Since the Raptors are embarking on what they hope is a fresh start, it makes sense they would sign free agent Jerome Moiso.

He's a guy whose career could use a boost as well after seeing enough strangeness and controversy to last a career.

Moiso, signed by the Raptors on Wednesday, began his career in the bleakest part of the Rick Pitino era in Boston, an 11th overall draft pick in 2000 who became a Yogi Stewart-like Celtic poster boy for management mistakes.

Then he spent a year in purgatory with the Charlotte Hornets, watching as the team played out the string before moving to New Orleans.

With the Hornets, Moiso was buried on the bench behind Jamaal Magloire, the centre of the future, veteran Elden Campbell, who was around until February, and the imposing presence of Robert Traylor. And coach Paul Silas wanted to go with everyone other than an unproven kid in a last-ditch effort to save his job.

So when the Raptors came calling, it didn't take long for Moiso to agree to terms, eschewing offers from both the Hornets and Cleveland Cavaliers, where the new coach, the aforementioned Silas, wanted him.

"It's been an up-and-down situation," the 6-10 Moiso said on a conference call from Los Angeles yesterday. "Being traded (from Boston to Charlotte), not knowing what's going on, not knowing how to act or react to it, it was tough."