well i found this in my mailbox... <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Dear ----, The European Championships held special interest for us this year as we had three players participating. Jose Calderon (recently signed as a free agent) was the starting point guard for Spain, Roko Leni-Ukic (drafted at No. 41) was a point guard off the bench for Croatia, and Uros Slokar (drafted No. 58) comes off the bench as a forward-centre for Slovenia. Scott Howard, our director of international player personnel, attended the championships and spent time with all of our players. The European Championships are extremely important as they determine which teams qualify for the World Championships next summer in Japan. The World Championships are more important in the basketball world than the Olympics. However, this is generally not a great scouting venue as most of the teams play their veterans players because of the importance of winning games. Scott had continued good reports from all of our players, and if you watched Raptors NBA TV, you would have been able to see many of the games live. Jose Calderon played very well. He makes the Spanish team run. He is a classic point guard who makes the easy play and is more concerned about winning than he is about scoring. He really knows how to run a fast break and how to run a team. He has good size at the point and has the ability to get to the basket. He is a respectable outside shooter with NBA range, but this is an area of his game that he needs to improve on. He is a solid defender and a team leader. Jose will have much to adjust to in the NBA especially on defence, but we feel that he will develop into a major contributor on our team. Roko Leni-Ukic played little early in the tournamnet as he is still only 20 years old, but he got playing time later on due to some injuries. He really took advantage of his opportunity during this time and for a 10-minute stretch in the second half against Spain, he was the best player on the floor. He is a 6'5" combo guard who can legitimately play both positions. He is a good athlete and has the ability to get into the paint and make plays ... both scoring and passing. He can make the outside shot, but needs work on consistently. He is a clever scorer and has a variety of shots. The thing I like best about him is he is a gym rat, and he is very competitive. He loves to play and he loves to win. He will be playing in Spain for the next two years and then we hope to bring him over. During that time the biggest thing he needs to do is add 10 pounds of strength. We really like the upside of this young player. Uros Slokar played in only one game for Slovenia, as they had a very veteran team. In the game he saw action, he played very well scoring, rebounding and getting to the free throw line. He is a great shooter for a big man (6'11) and he can also put the ball on the floor. To top it off, he is a good rebounder and an excellent passer. Like Roko, he is young and needs to add some weight and strength. He will be playing in Italy this year and we hope to have him over next season. The odds are slim that we will be adding three international players to our team each year, but we will continue to cover the best players in the world ... wherever they are. Scott does a great job with our international scouting, but you should know that he also scouts college, high school and NBA players. We feel that it is important for our scouts to see players at all levels so that they can have an accurate frame of reference when comparing players for the draft. Scott travels internationally to see all the top prospects. He narrows down the list and then I travel to see the players with first-round potential, and all of our scouts watch game tape on the prospects that we are looking at. It is a process that involves seeing a player many times over many years. It sometimes seems like a lot of time and energy to scout players that you only have one chance in 30 of drafting, but we feel that hard work and preparation will always pay off. Don't forget Training Camp starts on October 4th. I look forward to seeing you at games and being a part of the development of this team.</div>
