs is too nice as a group. There clearly is a toughness deficit on this team and it's nice to hear that BC will be looking to address it even with the big guys he added over the course of the year.

The motivation for this deal is crystal clear. By acquiring Reggie Evans, Colangelo has helped to address not only the team’s lack of toughness but also its dire need for a rebounder.

Make no mistake about it, statistically Reggie Evans is a one trick pony in that he is a very good rebounder, but provides little else. In his six-year career, Evans has been consistently ranked as one of the league’s best rebounders per 48 minutes and in 2006-2007 he actually led the league in that category. Last season he produced 4.6 rebounds in just over 14 minutes of action.

What can’t be measured statistically is the toughness he brings to the front-court. Evans is your prototypical "banger," something this team has been lacking since the days of Charles Oakley and even Antonio Davis. In fact, Evans brings with him a tag of being a bit of a dirty player. (Everyone remembers the infamous "Evans low-blow.") After watching the Raps shy away from contact though and play the victim more times than not, acquiring a player of Evans ilk can’t be viewed as a bad thing. It’s nice to know that if the other team pushes, the Raps have someone who will push back.

Reggie comes with some glaring flaws however. The big man is a horrific free-throw shooter and has no offensive game to speak of. There’s no question that Evans will carve out some minutes on this team, likely at Humphries’ expense, but don’t expect him to be a crunch time player.

This deal was basically a swap of one skill set for another; 3’s for boards. It is debatable which skill is more valuable, but the Raps were desperate for what Evans brings. Of course simply bringing in Evans shouldn’t be viewed as the quick fix to the Raps toughness issues. This team still needs a 2/3 who craves contact both on the offensive and defensive end of the court.

From a cap perspective this was a no-brainer for BC as the Raptors are taking back a lesser-paid player. Kapono’s contract expires in 2011 as does that of Evans, but rather than doling out $6,212,960 and $6,641,440 over the course of the next two seasons for Kapono, the Dinoss are now on the hook for $4,960,000 and $5,080,000. This is substantial savings at a time when the cap looks to be decreasing, and Toronto needs all the money it can get to fill other voids.

And here’s a question; does this trade increase the likelihood of the Raptors re-signing the Matrix?

One thing the trade does do is that it virtually guarantees that the team will be taking a wing player with the 9th pick in the draft. With this move the Raps have no one under contract for next season who can play the 2/3 spot (with the exception of yikes, Quincy Douby). Although it would be nice to see a player like Jonny Flynn in a Toronto jersey, unless BC manages to grab another high first round pick the Raptors will certainly be looking for a player like Tyreke Evans, Demar DeRozan or James Harden to fall. And if those three aren’t there, it’s not impossible now that they will trade down to nab someone like Gerald Henderson or Terrence Williams. The one potential draftee who definitely seems to be out of the running of course is DeJuan Blair, a virtual clone of Evans on the glass, and a player quite similar in build and style to Nathan Jawai (whose team option seems to be a no-brainer for BC and co. to pick up.)

Seeing Kapono dealt won’t cause much of a stir amongst Raptors fans. Yes, he was a fan favourite in many ways because of his professional conduct, but other than the 2007-2008 playoff series against Orlando, Kapono’s play has left much to be desired. Save for a couple of 3-point shootout victories in the All-Star Game, unfortunately Kapono will not be remembered for much during his stay in TO. It’s a shame too because I think the majority of Raptors’ fans really WANTED him to succeed, but this just wasn’t the right situation for a player who is so dependent on the talents of others in order to elevate his game.

Kapono may find more success with the 76ers who have been looking for a sharp shooter since dealing away Kyle Korver. In their incoming Princeton-style offense, and with a slasher in Iguodala and a dominant post-presence in Brand, Kapono should find some easy looks. That of course doesn’t take away from the fact that he is a defensive liability and when he is not hitting said shots, but for a Philly team dying for some long-distance accuracy, this is a great move for them, especially since Evans barely played last year.

What should not be lost in the shuffle here is that BC once again quickly set to work in righting a past wrong. (You wonder in fact if he wouldn’t have pulled the trigger on something similar last year had it not been for Kapono’s series against Orlando, and the prospect of open looks in the Bosh-O’Neal experiment.) By making this swap, BC is clearly acknowledging that signing Kapono to such a lucrative deal just a few years ago was a mistake. We the fans knew this was the case and now it has been confirmed. As Vicious D so aptly pointed out in his last article, Kapono was signed rather than players like Pietrus at a time when Toronto desperately needed some defense and athleticism at the wing position; essentially the antithesis of what JK brought to the table.

The trade of course does make you wish that Colangelo wouldn’t have made the Kapono mistake in the first place, but the fact that he was able to get some value for Kap-One, and value that addresses team needs, is quite satisfying. Franchise might have gone a bit overboard yesterday when he called if "Hoffa for Hump Part II" but you get the idea. This was a case of moving something that was providing little to no benefit to the team in exchange for something that looks to be a very nice fit.

Now if only he could do the same with Marcus Banks…

HOWLAND

PRE-DRAFT WORKOUT FOR WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10TH.

As Howland mentioned above, with the Evans move it seems more and more clear that the team is bent on drafting a wing.

However you’d never know that from the list of players expected to be in attendance at the ACC this morning; 4 forwards (who project as possible be power forwards in fact at the next level) and two point guards in the form of Xavier’s 6-8 Derrick Brown, Gonzaga’s 6-11 Austin Daye, Wake Forest’s 6-9 James Johnson, Louisville’s 6-9 Earl Clark, Maryland’s Gievis Vasquez and North Carolina’s Ty Lawson, with Vasquez and Lawson being the 1’s in this group.

Huh?

What gives?

Well at first glance it is a bit strange to see that Toronto assembled this group but on a closer examination, things do make sense.

For those unfamiliar with some of these names, Brown, Johnson, Daye and Clark are all extremely versatile 3’s who could play a range of positions in the NBA depending on how they develop.

Clark is the front-runner from the group, a Lamar Odom type who can score from inside and out with Shawn Marion type athleticism. He tended to disappear at times in college and while he put together a strong final season overall, it’s really hard to say just what type of NBA future he has. At times he’s completely unstoppable due to his range and athletic ability however last year for Louisville he coasted on occasion and simply didn’t dominate the way many expected a player with his skill-set would.

Clark delivers one of my favourite dunks from last season...hello Mr. Harangody!

Johnson and Brown don’t have the same "smoothness" to their game as Clark but are much more physical specimens. Both extremely strong, have great length, and like Clark, great leaping abilities. Johnson is the more highly regarded of the two but Brown has been creeping up mock draft boards.

Finally we come to Daye, a top 10 talent on paper but who can’t seem to shed the "soft" label. In individual settings like this morning’s, Daye will look terrific displaying an incredible arsenal of offensive moves, with a Tayshaun Prince type build and length to go along them. However his combine results hardly blew anyone away, and like Clark to a lesser degree, he just didn’t dominate at Gonzaga the way many expected him to when he first joined the Bulldogs.

So are any of these four possible picks for Toronto at 9?

It’s tough to say.

To me it looks like Colangelo is simply doing his due diligence as the four forwards represent sort of the "next tier" of talent just after the lottery. Considering how equal players from 7 to about 17 seem to be, it’s not inconceivable that Colangelo grabs one of these four if none of the original players he has had his eye on are left at 9. Or, perhaps because of this equality in options, the Raptors look to trade down in the draft, thereby grabbing a 3-4, and still picking up a wing.

The bottom line is that it never hurts to get a closer look at as many players as possible, especially with the draft looking to be so up in the air.

And bringing in the point guards with this group of forwards this morning kills two birds with one stone; it helps facilitate the 3-on-3 action all the while giving TO a look at two possible back-up point guard options. Of the two, Lawson definitely has the winning pedigree and is the more NBA-ready of the two but Vasquez is interesting as well. I watched him kill my Blue Devils plenty of times last year in ACC action and the Maryland alum is a bit of a Carlos Delfino type; he can handle the ball and run the offense and yet at 6-6 can be a threat at the 2 with his long-range shooting and crafty moves.

We’ll have a full report tomorrow regarding the workout, which looks to be Toronto’s second-last.

As we reported last week, Colangelo alluded to another final session next week, one that we’re guessing will have some of the final big names such as DeRozan, Curry, Evans and Henderson. Outside of those four names (and some of the bigger ones like Harden and Hill), the Raptors will have seen except Brandon Jennings who is slated to be taken with picks about 5 to 17.

Therefore while next week’s workout is obviously the one we’re waiting on with baited breath, this morning’s action still promises to be quite intriguing. There’s no question that both Johnson and Clark have NBA All-Star upside and it will be a real treat to see them gong one-on-one.

In a draft so devoid of sure things, perhaps in the end it’s a workout like this morning’s that makes the Raptors’ draft decision.

FRANCHISE

Starting this summer, Denham Brown and his national teammates will be getting a closer look from the HQ.

Over the next few months, RaptorsHQ.com will be undergoing some major transformations.

Some will be visual, others, on the content side.

This morning though before we sink back into mega-draft coverage tomorrow (Raps are bringing in another group for a look on Wednesday), we thought it would be a good idea to finally introduce something that’s been in the works for a while; a specific portion of the site dedicated to Canadian Basketball.

Ever since the slow demise of Hooplife, this is something we’ve been wanting to do for a while and last fall we grabbed former Hooplife writer Ray Bala for the task.

Ray has been working tirelessly behind the scenes and has already secured some incredible access to upcoming events, something that should be interesting not only to our current Raptors-specific readership, but to the many basketball-junkies out across the nation who just aren’t getting the fix they need.

While Ray will primarily be looking at Canadians playing D1 in the US and professionally overseas, he’ll also be scouting local tournaments, looking at the Canadian University basketball landscape and the National Team, and even working on some cultural stories fusing the game, music, fashion…you name it.

To kick things off then, a few words from Ray Bala about Ray Bala:

Having a passion for all things basketball, Ray has managed to somewhat parlay that passion into a writing career. Having been a contributor to various basketball, and non basketball, publications of the last few years, he has also held the position of sports editor at a Toronto community newspaper, lifestyle editor for the Australian basketball magazine "Handle," as well as contributed to Canada Basketball’s own site. Ray is also currently assisting in the PR department for the Women’s Blue Chip Basketball League, "Toronto Stealth." He is currently still obsessed with all things basketball, particularly Canadian, as well as trying to find the time to grow his music and shoe collections. When not at the local YMCA working on his spotty jumper, he can be found scouring the city looking for his next meal.

It’s great to have Ray on board and what follows are two pieces he’s recently completed.

The first is a brief interview with Wayne Dawkins, the founder and organizer of the annual All-Canada All-Star Weekend while the second is a recap of the weekend itself which just concluded this past Saturday.

I’ll let him take it away from here – FRANCHISE.

This past weekend marked the ninth time that the longest running national high school all star event tipped off. Since 2000, the All-Canada Game has been showcasing the best and most talented basketball players from coast-to-coast and this year was certainly no slouch. On tap this time around were not only skills competitions and the men’s and women’s All-Star games, but there was also the addition of an alumni game that not only stirred memories, but also provided plenty of excitement. There were nine players that have secured Division 1 NCAA basketball scholarships expected to attend, one of whom was a top-ten prospect in the US, not to mention others who had signed to play at Canadian schools in the coming season. There was even scheduled to be an NBA player in the game! I caught up with the event’s founder and organizer, Wayne Dawkins, to go into the roots of the game and why it has successfully managed to stick around when other have come and gone.

Ray Bala: How did the game come about?

Wayne Dawkins: It started in many years ago. I had a coach I used to work with named Saeed Al-Naji and we had put together a great group (of players) that included Denham Brown, Kevin Massiah, Tristan Martin, just a phenomenal group of guys. We eventually teamed up with Ro Russell, who was running Elite Toronto Development and had Duane John, Chris Exhilus and Olu Famutimi, and together formed the organization Grassroots. When we combined, one of the things we wanted to do was to create better opportunities for our athletes. The second was to fundraise. Saeed was the one that came up with the idea (of the game) first and this would be a place to accomplish what we wanted: expose our athletes and raise funds. Fortunately it has grown and is growing strong.

RB: I know that there have been a few events similar to this over the years and they have come and gone. It’s good to see that the event has been consistent enough to come back for now nine summers. Why is that?

WD: I think a lot of mistakes some organizations have done is that they have not put the athletes first. When you look at some of these other entities or organizations, the athletes didn’t feel connected to it for whatever reason and when no one is putting money into the basketball community, things die.

RB: Are you surprised at the event’s steady growth over the years?

WD: I’m surprised because financially there isn’t anything there. People think that the event has a huge budget. It runs on a shoe string budget and a lot of volunteers and in the beginning the volunteers were mostly the athletes and students. [The All Canada Classic is] basically a volunteer operation with me being the biggest volunteer at the helm. How it survived so long, people point the finger and say that it’s your passion and energy.

RB: How have you managed to continue the All Canada Game’s growth?

WD: Keeping this event going has been about reinventing. I looked closely at Madonna and she is very determined and is constantly reinventing herself. And with this event, you are constantly tweaking it in a way that is works for our community such as an awards banquet to honor the athletes, coaches, and community members. Finding different ways to make it more inclusive and bring the community in as opposed to trying to cash in. If your agenda is about these athletes, they will buy in. If it’s not, they can smell it a mile and it will fall apart.

RAY BALA

All Canada Weekend 2009 - Recap

Toronto - This past weekend Wayne Dawkins and his Metro Phase 1 program hosted the 9th annual All Canada Game in Toronto. I’m sure that most of the casual Canadian basketball fans were not aware and this is a shame since this was probably the single best event of its kind in the country. All the best high school level players in the nation were in one place and it did not disappoint.

Dawkins and his team put in some hard work getting together the Canuck equivalent of the McDonald’s All- American game. They had a weekend of events for the Canadian basketball community which included a skills competition and an alumni game for both men and women along with the young men’s and women’s games concluding with an awards banquet on the last day. I was unfortunately only in attendance on the Saturday, which was the showcase day when all the games were played, but everything I got to take in in terms of game action, was every bit as impressive as I had expected.

I got into the Seneca College Sports Centre just in time for the men’s alumni game which featured players who had played in the event’s nine year history. I arrived midway through the first half and it looked like a sure runaway victory by the East Team, which featured former D1 players like Sefton Barrett, Eugene Kotorobai and former top 100 prospects Jeffrey Ferguson and Olu Famutimi. They seemed to be in control in all of the first and halfway through the second half. But this wouldn’t be an all star game without some excitement and this game was definitely full of it in the last five minutes. With a West Team that featured former National Team members Jermaine Anderson and Denham Brown, the game turned into an instant classic.

With less than six minutes to go, the West cut the lead from 17 to three with 38.5 seconds left. Brown would score again to cut it down to one point putting even more pressure on the East. The East responded however by making one of two from the line after a foul to go up by 2; 90-88 with 17.3 seconds remaining. However Denham Brown would not be denied and put back a missed "and one free throw" with less than two seconds to go in regulation to knot the game at 90 points and force overtime.

In fact Denham would make the extra period his own personal showcase dropping nine of the 11 points scored by his team beginning with the first seven of overtime, and his West squad would go on to win the first alumni game 101-96. It was an extremely exciting finish and laid the groundwork for what should be another exciting affair next year.

The main event, the Men’s Rumble, was another great one. Dawkins and his team got the best young talent playing in this country, and as mentioned, some that play down south. It was a who’s who of players and it drew a myriad of Canadian basketball personalities including National Team Coach Leo Rautins and former Raptor Jerome Williams. Franchise recently talked about the importance of laying the groundwork for Canadian Basketball culture here in Canada via the Raptors, and alluded to the Alvin Williams potential coaching position as part of this. Seeing JYD at the game further reinforced this mantra and hopefully this is a major endeavour going forward for the Raps.

The game itself was great and it played out like any other all star game; a lot of offense, little defense, sloppy play early and a lot of ooohhs and ahhhs. The players for both teams definitely had the game to be at this event but those prospects playing Stateside seemed to be a cut above the others with Junior Cadougan (signed letter of intent with Marquette) in particular looking unstoppable.

It was a seesaw battle between the East and West in the early minutes with the West taking a ten point lead into the break. The second half would be a little different as both teams were looking to lock-in on defense, but the offense still flowed well. Turnovers were still abundant (this was an All-Star type event) and Cadougan was still showing why he was invited to the National Team try-out a couple of years back. Tristan Thompson, probably the most highly regarded player in recent memory from Canada, looked a little sloppy and uninterested at times, though his skill set was noticeable. I wasn’t able to stick around for the whole second half but I had seen enough to know that the event had definitely succeeded in bringing together the best of the best.

Tristan Thompson flies to the rim.

A few notes on some of the top players in attendance:

-Thompson, a top 5 recruit on sites like Rivals.com and Scouthoops.com for the class of 2010, looks noticeably more muscular than he did the last time I got to see him in action.

-Cadougan, who has been noted to over-dribble at times, was a lot more efficient, using his dribble to get to the hole whenever he wanted, often finishing at the rim.

-Recent Slam Magazine subject Brady Heslop, a 6-1 gunner who is considering Waterloo and U of T, can shoot and I mean SHOOT! He didn’t miss a 3 when I was watching and I saw him hit at least ten with defenders draped all over him.

-Finally, Alwayne Bigby (Northeastern) was the best athlete playing in the game with Gonzaga bound Manny Arop coming a close second.

All in all, the All-Canada Weekend was a great event. It would have been nice to attend each day but that’s something the new HQ team will be working on going forward as we expand the breadth of our coverage.

And the one day I did get to showed that this event was definitely worth the price of admission and is really in need in our basketball community.

RAY BALA

Holiday in the eye of the media storm yesterday...

Attending the workouts this year has been a fantastic experience.

Unlike last year, where at times we only got to see small pieces of the workout action, this year the media has been able to see the Raptors' staff run prospects through a whole gamut of drills. Yesterday was a prime example of that as Franchise and I soaked in almost an hour of action before getting to conduct some interviews.

Watching these guys battle it out in drills does two things. First, it gives us a great opportunity to see how certain players match-up.

Second, it makes you realize that while these work-outs really are just a small piece of what goes into evaluating a player, there is still a lot that can be learned.

Exhibit A - Chase Budinger.

While Franchise has always thought Budinger probably was being undervalued and his "soft" label was a bit overblown, you could easily see yesterday why this concern was there. It wasn't so much that Chase shied away from contact, or didn't attack the rim, but he just didn't win very many battles for loose balls, or do any of the dirty work. He clearly has a solid shooting form and he showed good footwork when catching the ball close to the basket, but you never would have guessed that he tested out as one of the most athletic guys in this year’s draft. Despite his athleticism I have a hard time believing that he will be anything more than a spot-up shooter at the next level and I am not sure I could stomach another "shooter" on this Raps team.

However if Budinger represents the clarity that sometimes can be given from watching players in these settings, Goran Suton represents how easy it can be to fall in love with prospects based on this small sample size. In fact let's take it one step further and say that if these work-outs were the be all and end all of scouting then the Raps would likely select Goran Suton with the number 9 pick. Suton was arguably the most impressive guy on the court today showing great touch not only around the rim, but also an impressive range and shot mechanics.

During the 3-point drill he was absolutely lights out nailing the trey time and time again. For a big man, this was obviously quite a feat and offensively he was the most dominant player on the court yesterday.

Of course the Raps are not going to draft the pivot from Michigan State in the first round. But his play opened some eyes to say the least and I think Franchise and I would be be shocked if we didn't hear his name called on draft
night.

It was interesting to see Suton putting on such a show because it distracted a bit from the showdown that was supposed to be the headling performance; the PG battle taking place between Jonny Flynn and Jrue Holliday.

Flynn takes a breather after a long session.

So what did we see?

Straight off the bat both pass the eye test. Holiday is indeed a good deal taller than Flynn with a longer build. And while shorter, Flynn has a very impressive physique. He may indeed be a shade under 6 feet in reality, but as one of our associates from The Score noted, he appears to be no smaller than Chris Paul. He's hardly a string-bean either, possessing a Joey Graham type frame albeit on a smaller player.

However what most of us couldn't stop awkwardly staring at were Flynn's calves which resembled huge tensely coiled springs. It's not much of a surprise then that he tested out with a 40 inch vertical leap, something that was on full display in drills.

As Franchise wrote yesterday, Flynn is uber-athletic and attacks the rim relentlessly. In 3-on-3 drills he got anywhere he wanted on the court and was extremely aggressive getting to the cup despite having the longer and bigger Holiday matched up against him. Flynn’s passing ability was also on display in the 3-on-3 drills where he constantly made the smart play and created some easy looks for his teammates.

The thing that struck me the most about Flynn was just how vocal and competitive he is. Flynn was constantly talking it up on both ends of the floor and leading his team. For a Raptors club looking for more leadership, toughness and grit, this is exactly the kind of guy that would help address these needs. When he watched his teammate Suton complete a nasty dunk in traffic, he was as excited as if he had hit the game-winner himself.

Maybe this should come as no surprise considering Andy Rautins was watching the workouts from the sideline along with his Dad, but indeed it was hard not to fall in love with the Syracuse product and contemplate him being a great change in tempo pace to Jose off the bench. For those who wished that TJ Ford would have accepted the back-up role to form a formidable match-up for opponents, it's easy to see Flynn as being a TJ Ford 2.0; just as quick and aggressive, however with a much stronger physique, and better attitude, shot selection, athleticism and shot. Flynn's by no means a lights-out shooter, but he's no Rajon Rondo either.

The one drill where Flynn had problems was the 1-on-1 where against bigger players he had a difficult time keeping them out of the paint. Despite his fierce effort there will be times when he won’t be able to overcome his smaller stature. Of course in the NBA, it's going to be extremely rare for an opponent to be able to back Flynn down from the perimeter to the hoop as Flynn will have four other teammates to help out. And with his strength and athleticism, only
much brawnier players like Damion James were able to do so with ease.

Franchise had a great opportunity to chat with Flynn prior to the rest of the media joining in. The video can be found here on our HQ Youtube channel. You can easily see how charismatic the Niagra native is, joking with Franchise about the fire alarm (which randomly started going off during drills) and about being "nearly Canadian already!"

On the flip-side there was Holiday.

Albeit no less impressive, Holiday is a very different PG. He had a solid workout, and although he made some questionable decisions at times turning the ball over in the 3-on-3 drills, he looked comfortable running the point.

Being a team’s primary ball handler however, could be a bit of a transition for him. Although he played more 2 guard at UCLA, he is sure that he will play the 1 at the next level. I asked him about his ball-handling skills and he seems confident that running the point will not be problematic.

The one place where Holiday really stood out was on the defensive end though. While as mentioned, he had a tough time containing Flynn in 3-on-3 drills, he did a very solid job containing him in the one-on-one portion demonstrating very quick hands and feet. The Raptors had the players run through a variety of pin-down and high screen-and-roll drills to see if both Flynn and Holiday could fight through bigger players and while both passed with flying colours, it was Holiday's length and quickness that were extremely bothersome for whoever he was guarding. And in the 3-on-3 portion, Holiday repeatedly stole the rock by getting into passing lanes resulting in easy buckets for his team.

After the work-out Jim Kelly was quick to point out Holiday’s defense and you got the feeling that there is legitimate interesting in the former Bruin at the 9 spot. A capable defensive player at the point is something we all know this Raps team is lacking terribly.

What we found most interesting about the Raptors and Holiday is that it doesn't appear that Toronto is putting any weight in his struggles in his freshman season. As you can hear in this clip, Franchise asked Kelly about this and from Kelly's response, it's quite clear that the Raps simply believe the fit wasn't there with Bruin coach Ben Howland's system, and they're relying on reports based on the player they've probably been watching since high school.

And what about yesterday's other two participants, Damion James and Alade Aminu?

James, who apparently has been tearing it up on the workout circuit, was admittedly impressive given my expectations and what I saw of him at Texas. During the 3-on-3 portion, his shot was falling and he was extremely active defensively. He clearly has the body to play the 3 in the L, but there are going to be questions about his ability to shoot the ball on a consistent basis. During the 3-point shooting drills James had a tough time and couldn’t really get into a groove. However you can easily see him being a second-round pick who finds a role with a team as a defensive stopper.

Will it be on the Raps?

Doubtful but if there continue to be Joey Graham trade rumours, it's hard not to think that defensively James could come in and replace him without missing a beat.

Finally, Aminu was the least impressive of the group by a long-shot. He struggled offensively missing a few easy looks in close to the hoop and even a wide open dunk. He looks to be headed to the Summer League route in terms of hooking on with a team post-draft.

Really, it will be interesting to see who the Raps bring in next. Although exciting to see some of the top PG prospects battle it out I am not sure taking a PG is a luxury that the Raps can afford at this point. With only Kapono as an established 2, the roster is completely devoid of swingmen right now. Either one of Flynn or Holiday would help the Raps in both the short and long term but to take one of these guys at 9 essentially means heading into next season with even more inexperience at the PG position.

Flynn's charisma was on full display yesterday as he intermingled with the Raptors' coaching staff.

Franchise has a slightly different view of things but there's not question after last year that we both feel an experienced back-up to Jose is a must.

Post workouts we chatted with Bryan Colangelo a bit and it seems like there will be two more prospect evaluation sessions here in TO; one next Wednesday and then a catch-all the following week for anyone the team missed.

We're guessing some of the names will include Curry, DeRozan, Evans, Blair, Henderson and Clark. Of course some of these players may decide they think they'll be drafted earlier and forego attendance, but it seems likely that these are the remaining names on BC and co's
list.

Outside of the work-outs, it was a busy day for the Raps. While there is still nothing concrete regarding Alvin Williams, the club was not only hosting 6 prospects but they were also announcing the hiring of Marc Iavaroni and the re-signing of Alex English as assistant coaches. Both men were in attendance at the workout putting the guys through the paces.

Iavaroni spoke to the media after the work-out and he seems quite happy to be here in Toronto. During the scrum Iavaroni referenced his work with big-men while an assistant and how important defense is to playing an up-tempo style in terms of getting stops and jump-starting the offence. "Up-tempo" is clearly the word of the day as it was used repeatedly when discussing how this team will play this upcoming season.

Bringing on a coach who can not only continue to work with Bargnani but who is committed to improving this team from a defensive standpoint is exactly what this coaching staff needed. Iavaroni's experience as a head-coach can only be viewed as an asset and hopefully he and Triano develop a great working relationship.

HOWLAND