Good thing for pre-season.
Chris Bosh sat out yesterday's practice with the same sore heel that kept him out Sunday's pre-season match versus the Nets. He'll also now miss tonight's match against the Cavs in Rochester NY. Apparently it's only pre-cautionary but the last thing we here at the HQ want to hear is anything resembling Plantar Fasciitis concerning the Raptors' franchise player.
Also on the "banged-up list" - Fred Jones. After attempting to hurdle Awvee Storey on Sunday, Jones bruised his hand and is listed as day-to-day.
Apparently these injuries aren't much of an issue for coach Sam Mitchell. With the Raptors squad down to 15 after cuts to Cezary Trybanksi and Lavell Blanchard, Mitchell was hoping to get both Uros Slokar and Darrick Martin some game-time action...now it appears there won't be a problem.
One player who needs to get more minutes and play more consistently when he gets them is Joey Graham. Graham has been slightly better this pre-season than the last but still needs to show that he's ready to take his game to the next level. At present, some of the new Raptors have played well enough to warrant more playing time than Joey come regular season but Joey has stated that he's not worried. In fact, Joey believes this will be his breakout year.
TJ Ford is hoping to have his breakout season this year as well. While last year was a huge success for the young point guard considering the injury he was returning from, Ford is hoping to use this year to spring-board his career...and his salary. In fact Ford and his agent are currently in talks with Raptors' GM Bryan Colangelo in effort to extend the point guard's contract. The Raptors of course have until the end of the month to sign Ford or he will be a restricted free-agent come the end of the season. And that's a situation no Raptors' fan wants to see considering what the Raptors gave up to acquire Ford in the off-season.
Raptors-Cavs Preview
The Raptors take on the Cavs tonight as Toronto puts its 3-0 pre-season record to test. With the aformentioned injuries, expect a lot of the likes of Andrea Bargnani, Kris Humphries and PJ Tucker. Anthony Parker and Mo Pete will probably draw the assignment of chasing around Lebron James for whatever amount of time he plays and hopefully Joey Graham will get some time in this situation as well.
The Cavs are coming off a loss to the Washington Wizards and are only 1-2 so far this pre-season. However the Cavs have given there starters a rest for most of their first three games and have played the likes of Daniel Gibson, Scott Pollard, and Shannon Brown in crucial moments to try and see how the new players are gelling. Larry Hughes has been one of the best Cavs this pre-season and it appears that his hand injury from last season is behind him.
Expect this to be another fast-paced game tonight, especially since Sam Mitchell is still trying to coax his team to run, run, run ala the Celtics teams of the 1980's.
FRANCHISE