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O'Neill vows more rest for WilliamsThe first defensive assignment hasn't even been blown yet, the first jump shot hasn't gone awry and already Kevin O'Neill is well-versed in one major aspect of Toronto Raptor history. Alvin Williams is going to be banged up. And he's still going to desperately want to play. A day before O'Neill was allowed to work officially with youngsters and three days before he can even get his mitts on the whole team, the new Raptor coach was already scheming to devise ways to get his starting point guard some all-important rest. And it's conjured up the image of a sign posted outside the team's practice facility that's a red circle with Williams' face in the middle and a big red line right through it. "One of the keys for Alvin is we have to take some time off," O'Neill said yesterday on the eve of training camp for Raptors with less than four years of NBA experience. "If you play a back-to-back, he's going to have to be off the next day. You may have to lock him out (of the gym) but he's going to have to be off to get some rest." Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets AD to stay or go?It's a weekly conversation that covers any number of topics when Kevin O'Neill and Antonio Davis hook up on the telephone; they chat about conditioning and strategy and perhaps even the weather. But one taboo topic, it seems, is Davis' future, or lack thereof, with the Toronto Raptors. The team's new coach, chomping at the bit to get training camp started in less than a week, says he's loath to bring up the trade rumours that continue to swirl around the veteran power forward and Davis' level of contentment with Toronto, the Raptors and the future of the franchise. "Let me put it this way: Antonio Davis wants to play in the NBA," O'Neill said yesterday, answering another flurry of questions about suggestions that Davis may want his tenure in Toronto to be over. "Do I think he wants to live in Toronto the rest of his life? I don't know. I haven't asked about that." O'Neill's rather cryptic comments will further exacerbate a rather ticklish situation around the Raptors, who will convene camp for rookies on Monday, with veterans due in on Oct.2. It is no secret that Davis is being shopped around the league as well as asked about in various conversations general manager Glen Grunwald is having. A three-way trade that would have sent Davis to Portland and landed New Jersey's Dikembe Mutombo in Toronto was all but consummated a couple of weeks ago before the suddenly cost-conscious Blazers scuttled the deal. At that time, Grunwald told the Star that Davis "will, in all likelihood, be with our team" to start camp, another less than emphatic denial that the 34-year-old was on his way out. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Blazers can't work it out, others look to dealTHE best thing about the NFL season is the NBA season is just around the gully, and over the ridge to Grandpa Stern's house we go. With training camps scheduled to open for business as unusual Sept. 29, the configuration of numerous rosters - the pool's in but the patio ain't dry - remain exceptionally uncompleted. The Nets' aversion to assuming Ruben Patterson's rack of baggage, as well as his $25 million, four-year guarantee, coupled with the Blazers' unwillingness to take on Dikembe Mutombo's full ($37.6M) two-year guarantee, appears to have terminated talk of a Kenyon Martin-Rasheed Wallace exchange. A last-ditch offer by Jersey to accept Jeff McInnis ($3.3M/$3.6M) in the package instead of Patterson was rejected by Portland, divulges a source. McInnis may be a knucklehead but the Blazers can ill afford to surrender him in light of Damon Stoudamire's enduring marijuana issues that may very well earn him starter's minutes in the slammer. Without Stoudamire - as well as free-agent defectors Scottie Pippen and Antonio Daniels - McInnis would be the last point guard standing; unless you think walk-on Robert Pack can make a difference. The three-way proposition involving Antonio Davis also seems to have shattered in mid-dialogue. Again, Blazer boss Paul Allen is disinclined to take on a three-year guarantee (especially the final payment of $13M), which doesn't include Davis' 71/2 percent - not 15 percent as I initially reported - trade kicker. Apparently, our economy is so bad that even billionaires are being intimidated by the league's luxury tax. At the same time, Raptors GM Glen Grunwald has withdrawn his support of coach Kevin O'Neill's interest in acquiring Mutombo at his current income. If Mutombo were to become a free agent - which won't happen unless he agrees to relieve the Nets of roughly a third of their obligation - the Raptors would be all over him. In the meantime, I'm informed Grunwald and Danny Ainge are discussing a swap of Davis for Tony Battie and free agent-in-waiting Eric Williams. Considering Boston's cap already is sky high ($60M this season, $59M next) it's doubtful that deal will go down. That is, unless Ainge can figure out a way to "capsize" Vin Baker. Portland Trail Blazers, New Jersey Nets, Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Raptors Sep 2003 Archive
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