Toronto Raptors Morning Coffee Dec 3

“I just have to go out there and play hard, do what I do and not play out of my character", Davis said.

Toronto Sun

Though Amir Johnson tweaked his left ankle in the first minute of Wednesday’s game, he remained in and later said he was fine. Still, with Reggie Evans sidelined for about eight weeks, Davis will be seeing more action.

The lanky lefty’s debut was remarkably similar to that of the player he is expected to one day replace in the starting lineup — Chris Bosh.

Davis and Bosh both had 11 points and two blocks in 24 minutes in their first games as a Raptor and Davis outrebounded Bosh six-to-four.

The rookie said he expects to earn time by not trying to do anything fancy or out of his norm.

“I just have to go out there and play hard, do what I do and not play out of my character, Davis said.

“(Triano) said when I got (back from his knee injury) just rebound and block shots.”

Toronto Star

The rattling of the sabres for a potential summer lockout is getting louder with each passing week. The message delivered in Thursday’s meeting was unequivocal: Be ready for the worst.

Union chief Billy Hunter said late last month that he’s 99 per cent sure the owners will lock out the players when the current collective bargaining agreement expires in June. Commissioner David Stern, at least publicly, is looking for about a 30 per cent rollback in players’ salaries, pleading league-wide losses of more than $300 million as the basis for his demand.

And while the two sides continue to talk, the summer deadline is approaching rapidly.

There are those who think neither side wants to slay a golden goose that has created incredible wealth for players and some owners. And it is going to be difficult for the union and the league to explain to the ticket-buying public why a league with an average annual salary of almost $5.5 million must stop working.

“Times are really shaky as far as attendance, and it has to be a very careful process,” said Stojakovic. “It’s a great, great league and commissioner Stern has really made out of this an unbelievable thing.

“It’s now in every living room in every country; it’s an amazing league and hopefully they can find an agreement before any lockout. And maybe if they do lock out, I’m very confident they won’t jeopardize the season.”

HoopsWorld

Peja Stojakovic – owed $15.03 million: There has been speculation that Peja and the Raptors have talked about a contract buyout and if a deal cannot be reached it won’t be surprising to see Toronto try and trade Peja themselves before the trade deadline.

The Raptors are trying to collect young players with upside, so a team looking to clear some space this summer might see Peja as attractive.

Toronto’s not looking to return anyone with sizable contract dollars or years attached, so it’s basically trading one big ending contract for several smaller ending contracts, which rarely happens, hence the buyout talks.

Raptors’ sources have said they have no problems letting Peja’s deal expire, but if they can return an asset or two or reduce their overall expense by way of a buyout there is interest.

Peja told several people prior to being traded from New Orleans he expected to be traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in a deal for Andre Iguodala and seemed pretty adamant that such a deal was going to go down and then he was moved to Toronto.

The smart money says don’t buy a Raptor’s Peja jersey; he’s not going to be in Toronto very long.