New-look Raptors looking to find chemistry, toughness

The Toronto Raptors didn't have a single "training camp invite" this year. They traveled to Carleton University in Ottawa with their 15 guys under contract and no additional bodies.

That's probably a good thing, because coach Jay Triano had enough new personnel to get integrated into the system ... as well as a new system to get integrated into the personnel. He was running his first camp as an NBA head coach, and of the 15 players on his roster, 12 of them were in camp somewhere else last October.

Insert nametag joke here.

Give Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo credit for shaking up his roster and admitting his previous mistakes after a second straight disappointing season. But don't give him the Executive of the Year award just yet. No one knows how all the moves he made will work out.

"Basically, we're starting everything from scratch," Triano said after the first week of camp. "Everything is new. The defensive system is new. The offensive system is new."

One more thing: Triano had to run the first nine days of camp with his two best players unable to do anything but walk through the offensive and defensive sets. Chris Bosh was resting a sore left hamstring, while Hedo Turkoglu was just resting, after playing for the Magic through June and for Turkey in September's Eurobasket 2009.

"We really haven't played a whole lot," Triano said. "There's a lot of teaching that has to be done, and a lot of drill work." He kept things simple for his players at the start, waiting to introduce pick-and-roll sets in the offense, so that they could get used to playing with each other, as well as focus on the other end of the floor.

So with the two best players resting, a good chunk of the offense missing, and not much scrimmaging going on, the Raptors' on-court chemistry was going to take some time to develop. Hopefully, their fans with tickets to preseason and November games can be patient and understanding.

"I really don't know how long it will take," Triano said when asked when his team would be functioning smoothly. "That's going to be the big question as to whether we're going to be successful or not: How quickly are we going to gel at the offensive end?"

Acquiring Turkoglu gives the Raptors another playmaker, which is valuable, especially with a conservative point guard like Jose Calderon. And Triano believes Calderon, who has improved his shooting dramatically in his four seasons in the league, can effectively play off the ball.

Most important on the offensive end is the chemistry between Turkoglu and Bosh. The high pick-and-roll will eventually be the team's bread and butter, and Triano believes the two will play just fine together.

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"They're two guys that are very unselfish players," he said. "They know how to play the game and I don't think they'll have a lot of problems meshing."

The coach is more concerned about the other end of the floor. Turkoglu turned into a solid defender in Orlando, so he shouldn't hurt the Raptors on that end. But the team's biggest problems of the last few years, toughness and rebounding, are still issues with the starting frontline of Bosh and Andrea Bargnani.

Colangelo set out to resolve those issues this summer, but they were addressed with the additions of Reggie Evans and Rasho Nesterovic, two offensive liabilities. They'll be the first bigs off the bench, but the Raptors' best five will still be lacking an interior presence.

On the perimeter, Antoine Wright comes with a defensive mentality and should get the bulk of the minutes at the wing beside Turkoglu, but Triano may also force feed some playing time to rookie DeMar DeRozan. Essentially, if the Raptors are to make strides defensively, it will be on returnees Bosh and Bargnani to do a better job of occupying the paint and protecting the rim.

"I think [Bosh] will get back to the way he defended at the Olympics now that he's 100 percent healthy," Triano said. "Bargnani has gotten a whole lot bigger and stronger, and a whole lot more agile, and that will help him at the defensive end."

As it is with all aspects of these Raptors, time will tell. That's the story when you make so many changes. Things could go very right, or things could go very wrong. Come May, we may see Bosh and Turkoglu in the conference semifinals, or we may see Colangelo back at the Draft Lottery in Secaucus, ready to spend another summer on the phone.

1. EXEND THOSE CLAWS After ranking 22nd in rebounding last season, the Raptors' starting frontline still lacks toughness. 2. CAN CB4 BE LIKE KG? It starts on the perimeter, but Bosh must make more of an effort to be a Garnett-like defensive anchor. 3. RUN, RAPTORS, RUN The Raptors have paid lip service to being a running team in the past, but have never gotten many easy baskets on the break. -- John Schuhmann