Toronto Raptors Next Eastern Conference Champs?

The Toronto Raptors will be the 2008 - 2009 Eastern Conference Champions.

My hope is this opening line won't resonate with the fans this upcoming season. I can vouch for the team on the basis that with the acquisition of Jermaine O' Neal this team is much improved on the inside, which means players such as Kapono should find the open shots inside and outside the paint more often.

Jamario Moon should be an improvement from last year; the guy, in my opinion, is an absolute steal.  Calderon is the now the point supremo, Ukic, the Croatian coming over from Spain, is Calderon's new backup, and Il Mago should benefit more from coming off the bench. 

Speaking of the bench, well, what can I say?

A couple of new inside men, a new guard coming over from Israel, and a new swing man to compete with Kapono, Parker, and the underachieving Graham would make things in Toronto more intriguing this October.

My hope is that with a thirteen man roster Bryan Colangelo has figured it out. We wouldn't want to find ourselves next April wondering what if.

If the Raptors want to avoid that, perhaps a playoff victory or two down the road might actually propel fans and skeptics alike that the Raptors are a team to be reckoned with, and that Sam Mitchell can finally lay claim that his Coach of the Year award is not a fluke.

Either way that remains to be seen.

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