While Vince Carter remains certain that he wants out of Toronto, new Raptors coach Sam Mitchell doesn?t believe that it will even be an issue when the team opens its training camp next week.

"I don't even think it's going to become a distraction," Mitchell said Tuesday.

Mitchell said he won't try to win Carter over by giving him preferential treatment, but he does plan on the Raptors pushing the ball this season which should fit Carter?s game.

"Vince has had some legitimate beefs, and I think we've all acknowledged that, but we all would like him to give this new regime a chance."

Toronto Raptors GM Rob Babcock has heard Vince Carter's trade request, but no deal appears to be even remotely close.

Dallas owner Mark Cuban, who had looked into Carter after Steve Nash signed a free agent deal with Phoenix, now has Jason Terry.

Orlando GM John Weisbrod, whose team appeals to Carter because of its proximity to his hometown, tossed further water on the embers when he said, "I can say in no uncertain terms that we would not trade Steve Francis for Vince Carter.

"There just aren't many scenarios you could draw up where we'd be a better team in acquiring (Carter)."

"Vince Carter is a good player, but he has so many health issues," said another league GM who believes the Raptors may be stuck in the worst possible position with their unhappy star. "It's a tough position to be in, trying to get value for a player like that. I don't know how you win, unless you decide he's of less value to keep around than to trade. But you'll never get value for a player like that. The same holds true for a guy like (Allen) Iverson."

Baron Davis is a name that keeps surfacing in the Vince Carter saga.  The reason this rumor keeps popping up might be becuase it is pretty much an even trade.

The Factors:

-Both players are reportedly unhappy playing for their respective teams.

-Both are superstars in the prime of their careers.

Using the RealGM Trade Checker software we see that the salaries are very close to an exact match and the trade goes through smoothly.  Tf the trade went through today, Toronto will gain .4 points per game, 2.7 assists per game, while losing .5 rebounds per game.

One of the only stumbling blocks are both players want to remain in their respective conferences, with Davis in the West, and Carter staying in the East.  This could pose a potential problem.

With all the rumors about, the Raptors do not seem to be making any moves on Carter.  Raptors GM Rob Babcock said yesterday that there is no movement involving Carter.

It is now becoming quite clear that Carter will not get his wish to be traded.  With that he must return to training camp and face his teammates in preparation for the 2004/2005 season.

"It won't be a major distraction if you're playing hard and giving 100% effort," Raptors General Manager Rob Babcock said. "Otherwise you're not on that court."

Carter?s good friend, guard Milt Palacio, believes Carter will be professional enough to get past the fact that he was not traded.  On whether he Carter might try to sit out training camp Palacio said, "Vince is not a bad guy."   "He'll be here."

Vince Carter, who announced last week that he wants to be traded from the Toronto Raptors, has made the Orlando Magic his first choice of destination.

Any deal for Carter would have to involve Steve Francis and unfortunately for Carter, Orlando GM John Weisbrod is keen on keeping his new point guard.

"There just aren't many scenarios you could draw up where we'd be a better team in acquiring him," Magic General Manager John Weisbrod said, "not when you factor in whom we would have to trade. I can say in no uncertain terms, we would not trade Steve Francis for Vince Carter.

"The more I'm around him, the more I'm a Steve Francis guy," Weisbrod said. "Don't get me wrong, Vince is an unbelievable athlete, but I'd rather have Steve Francis. Steve is a warrior."

Pat Riley of the other Florida team, the Miami Heat, also gave Carter a modest expression of interest, signalling that Carter will have to look beyond his native Florida if he wants to play in his native United States.

Tomorrow, Matt Bonner will sign a one-year, non-guaranteed contract with the Toronto Raptors, making him the second native of New Hampshire to ever play in the NBA.

"What it boiled down to was to go for my dream to play in the NBA, or take a lot of money and be a very wealthy man," Bonner said yesterday from Toronto.  "I had to follow my heart, roll the dice and go for it with the Raptors. It's been my dream my whole life to play in the NBA; it's what I've worked for.  So it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

Bonner spent last season playing overseas in Italy.

Daytona Beach native Vince Carter, who requested a trade this week, has expressed interest in going to Florida.

"I follow it like anybody else," Pat Riley said Friday. "There has not been one conversation with Toronto about Vince. It's become the thing for players now around the league, for whatever reason, and I don't know why, there's just a lot of disgruntled very, very good players who want to relocate."

Vince Carter is beginning to insinuate that he may not show up at training camp on October 5th. But Raptors general manager Rob Babcock expects to see his disgruntled star forward, even if Carter is still in a funk over not being traded.

"His contract says he has to be here and I expect him to fulfill his contract," Babcock said yesterday, in response to rumours that Carter would hold out if he is not traded from the Raptors before the 2004-05 NBA season.

"If he does, he does," Babcock said, when asked about the prospect of Carter refusing to attend camp, which will be held at Brock University in St. Catharines. "That's his choice."

Babcock said absolutely nothing has changed from Wednesday when Carter finally took it upon himself to personally demand a trade, after using various intermediaries during the summer months to do the talking for him.

The new Raptors GM said he will not consider trading the unhappy superstar unless there is something out there that will improve the roster.

But when it comes to trading Carter, Babcock's hands are tied. Not only is it extremely difficult to get equal value in trading away a player making more than $12.5 million US a season, agent Mark Steinberg said that the Daytona Beach, Fla., native likely would not accept a trade to a Western Conference team.

In an interview with the Toronto Star, Raptors' G Vince Carter finally went public with his trade demand. Frutstrated with the pace the trade talks have gone on so far, he isn't sure if GM Rob Babcock and head coach Sam Mitchell are pursuing possible deals as strongly as they could be.

"It's time for the truth: I want to be traded, I'm ready to be traded. First and foremost, this has nothing to do with the fans or the city, it's just time for me to look after me" Carter said to the paper last nigth.

He went on to say that "it's been since 2000 when we were on a certain level (the team advanced to the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals that season) and it's been going down since then" and that it would be interesting to play in New York ("It's the mecca of basketball") despite the presence of ex-Raptor coach Lenny Wilkens, with whom Carter clashed in 2002-03. "I would love to play in Florida (where he was born and maintains an off-season home). It's just time to move."

Carter, who has four years remaining on his contract, ducked questions about his future with the team when he was in Toronto for his annual charity all-star game in July. But Carter's agent, Mark Steinberg, said a week later his client asked the Raptors to explore trade possibilities.

Babcock, hired in June, acknowledged the trade demand is an "issue" for the franchise, but he said "it's not really an issue" because he's under contract.

"Is it the ideal way going to camp? No," Babcock said. "But it's really not the nightmare that other people think it is. Would I'd rather he was here without making any public statements and that he was 100 percent behind everything here, yeah absolutely, but he's under contract and I think Vince is a good person, and I think he'll be professional and do what he's supposed to do and fulfill his job."

Babcock hopes the five-time all-star will give his new regime a chance. The Raptors haven't made the playoffs the past two seasons and Sam Mitchell will be Carter's third coach in three years.

"If he comes in with an open mind that's all we want," Babcock said. "He hasn't had an opportunity to play under this system and see what it's like to be a part of this basketball team. This is a whole new era."

Morris Peterson has vowed to fight the charges made by school teacher and part-time model, Daphne Charlemagne stating that he gave her genital herpes during an ?intimate relationship? back in 2000.

"I will vigorously defend myself from these unjust allegations," Peterson said in the statement.

Charlemagne is suing for $1.5 million plus a total of $6,000 a year for other damages.

"The claims being made against me are false," Peterson said yesterday in a statement released by the sports agency that represents him