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The Raptors acquired Nathan Jawai along with Jermaine O’Neal in the draft day blockbuster. Jawai is 6′10″, 280 pounds and he likes to throw his weight around. He was played in 30 games in the Australian Pro Basketball League last season and he averaged 17.7 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game. He will likely be a project for the Raptors as he will be very low on the depth chart as a rookie.
The Toronto Raptors made a bold move which will likely make them a title contender in 2008-09. The Raptors have acquired F/C Jermaine O’Neal and rookie C/F Nathan Jawai out of Australia from the Pacers for T.J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, Maceo Baston and 1st round pick Roy Hibbert. The price was pretty high but the Raptors can replace everyone that they got rid of. O’Neal will likely start at center and that should take a lot of pressure off of Chris Bosh who had to try to do too much quite often last season. The 29-year old O’Neal played in only 42 games (34 starts) last season for the Pacers and he averaged 13.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.1 blocked shots per game. O’Neal has now played in 724 games (515 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 14.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.9 blocked shots per game. Rookie F/C Nathan Jawai is a big guy at 6′10″, 280 pounds and he played professionally in Australia in 2007. Jawai played in 30 games last season and he averaged 17.7 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game. Jawai is a project and the Raptors will take it slow with him. If O’Neal can stay healthy this is a good trade for the Raptors.
The Raptors have bought out the last year of forward Jorge Garbajosa’s contract valued at $4.25 million dollars. Garbajosa was injured most of last season for the Raptors. He only played in 7 games (0 starts) for the Raptors last season and he averaged 10.6 minutes, 3.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. Garbajosa played in 74 games (60 starts) in his two seasons in Toronto and he averaged 26.8 minutes, 8.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game. The Raptors won’t likely miss him much but he should make some good money back home in Spain as long as he is healthy.