The 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."

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.

THE 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.

As rumours swirl and speculation mounts concerning Antonio Davis's future with the Toronto Raptors, the veteran power forward is expected to be around when training camp begins in less than a month.

Or maybe not.

"He will, in all likelihood, be with our team," general manager Glen Grunwald said yesterday of Davis, the soon-to-be-36-year-old who is the team's highest-paid player.

But that less-than-ringing endorsement of Davis' security with the team has to lend some credence to suggestions a deal is in the works. And sources around the league say Grunwald may not be actively shopping the 6-foot-10, 230-pounder but he sure isn't telling would-be suitors that Davis is not available.

The general manager offered his standard, "I don't discuss trade rumours" yesterday when the subject of a three-team deal involving Davis, the Portland Trail Blazers and the New Jersey Nets was broached but he also trotted out another of his favourite lines concerning roster moves:

"We're always looking at ways to improve our team."

However, that won't be the three-team deal that would have sent Davis and Kenyon Martin to Portland with Rasheed Wallace ending up in New Jersey and Dikembe Mutombo winding up in Toronto, along with other salary-cap ballast moving between the teams.

While it was discussed seriously at the highest levels, according to team and league sources, it hasn't been alive for about a week, NBA sources say, because the suddenly cost-conscious Blazers balked at assuming two large salaries. The previously free-spending owner Paul Allen has set strict new spending guidelines in Portland and the team laid off more than two dozen front office employees this summer.

But whether Toronto renews its interest in Mutombo, or Wallace, for that matter, fans can be assured that Davis' name will continue to pop up in trade rumours.

The optimism surrounding the Denver Nuggets can be summed up with one adjective: well-guarded.

As expected, Voshon Lenard became the fourth free-agent guard to join the Nuggets this summer when he signed a multiyear contract Friday.

Point guards Andre Miller and Earl Boykins and shooting guard Jon Barry also have signed with Denver, which often started two rookies, Junior Harrington and Vincent Yarbrough, in the backcourt last season.

"Everyone told me I had to improve my backcourt," general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said. "Hopefully, we've done that."

Lenard, 30, averaged 11.8 points for the Nuggets from 2000-02 before signing a one-year, $824,935 deal with the Toronto Raptors in September 2002. In Toronto, he averaged a career-best 14.3 points, while Denver finished last in the NBA in scoring (84.2 points a game) and three-point percentage (.278).

In eight NBA seasons with the Nuggets, Raptors and Miami Heat, Lenard has averaged 11.9 points on .414 shooting, including .389 from three-point range.

He agreed to return to the Nuggets earlier this week, but the deal did not become official until he passed a physical Friday. The signing was delayed so Lenard could attend the birth of his third child.

Despite shining at the recent Americas Olympic qualifying basketball tournament, Canadian team star Rowan Barrett will not realize his long-time dream of playing in the NBA.

At least not this season.

Barrett finished third overall in points per game (18.1) at the event in San Juan, Puerto Rico and his outstanding play drew interest from a number of clubs around the NBA.

Unfortunately for the Toronto-born-and-bred forward/guard, who led the qualifying tournament in scoring until the semi-final round, that preliminary interest has not resulted in any contract offers from NBA teams. This week, he departed for Europe to play for Dijon in the French League.

"The team that really disappoints me is the Raptors," said Bill Neff, Barrett's New York-based agent. "They've shown next to zero interest. It blows my mind."

Neff believes that Barrett, who played mostly as a small forward in San Juan for the undersized Canadian team, would be a good eighth or ninth guy on an NBA team, a perfect fourth guard, adding that he would be a natural fit for his hometown team. The agent believes that the Raptors took a pass on Barrett because they are afraid that if they sign him and cut him, or sign him and not play him regularly, there would be a negative backlash from the fans.

"I think they feel that's a risk. They're scared of the negative impact, but I think they're crazy," Neff said. "He could play for them today.

The birth of a son is all that stands between Voshon Lenard and the Denver Nuggets.

According to an NBA source, the veteran shooting guard has agreed to a multiyear contract with the Nuggets, but the deal is on hold so Lenard can be with his pregnant wife at their home in suburban Detroit. She is due today.

Before the contract can become official, Lenard must pass a physical.

Lenard, 30, will be the fourth free-agent guard to sign with Denver this summer, joining point guards Andre Miller and Earl Boykins and shooting guard Jon Barry. Lenard will compete against Rodney White for a starting spot.

It will be the second tour of duty for Lenard in Denver. He averaged 12.2 points in 151 games for the Nuggets from 2000-02 before signing with the Toronto Raptors last year.

There will be a new, Canadianized look to the Raptors this season but the good folks in Canada will only get to see it in person one time.

The team will introduce a second road jersey just before the season, a predominantly red look with a Maple Leaf emblazoned on the shorts that will be on display at the Air Canada Centre only on opening night.

The new jersey will be used a minimum of 12 times in 41 regular-season road games with no definitive schedule yet established. The team will continue to wear its white jerseys at home and the black and purple-panelled road jerseys for the majority of away games. It is unclear who will determine at which road games the Raptors wear the new jerseys.

The move to include a Maple Leaf on the shorts ? the first time the basketball team has displayed the country's symbol on any uniform ? has nothing to do with a response to the Blue Jays dropping all Canadian icons in their latest uniform alteration, says the team. And the new uniforms will have Raptors on the front, instead of Toronto.

"I think it's something like more than 20 NBA teams that do that," Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment CEO Richard Peddie said of the name-city switch. "We want to capitalize on our proud Canadian sports roots, where our teams are historically in red, white and black."

The switch has been in the works for almost a year, he said.

"It was all part of the plan with the demise of the (Vancouver) Grizzlies, we wanted to stake out our spot as Canada's team," said Peddie.

The new uniforms will be officially unveiled just before the start of the regular season but there's already a sneak peak out there. With the team always willing to cross-market its brand, the new jerseys can be seen in video game format since Vince Carter, the cover boy for EA Sports NBA Live 2004, is depicted wearing the new look.

The maple leaf and the colour red, dropped from the logo design of the Toronto Blue Jays, are about to find a new home on the uniforms of the Toronto Raptors.

The National Basketball Association team will unveil a second road uniform for the coming season that will incorporate the colours red, white and black, along with a maple leaf displayed prominently on the team's shorts.

"This is not at all, in any way, a reaction to what the Blue Jays have done," Raptors president Richard Peddie said yesterday. "These sorts of design changes have to be submitted to the league for its approval like a year in advance.

"We're not slamming the Blue Jays. We're just going in a different direction."

Last week, the Blue Jays took heat after they unveiled a new logo that was missing two of the key elements that many felt defined the baseball team as Canadian -- the colour red and the maple leaf.

The club's new logo, in full use next year, features a stern-looking bird with the word "Jays" in what the team describes as "blue, metallic silvers and metallic graphite with black-and-white accents."

The Raptors are a couple of weeks away from launching the new uniforms, but Mr. Peddie yesterday revealed the news about the colours and the maple leaf.

The team's name will run across the front of the jersey in place of the city's name that is on the current road uniforms, which are purple and black.

Mr. Peddie said that he hopes the new look will help the Raptors in their continued efforts to market themselves as Canada's NBA team.

"With the departure in Vancouver of the Grizzlies we really want to be thought of as Canada's team, not just Toronto's team," Mr. Peddie said.

Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe said the Nuggets soon should sign a shooting guard, and the front-runner is former Toronto free agent Voshon Lenard. He averaged 14.3 points last season, with 92 3-pointers. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder averaged 11.8 points with the Nuggets from 2000-02. Denver's roster also includes several other shooting guards: Rodney White, Jon Barry, Jeff Trepagnier and Vincent Yarbrough.

The Nuggets signed rookie forward-center Francisco Elson to a contract Friday and would like to add a veteran big man. Vandeweghe, however, said such a move may not be made until during training camp.