EIGHT-MAN ROTATION
Pos	Player	Key Stat	Skinny
PG	Alvin Williams	2.6 APG	This position is holding team back
SG	Doug Christie	113 steals	Great defender could end up out West
SF	Vince Carter	18.3 PPG	Franchise star thinking of Jordan numbers
PF	Charles Oakley	7.5 RPG	He and Kevin Willis perfect for team
C	Antonio Davis	9.4 PPG	Asked for his chance to start, got it
SF	Tracy McGrady	.436 FG %	Taking time to develop, but it's coming
PF	John Thomas	.577 FG %	Patiently waiting for him to emerge
SG	Dee Brown	135 threes	Lock and load: He and Dell Curry not shy

		The Raptors found a star last year in Vince Carter, the Rookie of the Year. They signed veterans Charles Oakley and Kevin Willis. I think they can be extremely improved. They have good complementary players. It will all depend on what kind of play they get from their point guard. If they can get any kind of point guard play, they can play with anybody in the division. That was their Achilles heel last year. Maybe they will take Dee Brown or Muggsy Bogues to step in for Alvin Williams.

It comes down to one of two things -- either the team is in total disarray, or it's pretty serious about achieving something special during the coming season.

For the Raptors, it was the latter.

One of the newest faces in Toronto, Antonio Davis, called the meeting after two ugly exhibition losses. In a polite but firm way, Davis explained that there was more to the game of basketball than two young guys who can excite the crowd -- hello, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady -- and that the Raptors had to fully commit themselves to the concept of team defense.

Davis added he never missed the playoffs during his six seasons with the Pacers, and he had no intention of seeing that streak broken. Of course, Charles Oakley made a similar declaration last season and, well, we all know how that turned out.

Nonetheless, given the improvements the Raptors made over the summer and with the overall mediocre quality of the Eastern Conference, the facts, as far as the team and their fans are concerned, are simple: Anything less than a playoff berth will be a major disappointment.

The bulk of the Raptors' fortunes, however, lie on the broad shoulders of reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Carter. Oakley once described Carter as "half-human, half-man" -- it didn't come out quite right, but it was meant as a huge compliment -- and Carter will have to be at least that this season, since he's now the top target on every team's defensive radar.

	Player to watch
	McGrady This is the year. This is when Tracy McGrady, already in his third year but only 20, emerges into a consistent scoring threat. The kid has certainly shown flashes of stardom, but he seems to be having too much fun to realize he's a star in the making. On a deep team with only one real issue, the point guard, expect McGrady to rock and Doug Christie to be sent packing.

Point guard
Raptors head coach Butch Carter claims he's going to try to turn his team's perceived weakness at point guard into a strength by being innovative. The jury remains out.

Swingman Tracy McGrady is chafing for more playing time and wouldn't mind playing the point. Coach Carter did experiment with McGrady in a kind of point-forward role during the preseason. The results were lukewarm, especially on the defensive end, and just how much time T-Mac actually spends at the point remains to be seen.

The club's future at point guard still looks to be in the hands of 6-5 Alvin Williams, a two-year vet who started most of Toronto's games last season but didn't finish many of them.

Williams spent the entire summer working on developing his outside shot and spent hours studying videotape of other point guards to try improve his play.

Muggsy Bogues was signed as insurance against the foibles of McGrady and Williams. However, Bogues was a pleasant surprise during training camp and may wind up playing a far more significant role -- albeit still as a backup -- than originally planned.

Shooting guard
The combined forces of Vince Carter, McGrady and Doug Christie have covered most of the Raptors' needs at both shooting guard and small forward in the past, but Christie has been the traditional starter at the 2-spot. His commitment to defense all but guarantees he'll once again see significant court time as the starter at shooting guard for as long as he remains a Raptor.

At first glance, it appears Dee Brown and newly signed Dell Curry have the exact same job, using their outside-shooting presence as a threat against opponents who want to double-team Vince Carter. But some lineup configurations had the two veterans on the floor at the same time during the preseason, and coach Carter is expected to use the two-pronged attack from the perimeter on occasion to keep defenses honest.

Small forward
The challenge for Vince Carter this season is twofold: First, he must avoid the sometimes all-too-real concept of a sophomore slump; and second, he has to quash the urge to get caught up in his own hype while not shying away from his responsibilities as the Raptors' go-to guy.

Carter clearly holds the long-term key to the success of the Toronto franchise, but his distant cousin McGrady has a part to play as well. Small forward may be McGrady's true position, but he loves being on the floor with Carter, which dictates some role-sharing at the guard and small forward positions.

As athletic and spectacular as McGrady is, he'll have to develop a more consistent jump shot-not to mention a bigger physical presence-if he wants to reach the next level.

Power forward
Oakley's decision to re-sign with the Raptors allowed the club to maintain the tough-guy womb in which Vince Carter thrived last season. But for Oakley, the usual starter at power forward, the fact that he turns 36 in December could cause his playing time to decline, considering the Raptors have a glut of young big men waiting in the wings and desperate for minutes.

The best of the bunch may be the hulking John Thomas, whose basketball smarts and talent are starting to expand exponentially. He can fill in at center and is playing for a contract, which has a way of accelerating the learning process.

One Raptor who certainly isn't playing for a contract is Michael (Yogi) Stewart, who signed a six-year, $24 million contract that caused more than a few double-takes during the offseason. Stewart remains a tad timid for power forward, but if he develops the way Toronto hopes, he'll be underpaid by NBA standards by the end of his pact.

Center
After years of backing up Rik Smits and Dale Davis in Indiana, Antonio Davis simply wanted to start -- anywhere, and for anybody. Davis was acquired mainly because the Raptors believe his potential goes far beyond what he was given the opportunity to show in Indiana. Toronto is also hoping Davis will become a team leader both on and off the court.

A number of teams inquired about the availability of veteran Kevin Willis in the offseason, but the Raptors weren't prepared to part with him, feeling they would need as many big men as possible in the new foul-friendly NBA. Toronto hopes he'll be more effective playing limited minutes behind Davis, as opposed to carrying the starting load.

The Raptors believe they've found a golden nugget in 7-3 Aleksandar Radojevic, drafted 12th overall last June. He's nowhere near ready for the rigors of the NBA, but he still has Raptors coaches glancing at each other with raised eyebrows as Radojevic's potential becomes more and more obvious.

Coaching
The organization remains fully committed to coach Butch Carter, but he is the first to admit he still has a lot to learn, and his progress will be scrutinized more than ever in the wake of his first full training camp and exhibition-game schedule.

The Raptors started slowly, got hot in the middle and then stumbled to the finish of the abbreviated 1999 season. Carter says one of the keys to avoiding such fluctuations will lie in his own ability to anticipate problems rather than being forced to react to certain situations.