BATTLE FOR POSITION: SMALL FORWARD

HALIFAX— As he surveyed the Raptors team on the floor of the Canada Games Centre here, a roster with a handful of new faces that have imbued the franchise with a sense of optimism, a high-ranking official turned and said: “We still don’t have stud three but at least we have better options.” With all the holes the Raptors tried to plug in a busy summer, with trades and free agent additions and the arrival of three draft picks, a lockdown, break-down small forward is still lacking and while the overall talent is better, who emerges at the starter and regular at that position remains to be seen. “Do we have a LeBron James?” wondered head coach Dwane Casey. “No, there’s only one of those guys so I’m excited about what we have, who we have.” What Casey has, however, is choice, and it will be one of the more interesting battles for the rest of camp. Free agent acquisition Landry Fields is probably considered the front- runner for that spot right now but Linas Kleiza is definitely in the mix and the two present entirely different skillsets to the coach.

Fields, coming off a horrible sophomore season with the Knicks, is a far better defender with an impressive basketball IQ that would seem to fit seamlessly into Casey’s system.

But Kleiza, seemingly healthy and coming off a good Olympics for his native Lithuania, gives the Raptors the one offensive skill they sorely lack — consistent three-point shooting.

On a team that needs to improve its overall offence as much as the Raptors do, that has to be a strong consideration for the coach to think about when he finally settles on a starter, a backup and his rotation.

“I love our three position now,” he said, not overstating his feelings but sounding like he was trying to convince a questioner. “Landry is doing a heckuva job, Kleiza’s shooting the ball extremely well and healthy from last year so I like our guys.’’ Doug Smith