Anthony Parker to join Toronto Raptors

[Da Coach]

No official announcement can be made until Wednesday, but it is being reported that AP has accepted a contract offer with the Toronto Raptors for 3 years and $12 million dollars. The final year of his contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv will be bought out. He has apparently been given assurances of playing time, and possibly he could be a starter for the Raptors. See the 2nd part of this report--

http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1402

Here is an article form a New York site that also mentions that Parker to the Raptors is a done deal. See the last line on page 1--

http://www.nysun.com/article/35791

Congratulations Anthony!

[collegehoopjunkie]

MVP! MVP! MVP!

[MikeCash]

I love it. The end of AP's first NBA career always seemed so empty. This is great news for a classy guy.

[BradleyBrave]

Per RotoWorld.com -

"Guard/forward Anthony Parker is reportedly very close to a deal with the Raptors and could start at small forward for them this season. Parker has been playing overseas for Maccabi Tel Aviv and is thought to be the best player currently not in the NBA. DraftExpress.com is reporting that the deal is essentially done and the starting small forward job will be Parker's to lose. But we find it hard to believe that Andrea Bargnani won't have some say in the matter. In fact, if Parker does come over, we'll still have Bargnani at No. 1 on the depth chart, with Joey Graham and Parker vying for the backup role. Parker could also challenge Morris Peterson for the starting shooting guard job."

[BUBraves06]

It's great to hear that there'll be another Brave in the NBA. I'm surprised to see him "listed" as a small forward. With all the depth that the Raptors have at that position I would think he'd be slotted into a guard position.

[Da Coach]

I think AP could play the 2-guard spot quite well. With Moris Peterson there in Toronto, he may be their best player other than Bosh, so AP will likely see more time at the 3. He is a very good ball handler, and usually lead his Maccabi team in assists, even though he never played point position.

[BU Bill]

A couple more articles from Wednesday. Today is the first day the NBA teams can sign players--

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885975297&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/737347.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060712.RAPTORS12/TPStory/TPSports/Basketball/

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/737350.html

[mike radigan]

Parker is signed:

http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/pressrelease_071306.html

[flipper]

good to see ap playing at the highest level!!!

[Dallas Brave]

If you haven't done so already, listen the Raptors news conference on AP's signing. I'm very impressed with how he handled himself with the press. It sounds like he is a very well-grounded individual. I can't wait to watch him play the Mavs.

http://www.nba.com/raptors/

[Braves4Life]

Class

Thanks for the link Dallas; really enjoyed watching AP Bradley sure has a knack for putting forth classy, well-spoken athletes -- Hawk, Les, AP, POB, just to name a few in the NBA. I could say the same for many of the other grads playing around the world Compare our guys to some of the punks in the league and that, alone, should be a great recruiting tool for Les.

[BuBraves55]

good to see ap playing at the highest level!!!

indeed it is, flipper- almost as good as your avators

[Da Coach]

Here are more reports about the signing of Anthony Parker--

http://www.cbc.ca/story/sports/national/2006/07/13/nba-raptors-parker-salmons.html

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13843335/

100+ more stories--

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=ISO-8859-1&ncl=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13843335/

[Da Coach]

Dave Reynold's article about Anthony Parker

http://pjstar.com/stories/071406/DAV_BACIQ3DE.071.shtml

[collegehoopjunkie]

Nice interview with AP

http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El1361&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Culture