It's not like Canada hasn't been in this situation before at the Americas Olympic qualifying tournament.

With a win over Argentina in one of tonight's semi-finals, Canada will have sewn up one of the three Olympic berths that the tournament offers. The United States will face Puerto Rico in the other semi-final.

The Canadians were in the same position in San Juan four years ago at the same tournament, needing a semi-final win over the hometown team from Puerto Rico to qualify for 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Canada prevailed 83-71.

Featuring a lineup that contains a good mix of veteran leadership and youthful enthusiasm, Canada hopes the result tonight against Argentina will be just as satisfying.

"I don't know if this team is as talented or primed as the team in '99 was," said Canadian point guard Steve Nash, who was also on the squad four years ago. "But for some reason this team has a lot of toughness. We've beaten some awfully good teams and we've stuck together with a pretty new group."

Even if Canada loses tonight, it will still have one more shot at gaining an Olympic spot with a win in tomorrow night's game for third place between the two losers of the semi-finals. The gold medal game will also be played tomorrow night.

"I just want them to have fun," is the counsel Nash said he is providing his teammates heading into the playoffs."Enjoy yourselves, work hard, do what you've been doing and just let everything that we've done, and that they've done all summer . . . pay off on Saturday [today]. If we lose, we lose.

"But if we do go out there and play the way we're capable, we won't have any regrets."

Jay Triano has been leading a double life.

As coach of Canada's men's national basketball team, Triano is considered the saviour of a program that was on rocky footing when he assumed control five years ago.

In his other persona, as an assistant coach in the National Basketball Association with the Toronto Raptors, Triano is more of a bit player behind the scenes doing his best to establish himself in the often cutthroat business of professional sport.

It is an interesting position for Triano, being the man who calls the shots for one team while being in a subordinate role for the other.

And if ever he had to choose between the two, coaching for Canada or coaching in the NBA, Triano insists that it would be no contest at all.

"I love coaching our country," Triano said during an interview earlier this week at the Americas Olympic qualifying tournament. "I think coaching in the NBA provides me an opportunity to become a better coach for our country, and that's what I like to do. This is enough stress for me.

"I'll do all the dirty work that an NBA assistant has to do to learn so that I'm better when it comes to this part of my job."

Triano, 44, has done a masterful job directing the Canadian squad at the 10-nation event in San Juan, from which the top three teams will earn berths into next summer's Olympic Games in Greece.

Canada will have its first crack at grabbing one of those spots tonight when it squares off against tough Argentina in one of the semi-final games. The undefeated U.S. team will play Puerto Rico in the other.

If Canada loses to Argentina, it will still have one more chance to lock up an Olympic berth when the two semi-final losers meet tomorrow to determine third place.

Joe Dumars continued his tinkering with the Pistons' roster Thursday, making a trade that could take care of immediate and more pressing future needs.

Pistons captain and starting guard Michael Curry was sent to the Toronto Raptors in a straight-up exchange for guard Lindsey Hunter.

It will be a homecoming of sorts for Hunter, who was the Pistons' top draft pick in 1993 and played for the team for seven seasons.

"We're very comfortable with Lindsey after having him play here in the past," said Dumars, the Pistons' president of basketball operations. "We know what type of energy and effort he brings to the game."

The Curry-Hunter trade brings several implications.

Dumars has been trying to clear salary-cap space for next summer, when center Mehmet Okur becomes a restricted free agent. Okur's stock is rising in the NBA. The Pistons are preparing to deal with a looming high-priced bidding war to keep him, in anticipation of Okur having another breakout season.

Okur is set to earn $1.1 million this season. He made $1 million in his rookie year last season.

Point guard Gilbert Arenas triggered a similar financial frenzy this summer when he became a restricted free agent. He left the Golden State Warriors, signing a six-year, $65 million deal with the Washington Wizards.

Citing the way his team played yesterday against Venezuela -- sometimes good, often bad -- head coach Jay Triano is warily optimistic about Canada's chances heading into the medal round at the Americas Olympic qualifying tournament.

"It's hard to say," Triano said when asked if Canada -- which concluded its second round yesterday with a 93-86 overtime loss to Venezuela -- is playing well. "So far in the big games we have. But I would say in the other games, the not-so-important games, we haven't."

Yesterday's contest against Venezuela (3-4) would rank as one of those inconsequential contests to which Triano was referring.

Having already ensured itself of a berth in one of tomorrow night's semi-final games, Canada (4-3) used last night's encounter as nothing more than a tune-up for the hard slogging ahead. Canada's semi-final opponent will be Argentina, which won an earlier match-up between the two teams, 94-90, last week.

"Right now, what we're thinking about is not who we play but how we play. [We'll] try to be as combative as possible, play hard and play the best basketball we can," Argentina head coach Reuben Magnano said.

The Toronto Raptors announced Thursday they have acquired forward Michael Curry from the Detroit Pistons in exchange for guard Lindsey Hunter.

?Michael is a solid veteran who is known for his defensive ability,? said Senior Vice-President and General Manager Glen Grunwald. ?(Head Coach) Kevin (O?Neill) coached Michael the past two seasons in Detroit and highly recommended him to us.?

Curry, 6-foot-5, 210 pounds, is a nine-year NBA veteran who has seen action in 579 regular-season games, averaging 4.8 points and 1.6 rebounds. He has also appeared in 36 postseason contests.

Curry averaged 3.0 points, 1.6 assists and 19.9 minutes in 78 contests last season. He ranked tied for fourth among league leaders for fewest turnovers (0.55). He tallied a season-best 11 points versus Miami and Orlando. The past two seasons as a starter with the Pistons he helped lead them to back-to-back 50-win seasons and consecutive Central Division championships.

Michael Curry and Lindsey Hunter have been friends since the Pistons signed Curry to a 10-day contract on Jan. 31, 1996. Hunter soon should return to the Pistons, but at his friend's expense.

The Pistons and Toronto Raptors, the Free Press has learned, are expected to announce a deal that would send Curry -- Detroit's captain and starting small forward -- to Toronto for Hunter -- a versatile guard who spent an injury-plagued year across the border after being dealt by the Lakers.

Acquiring Hunter could signal the end of Chucky Atkins' tenure in Detroit. Atkins, a 5-foot-10 point guard who started until last season, is on the trading block for salary cap reasons. He is halfway through a six-year, $22.5-million contract.

The Pistons need cap room for next summer because of Mehmet Okur, who becomes a restricted free agent and could command a handsome salary if he has a big season. Teams could offer Okur a fat contract and the Pistons would have to match it or risk losing the 24-year-old Turk, who will compete to be the starting center after finishing his rookie season with a stellar playoff run.

Returning to Detroit won't require much of a living adjustment for Hunter, who kept his suburban home after he was traded to Milwaukee for Billy Owens on Aug. 22, 2000. The Pistons would use Hunter as their fourth guard and, at 6-feet-2, 195 pounds, to defend small point guards. (The other guards, besides Atkins, are Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton and Bob Sura.)

On a day when the Toronto Raptors lost a veteran player, they picked up six coaches.

Injured reserve centre Eric Montross announced his retirement from the National Basketball Association yesterday while the Raptors announced the hiring of six new members of rookie head coach Kevin O'Neill's staff.

And while O'Neill seemed pleased to have his coaching contingent -- which will include Canadian national team coach Jay Triano, the lone holdover from Lenny Wilkens's crew -- in place, he also voiced regret that he would not be able to coach the big North Carolina graduate.

"I knew him just in passing before I got here," O'Neill said. "There's no more first-class guy than Eric Montross. It's too bad he can't play, because I think he could really help our team. Nobody tried harder to keep playing than he did, I think he exhausted all avenues to come back, and in the end made a good career decision."

That decision came after an innocent-seeming injury to the middle part of his foot that left bone fragments in an area that can't easily or effectively be treated.

Montross suffered the injury near the end of the 2001-2002 season. He's had nine specialist examine the foot and eventually concluded his playing days were over after eight seasons with six teams, the last two in Toronto.

"It was a relatively innocuous situation," said Montross, a seven-foot, 270-pound defensive specialist. "It was just a step, not a misstep, not a fall, not a twist. What has been told to me is that the wear and tear of playing basketball as long as I have, this just happened to be the straw that broke the camel's back."

The Toronto Raptors announced Tuesday that centre Eric Montross has retired on account of a stress reaction to a micro fracture in the talus bone in his left foot. Montross missed the entire 2002-03 season with the injury.

?I am disappointed to announce that I will not be playing anymore,? said Montross. ?The injury that I have sustained cannot be addressed satisfactorily to get me back onto the court.

?My family and I have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Toronto and our interaction with the fans and the City.?

Montross suffered the injury off-the-court and missed the final four games of the 2001-02 regular season and all five playoff contests. His last game was April 10, 2002 against the Indiana Pacers in his hometown of Indianapolis. He was acquired by the Raptors on February 22, 2001 in a six-player deal with Detroit. He averaged 2.1 points and 2.7 rebounds in 61 games with Toronto.

Montross, 7-foot, 270 pounds, averaged 4.5 points and 4.6 rebounds in 465 career regular-season games. He also appeared in 16 postseason contests. His most productive statistical season came in his rookie campaign when he averaged career highs of 10.0 points and 7.3 rebounds in a career-best 78 appearances en route to NBA All-Rookie Second Team honours.

There's a gentle irony in the play of Vince Carter, the leading shooter and second-leading scorer for the undefeated U.S. basketball team, which moves Monday into the second round of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico.

Carter is on the team as a replacement for Kobe Bryant, the player who eclipsed Carter in the hearts and minds of NBA fans as the next great thing in pro basketball.
"This is a chance for me to jump-start getting back on the court and get back to the old ways," Carter said. "I have my confidence, still have my spring, still have my jump shot. Everything is like I want it to be."

But things hadn't been like Carter wanted. His NBA stardom seemed a slam dunk after his phenomenal performance in the dunk contest at the 2000 All-Star Game. Carter led the U.S. team to the gold medal in the 2000 Olympics, then averaged a career-high 27.6 points for the Toronto Raptors the next season and received the most fan votes for the All-Star Game.

The question was put to Vince Carter. Did he feel like he was getting back to being Vince Carter?

"I'm Vince Carter now. I believe I belong here and that's the motivation to come back and play the same," Carter said. "I actually think I'm a better player now than I was then."

"Then" was when Carter was the toast of the NBA world. He already had established himself as a legit star but in his third season, he exploded into the national consciousness with an awesome display that made him the 2000 Slam Dunk champ. Posters, highlight reel clips. Couldn't get enough of "Vin-Sanity."

Then the left knee started hurting and throbbing. Surgery ended his 2001-02 season, including the playoffs. He was roundly criticized before the extent of his injury was known. Then with two more knee injuries and an ankle injury, he played in just 43 games last season, averaged 20.6 points, his lowest total since his rookie year.

Again, Carter insists he is better than ever. "In all aspects of the game," he said. "I'm smarter, I'm stronger in the mind and the body, I think my shot's better. I can get to the rim, I'm finishing any way I want to. I didn't get to play much so I had some time to rest.

"I'm stronger in the mind, if you're strong in your mind it really enhances everything else," Carter said. "I just feel confident in myself every time I step on the court, as I did then, but it's on another level now. I know I'm capable of doing the things I've done in the past. I believe I'm better than ever."