And Soon It Will Be Eleven
By RaptorTalk
There should be two new faces on the Toronto Raptors roster in the near future. It seems imminent that the Toronto Raptors will be increasing their roster to 11 players with the expected signing of two second round draft picks.
Reports are that former second round draft pick Roko Ukic will almost certainly be in Toronto next year and it looks like the Raptors will bring over this year's second round pick, Australian center Nathan Jawai, to allow him to develop. In fact, Jawai is already in Toronto and excited about joining the Raptors for the 2008-09 campaign.
Roko Ukic is 23 years old, 6'5" and 190 lbs. He will likely be back up Jose Calderon at the point, while also filling in at the two spot if needed. Word is he ready and anxious to join the Raptors.
Nathan Jawai became the first indigenous Australian to be selected in the NBA draft. Jawai, who grew up in the remote northern Queensland town of Bamaga, was selected in with the 41st pick by the Indiana Pacers and will soon be officially dealt to Toronto in the Jermaine O’Neal trade.
The 21 year old Jawai became only the 10th Australian to be drafted in the NBA (behind Ed Palubinskas, 1974; Luc Longley, 1991; Chris Anstey, C.J. Bruton, Paul Rogers, Ben Pepper, 1997; David Anderson 2002; Andrew Bogut, 2005; and Brad Newley, 2007).
At 6’10” and 280 lbs, Nathan is known as “Baby Shaq” in Australia and is said to possess a massive wingspan of 7’5”. Jawai is a powerful and explosive player. He runs the floor well and has nimble feet. Nathan is loaded with raw talent, but needs top tier coaching to become a true NBA player. In fact, even though Jawai was generally pegged to be selected in the second round, ESPN’s Chad Ford reported that he could potentially be selected in the late first round which speaks well of his potential.
According to a news report from down under, “Jim Kelly, who is the head scout for Toronto was in Cairns under last year to see Nathan play and we know that the Raptors are very impressed with Nathan," said Taipans coach Alan Black in a statement. "After talking with Nathan's agent he has been told by Toronto that they want Nathan to play with the club in the NBA next season, which is fantastic news.
"I'm stoked, I'm real happy at the moment," said Jawai in response to being drafted. He watched the draft in New York, but was not at Madison Square Garden. Instead he watched the draft on the big screen like the rest of us. "It was a bit funny because my name kind of got announced when we went to a commercial, so I was just sitting there and I was like 'whoops I just got picked'."
Last year, Jawai played for one of America’s top junior colleges - Midland Community College. However, he suffered a knee injury and decided to return home because he didn’t want to jeopardize his career without receiving proper rehab on his knee. While at Midland, he averaged 11 points and 6 rebounds on 49% shooting from the field in 14 games.
This season playing hoops in Australia, Jawai is averaged close to 18 points and 9 rebounds per game in 30 minutes. He shot 59% from the field. His NBL career high for points is 39, rebounds 24 and blocks is six.
In 2007-08, he was unanimously selected as the NBL Rookie of the Year and named MVP of the 2008 NBL All-Star Game after registering 24 points and 12 rebounds.
Jawai will have little or no pressure on him with the Raptors. On the "bigs" depth chart, he will be fifth - behind Bosh, O'Neal, Bargnani and Humphries. The hope is that with proper coaching, he can develop into a quality NBA center over time.
The other good news for the Raptors is that Ukic and Jawai make the roster younger - which I believe is needed. Plus, their contracts are reasonable by NBA standards. Ukic will likely sign a contract in the $1.5 million to $2 million per year range. While Nathan will be inking a deal which pays him around $700,000 annually, which is a bargain in today's NBA.
It is likely that Roko and Nathan will be part of the Raptors Summer League squad next month.
Watching both young players develop in Toronto is something that all Raptor fans will look forward to next season.
With only 2/3 players born in the 70's I believe the Raptor's are young enough. Overall I think a shorter rotation will not hurt the team and they can shuffle out the players at the end of the bench until they find the pieces they need.
What I was hoping for was more competition for playing time but a shorter rotation probably works just as well.
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Personally I am shocked about some fans response to The Oneal/Ford trade.
The Raptors were 41-41 last year with glaring weaknesses:
1. Defense (not just perimeter Defense) Defense everywhere.
2. Rebounding
3. Starting center. Rasho was solid for 30 games however not the answer
4. point guard dilemma
5. Small forward who can score and defend.
6. Andrea (was pretty bad last year)
So now the way I see it this trade has either solved 5 out of these 6 or improved them and here is how:
Providing he is healthy which I know is a big if but not so much as TJ the main piece going the other way. So lets look at the above six and allow me to explain how this trade either solves or improves 5 of these:
1. Defense (not just perimeter Defense) Defense everywhere. Oneal is a premier defender a shot blocker and can almost shut down any center in the NBA not named Howard.
2. Rebounding. Oneal is clearly a huge upgrade rebounding over Rasho and Andrea at starting center.
3. Starting center. Rasho was solid for 30 games however not the answer. I love Rasho but he is not a 6 time all star period. Oneal is much better.
4. point guard dilemma. Calderon will flourish playing 38 minutes a game as he did when Ford was injured.
5. Small forward who can score and defend. This deal does not help here however you could argue we have 2 solid shot blockers when opponents get through our perimeter defense.
6. Andrea (was pretty bad last year)
He gets to come off the bench relax not guard opposing starting centers and should be a top 5 big man coming of the bench and will still see significant playing time of close to 24 minutes a game.
Now lets talk about the present lets break the raptors down by category.
Bigs- Oneal, Bosh, AB7, The Hump
clearly the strength of the team. None better in the east. Bosh is getting better and better. Oneal is the best center we ever had and is not old. People he is 29 or 30 all bigs get hurt that is life in the NBA. When your 7 foot or close to it and play sports you will have leg problems. Shaq, Ewing, Hakeem, Bosh, Andrea and even Howard when he gets older will continue to get hurt so stop feeding me this BS about Oneal being this huge gamble so is everyone Big on the planet. Getting back to the our bigs Andrea and Hump are still super young and are going to have good years and get better with time. Andrea can still be a star maybe not a superstar but a real good player and Hump will have a solid NBA carrer and continue to bring energy.
Point guards- Calderon numbers were off the charts last year and playing 38 minutes this year will continue to get better, as for a back up Delfino Ukic or any decent free agent will be fine Most people don't even Know CP3's or Kidds or D WIlliams backup not a huge priority the was I see it.
Wings- Solid at 2 with Parker and Kapono not many superstar 2's in east so we can get by here. Only concern is the 3 if any of Moon/Carlos?Joey can have a breakout season we will win it all. Cmon Moon.
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