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Thoughts on the Raptors

- make no mistake, Bryan Colangelo has not assembled a roster headed for the post-season. In years past Colangelo would frantically sign or trade for a biggish name or two in an attempt to find that one missing piece that would kickstart the franchise. There were no such acquisitions this offseason, unless you think Aaron Gray and Gary Forbes are about to take about a dozen steps forward with their games (each). For the Raptors, this season is about two things: having new coach Dwane Casey instill a sense of defensive discipline and physical play that the club has lacked since Charles Oakley and Antonio Davis were in town, and figuring out which players on the rosters are worth keeping around as supporting players for Jonas Valanciunas (last year's first round pick) and whoever they get at the top of the first round this season.

- that said, somebody's got to score some points for the club by default. Andrea Bargnani will get his 20 or so points a game, with middling production in other categories, and DeMar DeRozan could also break the 20 PPG mark in his third season. Beyond that, you can probably expect double digits from Jose Calderon (when he's healthy), Leandro Barbosa and Jerryd Bayless (when Calderon is inevitably sidelined). Amir Johnson could average 10 a night if he gets enough minutes, but he'll be out of position at center and might break down again. Beyond them, nobody else on the roster up the middle, and nobody at all at small forward, figures to be any kind of threat. Any night where the Raptors break triple digits in scoring will be a rare one.

- as far as Calderon goes, there is one positive. The Raptors stole strength and conditioning guru Alex McKechnie away from the Lakers when they let his contract expire. McKechnie kept Shaquille O'Neal in one piece during the Big Fragile's stint in LA, and his offseason work with Grant Hill speaks for itself. If anybody can keep Calderon on the court and effective through the upcoming compressed schedule, it's McKechnie. Toronto no longer sees the Spaniard as a long-term solution at the point, but if they can squeeze one more good year out of Calderon, Colangelo might be able to sucker some other GM into taking him.

- the closest thing to a sleeper is Ed Davis, but he'll be coming off the bench behind Bargnani to start the season and it would probably take the Italian getting dealt or hurt for Davis to get enough minutes to do anything noteworthy. If he somehow gets starter's minutes though, the sophomore would probably average a double-double or better with plus FG|PERCENT| and blocks to boot.