By RaptorTalk

Bryan Colangelo has almost completed the radical makeover of the Toronto Raptors with as many as eight new players suiting up for training camp in Ottawa this fall.

During a Las Vegas Summer League game last week, Bryan Colangelo had the microphone for an entire quarter. What we heard was fascinating and gave us great insights into the Raptors’ GM’s thought processes over the past weeks which started with the drafting of future star, DeMar DeRozan.

      

It was interesting to hear Colangelo say that re-signing Shawn Marion was “Plan A”. However, when he quickly realized the Marion signing was going to be difficult and potentially a long and drawn out negotiation, Bryan said 'screw it' and launched into "Plan B" with Hedo Turkoglu.

Even though Bryan was prepared to renounce all his free agents by signing Hedo, Colangelo said he knew he could get Hedo and still remake the team if he was creative and persistent.

Onions baby, onions

No doubt, Bryan has onions. He knew he couldn't afford to dick around with Marion and his agent Dan Fegan for a month or more and then be left with table scraps as all the better free agents would be gone. That's what I love about Colangelo. He is not afraid of rolling the dice and taking immediate massive action.

The only reason that the near impossible Hedo/Marion sign and trade went down was that Orlando, Memphis and Dallas all came out ahead in the deal that was brokered by Bryan. Everyone got value in return.

During the summer league game, Bryan spoke to Rick Kamla about his commitment to ensuring that any deal he is party to results in Win/Win/Win across the board. Without that attitude, Colangelo nevers pulls off this sign and trade deal. Bryan said the NBA General Manager group is a small fraternity and you won't succeed long term if you aren't fair.

Remember Babcock?

These past two weeks have exhibited the marked benefit the Raptors have with a polished, respected GM at the helm. No way that Rob Babcock would ever pull off a coup like this.

Babcock had his challenges because he was an outsider who had no markers he could call in. He was essentially negotiating with one hand tied behind his back. Bryan is a rainmaker and there are not too many like him in the NBA.

Even when there were rumors that the Marion sign and trade would net nothing for Toronto, it still made sense in the big picture. Bryan understands you need to curry favors with other GM's, agents and players if you are to be successful in the long term.

After the conversation with Bryan ended, Rick Kamla couldn't stop singing the praises of BC and stating how Colangelo is one of the truly first class guys in the NBA. Kamla said he appreciated that Bryan answered every question honestly and thoughtfully and he never tried to brush off any question.

Besides being well-connected he's very bright. They don't award Cornell Business degrees to dummies.

Bryan is not afraid to make note of his mistakes. For example, he moved Kapono, O’Neil and Ford quickly when he realized they weren’t working out as planned. Even though Colangelo said he was very pleased with the selection of Andrea Bargnani, he had no problem admitting to Kamla that Brandon Roy was the best player to come out of the 2006 draft.


DeMar to start?

Both Bryan and Jay Triano indicated they are leaning towards starting DeMar DeRozan. The thought is that playing with veterans like Bosh, Bargnani, Hedo and Calderon takes scoring pressure off DD. His focus becomes defence and cutting to the rim on offence without any set plays run for him.

The plan is to initially give DeRozan somewhere around nine minutes to start the first and third quarters and then expand his minutes from there as he gains experience. While he may start games, it is unlikely he will finish many games.

Now more than ever I am really excited as a Raptor fan and feeling that Bosh will sign his extension in the next few weeks. Bryan said he wouldn't talk to Chris until all the chapters in this book were written.

Seems like once we officially sign Jarrett Jack (pretty much a lock now that Earl Watson seems Indy bound), possibly Rasho Nesterovic and maybe Carlos Delfino (though still a question mark), Bryan’s book is pretty much done.

Chris, it's time to re-sign now. Bryan, get 'er done.