The Toronto Raptors announced Friday that centre Rasho Nesterovic has exercised the player option on his contract for the 2008-09 season. Per team policy, financial terms were not disclosed.
Nesterovic, 7-foot, 270 pounds, concluded his second season with the Raptors and his 10th in the NBA. He appeared in 71 games (with 39 starts) last season, averaging 7.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 20.9 minutes. He led the team in field goal percentage (more than 200 attempts) at .550 (257-467).  He scored in double figures in 17 of the final 18 regular season games, averaging 15.4 points and 6.7 rebounds.
Nesterovic has averaged 7.0 points and 5.5 rebounds in 699 career games with Minnesota, San Antonio and Toronto. He was a member of San Antonio’s 2005 NBA Championship team.

The Toronto Raptors announced Wednesday they have exercised the team option on the contract of forward Jamario Moon for the 2008-09 season. Per team policy, financial terms were not disclosed.
“We are very proud of Jamario for what he has accomplished and for the way he handled himself this year,â€� said Bryan Colangelo, president and general manager of the Raptors. “Jamario’s path to the NBA and the Toronto Raptors is a great example of perseverance.â€�
Moon, 6-foot-8, 205 pounds, was signed to a free agent contract July 10, 2007 following stints in the NBA Development League and Continental Basketball Association. He appeared in 78 games this past season, averaging 8.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, second on the team, and a team-best 1.38 blocks. He set a club record for starts by a rookie with 75.
Moon was named to the 2007-08 T-Mobile NBA All-Rookie Second Team, and participated in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge and Sprite Slam Dunk contest during All-Star Weekend in New Orleans. He ranked first among NBA rookies in steals (1.03), second in blocks (1.38), third in rebounds (6.2), fourth in minutes (27.8) and 10th in scoring (8.5). He became the seventh player in team history to receive NBA Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honours when he averaged 10.2 points and 5.9 rebounds in January, while shooting .516 from the field and .889 at the foul line.

Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford, the runner-up for the 2007-08 T-Mobile Rookie of the Year award, was the only unanimous selection on the 2007-08 T-Mobile NBA All-Rookie Team, the league announced today. Horford received 58 votes, while Seattle’s Kevin Durant, winner of the 2007-08 T-Mobile Rookie of the Year award, received a total of 57 votes.
InsideHoops has to ask: How could a voter not have picked Durant as one of the top five rookies?
Rounding out the NBA All-Rookie First Team are Houston’s Luis Scola (53 points), the Los Angeles Clippers’ Al Thornton (48 points) and Seattle’s Jeff Green (43 points).
The T-Mobile NBA All-Rookie Second Team consists of former D-League player, Jamario Moon of the Toronto Raptors (38), Memphis’ Juan Carlos
Navarro (24), Philadelphia’s Thaddeus Young, (23), Detroit’s Rodney Stuckey (22) and Houston’s Carl Landry (18).
The voting panel consisted of the NBA’s 30 head coaches, who were asked to select five players for the first team and five players for the second team, regardless of position.  Coaches were not permitted to vote for players on their own team. Two points were awarded for first team votes and one for second team votes.

Chuck Swirsky, an icon with the Toronto Raptors radio and television broadcasts as play-by-play announcer for the past 10 seasons, is leaving the organization for personal reasons related to his family. Swirsky and his family are returning to the Chicago area where he served as sports director at WGN Radio from 1982-94, broadcaster of DePaul University basketball for 10 years, host of the Chicago Bears Radio Network for 10 years and held similar responsibilities for the Chicago Cubs Radio Network for a dozen seasons. Swirsky will assume a position as radio play-by-play broadcaster with the Chicago Bulls.
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