<h5 class="sIFR-replaced"><embed width="446" height="46" src="http://torontosun.com/Fonts/amp.swf" quality="best" flashvars="txt=Bargnani will be in demand&textalign=left&offsetTop=0&textcolor=#000000&linkcolor=#000000&hovercolor=#EF0E20&w=446&h=46" wmode="opaque" bgcolor="#ffffff" sifr="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" class="sIFR-flash" style="width: 446px; height: 46px;"></embed><span class="sIFR-alternate">Bargnani will be in demand</span></h5> By STEVE BUFFERY, SUN MEDIA</p> </p> Raptors forward Andrea Bargnani goes by the nickname Il Mago (The Magician) back home in Italy.</p> Which is good, because he may need the power to disappear at times given the media scrutiny he is expected to be under when the Raptors touch down in Treviso, Italy on Sept.29 for the first day of training camp.</p> The Raptors will train in Treviso, where Bargnani played for two seasons in Lega A (Italy's top basketball league), from Sept. 29-Oct.4, before heading to Rome, where Bargnani was born and raised, for pre-season games against the Boston Celtics (Oct.6) and home side Lottomatica Vitrus Roma (Oct.7).</p> In both cities, it's expected that the Italian and Toronto media will clamour for interview time with the young NBA standout, above and beyond the usual 15-minute scrums.</p> Still, Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo is not overly worried that the 21-year-old Italian sports icon will be distracted to the point where it will affect his training -- although head coach Sam Mitchell certainly expressed those concerns in a conference call with the European media last week. <br clear="right" /> <br clear="right" /> <table cellpadding="2" border="0" align="right"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <script src="http://ads5.canoe.ca/js.ng/site=sun_media&VChannel=torontosun&SubChannel=sports&Category=section&position=bigbox&HChannel=news" language="javascript1.1" type="text/javascript"> </script> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </p> "He will be pulled in 15 difference directions, as will Garbo (Jose Garbajosa) and Jose (Calderon) in Spain," Colangelo said yesterday. "But they're European stars and we're visiting their home countries and, in the case of Bargnani, his home city. But this is nothing new to them."</p> torontosun.com/Sports/Basketball/2007/09/25/4524001-sun.html</p>
He is only gonna get better. I fully expect a strong second year for him. In my mind, he will have a better year the Brandon Roy. I just wanna see Bargnani rebound better, get a little stronger in the post and take to the hoop more.</p>
Unless Bargnani hits a sophmore wall I expect his stats to increase alot over the previous season....16ppg & 6rb. Just look at his stats increase last season from month to month.. November: 7.4 December: 12.0 January 11.1 February: 14.3 March: 14.4 April: 17.0 http://www.nba.com/playerfile/andrea_bargn...son_splits.html</p>
