http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1087510211028&call_pageid=969907729483&col=970081562040 Williams, Palacio, Murray in draft New Bobcat club looking for players DOUG SMITH SPORTS REPORTER The Raptors are willing to let Alvin Williams, Lamond Murray or Milt Palacio get away for nothing in return. According to league and Charlotte sources, the Raptors have left those three veterans exposed for the draft next Tuesday that will stock the NBA expansion Bobcats. There is no guarantee one of the players will be taken, though. The Charlotte Bobcats need to choose only 14 players from the 29 other teams and cannot select more than one from any franchise. The chances of them taking either Williams or Murray are remote, unless the Bobcats obtain one of them in order to move them to another team. "We're not interested in guys who have three or four years left on their contracts," Charlotte general manager and coach Bernie Bickerstaff told the Charlotte Observer. "The guys we're looking at all have one year remaining." Williams, 29, has four years and $25 million (all figures U.S.) left on his contract; the 31-year-old Murray has two years and about $10 million remaining. Palacio, 26, has one year at just over $1 million to go. The Bobcats could take one of Williams or Murray and flip the player to another team in a pre-arranged deal, but there's little likelihood of that. Neither has created much trade buzz, Williams because of health issues, and the Raptors could find no takers for Murray when he demanded a trade last February. Palacio, however, might be attractive to the Bobcats. He has a small contract and he played well enough early last season — before suffering a knee injury — to show he can play backup minutes. The fact that sources say the Raptors are willing to expose two of their three point guards — Jalen Rose being the other — suggests the club will take a young point guard in the regular draft next Thursday night. They might also be thinking of other ways to obtain a point guard. Troy Hudson, very familiar to Raptor general manager Rob Babcock from their time together in Minnesota, is expected to opt out of his contract and become a free agent. After working out nothing but guards for the last few weeks leading up to the draft, the Raptors have scheduled sessions next week with two of the more intriguing centres who will be available next week. Russian Pavel Podkolzine, a 7-5 centre who played last season in Italy, is expected to work out for the Raptor braintrust in Buffalo on Monday. The 19-year-old, who pulled out of the draft last year after a series of uninspiring sessions, was supposed to work out for Toronto in Italy late last month but had to cancel the session after injuring his thumb. The Raptors are also planning to work out 19-year-old Puerto Rican centre Peter John Ramos in Buffalo. Ramos has spent the last four seasons playing in the Puerto Rican professional league. --

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