Rasho Nesterovic News

Chris Bosh is having a career year, leading the Raptors in points and rebounds .

Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Team Great Britain stud and former teammate of Ricky Rubio with DKV Joventut, is back with the Toronto Raptors after spending six days on waivers.

Duncan played 35 minutes and 27 seconds on Friday in Portland. It wasn't until early in the Sunday afternoon practice session that he began to experience discomfort in the ankle, affecting his play.

It took less than a month last season for Chris Bosh to declare his individual aspirations.

Bosh: 8 Took him a while to figure out that Okafor can be had for cheap. Took care of the "robot" in the third by owning him on the boards and the block.

Andrea Bargnani has continued to build on last season's breakthrough. Four games into the NBA regular season, the Toronto Raptors have an even record despite some rather uneven performances.

An off-season overhaul added to the Toronto Raptors' international flavour, but the club was just keeping with a growing NBA trend.

KEY MATCHUP Varejao vs. Bosh The Brazilian has had a history of giving Bosh fits with his aggressive defence; Bosh's extra bulk may help him go in the post and create some offence.

Raptors' Jose Calderon drives against the Cavaliers at the Air Canada Centre last night.

ClevelandA forward LeBron James drives past Raptors center Rasho Nesterovic. James notched a triple-double on Wednesday, but the Cavs lost to Toronto.

The Raptors headed into the off season with little hope of improving the roster with the chips they had to play with, but a man by the name of Steve Fruitman did some math and boom! Suddenly they had their midlevel exception, veteran's exception and Hedo Turkoglu.

Now that the tedium of pre-season hoops is over, the focus turns to Wednesday's home opener and the return of Shaq Daddy.

As a teenager growing up in Los Angeles, Amir Johnson must have felt like he landed on another planet when he set foot in Sioux Falls, S.D., early in his professional Basketball career.

28 vs. Cleveland, 7 p.m., FRIDAY, OCT. 30 at Memphis, 8 p.m., NOTES The Raptors took a little break from basketball yesterday.

Leading into the Oct. 27 season openers, Sporting News will preview each of the NBA teams, counting backward from its Sept.

The Raptors remain a work in progress, a team in transition whose biggest enemy is time.

Hedo Turkoglu has not played in Toronto's four pre-season games because of sore knees and fatigue.

When he made his pre-season debut on Friday, Bosh went 4-for-8 from the field, including a hitherto unseen hook shot.

Chris Bosh is itching to get out on the court and do some real basketball work. He's likely to get his wish later this week.

Toronto Raptors head coach Jay Triano, left, shares a laugh with Chris Bosh during the team's training camp last week at Carleton University in Ottawa.