ESPN's Sportscenter is reporting that the Toronto Raptors will swap Charlie Villanueva to the Milwaukee Bucks for T.J. Ford and cash considerations.

Bucks General Manager Larry Harris has confirmed the deal, which was posted on the Bucks website.

?The hard part of any trade is having to give up something in return,? Harris said. ?T.J. is a talented, young athlete who gave his all to this organization for three years, both on and off the court. He was an inspiration to all of us when he found the will and strength to fight back from the neck injury he suffered during his rookie season. Many people thought he would never play basketball again, but he thrived in the face of adversity and now has the promise of a long NBA career ahead of him. We wish him much success in Toronto.?

The trade will give the Bucks a formidable frontcourt with last year's first overall selection Andrew Bogut and Villanueva, while the Raptors fill their biggest hole at point guard.

According to the Winston-Salem Journal, Eric Williams and Justin Gray of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons have received NBA Summer League spots.

Williams, a big power forward, will receive his spot from the New Jersey Nets and Gray, a combo guard, will receive his spot from the Toronto Raptors.

"He's really happy about it," said Williams's agent Juan Davis. "It's the same money as a second-rounder, as long as he makes the team. Second round and undrafted get the same amount of money. He's going to a place where he's wanted and where he has a good chance to make the roster. He has family up in the New York and New Jersey area, and it's on the East Coast."

The Raptors are sure that Andrea Bargnani, the 2006 top draft pick, will not follow the same path as highly tounted European forward Nikoloz Tskitishvili, who was selected fifth overall by Denver in 2002.  

Both Tskitishvili and Bargnani were tounted as good shooters and were recruited from the same Italian team, Benetton Treviso.

"Tskitishvili came from the same family. I think the major difference is that in Tskitishvili's case he was drafted simply on potential," Maurizio Gherardini, Toronto's new assistant general manager and Barnagni's general manager with Benetton Treviso, said at a press conference to introduce Bargnani.

"Nikloloz only played a few real minutes in real games. Andrea is a different story. He's played 81 games this season. In the playoffs he averaged over 32 minutes a game. He's played almost 1,800 minutes of real games on the toughest European courts. We're pretty much confident of the player he can be today."

Toronto traded rights to Edin Bavcic to Philadelphia for cash.

Bavcic is a small forward with a simple skill set.  He will most likely not play in the NBA, but is an intriguing prospect.

Coming into draft night most experts labelled the draft as unpredictable, and in the end even this was an understatement.

As expected, Andrea Bargnani went first overall to the Toronto Raptors, and then the chaos started.  The Bulls took LaMarcus Aldridge with the second overall pick, but not for themselves, but rather for the Portland Trail Blazers - one of the six deals Portland made for the night - who then took fly flying forward Tyrus Thomas for the Bulls two picks later.

Michael Jordan got his guy in sharp shooter Adam Morrison with the third overall pick, while Rudy Gay fell to 8th to the Houston Rockets, who then traded the rights to Gay along with forward Stromile Swift back to Memphis for forward Shane Battier.  The trade will not become official until mid-July.

The night contained 11 deals, with Pacer second round selection (#45) Alexander Johnson having the honor of being dealt twice; from Indiana to Portland and then from Portland onto Memphis.  Portland were big winners, turning Sebastian Telfair and pick number four into Aldridge and Brandon Roy, who was one of the most coveted players heading into the draft.  Minnesota originally selected Roy but then later dealt his rights to the Blazers for guard Randy Foye.

Isiah Thomas once again drew the anger of Knicks fans on hand at Madison Square Garden when New York became the 20th team to pass on Connecticut guard Marcus Williams, who eventually was selected with the 22nd pick by New Jersey.  While Williams free fell after most expected him to be selected between picks 6 and 10, Thomas selected forward Reneldo Balkman.  Balkman, most believe, was a second rounder at best and could definitely have been selected later in the draft.

A full recap of picks, trades and rumors can be read on RealGM's Draft Night 2006 page.

Raptors president/general manager Bryan Colangelo will accept calls today, but according to a report by the Toronto Sun he won't be listening to offers for the first pick in the NBA draft tonight unless they contain specific elements.

A trade appears unlikely considering the Raptors want an All-Star in return for the pick should no pick be included in the deal, and if a pick comes back to Toronto Colangelo also wants a very good player.  So far no one is biting.

The candidates continue to point to either LaMarcus Aldridge or Andrea Bargnani.  Colangelo never mentioned Aldridge's name in a 20-minute news conference yesterday, but continued to mention Bargnani's frequently.

The Raptors announced Tuesday they have exercised the third year team options on the contracts of forwards Charlie Villanueva and Joey Graham.

The pair is now guaranteed through the 2007-08 season. The team retains fourth year options for the 2008-09 season.

In accordance with the league?s collective bargaining agreement, the Raptors had until October 31 to exercise their options on Villanueva and Graham.

Jorge Garbajosa has confirmed that he will come to the NBA next year and is expected to join the Toronto Raptors.

The Spaniard states that he will sign the contract on July 1.

The 6-8 forward spent four years with Benetton and collected the MVP award in the Coppa Italia.

In a live press conference, Bryan Colangelo announced that the Toronto Raptors will most likely utilize the top pick in the draft and are deciding between two prospects.

Colangelo did not reveal the players being targetted.

TSN speculates that the two players targetted are Italy's Andrea Bargnani and LaMarcus Aldridge from the University of Texas

Maurizio Gherardini, the new assistant general manager of the Toronto Raptors, knows Andrea Bargnani as well as anyone, as he was the GM of Benetton Treviso.

"What I can tell you is, first of all . . . he's much bigger than people think," Gherardini said on Monday. "He's a seven-footer with no shoes on. He's not 225 [pounds], he's 246 to 248 right now. He's got a great body. That's besides the talent. It's not by coincidence that he was voted the top young European basketball player this year.

"He started the season as a 15-minute player for us and he ended up playing 32, 34 minutes as a starter. We started the season with basically nothing to expect. We ended up winning the championship with Bargnani [being] very consistent."