Shawn Marion News

At this point of the season, premiere week, when everybody is healthy and when even Rasheed Wallace seems motivated, Boston showed its true colors.

It certainly has been a while for Jermaine O'Neal, anything close to the 22-point, 12-rebound performance he put together in his 29 minutes, 16 seconds in Wednesday's season-opening victory over the Knicks.

Day Four is in the books and as I prepare to check out the action from Day Five these are just a few thoughts from last night's action.

Getting ready for the NBA season means a couple of things: looking at win totals and setting my fantasy rosters.

Dallas Mavericks' Shawn Marion, right, scores on a layup past Washington Wizards' DeShawn Stevenson during the first half of an NBA preseason basketball game, Friday, Oct.

The Toronto Raptors will finish lower than sixth place in the NBA's Eastern Conference but remain in the hunt for a final playoff spot, says a leading sports mathematician who analyzed the team's prospects for the Star .

Toronto Raptors reserve guard Quincy Douby was in Las Vegas in early July, preparing for summer league, when his phone started to ring.

"The team failed miserably last year. No one was more embarrassed than me." That was General Manager Bryan Colangelo's assessment of the Toronto Raptors' disappointing 33-49 record for 2008-09 following several playoff seasons.

BOOMERS giant Nathan Jawai was yesterday traded by the Dallas Mavericks to the Minnesota Timberwolves less than a week before the start of the new NBA season.

What if Shakespeare had only written half of Romeo and Juliet ? It would be a nice story about falling in love with no consequences whatsoever; no one gets poisoned, stabbed, or has a thumb bitten at them.

Shane Battier scored 26 points and Trevor Ariza added 18 as the Houston Rockets made 13 3-pointers in a 124-112 preseason victory over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night.

In one of several big name signings this off season in the NBA, the Toronto Raptors signed the 30-year-old Hedo Turkoglu to a five-year $50 million plus contract.

So the Raptors have evened their rather meaningless preseason record to 2-2 after Sunday's win against the shorthanded Washington Wizards.

Forwards can do a little bit of everything for a fantasy team. Score, shoot threes, make it from the charity stripe, rebound, block, steal.

Carter, who was acquired by the Magic in an offseason trade with the Toronto Raptors, scored 15 points in the third quarter.

The basketball coverage crew at the Orlando Sentinel has put together its preseason NBA power rankings.

Under a new contract at the maximum salary permitted, Chris Bosh would earn about $16,500,000 next season.

It's a huge jump from salary ballast to key contributor on a potential playoff-bound team, but Antoine Wright is accustomed to huge jumps.

Antoine Wright projects the right attitude. Whether he is the right guy at the right time for the Raptors will be determined at training camp and during the team's pre-season. For now, Wright is saying all the right things and gives the Raptors a defensive presence on the wing, an area of concern in Toronto for the past few seasons.

The Toronto Raptors filed in one by one for the team's annual meet-and-greet with reporters Monday - but before they could meet with the media, they had to meet each other.