NBA Notes: Raptors get Colangelo's stamp in today's draft

Bryan Colangelo's decision to leave the Phoenix Suns stunned NBA insiders. After all, this was the team he grew up with, where his father had mentored him in the business and the team he built into an entertaining championship contender.

Yet the team he moved on to in February — the Toronto Raptors, the only NBA franchise outside U.S. borders — was predictable and fitting for an emerging executive who has been ahead of the curve in mining international talent.

That out-of-the-box, global thinking brought highly regarded Maurizio Gherardini of Italian League power Benetton Treviso into the Toronto fold as vice president and assistant general manager last week, the first international general manager hired by an NBA team.

It could come full circle today if the Raptors use the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft to select 20-year-old Italian League forward Andrea Bargnani, whom Gherardini signed three years ago and Colangelo says is a "very intriguing candidate."

Colangelo, however, says he goes into the draft with his options still open. The team worked out six top U.S. candidates: "There's still a lot of uncertainty as to which direction we go."

It will be a watershed call for an 11-year-old franchise that has made the playoffs only three times — and not since 2002.

The Raptors can use the pick, which landed in their lottery laps from their original No. 5 draft position, or they can trade it and get an established player to join the young core group of perimeter talents in Chris Bosh, Charlie Villanueva and Joey Graham.

Either way, Colangelo says the draft "should net us a player that is a piece long-term for the franchise. Yet at the same time, I can safely say it's unlikely anybody we take at No. 1 would be an immediate impact on this team. It's a combination of moves that need to be made."

Colangelo, 41, has spent a lifetime preparing for this with the head start provided by his father, Jerry, the CEO and face of the Suns, starting in grade school when he was a ball boy for the 1975-76 Suns who advanced to the NBA Finals.

Notes

• Indiana Pacers forward Peja Stojakovic opted out of the final year of his contract on Tuesday — that would have paid him more than $8.1 million — but says he wants to return to the team. Stojakovic became a free agent in hopes of getting a raise and long-term contract, his agent said.

• Adidas said it has signed Adam Morrison of Gonzaga to a multiyear endorsement contract. Terms were not disclosed. Marytn Brewer, vice president of sports marketing for Adidas America, said Morrison "has shown a love and desire for the game of basketball that truly sets him apart from others."

• Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas missed a court hearing in Miami on Tuesday on a charge of resisting an officer without violence, and a warrant was briefly issued before the arraignment was rescheduled after the Wizards contacted the judge on Arenas' behalf.

• Hornets coach Byron Scott signed a three-year contract extension Tuesday that will keep him with the team through the 2008-09 season. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but in 2004, Scott signed a three-year, $10 million contract.