Monday July 14 2008 - 10:10pm Eastern
I’m celebrating my 2-year anniversary with my wife today … so I don’t have long to check-in. I’m sure you all understand!
Many of you - as “sports fans” - are probably glued to the MLB home-run challenge anyway.
But I did have a few things to say RE: some of the on-going questions/comments I’ve been receiving.
1) - Roko Ukic
From what I hear, the “official” announcement RE: Ukic signing with the Raps and coming over to Canada should be made official this week.
He will be the primary back-up for Jose Calderon this season.
Once things wrap up with Croatia and the Olympic Qualifier this week, everything should be finalized.
Though the Raptors don’t have a ton of wiggle room under the luxury tax, my gut tells me that they might spend a little bit of money to secure a veteran PG — a depth guy — to play behind Calderon and Ukic in case Roko struggles in his rookie campaign at any point.
2) - Nathan Jawai
No … I have no idea how much he’ll play this coming season. Does anybody really know?
Let’s give the young man some time to ‘grow’ and get comfortable over here before we start trying to peg how many minutes he might play on a night to night basis.
Do I think he’ll contribute? Yes.
But how many minutes will he play behind Chris Bosh, Jermaine O’Neal, Andrea Bargnani, and (likely) Kris Humphries? Well, that’s anybody’s guess.
Obviously the Raptors wouldn’t have locked him up to a 2-year deal if they didn’t think he could play and if they didn’t feel that he was a part of their long-term plans.
Unfortunately, Nate wasn’t able to play in Game 1 of the Summer League … dealing with a groin strain. But he did suit-up for Toronto’s second game (against Denver).
3) - Team Canada
In case you haven’t heard … the Canadians open-up the Olympic Qualifier in Athens, Greece tomorrow … against Slovenia.
All of Team Canada’s games can be seen on The Score. Game 1 tips off at 6:00am Eastern.
Jesse Young won’t suit up for Canada. He’s dealing with a charlie horse injury that hasn’t healed-up in time for this tournament. But if Canada makes it to Beijing, he should be good-to-go and he’ll be able to re-join the active roster.
If I wake up in time on Tuesday, I’ll do a live blog of the game for any of those interested.
E. Smith
ericsmithfan590@yahoo.com
Click here to subscribe to Smith's blog
Maybe my eyes and ears were deceiving me (the internet feed provided by the NBA isn’t exactly the sharpest) but I’m pretty sure that Jawai played in the Raptors summer league game today against Denver. The boxscore erroneously lists Jawad Williams instead of Nathan.
PS: Congrats on the anniversary!
PPS: Go Canada!
- PatrickHey Eric,
I’m re-posting this question from last week…never got an answer and over the weekend, few buddies of mine and I talked about this. Sadly, I couldn’t look like the bright guy I am because I didn’t get answer from you. Come on Eric…hook me up!
I caught the begining of your interview with Sam after the press conference Wed. Smitch mentioned that he was engaged in the entire process and it wasn’t like one day BC came to him and said “surprise, you have O’neal”
This made me think about the Forderon. Did Sam prefer Jose over TJ or was that more of BC driven decision. Secondly, how much input did they get from the franchaise player on who he wanted? Everyone, included JO says (and rightfully so) that this is CB team. Did he have an input on which point guard he wanted?
Thanks as always Eric!
- Shachin
- shachinHappy Anniversary to you Eric. Jawai Played? He isn’t listed in boxscore on NBA.Com what is up with that.
- James BorbathShachin … Whether Sam had a “say” or not is anyone’s guess; as the coach, I’m sure he did though. But when Bryan Colangelo emphatically stated that the team was re-signing Jose Calderon no matter what … we all knew the decision was made, right?
So whether it was Sam’s call … Bryan’s call … doesn’t matter. It was the organization’s call. I don’t think it comes down to Sam picking Jose over TJ.
As for Bosh RE: O’Neal … I’m sure he was consulted when it came to “this is what we’re doing” … but not … “this is what we want to do, are you okay with it”. I don’t believe he has the ability to say yay or nay to a deal
Thanks Shachin
- E. SmithJames - as another poster mentioned, I believe NBA.com had Jawai incorrectly listed as Jawad Williams
- E. SmithHey Eric ……
With Bargnani wearing # 7 what number will JO be wearing with the Raps?
- NelsonO’Neal is going to wear #6 Nelson
- E. Smith