NBA Toronto Raptors Article

Alright, it's a season of new beginnings. An almost completely revamped team with a new high octane offence to get those legs moving up and down the court. Brian Colangelo has done wonders with this team on paper, now it's almost time to see what they can do on the court. With only Morris Peterson, Chris Bosh, Joey Graham, and Darrick Martin returning from last season it's going to be a different looking Toronto Raptors team, in more than one way.

Yes, this team looks great on paper with new acquisitions like TJ Ford, Fred Jones, who provides Toronto with that spark off the bench with his huge dunks, Euro-star Anthony Park and Jorge Garbojsa, and rookie Andrea Bargnani, but they also got a real centre. Thats right, the Toronto Raptors have a center! They dealt fan favorite Matt Bonner, and seldom used Eric Williams to the Spurs for big man Rasho Nesterovic. Rasho gives Toronto something they have been missing since the days AD (Antonio Davis) was healthy and actually enjoyed T-dot. Toronto has a real center, god I love saying that.

A player that will really benefit from the news names, especially one, is Joey Graham. Joey Graham who was touted the most athletic kid out of the draft didn't really live up to his high expectations last season. He struggled scoring and playing defence, which was one of his strong points, and just didn't look good. But nearing the end of the season he seemed to have found his legs and showed some flashes of what we saw from him in his time in College. TJ Ford is now here and he may be just what Joey Graham needs. TJ loves to run we all know that, and you know what so does Joey Graham. Joey could be huge off the bench or a starter at some point pending injury. Expect big things from Joey G this season.

Another new thing that you will see this season is the new uniforms that Toronto unveiled this offseason. Out with the purple in with more red! Toronto has gone with a white home uniform with red trim, and it's believed that they will use last season's alternates as their road uniforms. I know a lot of Toronto fans are very pleased with that, since it is kind of hard to intimidate your opponent with a purple jersey.

Chris Bosh is entering his fourth NBA season, his first after being named to the All-star team last season. He is another year matured and is looking strong after playing in the World Championship among the likes of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwyane Wade. Chris hasn't really received the media spotlight like his fellow 2003 draftees, however he should being turning heads more this season with Toronto actually putting a competitive team on the court. Chris is the leader of this team and turned all doubters away that fans were going to to have another Vince Carter scenario on their hands with him leaving town after his rookie contract was up. But Bosh silenced critics after signing a long term deal in the offseason letting fans know he is here for the long haul.

Speculation is everything right now with the team not even having played their first pre-season game, but if your a Toronto fan the speculation is good. We have waited long enough to see our team back in the playoff hunt, and this season is looking good. Toronto is going to compete, not that they didn't last season. For the first half they looked really good, but then fell apart in the end, could have been fatigue, but they just couldn't put teams away. This season's hopes are higher and the Raptors themselves feel that this season may be the year of the Dino.

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