Linkage for Jun 23 8pm through Jun 25 8am:

• Who’s On First – Final Raptors Draft Day Thoughts – RaptorsHQ.com
• Dino Nation Blog: Last DNB Before The Draft So whoever that newest Raptor will be. Understand that for him it is the greatest moment of his basketball life. Even if it is not the guy you want to be picked. Besides there have been times when picks were not loved by fans and worked out well. Damon Stoudamire was booed in Toronto and he went and won rookie of the year. He said on draft night he would turn those boos to cheers and he did that. ESPN just destroyed Charlie Villianuva and he ended up the second best player in his class according to ROY voting. There is always going to be the busts like the Hoffas. However still do you think he really lost? He got paid and made an amount of money that if he handles it right could set him up for a long time. That is what the great thing is of the draft that it can change people’s for the better.So Bust or All Star is to be determined but the impact on lives is certain.
• Draft Shindig Part Three – Jeff or Jrue? « Raptors Report As the draft nears, mock drafts across the internets are showing the Raptors drafting a few different people, but all seemingly with one mitigating factor: drafting the best player available.And their first names all start with a J, too.

  The two I’m seeing now are Jeff Teague, or Jrue Holiday, none of which really stand out for me.

• Chisholm: Raptors should look at moving up for Rubio There is one player in this draft, though, that holds tremendous promise for the future, at a key NBA position, and he would fit the Raptors like a glove if they had the will to move up to acquire him – and that would be Ricky Rubio.
• Fall of The Matrix: Shawn Marion to only get MLE from Toronto Raptors However, Marion is mostly at fault because he wanted out of Phoenix even though the Suns were tailor made for his skill set. After all, Marion covered Nash’s mediocre athleticism and defensive shortcomings, while the classic table-setter hid his swing’s poor handles and inability to create his own shot.While in Miami and Toronto, he got exposed. Marion never established chemistry with Heat franchise face Dwyane Wade and was sent north at the trade deadline. Unfortunately, life with a depleted and struggling Raptor squad wasn’t much better.

  ‘The Matrix’ has crashed. So has his worth. Perhaps a pay cut will serve as motivation for the rest of his career.

• Bobcats must wait for early chips to fall – CharlotteObserver.com
• Grant Hill to Join Shaq in Cleveland? | Bleacher Report
• Basketball.org » Mock Draft 2.0 9. Toronto DeMar DeRozan SG/SF 6? 6? 210 USCPlayer Recap: DeRozan has an NBA ready body but needs his game to catch up to his physique. At 6? 6? 210 he has the quickness and speed to guard NBA SG’s and the height and strength to guard SF’s. Not an excellent ball handler or shooter but can be an effective scorer in the right system. Relies heavily on physical talents and sometimes bails out opponents by not playing up to his potential. However he is still very young and has great upside and unlimited potential.

  Team Impact: DeRozan gives the Raptors a young athletic wing they can mold to replace the void left by Vince Carter oh so many years ago. In fact he draws comparisons to Carter and Gerald Wallace at their age and stage of development. He has the potential to be the high-flying finisher for Jose Calderon, a nice running mate for Shawn Marion and a good athletic wing to complement Anthony Parker

• Knick targets Steve Nash & Chris Bosh on New York and free-agency – Knicks Blog Bosh _ coached by D’Antoni in the Olympics _ has said he doesn’t plan to sign a contract extension with Toronto.”They haven’t even offered it to me. You can’t reject something that hasn’t been offered,” said Bosh, who still prefers to test the free-agent market in 2010, when he’d become available to the Knicks.

  “Why wouldn’t it be my preference? You develop and put yourself in a good position to do some really good things and be in a lot of advantages. You can’t help but like it…love it.”

  The crowd at Nash’s charity event loved Bosh, partly because of his admitted lack of soccer skills, but largely because many want to see him in Knick blue and orange in 2010. Fans screamed out “Chris, come to the Knicks” in the first half, and after he incited the crowd with a blistering shot in the second, they chanted “Bosh! Bosh! Bosh!”

  They only hope they can do that at the Garden by opening night 2010.

• How the draft might go down
• MYSTERY MEN Because of all these uncertainties, this draft will be a dangerous combination of homework and guesswork.In that sense, perhaps it is better to have a pick later in the lottery this year, making it more like the NFL Draft, where the No. 1 pick is an albatross. The teams picking second through 15th are all guessing. At least the later a team picks, the less guaranteed money it has to tie up to that guess.

  “Every dollar you take away from that US$21-million [the space the Raptors project to have under the luxury tax] is a dollar less of flexibility,” Colangelo said. “So the ninth pick is a fairly reasonable number to have as a cap charge going into this draft, especially given the nature of this draft. We’ve talked about how there’s a No. 1 pick, and then everybody else, maybe a couple other names with a little more interest behind them.”

• TheStar.com | Raptors may have wish list down to trio According to league sources, the Raptors are now concentrating more on three players – 6-foot-4 UCLA guard Jrue Holiday, 6-foot-7 USC guard DeMar DeRozan and 6-foot-8 Wake Forest forward James Johnson – with Syracuse guard Jonny Flynn and Duke forward Gerald Henderson dropping further out of favour but not entirely out of the picture.And with no one certain who might get chosen where in the eight picks ahead of Toronto’s, there’s a chance two of them will be on the board, giving the Raptors a choice of their top three hopes.
• No. 9 could be fine for Raps | Toronto Sun
• Wade and Bosh have two cities in a tizzy | Toronto Sun Everyone seems to be writing Bosh off in Toronto.Everyone seems to be caught up in this imaginary world that would see Bosh join Wade in Miami.

  In Toronto, Bosh’s every word gets taken out of context or it gets twisted to serve some agenda.

  The Raptors have been in existence since 1995, but the media in this market, in all forms, continues to be uneducated and easily swayed by the most baseless gossip.

  The bottom line with Bosh and Wade is that both players want to win because each will get the maximum amount of money available under whatever cap rules exist.

  It’s as simple as that, even though too many people attempt to complicate matters.

• WCWP SPORTS: 2009 NBA Mock Draft 5.0 (The Final One)
• 2009 NBA Mock Draft | Bleacher Report
• 2009 NBA Mock Draft #4 | LestersLegends.com
• Duke’s Gerald Henderson Is Rising: Knicks Likely; Nets, Bobcats Possible | Bleacher Report
• A mock version of a mock draft – Extra Mustard – SI.com
• RaptorBlog.com – Revisiting Bosh to Miami
• To pick a few good men – The National Newspaper
• Blogs: 2009 NBA Draft Doubts – HOOPSWORLD
• The Best And Worst NBA Draft Picks – Forbes.com
• Foreign talent pool for NBA draft down this year – San Jose Mercury News
• 2009 NBA Consensus Mock Draft (6/24)
• Mock Draft 3.0: T-Wolves double-dip in top 10 – NBA – CBSSports.com Basketball
• 2009 NBA Draft – ESPN
• NBA.com: Draft a good place to find good big men to fill big holes
• Jones: Raptors eye five at draft – Sportsnet.ca
• A View From Up North: What are the Raptors Draft Options? | The Hoop Doctors
• Toronto Fans See Vince in DeMar? « Rookie Chronicles
• Doug Smith’s Toronto Raptors blog
• Pete Marasmitch » Raptors draft 2009: Preact and react!
• DraftExpress: Fifteen Questions with Jonathan Givony
• Top quality Raptors seek is hardest to find
• And Then There Were Five – RaptorsHQ.com
• Dino Nation Blog: B.C Speaks, We Listen And Trades Happen
• Hoops Addict » NBA Mock Draft – June 24, 2009
• NBA Draft Top 10: Who Goes Where? « THE BASKETBALL ORACLE
• Courtside – Breaking down the five players most linked to the Raptors Bryan Colangelo said the other day that the Raptors have pretty much narrowed down their choices to five players.
  Here’s my take on the five in no particular order.
• Revisiting the 2006 NBA Draft — NBA FanHouse It’s not that Bargnani has been a bust, but he’s definitely been slow to develop and the Raptors have been slow to improve because of that, costing coach Sam Mitchell his job. So if GM Bryan Colangelo had to do it all over again, of course he would take Roy, who would’ve teamed with Chris Bosh for a sparkling Canadian combo. Many scouts took Roy’s game for granted, especially since he was hidden at the University of Washington. But he is unquestionably the best player of this draft and the Raptors don’t pass this time.
• Bulls looking to strengthen bench in NBA Draft :: Beacon News :: Local Sports There’s also a chance that Hinrich might be a part of a bigger deal this summer — or before the trade deadline in February — for a big-time big man. With a slew of expiring contracts and young talent, the Bulls might be the favorite if the Toronto Raptors decide to deal All-Star forward Chris Bosh before he can become a free agent next summer.
• The Hoops Report | 2009 NBA Mock Draft Extended Version (6/24 Update) 9. TORONTO: DeMar DeRozan 6-6 211 SG/SF Fr. USC
  The Raptors need a wing player who can penetrate and get to the rim. With DeRozan still on the board, he would be a wise choice. The pick would come down to DeRozan and Gerald Henderson. Either one could be a reincarnation of Vince Carter, something Toronto fans would like to see.
• Toronto picks uncertain as draft nears – The Globe and Mail
• The heart of the matter
• Mock 2009 NBA Draft | The Sports Guys 9. Toronto Raptors: Earl Clark F LouisvilleThough point guards Jrue Holiday and Brandon Jennings are still on the board, the highly expected departure of Chris Bosh after this season scares many Raptor fans. Clark, who is 6?10?, showed he is a highly versatile player at Louisville. He can shoot, and also use his height to his advantage, as he averaged nearly 9 rebounds a game at Louisville last season. Clark will learn much from Bosh this season, and will get extended playing time in 10-11, and if injuries don’t affect him, he should be a fantastic player.
• TheStar.com | Raptors give prospects second chance to shine
• The Raps’ chosen five | Toronto Sun Despite there being less than 48 hours to the actual selection, Colangelo, given his druthers, wouldn’t mind making the pick right now.”It’s almost like the draft can’t come soon enough,” Colangelo said. “Right now is when things get really muddy. All the clarity you had gets a little bit scrambled because as the draft nears, names start to creep in. Is this guy going to go here and if this team trades pick No. 5 — which has been talked about a lot and is readily available if you are willing to part with the assets they are asking for — that’s a scenario where it would change the flow of the top 10.”

  Colangelo did clarify that it’s no slam dunk that he will be purchasing or trading for a second pick in the draft.

  “If the right player is there, we still may consider it,” Colangelo said. But at this time, he doesn’t think that will be the case because it will cost him flexibility down the road.

• What If… (Draft Edition) | Raptors Rapture
• The AltRaps Blog » Gone fishin’ or open for business?