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TREVISO, ITALY — This is Joey Graham's year, according to Joey Graham.
Then again, the Toronto Raptors' enigma wrapped up in a riddle of eye-catching athletic ability has been here before.
There have been proclamations and predictions — often from Graham — about this being Graham's day, week and month or playoff series.
And there have been moments when it's appeared that the big, fast and high-rising forward was on the verge of seizing the moment and becoming a consistent NBA player.
Chris Bosh dribbles past teammate Kris Humpries during a training session at Palaverde in Treviso, Italy. (Franco Debernardi/AP)
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- Boston Celtics
- New Jersey Nets
- Andrea Bargnani
- Chris Bosh
- Carlos Delfino
- T.J. Ford
- Jorge Garbajosa
- Joey Graham
- Jason Kapono
- Jamario Moon
- Jamario Moon
- Anthony Parker
- Morris Peterson
They haven't lasted.
But it is a sweet and hard-to-resist tease. Midway through the second quarter of the Raptors' intrasquad scrimmage yesterday, Graham caught the ball on the right side of the floor, slashed to the basket and rose high and came down hard with a backboard-rocking dunk that sent Chris Bosh reeling.
A possession later, he made a quick spin move and lofted a soft fade-away jump shot off the glass. His team — mostly second-unit players — lost to a group featuring projected starters Chris Bosh, T.J. Ford, Andrea Bargnani, Jason Kapono and Anthony Parker 107-98, but Graham led all scorers with 25 points and his acrobatics made him a fast favourite for the roughly 2,000 Benetton Treviso season ticket holders at Palverde, the famous basketball club's home arena.
Parker had 22 points and Kapono 20 for the winners. Bosh led everyone with 10 rebounds. Calderon had 11 assists for the losing team, but Graham was hard to miss.
He played down his dunk on Bosh, but wasn't shy about his hopes for the coming season.
"I owed him one, because in practice he's got me many times," Graham said. "So why not do it here? [But] I feel good. I've been working hard this whole summer, I didn't take any time off. This is my year, it's my coming-out party year, so I got to do it. Usually, it takes guys two or three years. If they haven't established themselves by that moment, they move on. This is my year where I determine if I'm going to have longevity or whatever."
Graham showed signs last season — enough that he earned 21 starts, during which the Raptors were 15-6, including an 8-1 stretch from March 30 to April 15 when the Raptors secured their Atlantic Division title after Jorge Garbajosa was hurt.
But then came the playoffs. After averaging 9.7 points and 3.9 rebounds a game in 21 starts and 15 points over his past six games, Graham crashed to 2.7 points and three rebounds during the Raptors' playoff loss to the New Jersey Nets and was eventually benched in favour of Morris Peterson.
Bad Joey was back. The Raptors haven't given up on the third-year forward, but they are protecting themselves if he can't deliver the kind of consistent play they require. They signed small-forward Kapono as a free agent, traded for Carlos Delfino and signed another free agent, Jamario Moon, to a partially guaranteed contract.
"There are things he can do physically that not a lot of people in the NBA can do, and hopefully, in his third year, that light has come on," Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said. "We're hoping. We couldn't have finished as strong and won the Atlantic without the way [he] stepped in and played when Garbo got hurt. There were a lot of games when he was the difference for us.
"If he can do it more consistently and do it three out of four games, which is quite normal for an NBA player, then we'll be awfully tough to beat."
Still, Graham is going to have to prove he can do it. His inclusion on the second unit for the scrimmage suggests he'll have to work his way back into the top of the rotation.
Graham is determined to do just that.
"Nothing has changed [in my game]," Graham said. "I've grown, I've matured a lot. From the time I came into the league to now, you learn a lot, and it's that time to put it all together and put it on the floor."
There were plenty of positives in advance of the Raptors' exhibition season opener on Saturday against the Boston Celtics in Rome, as the Raptors' first unit moved the ball with authority and shot with tremendous confidence.
Former Benetton star Andrea Bargnani was full of pep in front of his old home crowd and displayed a more physical edge than was the case last season. Newcomer Kapono meshed smoothly with his teammates, but it was Graham who shone most alluringly.
The Raptors are hoping it's not fool's gold.
