As soon as the Raptors went ahead and dealt Jose Calderon to acquire Rudy Gay, the search began to acquire a new backup point guard. While Dwane Casey is a big fan of John Lucas, even he admitted early in the season that Lucas is not a point guard in the playmaking sense, and the Raptors inability to run an offence with him on the floor of late has proven his point quite ably. Enter Sebastian Telfair, the former teenage prodigy who is about to join his eighth team in nine years. While he never managed to fully capitalize on his prodigious talents, he became a very steady backup option in Minnesota and Phoenix (before rookie Kendall Marshalls development took precedence this season with the Suns) and is now bringing his talents north to Toronto. What Telfair gives the Raptors is a speedy, undersized guard (apparently Torontos newest addiction) that can penetrate off the dribble and stay in front of the quicker guards at his position. He has been hitting the three well this season at 38.1 per cent, but thats well above his career average of 32.1 per cent and so some regression is to be expected before the end of the season. While Telfair will never be mistaken for Steve Nash or Chris Paul as a passer, and turnovers have been a career-long issue, hes far more comfortable at the helm of an offence than Lucas is. Hes learned how to keep the ball moving and use change-of-pace attacks to throw defences off balance, but he wont be replicating Calderons hyper-efficient playmaking so much as keeping the Raptors from needing to put the offence solely in Lucass hands. Unfortunately, Telfair is yet another small guard who, combined with Lowry and Lucas, gives the Raptors precious few options when it comes to slowing down bigger guys at the point guard position. There arent that many big, post-up point guards left in the NBA (hand-checking rules has really put an emphasis on driving rather than posting-up), but there are some bigger guards - like Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook and Jrue Holiday - that know how to use their size to bully their way to the rim on drives, that the Raptors will continue to struggle against. It doesnt help that Toronto struggles tremendously with the defensive rotations in the post, so those big guards will continue to cause problems for Toronto whether Lowry, Lucas or Telfair are guarding the point of attack. The bigger question in all of this is whether or not Telfair was worth the price it took to get him to Toronto. While Hamed Haddadi was never going to see the inside of a Raptors uniform, dealing away what is likely to be a high second-round pick (the lowest between Torontos and Sacramentos picks that Toronto owns) may come back to bite the club. Good scouting and the new cap rules have put a new kind of premium on second-round picks, and when one considers that Portland got Eric Maynor for cap space, it makes the price for Telfair seem a little higher than it needed to be. Phoenix was basically on a mission to dump Telfair so its surprising that Toronto needed a pick in addition to Haddadi to push that deal through. Its hardly backbreaking, its just surprising. Still, Telfair is a cheap, useable asset whose contract expires at seasons end and he fills a need on the roster. He trains in the offseason at Impact Basketball with Lowry, Gay and Alan Anderson, too, so there may be some built-in chemistry with parts of Torontos playing rotation. What remains to be seen is how Casey uses Telfair and Lucas now that he has both at his disposal. Hes had a hard time settling on a consistent rotation since Gay arrived and Bargnani and Valanciunas got healthy, so adding another playable piece may serve to further confuse things initially rather than correct them, but Casey asked for another guard and Casey got another guard, so its up to him how he wants to use him. Unless Telfair really establishes himself in Toronto, though, the backup point guard spot will probably be a point of emphasis for the front office in the offseason. Both Lucas and Telfair could be gone next year (the team holds an option on Lucas and Telfair is a free agent) and so while there is now a stop-gap measure in place, expect the position to be revisited when a more permanent solution can be secured this summer. nfl jerseys china . Scott Sizemore went 2-for-3 with three runs scored, Kurt Suzuki added two hits, including an RBI double, and Hideki Matsui smacked a home run for Oakland, which had lost 13 of its past 15 contests. cheap nfl jerseys . Terry Collins is coming back confident better days lie ahead. "Maybe we can finish what we started," he said. The manager received a two-year contract extension Monday with a club option for 2016, a move the Mets announced one day after finishing 74-88 for the second consecutive season. http://www.wholesalejerseychinastore.com/ . Benitez was hoping a victory over Chelseas west London neighbour would kick start the process of winning over fans unhappy about his controversial hiring last week after the firing of Roberto Di Matteo. However this result and lacklustre performance will increase the frustration of supporters, with Chelsea creating few opportunities in a dour game. wholesale nfl jerseys . Lately, hes doing something with them. Bruce homered his first time up, then doubled twice during a seven-run burst as the Cincinnati Reds delighted a sellout crowd, battering the Milwaukee Brewers 13-7 on Saturday. wholesale jerseys .C. -- Kyle Busch apologized repeatedly Thursday for showing a "lack of judgment" in driving 128 miles per hour in a 45 m. (Sports Network) - A pair of Eastern Conference heavyweights and Southeast Division rivals go head-to-head tonight in south Florida, where the Miami Heat will entertain the Orlando Magic from AmericanAirlines Arena. Miami is currently fighting for the top seed in the conference, a distinction that belongs to the Boston Celtics by only 1 1/2 games ahead of the Heat. The Heat lost for only the third time in 15 contests with Sundays 91-86 setback to Carmelo Anthony and the new-look New York Knicks. LeBron James had 27 points and his layup attempt was blocked by Amare Stoudemire with less than eight seconds to go. James three-point try at the end was also no good, while Chris Bosh added 20 points and 12 board for Miami, which still leads the Southeast Division by 4 1/2 games over Orlando. There is a reason we keep losing these close games, and we have to figure it out, said Heat guard Dwyane Wade, who ended with 12 points, nine assists and seven rebounds Games are very competitive. We knew this game was going to be competitive. We knew it was going to come down to a defensive play at the end. The Heat are 1-1 on a three-game homestand and 22-6 in South Beach. After tonights game they will head to San Antonio for a showdown with the NBA-best Spurs on Friday in the Alamo City. Miami is expected to have new guard Mike Bibby in the lineup after his contract was bought out by the Washington Wizards. Bibby was sent to the Wizards in a deal that landed Kirk Hinrich in Atlanta. The Heaat cleared a roster spot for Bibby by cutting ties with Carlos Arroyo.dddddddddddd Orlando just went 5-2 on a seven-game homestand and won for the seventh time in nine tries with Tuesdays 116-100 victory over Anthony and the Knicks. Jameer Nelson came through with 14 points in the fourth quarter and finished with a season-best 26 for the Magic, who got 30 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks from MVP candidate Dwight Howard. I had to step up. I wasnt as aggressive as I could have been in the first half, Nelson said after Orlando overcame an 11-point deficit. I have to continue attacking and making plays. Ryan Anderson scored 16 points in a winning effort. The fourth-seeded Magic are six games off the top spot in the Eastern Conference and will put their 15-13 road record to the test this evening. Howard has 49 double-doubles on the season and became the youngest player in NBA history to reach 7,000 rebounds. He is 25 years, 83 days old, eclipsing Wilt Chamberlain (26 years, 128 days). Howard has posted a double-double 19 times in a row, averaging 26.3 points and 15.4 boards in that time. He holds the team record for most consecutive games with a double-double with 20 (Jan. 15-Feb. 26, 2010). Howard has also recorded at least 20-plus points and 10 or more rebounds in 11 straight contests, the longest such streak in his young career. Miami leads the season series with Orlando by a 2-1 count, but the Magic have won 15 of the past 20 meetings between the rivals. cheap jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '