Not too many teams can line up three points guards of the quality of Jose Calderon, Jarrett Jack and Marcus Banks. 27-year old Jose Calderon will be the starter at the point for the Raptors this season. He played in 68 games for the Raptors last season and he averaged 34.3 minutes, 12.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, 8.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Look for similar numbers out of Calderon this season. 25-year old Jarrett Jack will likely get a lot of playing time at shooting guard also when the Raptors want to go small. He played in 82 games for the Pacers last season and he averaged 33.1 minutes, 13.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game. His style at the point is different than Calderon’s as he’s a shoot first point guard. 27-year old Marcus Banks has never lived up to his ability. He played in 22 games for the Heat and Raptors last season and he averaged 9.4 minutes, 2.5 points, 0.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE POINT GUARDS IN 2009-2010: B+

The Raptors were happy to see DeMar DeRozan fall to them with the 9th pick of the first round of the NBA Draft. The 19-year old DeRozan only played in one season at USC and he averaged 13.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. DeRozan is 6′7″, 220 pounds which means the Raptors might look at him more at forward than guard as he probably hasn’t stopped growing as of yet. This was a solid pick for the Raptors.

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 acquired forward Giorgos Printezis from the Spurs for a 2008 2nd round pick.  Printezis played his college ball in Greece and he fits right in with the wide open style of the Raptors.  Printezis is 6′8″,220 pounds and he has a reputation of being a tough guy despite his modest production overseas.  Printezis played in 42 games in Greece and he averaged 8.3 points, 3.2 rebounds an 0.6 assists per game.  He made 60.9% of his shots from the floor, 38.5% from three point range and 68.9% from the free throw line.  The Raptors have had recent success with players from Europe so keep your fingers crossed.