Glen Grunwald can only hope that a frosty economic climate allows him to grab the kind of NBA free agent he so desperately needs.

But to expect the Raptor general manager to start tossing around offers this week and sign players as soon as he can on July 16 is folly.

"We're going to start pursuing a few guys we've targeted," said Grunwald. "We've targeted three guys pretty much, well, three or four, but we don't have a lot of money to spend and we have to be patient. We'll hopefully try to spend our money prudently."

The NBA free-agent season opened at midnight last night, with teams able to contact players and their agents and talk money. However, players can't be signed until July 16, providing two weeks of rumour-mongering, posturing and fantasizing about lucrative signings with no base in reality.

Grunwald knows exactly what kind of player he needs, going into the market with a roster loaded with shooting guards and small forwards. It's narrowed his scope considerably.

"We need a third guy who can play point guard (behind incumbent Alvin Williams and Lindsay Hunter, who still has a year left on his contract)," said the general manager. "And now we only have four big guys (Antonio Davis, Michael Bradley, Jerome Williams and draft pick Chris Bosh) and you'd like to have five or six to start the season."