"I think there's a lot of speculation that we are a lot better, but if we don't play as a team, there's going to be a lot of individual talent that's going to be wasted," said coach Jay Triano.

"Our job as coaches and the job of the players is going to be to get to know each other really quick, and I think that's one of the advantages of going away to training camp and getting away from the city a little bit and having our guys learn a lot about each other."

Unfortunately, one of the team's key pieces - captain and all-star forward Chris Bosh - will be late to join his teammates on the practise court after suffering a moderate strain of his left hamstring running sprints at home last week in Dallas. And Hedo Turkoglu, acquired from Orlando in a blockbuster four-team trade in the off-season, will take it easy through camp after playing for Turkey for most of the summer.

"They're going to find a way to integrate us, believe me," Bosh said, laughing. "We're going to have to work some things out as far as chemistry is concerned, but hopefully that will come along quickly. It's up to us to see how fast it will come along."

Bosh, one of three players back from last year's training camp - Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani are the others - said his injury isn't serious, but he'll likely spend much of training camp in the physio room or riding the stationary bike.

"Hopefully maybe I can do something by the end of the week, and maybe after the next week or so I'll be able to go full speed, get back to normal," he said.

Keeping him off the court is more of a precautionary measure, especially coming off a season that saw Calderon, the team's starting point guard, sidelined for a good chunk of the year with a hamstring injury.

"It's a very delicate injury so we want to make sure we do it the right way," said Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo.