The physical skills are undeniable, the ability to shoot, run the floor and defend make Chris Bosh one of the most noticeable players on any basketball court.

He is athletically gifted ? there is no question about that ? but what sets the teenager apart is how he thinks, how quickly he absorbs information and turns lessons into reality.

After a glittering summer league debut ? against relatively inferior competition and at a level of intensity nowhere near what he'll see in an NBA regular season ? the buzz around the Pyramid on the campus of Long Beach State University was about the Raptor rookie's brain as much as it was about his athleticism.

"He's better than I thought," Raptor coach Kevin O'Neill said of Bosh, who logged 43 minutes and scored 24 points in his Tuesday night debut. "I didn't have an opportunity to see him (before he was drafted) other than on a couple of tapes and I did work him out and I liked him in that workout (but) he just has a really good feel for the game."

It shouldn't come as too big a surprise that Bosh is a basketball brainiac. After all, he was a National Honor Society student at high school in Texas, is adamant that he'll eventually get his degree from Georgia Tech University and generally carries himself like someone far older than his 19 years.

And there aren't too many NBA rookies who grasp so quickly what's expected of them, on and off the court.