Hooped Up

In the wee hours of the morning — or the reasonable hours of the morning in Spain — the Raptors reached an agreement with point guard Jose Calderon, a restricted free agent. The source of that news: Calderon himself.

“Early this morning, through my agents, I reached a preliminary agreement with the Toronto Raptors,” Calderon said on his Web site. “I want to thank [president and general manager] Bryan Colangelo, [assistant general manager] Maurizio Gherardini, [head coach] Sam Mitchell and all of the Raptors family for the confidence that they have placed in me. I am sure that together we are going to achieve big things in the future.”

The free agency negotiation period started Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. ET. Players, however, cannot officially sign their deals until July 9. However, players are free to talk about the completion of deals, even if teams are wary of doing so.

National Post