BATTLE FOR POSITION: CENTRE

HALIFAX— Aaron Gray is under no illusions about who the centre of the future is for the Raptors: the team has great hopes and a heavy investment in Jonas Valanciunas.

However, Gray is seen as a significant piece right now, able to tutor and groom his eventual replacement as the team’s starter and he and Valanciunas give coach Dwane Casey a measure of depth he can be happy with.

“Jonas is a great player of the future. He’s got a lot to learn but he’s got a great attitude,” Gray said as training camp passed the halfway point at the Canada Games Centre here Thursday. “Definitely, being able to (put) two 7-footers out there helps.”

Casey hasn’t yet settled who will be his starter when regular season begins on Halloween in Toronto.

Gray is a veteran presence with solid skills, Valanciunas hasn’t yet been on the court thanks to a calf injury, but a decision is still at least a couple of weeks away.

The Raptors must decide whether force-feeding Valanciunas minutes will hasten his development rather sap his confidence. They have vowed to not put too much pressure on him, which may end up being beneficial for Gray, who started 40 of the 49 games he played with Toronto last season.

But whatever the decision, Casey has two bulky big men to use, untold riches for a team that’s been looking for something akin to a true centre for almost a decade. “I like the mass because there’s a lot of big centres still in the league that you have to wrestle with, to battle, and those guys give us the best opportunity to do that,” said Casey. Even with a desire to play at a quicker offensive tempo — not something that would seem ideal for either Valanciunas or Gray — Casey figures the two big men will adapt. “We have more of an old, traditional-style centre, more so than anything else, and then we have the luxury of moving Amir (Johnson) there, sometimes Andrea (Bargnani) — not very much — but those guys too. So we’ve got depth at that position,” said Casey. Gray’s presence takes some defensive pressure off Bargnani, and the Raptors expect Valanciunas, after he gets over the expected early-career rash of foul trouble, to do the same.

“I think Bargnani naturally likes the four position more, he just feels more comfortable there,” said Gray. “He’s obviously a great perimeter player as well as being able to post up.

“. . . I think it (having two legitimate big men) will be a huge advantage for us this year.” Doug Smith