The inaugural NBA Dunk-In is over and Toronto's DeMar DeRozan has moved on to participate in the big event tonight in Dallas. It was not a particularly exciting event as DeMar admitted he was "holding back" and the event was rife with technical issues, much like last nights Opening Ceremonies for the Winter Olympics. 

If you were so inclined to vote for DeMar at NBA.com you were left with an interesting dilemma - Vote for the Photo of Eric Gordon with DeMar's name under it, or the photo of DeMar with Eric's name under it. Someone clearly needs to be relieved of their duties. How exactly did the NBA determine who was voting for who? 

The reality is DeMar should bring more energy to the contest than Eric Gordon and is simply the better dunker.

The scrum with DeMar after the contest can be heard here. 

So onto Saturday night. Franchise and I are getting together for the festivities and will likely set up a thread to chat prior to and during the actual contest.

Here's hoping DeMar makes Toronto proud.

The Raps coaching staff is starting to take shape with it being reported that the Raps announcing have added Marc Iavaroni to this season's staff. It also looks like Alex English will be back as well.

With ties to Colangelo during his time with the Suns and having been a "special consultant" late this season, the Iavaroni hire is not that surprising.

More to come.

HOWLAND

We admit… it’s been a long summer.

This summer we had a few interviews that for one reason or another fell through at the last minute and over the past month there’s been little to report Raptors wise. Since the signing of one Will Solomon the roster has been set, everyone knows what the issues are going to be heading into camp and we are all desperately craving some basketball. It’s too bad the Jays run ended because that at least kept me entertained for about a week.

Finally though, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and there is something fresh out there to discuss.

As reported in yesterday’s Toronto Sun the Raps are heading to camp with their 13 man roster…and no more. Is this earth shattering news? No, but it is the first indication of what might be a much bigger problem down the road. Let me explain.

There is really two ways to look at this. The first, and the angle being pitched by the Raptors brass, is that training camp this time around will focus solely on the talent assembled and ensuring the players are prepared for the upcoming season. The Godfather summed it up with this quote –

"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."

Seems to makes sense. The roster is set and the focus really needs to be on (i) developing chemistry between O’Neal and the rest of his teammates, (ii) improving team defense, and (iii) setting a line-up. If the team enters the regular season and has taken training camp to address these three items then it’s all good right?

Well, not quite. What’s being sugar coated here is that the Raps don’t really have a choice then to head to camp with the 13 guys they have signed-up to guaranteed contracts. The team is frightfully close to the luxury tax threshold and players and agents alike are well aware that paying the luxury tax just isn’t in the cards for this franchise.

From a free-agent standpoint even if there was an invite to camp there is little incentive to come. Sure there would be an opportunity to showcase your skills in hopes of leaving a lasting impression, but in all reality you would be better off at a camp where there is a roster spot up for grabs. Hypothetically even if a free-agent PG were to come in and dominate both Roko and Solomon during camp, at the end of the day they would still end up like the poor folks at Lehman Brothers…looking for work.

The team also has little incentive to bring other players to camp. What if a free-agent PG were to come to camp and be the second best PG on the floor? What’s the team to do then? The reality is the team has nothing to gain from bringing in a few extra guys. Given the lack of flexibility the Raps have cap wise bringing in additional players could put them in a predicament that they are otherwise best avoiding. It is much safer to simply hold a quiet uneventful training camp where the questions being asked are obvious ones than risk the chance of opening Pandora’s box.

One has to ask though… is this what’s best for the team? What if there is someone out there who would be a better fit for this squad than Will Solomon? It’s not a stretch to suggest that there are better players out there still looking for a deal and if that’s the case shouldn’t the team at least be exploring the possibility? We have gotten a number of emails from readers as of late voicing their concerns about the PG position. Colangelo’s decision to hold a "private party" should do little to calm their fears.

I’m not ignorant to the fact that what we are talking about here are bench and limited role players, but this decision by the Raps is concerning on another front as well. Being so close to the luxury tax threshold what happens if a player of significance goes down? Are those in control of the MLSE coffers willing to dole out the required funds to fill holes as the season moves along? Just what sort of position will Bryan Colangelo find himself in should the roster need a shot in the arm or simply another body?

It’s a little naïve to think this team, as structured, is going to make it through the upcoming season without its fair share of injuries. Injuries are simply part of the game and given the shortened bench many players will be asked to do more than ever before. Knowing this can’t the team even look at a few other guys?

To me the decision to go to camp with only thirteen guys is a concerning one…but those concerns are somewhat overshadowed by the fact that training camp and the season ahead feels much closer today than it did yesterday.

HOWLAND

I was actually in transit yesterday when I found out about Chuck Swirsky’s decision to return to Chicago.

There have been lots of articles penned about the Swirsk in the local media this morning and they all do him great justice as he did certainly become a cult figure here in Toronto and across Canada for that matter.

Was I a big Chuck fan? Well, not so much.

I found him better this past season, but the year before, everything that came out of his mouth seemed to be a "Chuckism" of some sort. "Salami and Cheese," "Oh my Bosh," "MP3 downloads," "Parkerville," "Boshpit," "Onions…" the whole thing was just getting a little out of control.

However while at times I had to turn the volume off when he and Leo were talking about libraries and Capitol One, I can’t deny the impact he had on Raptors’ fans and as an ambassador of the game here in this country.

And speaking solely from a broadcasting standpoint, he did have one of the league’s better voices for getting you pumped about a dunk or amazing play. We wish him all the best here at the HQ, and perhaps his path will cross with the Raptors organization again in the future, who knows.

So without Chuck, who takes over?

That’s a tough question as right now, even the Raptors’ broadcast schedule seems to be up in the air thanks to Sportsnet’s decision to drop basketball from the line-up next season.

Many people have asked for John Saunders as a replacement and while I agree, it sounds like they’ll go with someone a little more under the radar. (Read – cheaper.) Some aren’t a fan but I think Eric Smith would do a great job in this capacity.

I’m also going to throw a friend of mine’s name in the ring, The Score’s Arash Madani. Arash and I went to University together and did all of our college games via our local radio station. He did the live play-by-play while I did the in-studio side of things. He recently made the jump to The Score where he did play-by-play for college football and basketball, as well as on-the-scene reporting for the Ottawa Senators and Calgary Flames. He’s a huge basketball fan, albeit a Lakers booster, but would really do this position justice with his passion and insight.

I’m sure in the following weeks we’ll here some more names thrown around but please no Rod Blackesque names. It would be interesting to get a former player who maybe has moved on to work in this field. Maybe Zan Tabac has been honing his skills on the mic?

Otherwise maybe we find out what Norma Wick is doing…

Moving on, how about the news this morning that while Mike D’Antoni was given permission to talk to the Knicks and Bulls, he was denied access to the Toronto Raptors? This means that unless D’Antoni decides to completely jump ship without having a landing pad, Toronto won’t be able to make a play for him even if they are secretly interested.

So much for my dreams of having Mike D heading up this ship next year…

I don’t even understand the NBA’s coaching revolutions. It’s like watching Days of Our Lives isn’t it? The same coaches just keep getting re-tread through the system, lasting three years here before going for another short stint somewhere else. With most soaps, you can miss a few months, then come back and find out that the plot is essentially the same. Maybe different characters are now parterned up with new mates, but it's the same people and the same story.

The NBA is the same. You could walk away from the NBA for a few season, then return and see the same coaches albeit with different teams.

And when they finish coaching, it’s off to the broadcast booth for a short stint before their names start popping up in rumour mills. Jeff Van Gundy, Mike Fratello and Doug Collins are all perfect examples.

That’s what makes a Jerry Sloan so captivating. Think about it for a second. The only other coaches with such permanent job security are Phil Jackson, Greg Popovich and Pat Riley (until he retired.) And they all have multiple championship rings unlike Sloan!

One coach that I think doesn’t get the respect he deserves his Cleveland’s Mike Brown. He’s the anti-Mitchell in many ways as he’s taken heat for not doing a good enough job relating to his team and focussing too much on defense. And as horrific to watch as last night’s Cavs-Celtics game was, Brown’s defensive schemes had James and the Lebrons within a missed finger-roll of taking Boston’s vaunted big three to overtime. I really didn’t think the Cavs would win a game in this series as besides James, they just don’t have the athletic types that give Boston problems (see Atlanta.) But Brown really gets his entire team to buy into the defense-first sets he puts in place and I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many charges and loose ball scrums forcing turnovers in a playoff game than I did last night.

Finally, getting back to the Raptors, an interesting blurb that a reader sent to me yesterday from Jose Calderon’s blog:

"As of today, the Raptors would like me to continue, however until the 1st of July we will not know anything about the possible renewal or other offers from teams interested in me for next season. What is clear is the fact that if I have to choose between a sports offer versus an economic offer, I will opt for the first. I want to be a starter and to be in a team that aspires for everything. Of course I will not be on a team in which I cannot be an important contributor nor if there is not a solid structure or if there are not options to be in the "Playoffs"."

While the paragraph on his site is via translation, it’s interesting that he expresses his desire to be a starter. This is the first time I’ve ever heard, or seen, Jose say anything like this. Perhaps one of our Spanish readers can make sure the translation is point on.

What makes this even more interesting is that RaptorsHQ’s insiders managed to get their hands on a draft version of a letter TJ Ford was going to send to Chris Paul after Paul lost the MVP award to Kobe Bryant. It’s an interesting read, and comes at a perfect time as yesterday was "Chris Paul Day" in the NBA Blogosphere, hosted by At The Hive.

Due to the formatting and style we couldn’t post it on this site so we posted it here, on Jamario-MoonHQ.com so it could be read in its intended format.

I don’t know TJ…you responsible for Delfino’s hair?? That seems like a bit of a stretch…

FRANCHISE

Lacing Them Up – It’s hard to know where to start with this one. The Raptors had a chance to go 3-0 to start the season but ended up losing a close-fought match to what looks to be one of their toughest competitors in the East. It was a strange game as neither team looked particularly sharp on offence and between Toronto’s horrendous shooting and Boston’s turnovers, it wasn’t until the fourth quarter that it really looked like two top teams were going at it.

A Numbers Game – The first thing that sticks out for you as a Raptors’ fan obviously was Toronto’s dismal 36 per cent shooting from the field. You could argue that this was an aberration for such a good shooting team, but the truth is that the Raps looked tight early on and weren’t shooting with any confidence. Therefore it wasn’t much a surprise to me that shots weren’t dropping and that Bosh and Bargs were a combined 0 for 12 by half.

Next, was one of our keys to the game, bench play. Carlos Delfino, Jose Calderon and surprise, surprise, Juan Dixon were once again quite effective in spurts but offensively the bench struggled to buoy the starters. They scored only 21 points, the same number as Boston’s bench, thus negating any advantage Toronto should have maybe had in that domain.

Finally, the free throw line. Toronto did end up getting there 24 times as opposed to Boston’s 21, but in the first half we saw just how vulnerable this team can be when its jump shots aren’t falling. Similar to my post after Toronto’s loss in Spain, if Bosh is rendered ineffective inside and isn’t getting to the line, this team has a tough time creating open shots and that’s what we saw tonight – lots of standing around and forcing up J’s. Joey Graham wasn’t even in uniform (which was a surprise to me) so if Bosh isn’t getting to the charity stripe, other players on the Raptors need to get the job done in that regard.

The Turning Point: It’s tough to say there was a turning point in this game considering the close-fought loss. But KG’s fifth foul in the fourth quarter would have to be my pick in terms of allowing the Raptors to finally close the gap. Regardless of their woeful shooting, Toronto kept within about eight points most of the game and finally as Chris Bosh got going late in the game, they made their run. My one question though was when KG re-entered the game, why the Raptors didn’t look to attack him more aggressively to get him out. His play in OT with 10 of the Celtics 20 points, was the difference in the end.

Temperature Check: Hot – TJ Ford. Ford was the only Raptor who could find the basket on a consistent basis tonight as he had an amazing 32 points including two key 3’s to keep Toronto within striking distance. He got a bit Mike Jamesy at one point in the third quarter and had some needless turnovers, but without Ford’s offence this game wouldn’t have been close.

Cold – The rest of the Raptors. While TJ hit on over half of his shots from the field, as previously mentioned, the Raptors barely hit a third of theirs.

Hot – KG and Ray Allen. Both absolutely killed the Raptors in a variety of ways while Paul Pierce looked a bit lost in the offense tonight to me. At one point he and Ray Allen seemed to be having an intense discussion about where each should be on the court and while Jeff Clark at Celticsblog asked me about TJ’s performance, I wondered about Pierce’s role in regards to his new team-mates:

RaptorsHQ: Paul Pierce shot 4 of 17 in the game and looked lost at times. Has he become the third option on this club now and do you worry that at times he forces the issue in this new offence?

Celticsblog: No, I don't think he's the third option. Everyone has an off night once in
a while. I suppose it is possible that all three guys could have an off night at the same time, but lets just say I'll take my chances they won't. Pierce is best driving to the hoop and if he can't get there sometimes he'll fall back into jump shooting and iso mode. He's used to being the main option, so I could see him getting lost in the shuffle sometimes (he went off in game 1 against the Wizards when he was the only one of the three on the floor in the 2nd quarter). With that said, when he's on, he provides an element that the other two stars don't.

I hope they establish more of a rhythm so that they are all hitting on all cylinders, but they proved tonight that they can also take turns letting each other carry the team (Ray Allen early, KG in overtime) and make it work.

Good teams win ugly, close games and that's what they did. I fully expect the next game with Toronto to be just as tough.

I’m not sure if Ainge thought this through (considering I doubt he knew he was getting KG when he acquired Ray Allen) but like Jeff said, the three really do complement each other on the court, more so than say New Jersey’s top three. As the season goes on, I expect the three to get more comfortable with each other’s games and really take advantage of the combination of skills each brings to the table.

Hot: The CBC intro. Looked great in HD, and I thought the George Stromboulopoulos narration was a nice touch. I could however do without Elliotte Friedman who was a bit heavy on the Canadiana, although since it was the Raptors first game on CBC I suppose that was to be expected. And as an aside, the Kanye intro came across a lot better on TV than live…but it still could use a lot of work.

Moving On: As Howland stated to me after the game, it’s hard to learn much from this match as a Raptors’ fan. Boston didn’t come across as being a championship club but it’s so early in the season and Boston will undoubtedly sharpen up their offensive sets.

On the other side of things, it’s going to be tough for Toronto to shoot this bad again. Yes, they looked tight and forced the issue at times, but they also missed a ton of wide-open looks and put-backs.

So what can we learn? Well, for one, it’s Toronto’s defensive that has really impressed me through three games. Every player from Andrea Bargnani to Juan Dixon has come into the game and looked to be giving it 110 per cent at that end of the court, something I haven’t seen from a Raptors team in about five years. Even on the game-winning shot, it was a great set play by acting head coach Tom Thibodeau and even better shot by Ray Allen that sealed the deal, not a defensive lapse. Allen’s defender just couldn’t get around the KG screen in time to get to the corner and the rest of Boston’s long-range threats (House and Posey) did a great job spreading the court preventing Toronto rotations.

With Milwaukee on tap next, I’m expecting Toronto to keep up this defensive intensity and do a better job on offense. This was a good win by the Celtics, but I get the feeling that it was only round one of many to come.

FRANCHISE

"For me, I come into this season thinking I'm going to be a big part of what we do, coming off the bench and helping us win."

How much more credit can we give the Legomaster, Bryan Colangelo? So far he’s kept Chris Bosh, drafted Andrea Bargnani, nabbed TJ Ford, brought in unheralded players with upside like Jorge Garbajosa, Carlos Delfino and Anthony Parker, and most unbelievably, traded Hoffa!

The quote above is in fact from Kris Humphries, the main player Toronto acquired by dealing Araujo to Utah, who quietly signed a to a three-year extension worth about $9-million that will keep him in a Raptors uni through the 2010-11 season.

Watching Humphries bang away against Philly Wednesday night, and as I had predicted, be the primary back-up to Bosh at the 4, I mused out loud to Howland about just what a steal the trade that brought Humpty Hump here was becoming. I mean, I think fans were just happy to get rid of the Brazilian experiment regardless if Humphries ever played more than five minutes. And now, Hoffa’s in Russia, and Hump is quietly turning himself into a solid addition to this team. As one of our readers mentioned, the signing didn’t get much press, but BC has once again made sure to keep key pieces of the team intact without overpaying, or over-committing in terms of contract longevity.

And I lead our first "3 in the Key" off with Humpty because I think he’s going to be a big factor tonight for Toronto.

The Raptors face old foes the New Jersey Nets for the first time since last year’s playoff debacle in what should be another good test for Toronto. With the Celtics up on Sunday, a win would start putting some distance between the Raps and their Atlantic Division foes.

The Nets are coming off an exciting OT win over the Bulls in which forward Antoine Wright scored a career-high 21 points off the bench for Jersey. The usual suspects Kidd, Carter and Jefferson played a large part in the win as usual but it was Wright’s 14 points in the fourth quarter and overtime that made the biggest difference in the end.

Interestingly, Jamaal Magloire and Nenad Krstic played only 30 minutes combined and weren’t able to be much of a factor defensively or on the glass. Against the smaller Raptors, I’m expecting a lot more of these two and therefore, a lot of Kris Humphries and Rasho Nesterovic.

1) My first key then tonight will be the battle of boards. The Raptors were out-rebounded 47 to 35 by Philly on Wednesday and with the exception of Reggie Evans, the rest of the team didn’t have a great rebounding game. That’s why if the Raptors don’t do a better job on the glass against a team like the Nets, it could be lights out early. In particular, the Raptors’ "bigs" need to do a better job all-around as it was the guards, Anthony Parker and Carlos Delfino, who were the top glass cleaners.

2) Secondly, Toronto’s perimeter D needs to tighten up. New Jersey has a lot more scoring power than Philly and the Raptors allowed way too many easy looks for the 76ers. If New Jersey gets open inside to the same degree, or is able to get some of the wide open looks Kyle Korver did, it’s going to be a long night.

3) Bench play. Yes, this probably could be a standard for each preview this season. Toronto’s bench let Philly back into the game Wednesday night and they can’t continue to do that if they’re going to win against the New Jerseys and Detroits of the league. New Jersey added depth this off-season, not only by signing the likes of Magloire and Darrell Armstrong, but also by seeing other players heal up. Toronto seems to have a distinct advantage in this area and it’s going to be key tonight for them to pick things up a notch when the starters go to the bench for Sam Mitchell.

Above anything though, I’m extremely excited to see how this slightly tweaked Raptor squad fares against last year’s playoff foes. I’m expecting New Jersey to play Chris Bosh much the same way they did last spring but will this be as effective now with Jason Kapono on the wing ready to bang down shots?

I have a strange feeling that it’s games like this one where we’ll see just what sort of return on investment the team gets from it’s new acquisitions...

FRANCHISE

PS - If you haven't noticed, we've been making adjustments to the site in preparation for the new season. There have been a few quirks and quarks but all should be running smoothly by Monday...

"The evolution of Chris Bosh will be the best gauge of where we go as a franchise..."

Those words were spoken earlier today by Toronto Raptors’ GM, Bryan Colangelo, as he addressed the media at the Raptors annual media day.

A big thanks to the Raptors for allowing us access to what was an especially enlightening event. The mood today was upbeat, light, and very positive. All the players except those currently overseas (Jose Calderon, Jorge Garbajosa, Rasho Nesterovic, Andrea Bargnani etc) were in attendance, and besides Chris Bosh, who was tied up with Raptors and NBA TV, I got a chance to speak with each and every one.

Even Chuck Swirsky...

The one thing I noticed above anything else however, was in spite of the excitement of a new season, the players seemed extremely focused already. Bryan Colangelo spoke of certain players coming back to Toronto in the past few weeks with "their game faces on" and you could sure see it.

-TJ Ford expressed his desire to line-up against Jose in training camp and let the battle for the number one point guard spot get under way,

-Joey Graham spoke about being called upon to guard the Kobe’s and Lebron’s of the league,

-Carlos Delfino expressed his excitement to play his style of game with the Raptors,

-Anthony Parker talked about getting back to the playoffs and past the first round,

-Jason Kapono discussed his experience playing with Team USA’s program and how he feels this Raptor team has a chance at being special,

-And we heard that Juan Dixon approached Sam Mitchell and stated "I’m going to be part of your regular rotation this season," before promptly going through drills knocking down every shot he took.

Yes, it’s a good time to be a Raptors fan.

Just talking to the players, from the TJ’s and Anthony Parker’s down to the Luke Jackson’s and Jamario Moon’s, you got the sense that this team knows just how dangerous it can be this season with its outstanding depth.

A few of the Raptors even went so far as saying that the Dyno’s now had the deepest team in the league.

On Monday I’ll have the full interviews with each player transcribed for the site and we’ll get into some more detail regarding the upcoming Euro-camp. I’ll actually be in Spain/Portugal during that time and attending one of the games so by the time the season kicks off, we should have a good idea of how things like lineups are going to shape up.

Right now it sounds like it’s one big question mark. Today Sam Mitchell commented that as opposed to last year’s camp, when he pretty much knew where everyone fit in the lineup, this year, he has no idea.

Compounding things is the fact that Rasho Nesterovic had such a good Euro tournament and according to Maurizio Gherardini, looks to be in the best shape he’s been in years. This means that what many thought was inevitable in Andrea Bargnani becoming the starting center, is no longer etched in stone. In fact this topic may have been the talk of today’s event as Colangelo, Mitchell and other expressed their intrigue as to what Rasho could possibly bring to the table this year that he couldn’t in seasons past.

Colangelo acknowledged that there seemed to be a lot more parity in the East this year and the team would be relying on internal development from each player to get to that next level.

What is the next level? Well, Colangelo wouldn’t get into expected numbers of wins, but he did say that anything less than 47 wins and getting past the first round of the playoffs would be a disappointment.

Just looking around at the attitude and demeanor of the players in attendance today backed that up and after a long and tedious off-season, Raptors’ fans are ready to see just how far this new team can go.

FRANCHISE

With the season a little over a month away, we're starting to see the NBA previews pour in.

Last weekend, ESPN.com posted their rankings for the Eastern Conference in terms of which teams they felt had the best offseasons.

The Raptors came in at a solid number eight spot, about where I'd rank them too in comparison to the Bostons and Detroits. And after looking at the rankings, it's interesting to note where some of the former East powerhouses Cleveland and Miami rank. It certainly begs the question (especially with Sideshow Varejao looking like he might return to Spain) "what impact will these teams' respective lack of off-season moves have on their upcoming season?"

Last Monday "The Green Bandwagon," a Celtics blog, took a look at the Raptors for their season preview and had this interesting comment:

...if I were a Raptors fan I would be crossing my fingers, hoping Chris Bosh's foot problems are behind him. Speaking of Bosh, I'm not sure where I stand on his nickname - CB4. Yes it is a blatant Chris Rock reference. At the same time Chuck Swirsky allegedly came up with it, which raises several questions. Does Swirsky's involvement automatically devalue the name? Has Swirsky seen or heard of CB4 the movie? And on and on. In case you were wondering I'm not a big fan of the Swirsk.

Had to laugh at that crack.

Also funny, from Sacto Royalty's NBA Festivus Atlantic Division Preview:

"...Meanwhile, Toronto's rotation players just combined to play something like 1,000 minutes of international play at Eurobasket. Jorge Garbajosa spent a month jumping around on a broken leg which still may require surgery (training camp starts in two weeks, by the way) and Chris Bosh -- who spent most of a month on the shelf last year with knee problems -- pulled out of Team USA's summer games because of a foot injury. At least Toronto improved in the free agent market by signing a guy who does one thing well (and everything else horribly) and has had one good season his entire career (said good season resulted in a whopping PER of 13.9) to a long-term deal. If that's not responsible team-building, I don't know what is."

Yikes.

However it would indeed be foolish to say that Raptors' fans shouldn't be at all concerned about the amount of wear and tear half of their team has had this off-season. Yes the timing is right to get into game-shape and ready for training camps...however there's a big difference between segmented off-season training and all-out meaningful games with players laying it all on the line.

Jose Calderon will be one of the players monitored the closest concerning those who played in international competition this off-season. He was stellar for Spain and is coming into his contract season with the Raptors. How Bryan Colangelo will deal with this will be interesting to say the least. Jose has been improving by leaps and bounds and is already one of the Raptors most sought-after players. Will B.C. ride things out until the new year and then decided whether to try and keep Jose? Or will Jose have played himself into a starting role by then forcing a decision about TJ Ford? This topic will certainly be reappearing numerous times this season.

Finally, an interesting comment from Jason Kidd who recently said that everyone is talking about Boston, but "Toronto is the favorite," Kidd said of last season's Atlantic winner. "Everybody forgets about them. If they can stay healthy, they'll be right there."

Health will indeed be the key and it's something I'm sure we'll start hearing reports about as soon as training camp opens in Europe in a few weeks.

FRANCHISE