At this stage, they don’t plan on inviting anyone other than the 13 players currently under guaranteed contract, allowing them to move smoothly into dress rehearsals for their 13th NBA season.
“We can work right away on our main structure,” senior vice-president of basketball operations Maurizio Gherardini said yesterday. “We can try and put in things that actually help our team game, work on similar concepts, offence, defence and use the pre-season games as a test, not as a way to try out new players.”
“We followed Jermaine’s schedule this summer, some of our team personnel witnessed his progress and we have the same wish as our fans, to see him as soon as possible,” Gherardini said. “He’s as hungry as can be and he’s going to have quite an impact on this team.
“Chris had a great summer, put extra work into his game, which obviously showed, all of which will be great for the Raptors. No doubt he’ll be ready to lead this group. We had a few guys in the Olympics; Chris, Jose Calderon (Spain) and Roko Ukic (Croatia), but each guy had his own book of conditioning to follow in the summer.
“A guy such as Andrea Bargnani had a (sinus) operation, but he didn’t take more than a week off. So they should be in good shape, no body fat.”
Seems RaptorsTV will be showing the four home pre-season games and the big tilt in Edmonton against Denver. And, if the past is prelude, somewhere on a satellite the games in Los Angeles will get on the tube, making it seven of the eight available for viewers.
So, yes, you can see delightful NBA pre-season action if you subscribe to the network.
Many have said that Nathan Jawai will not be much of a factor for the Raptors this year. I have firmly stood behind my thought that he will play a bit more of a role than most people are willing to say. Here is a bit of an explanation as to why I think this will happen. Kris Humphries has been a basic hustle guy for the Raptors in his time here. But on occassion he will force his game and try to do things that he is not expected or wanted to do on the offensive end. Nathan Jawai has only played basketball for about 5 or 6 years. However the two skills he seems to have mastered in that time are rebounding and setting good solid picks. That is the 2 skills he will need to be on the floor for Sam Mitchell.
The Carleton University Ravens, in conjunction with the Toronto Raptors, who will holding training camp at the school, announced yesterday that there will be 1,300 tickets available for the NBA club’s Oct. 4 intrasquad scrimmage at Carleton’s Ravens’ Nest. Tickets and seating (including standing room only) will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets will be available on Thursday, Sept. 25, at a suggested donation of $15, with a limit of four per person. Ticket and event information can be obtained at www.goravens.ca .
Poor Chris Bosh seems to be the forgotten All-Star from a talent-heavy draft class. His biggest problem is that he plays in Toronto, far from the mass media markets. Yet Chris might just be the closest thing to a Kevin Garnett that you might have amongst young players. He certainly has been the building block to go with for Toronto, and the Raptors are looking better and better as Bosh improves his game more and more.
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Comparing Bosh to Garnett is just wrong.
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