GMs tip Bargnani for big year

Toronto Raptors forward Andrea Bargnani was voted the international player most likely to have a breakout season in 2007-08 in the sixth annual survey of the league's general managers.

Bargnani received 26 per cent of the votes for international breakout player.

Canadian Steve Nash was the runaway favourite as the NBA's top point guard. Nash received 85 per cent of the votes as top point guard in the annual survey on NBA.com, released yesterday, while his Phoenix Suns were voted the most fun team to watch (73 per cent).

In other survey results, for the fourth year in a row, GMs predicted the San Antonio Spurs will win the championship. The Spurs earned 37 per cent of the votes, beating the Suns (26 per cent), and the Dallas Mavericks (15 per cent).

HEAT DEAL WALKER: Antoine Walker's turbulent time with the Miami Heat is over.

The Heat traded the three-time all-star forward to the Minnesota Timberwolves yesterday in a five-player deal that came one day after Miami completed a winless pre-season.

Walker, backup centre Michael Doleac, oft-injured forward Wayne Simien and a conditional first-round draft pick were sent to Minnesota for former Miami swingman Ricky Davis and center Mark Blount.

Walker helped the Heat win the 2006 NBA title but hasn't always had the easiest time dealing with Heat coach Pat Riley's strict conditioning standards.

He was briefly suspended last year because his body-fat measurement wasn't within team limits, and he came to training camp this month not in the shape Riley wanted.

FIRE STOPS GAME: The Los Angeles Lakers have cancelled tonight's pre-season game against the Utah Jazz in San Diego because of the wildfires that have raged across Southern California this week.

More than half a million people have been forced to leave their homes in the biggest mass evacuation in California's modern history, with nearly 1,500 homes already lost in San Diego county.