A CHALLENGING YEAR

Toronto Raptors
main man Andrea
Bargnani.

Without Chris Bosh and Hedo Turkoglu, the Toronto Raptors are a facing a blank wall in the 2010-11 season. But Raptors head coach Jay Triano is ready to face the challenge with a roster, which do not have any franchise player, according to NBA.com. The Raptors will continue to parade an International-flavored squad and Triano thinks that the team is competitively balance. Expected to lead the squad in its campaign next season includes Andrea Bargnani of Italy, NBA returnee Linas Kleiza of Lithuania and Leandro Barbosa of Brazil. Exciting young guns like DeMar DeRozan, Sonny Weems and Amir Johnson are also returning for the Raptors.

“We don't have anybody we have to cater to offensively. We're going to be a very balanced team and we're going to have different guys that are going to have to step up. And because of that, there are more things that we can do offensively.

“I like the international ball movement. I thought that the way that they move the basketball and the way that they make cuts, they have to do that sometimes to overcome the athleticism that some of the other teams have. So they're very precise with their offense.

“Offensively, I thought the ball got stuck a lot last year. Different guys needed to have the ball in their hands. That's why I like some of the stuff that the European teams did as far as ball movement. Defensively, last year, we had a very difficult time. We sat back and we had a hard time containing.

“We're going to be a lot more aggressive. With that athleticism, we're going to be able to keep guys in front of us a lot better. And if we can apply some pressure to turn teams over, it's going to create some offense.”