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The Toronto Raptors announced Tuesday they have released forward Ronald Dupree.
A free agent, Dupree was signed September 15. He appeared in five preseason games where he totaled 20 points and eight rebounds in 55 minutes.
The roster now stands at 15.
The Raptors’ final preseason game is Friday versus the New York Knicks at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The Raptors and Knicks will tip-off the regular season at Air Canada Centre on Wednesday, October 27.
Joey Dorsey of the Toronto Raptors has been suspended without pay for one game for swinging his arm at the head of the Chicago Bulls’ Brian Scalabrine, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
The incident occurred with 7.3 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of the Bulls’ 109-90 victory over the Raptors at United Center on Tuesday, Oct. 12.
Dorsey will serve his suspension commencing with the first game of the 2010-11 NBA regular season for which he is eligible and physically able to play.
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Veteran point guard Rafer Alston wants to continue playing professional basketball. And if he can’t do it in the NBA, the New York native is willing to cross oceans to keep his career going.
On Thursday, Alston’s long-time personal manager and close friend Eddie Lau told InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner in an email that the player is in “the best shape of his life and that he is looking for a chance to get back in the NBA as a backup point guard.”
Lau also said that Alston is open to playing overseas, should that be the best opportunity for him.
Several recent reports said that the guard is working out with a team in China, and could sign a contract there.
Alston played for part of the 2009-10 NBA season, with the New Jersey Nets and Miami Heat. His career NBA average is 10.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game.
Frank Zicarelli of the Toronto Sun reports:
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DeMar DeRozan appears ready to assume the popularity mantle, an athletic player who will be given a chance to emerge as the face of the franchise.
In time, the kid has to learn how to handle the ball better, make better decisions when the ball is in his hands and step out to make jumpers.
But at this moment in the Raptors’ changing of the guard, DeRozan is the team’s most popular player, a guy the club uses on most of its promotional material.
In the team’s first public appearance, under a backdrop of an open scrimmage here at the University of British Columbia, DeRozan received the loudest ovation.
When the flushed home an alley-oop feed into a dunk, the crowd reacted in a fashion that evoked images of Carter.
When the Raptors made DeRozan a lottery selection last spring, comparisons were made to Carter from an athletic perspective.
DeRozan isn’t quite able to put the ball on the floor and flat-out attack a defence and the rim, but he’s getting better.
Have an opinion? Share it on the Toronto Raptors forum.
Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald reports:
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“The problem is that I’ve never been a player who complained or let people know how bad things were,” O’Neal said. “You get guys who are hurt and they try to play and it’s, ‘Oh, I didn’t play well because I was hurt.’ I wasn’t that player.
“I played almost two years with a torn meniscus. I tore my meniscus twice, and I never said anything because my team was going through so much and I felt like the city of Indianapolis needed any positive notion that they could get. I played through it. Nobody knows about me having to wear the big compression (clothes) just to walk around and me not being able to practice before I played in the games. People don’t know about that. Nobody knows about me taking 10 Advil a day and then having to get my liver and kidney checked. People don’t know about that.
“People always judge and they don’t know about anything that was going on on the inside. One thing I can say – and anybody can say from any team I’ve ever played on – is that when I get out there I’m going to play as hard as I possibly can, whether it’s on one leg or two legs or whatever. In the last three years of my deal, people were saying, ‘Oh, he’s not worth it.’ But I was still hurt.”
Talk Celtics basketball on the Boston Celtics forum.
An InsideHoops.com front page poll asking fans to predict the eight Eastern conference teams that will qualify for the 2010-11 NBA playoffs had the following results:
Celtics 2,046 votes
Heat 2,045 votes
Magic 2,011 votes
Bulls 1,985 votes
Hawks 1,886 vote
Bucks 1,658 votes
Bobcats 1,011 votes
Knicks 1,074 votes
Wizards 637 votes
Sixers 481 votes
Pistons 336 votes
Nets 333 votes
Cavaliers 333 votes
Pacers 229 votes
Raptors 173 votes
Fans felt that the six teams — the Magic, Celtics, Heat, Bulls, Hawks and Bucks — are strong locks to make the playoffs.
After those teams, the Bobcats and Knicks came in next, with the 7th and 8th highest votes.
InsideHoops.com editor says: These are some pretty fantastic results. Look at the top eight teams, in order. That’s pretty close to what an East power ranking list should look like.
Missing the playoffs but getting good support were the Wizards, receiving the 9th highest votes.
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The Toronto Raptors announced Thursday they have exercised the third year team option on the Rookie Scale Contract of guard-forward DeMar DeRozan. DeRozan is now guaranteed through the 2011-12 season. In accordance with the league’s collective bargaining agreement, the Raptors had until October 31 to exercise their option on DeRozan. Per team policy, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
DeRozan, 6-foot-7, 220 pounds, was the ninth overall pick by Toronto in the 2009 NBA Draft out of the University of Southern California. He averaged 8.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in 77 appearances in the 2009-10 season. DeRozan became the fourth rookie to start on opening night for the Raptors, joining Damon Stoudamire (1995), Vince Carter (1998) and Joey Graham (2005). He finished third in franchise history with 65 starts during a rookie campaign.
DeRozan set career highs in points (24), field goals (9), rebounds (14) and minutes (38) during the season finale April 14 versus New York. He won the inaugural NBA All-Star Dunk-In by defeating Los Angeles Clippers guard Eric Gordon during halftime of the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam at All-Star Weekend in Dallas.
DeRozan helped lead the Raptors to a 5-0 mark at the 2010 Las Vegas Summer League. He averaged 21.0 points, third in the League, and 4.5 rebounds en route to All-Tournament Team honours.
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Paola Boivin of the Arizona Republic writes:
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The NBA’s Most Improved Player in 2007-08 who helped Orlando to the 2009 Finals? Or the one who was considered a bust in Toronto last season because of sub-par production and a dispassionate air?
It’s up to him, really. At 31, he still has game-changing skills. The spot-up shooting. The slashing through the lane. The ability to create mismatches thanks to a 6-foot-10 frame.
But he has to buy into the Suns’ system, which is really the only way the machine works in Phoenix. It’s an insiders team. You’re in or you’re out. You have to accept the reality that you might not come off the floor one night and barely get on it the next.
Coach Alvin Gentry is not afraid to buck convention. He is less about formulas and more about feel. If the bench has the hot hand, they’re staying in.
“I understand that,” Turkoglu said. “The reason (it works) here is that there’s really good chemistry and those guys accept those roles. For me, I just have to be one of them, just be the guy whenever they need me. I’m going be out there and every single night I’m trying to do my best.”
The Toronto Raptors announced Friday a reorganization of the basketball operations department with two key promotions. In their new positions, Marc Eversley will take on a more significant role in player personnel scouting and evaluation with the title of Assistant General Manager and Alvin Williams will transition to the front office as the team’s Director of Player Development.
Eversley, in his fifth season with the Raptors, previously served as Assistant General Manager, Player Development, coordinating the off-court development of players and assisting in the management of the team’s day-to-day operations.
“The departure of Masai Ujiri to the Denver Nuggets has opened up a nice opportunity for Marc,” said Raptors President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo. “Marc has been actively involved in the scouting and decision-making process so this is a natural step for him to take.”
Williams was originally hired as an Assistant Coach/Basketball Development on July 1, 2009, marking his first foray into team management since he ended his NBA playing career in 2007. He played nine seasons with the Raptors from 1997-2006.
In his new role, Williams will now assume the task of off-court development for the team including the planning and coordinating of life skills training and overall player relationship management. He is expected to continue to travel with the team while working as needed on-court with players in their basketball development.
“While Alvin loved getting back on the court last season in a coaching role, I think he always had his sights set on management someday. I trust and value his opinions on basketball and people and he will be an invaluable resource to the players, coaches and management team alike,” added Colangelo.
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The Toronto Raptors announced Monday that rookie forward Ed Davis underwent arthroscopic surgery this morning to repair a meniscus tear to his right knee. He is expected to be participating in basketball-related activities within six weeks. Davis sustained the injury last Wednesday playing basketball.
The procedure was performed by team medical director/orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Paul Marks at Sunnybrook Hospital.
The Raptors’ first-round selection in the 2010 NBA Draft (13th overall), Davis finished third on the team in scoring (12.6) and second in rebounding (6.0) during the Las Vegas Summer League. He tied for the team lead with nine blocks. Davis had 15 points and eight rebounds in his professional debut vs. Phoenix.