Sitting outside the garage, talking on a cell phone, he laughs a little at the comparison. Inside, his car is being poked and prodded and examined to make sure it's running cleanly. The same thing happens to him every fall, when the Raptors' training camp opens.

Except this year, Eric Montross knows his car is in better shape than he is. More than 14 months of sitting on the bench, staring down at a broken size 19 foot, would make any athlete philosophical.

"The way I've come to look at it ? because I have to maintain a positive attitude ? is that I know everyone has issues in their lives that they have to deal with," Montross said yesterday from his off-season home in North Carolina. "And you have to deal with the hand that you're dealt. And this is the hand that I've been dealt.

"I'm off crutches and I'm not in a walking boot, but it has significantly impacted my life because I'm a professional basketball player. But there are a whole lot of people worse off than I am, and in the big picture, it's relatively insignificant. In my own picture, it's quite significant because it's my livelihood."