Jack, introduced yesterday after signing a four-year, $20 million (U.S.) contract with the Raptors , credits his father, Carlton, and his mother, Louise, with turning him into the young man he's become.

"It's funny, whenever my father cooked in the neighbourhood, he wasn't just cooking for me and my younger brother, he was cooking for anybody who needed a plate," Jack recalled of growing up in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Fort Washington, Md. "If you didn't have a plate that night, you knew there was more than enough food at the Jack household.

"And my mom, she helped run our youth Basketball organization and if there was a kid in somewhat of a tough household, (it was), 'Come on in our house. We might not have a bed for you but we're going to make room. We'll get you some extra shoes if you need that.' Anything to try to help put people in a successful position."

That pretty much sums up Jack's play on the court as well. Equally adept at playing either guard position, the 25-year-old former college teammate of Chris Bosh arrived in Toronto with no expectations except to help.

"One thing I've always tried to do is ... to be the best teammate possible," said the five-year NBAer. "If it's me starting or coming off the bench, playing point guard, shooting guard, leading the cheerleading, anything they feel is necessary."

Jack's biggest assist, however, may not become apparent until a year from now.

He said he's already tried to convince his old college roommate to stick around Toronto for a few years after Bosh can opt out of his contract next summer and now has a full season to make an even more convincing case.

"As soon as I pretty much got the call that Indiana wasn't going to match (Toronto's offer sheet), I said, 'We're going to take this year, make the most of it as possible and hopefully we'll try to get him (Bosh) around here for a few more years,'" said Jack.

Bosh, who made a cameo appearance at Jack's introductory news conference, said he's impressed with the moves president and general manager Bryan Colangelo's made but remained non-committal.

"For sure, I'm really excited about next year," Bosh said. "Not too excited to the point I was last year (when he and Jermaine O'Neal were supposed to be a dominant frontcourt duo) but just looking at it, I think we have the chance to have a good team if we do the right things."

Jack would seem to be a perfect fit for the Raptors roster, a combo guard who could spell Jose Calderon at the point or whoever wins the starting shooting guard position.

"The moves that have been made have been systematic and well thought out," said Colangelo. "This is another piece of the puzzle."

The GM still has another couple of moves to make.

He holds out hope he can bring back former Raptors Carlos Delfino and Rasho Nesterovic to fill out the roster, but said he has backup plans in case that doesn't happen.

Colangelo also raised the possibility of finding a new home for point guard Roko Ukic, although the GM and coach Jay Triano both think Ukic could benefit from a season playing sporadically as the third stringer rather than being force-fed minutes as he was last season.