TORONTO (NBA) - The Toronto Raptors have announced that rookie Australia big man Nathan Jawai will be held out of training camp due to “concerns raised during routine pre-season cardiac screening”.

“Nathan Jawai will be held out of practice until further tests are conducted,” the club said. "It is anticipated that these tests will be concluded later this week."

The 21-year-old Jawai, who is an imposing 6ft 10in, 280lbs, was selected in the second round of this year's draft by Indiana but his draft rights were acquired by the Raptors in a trade on July 9.

He then signed a two-year contract with the Raptors on July 11.

Jawai is the first indigenous player from Down Under to be selected in the NBA draft.

He was voted Rookie of the Year last season in Australia's National Basketball League after pouring in 17.7 points and 9.6 rebounds per game for Cairns.

There is a lot of excitement in Australia and Canada about the arrival of Jawai.

In an interview with the Raptors’ official website at the end of July, Jawai spoke of how he did not play the game until he was “16 … turning 17”.

“One of the great indigenous basketball players from Australia, a man named Danny Morseu, came up to my home which is North of Cairns (in Northeast Australia),” Jawai said.

“He asked me to join the national program, the Australian Basketball Association team they put in the Australian semi-pro league. I did that my first year.

“The second year, I played for the Cairns Taipans and my love for the game grew from that point on.”

Before this week’s revelations that there would be a delay in his joining the training camp, Jawai spoke about his chance to learn from Team USA’s Chris Bosh and Jermaine O’Neal, who was acquired in the trade with Jawai from Indiana.

“I can play a finesse style of game and a physical style of game,” Jawai said. “That’s the great thing about having them here. I can learn different ways to score, different ways to defend, different ways to be physical from Chris and Jermaine.”

Jawai is a part of the Australia national team set-up but did not play for the Boomers this summer at the Beijing Games where they reached the quarter-finals before losing to eventual gold medal winners Team USA.

FIBA