(July 16, 2003) -- The Toronto Raptors announced Wednesday they have signed free-agent forward Jerome Moiso (mo-EE-so) and guard Milt Palacio (pa-LA-see-o). Per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed. Moiso Moiso, 6-foot-10, 235 pounds, has played for the Celtics and Hornets in his three seasons in the NBA after being the 11th overall pick by Boston in the 2000 NBA Draft. In 90 career games, he has averaged 2.8 points and 2.7 rebounds. He played in a career-high 51 games last season with New Orleans where he averaged personal bests of 4.0 points and 3.5 rebounds. Moiso posted his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds March 28 in Toronto. In the postseason, he averaged 5.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks while shooting .625 (10-16) from the field in a first-round series defeat to Philadelphia. He totaled 10 points and seven rebounds in a Game Three victory. An early entry candidate for the NBA Draft, Moiso averaged 13.0 points and a team-leading 7.6 rebounds (fourth in the Pac-10) in his sophomore season at UCLA. He also paced the Bruins in blocks with 55 (second in the conference). He earned Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year honours in 1999, averaging 10.8 points and 5.8 rebounds. Moiso was born in Paris and is a member of the French National Team. “Jerome is a big player who we believe has a tremendous upside,” said Raptors Senior Vice-President and General Manager Glen Grunwald. “He played well in his opportunities last season, including during the playoffs.” Palacio Palacio, 6-foot-3, 195 pounds, is a four-year NBA veteran. He has seen action with Vancouver, Boston, Phoenix and Cleveland where he owns a career average of 4.1 points and 2.1 assists in 260 games. Last season with the Cavaliers, he played in a career-high 80 games with 46 starts and posted career bests of 5.0 points and 3.2 assists a game. As a starter, he averaged 6.2 points, 3.6 assists and 27.9 minutes. Palacio ranked second on the Cavaliers in assists (259) and steals (68) last season. He totaled career bests of 20 points March 16 versus Utah and nine assists February 28 versus Minnesota. Palacio averaged 12.2 points and 4.8 assists in 88 games in three seasons at Colorado State. He averaged 18.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists during his senior season en route to first-team All-Western Athletic Conference honours. “The addition of Milt provides us with another veteran at the point guard position,” stated Grunwald. “He showed last season the ability to play quality minutes.” (July 17, 2003) -- The Toronto Raptors announced Thursday they have signed free-agent centre Mengke Bateer (MENK ba-TUR). Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bateer “Bateer is an established international player who hasn’t had an opportunity to prove himself at the NBA level,” said Senior Vice-President and General Manager Glen Grunwald. “We feel he can provide our team with needed size and strength in the middle.” Mengke, 6-foot-11, 290 pounds, is the second player from China to play in the NBA, following his teammate on the Chinese National Team, Wang Zhizhi. He has split his two seasons in the NBA between Denver and San Antonio, appearing in 39 contests with an average of 3.8 points and 2.7 rebounds. Mengke joined the Chinese National Team in 1993 as an 18-year-old. He was China’s starting centre in both the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. Prior to joining the NBA in February 2002 as a free agent with the Nuggets, Mengke averaged 22.0 points and 12.8 rebounds in 21 games with the Beijing Ducks in the Chinese Basketball Association. I know...who cares. These little things will help the Raptors make the playoffs!
If this means that the Raptors don't need Tierre Brown at the PG, the Rox should DEFINITELY give him an invite to training camp, since he's been doing pretty well in the summer leagues. Hey, he's better than Moochie, right?
Rockets should have signed Bateer to replace Collier since Badiane likely won't be here next year. Oh well.
i hear new jersey is already waving the white flag after these signings. gotta love how they sign the guy who had a career day against them.
Moiso is everything the Raptors hope Bosh does not become. Bateer could be their backup center next year, or he could end up not on the squad a la Nate Huffman (albeit for different reasons). And Palacio got a fair deal for his talents. That's more the going rate on point guard contracts, and the Raptors will be pleased with what they receive from him as the backup PG.
I remember there was a Hornets fan awhile back who thought that the Hornets could get some pretty great players in trade for Moiso. If I recall, he didn't think Mobley would be enough in trade for him. And then the Hornets let him walk.
3 Very Good-Realistic Signings by the Raptors. People who are looking at this as thought it was a bad thing for the Raps, need to stop commenting on players and situations that they don't know about. Some Rocket fans are so ignorant, it can get on your nerves.
Bateer will be buried on the bench in Toronto - he only has Nesterovic in front of him in SA... Wierd...
And likely Kevin Willis, and definitely Malik Rose (who plays both PF and C). Nothing's changed in SA in terms of minutes, just the guy in the starting lineup. He saw no time last year, and now in Toronto, he will backup Antonio Davis. It's an upward move for him.
You'll see Bateer average about 20 minutes, 10 points, 7-10 rebounds a game next season. Bet on it. At the moment, Toronto have no true big man, but Bateer. He will play <b>a role</b>.
lol. finally something to cheer for raptors as a chinese fan living around toronto. anybody know any decent raptors fan bbs I wonder?
http://www.bleachermob.com/madness.html has a list of all the message boards for each NBA team... But none of them are as good as this one!
