The AltRaps Blog

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/279805

It’s easy to dismiss these Raptors as pretenders. They’ve been pegged as a borderline playoff team everywhere from Las Vegas to ESPN. But their 7-7 start is awfully impressive because it has weathered Chris Bosh’s early sluggishness, which is now a distant memory, and because it has confirmed what everybody already knew: Jose Calderon, masterful again yesterday, is more than good enough to be a starting point guard in this league.

It has also shown they are even deeper than many thought they’d be. Now Bryan Colangelo, the general manager, has some options at the trading post. Joey Graham, for one, is more irrelevant than he’s ever been, since Moon is providing the kind of athletic presence the team has long tried to coax from Graham. And while Graham, who has missed all but two games with a quadriceps injury, isn’t exactly a blue-chip asset, you’ve got to think that if Colangelo spun the useful Kris Humphries out of Rafael Araujo, there’s a deal out there.

Moon’s emergence takes the sting out of Jorge Garbajosa’s possibly lost season; with the Alabama man around, the Raptors can afford a couple of dogs. And now that the NBA is looking more and more like his permanent playground, Moon might soon feel comfortable saying the same.

“Shih Tzus, I love those damn dogs, man,” Moon said. “I just love dogs. It ain’t no certain dog, but all of ‘em. … I’ll probably get another one soon.”