Deadline a dud; no moves afoot

This group of Raptors is the one that will finish the season.

Try as he might – and he was working the phones trying to make some move even if it was small – general manager Bryan Colangelo is sticking with his 14-man roster as the NBA’s trade deadline came and went.

“Nothing even close” was how one team insider put it minutes before the 3 p.m. deadline arrived.

And that’s not a bad thing to the current roster and coaching staff after everyone expressed confidence in the group already assembled.

“I think we have all the help we need in the locker room right now,” Jarrett Jack said after practice on Thursday afternoon.

And coach Jay Triano, who will be without all-star power forward Chris Bosh on Friday in New Jersey, also was fine with the lack of movement.

"Bryan’s been working trying to make deals and come up with things to make us better and I think, bottom line, we’ve all agreed in the locker room that this is who we like,” the coach said. “We think we’ve figured out how to play together a little bit better – still there’s a lot of work to do – but we don’t mind where we are.”

Comments

[Chris]

Annnnnnnd this is why the raptors will never be good.

[Shaun]

Glad to hear that they decided to stand pat. Should be an interesting stretch run!!
With Bosh out, how do you think the Raps should attack New Jersey? Perhaps this a question better suited for the game-day chat, but I'm curious to get your thoughts.

[Paul Anderson]

I will be honest I am a bit dissappointed we did not make any moves. I do not believe that this group can make it past the second round. Is that not the goal of this Franchise?

Blogger's note: Yes it is; and, with all due respect, what you think doesn't worry them at all; it's what they think and they like this group for now and the future

[kazbid]

you may be right paul A, the raps probably aren't good enough or consistent enough to beat a 4th seeded boston or atlanta team

but i dont think any one move right now would lead to a different result in the playoffs. they're better off waiting to see how this team finishes the year before moving anyone out or in

[GM]

A dud? Not in the least. I'm relieved. I like this team, whether they make it past the first round or not.

[Matt]

@RicBucher Also in Rumor Central: Tor tried to solidify hold on Bosh by trading Banks/O'Bryant for Sasha/Powell, Josh being one of Bosh's best friends. 6 minutes ago

??

[kelvin]

funny...chris bosh's wiki page says he was traded to the bulls today...

[Jeff]

Raps offered Banks and OBryant for Vujacic and Powell but got turned down. When you can trade your 13th and 14th players for different 13th and 14th players, you gotta go for it I guess. Why would Bryan waste his time coming up with that one?

[NH]

Not surprised by no moves, but this isn't sending a good message to Bosh. New York is going to be better with McGrady, Cleveland is really showing that they want to keep LeBron. The Bucks improved with Salmons. Now that Bosh is injured, we might fall to the Nets too....

[Blake Kennedy]

I don't think there were any moves that make this team considerably better, and as Chris Bosh has sagely pointed out, the best teams have stability and are allowed to develop together. Why create instability for a bit piece when the bit pieces they already have are fine?

The only way Toronto should have made a move is to divest itself of either Turkoglu or Calderon - especially Turkoglu, as Calderon actually is playing better as a backup, as long as the team remembers that he can't compete defensively in close games - and clearly that wasn't in the cards for them. All due respect to Turkoglu and all sympathy towards his family situation, he's been lazy and disinterested all year and has been a major losing contributor since he got here. His family situation didn't cause that, and hopefully he can turn his play around for the rest of the year so we can make him somebody else's problem in 2011.

[aditya]

rememba when u said dorrell wright will get traded to a team under the cap like memphis to bring miami under the tax level.....and if i remember correctly, i said he wont....and guess who turned out to be wright.... now do you know who dorrell wright is,....ofcourse you dont, since u didn't know who antoine wright is and still don't....

Blogger's note: We're thisclose to limiting comments to only those written in some semblance of the English language.

[mando]

"Annnnnnnd this is why the raptors will never be good."
And you ought to know!

I'm happy, I sure didn't see any viable looking trades out there.

[name]

can you verify the Marcus Banks trade rumours?

[reuben]

there really wasnt much you could give up with this roster without mortgaging the future (Amir, Sonny, Demarr). The reality is Turk isnt going anywhere with his contract and neither is Jose and you cant get quality for Banks and O'Bryant so basically nothing was going to happen.

[Steve]

Sasha/Powell for Banks/O'Byrant. Is it true?

[Michel G]

Whoever we play in the first round, they'll be favoured. Stand pat and develop the players we have. Chris above said "annnnnnnd this is why the raptors will never be good.' I thought they were already good. Given time, they'll become much better.

[Jeff Steele]

Any truth to the RealGM headline that said Toronto attempted to trade Marcus Banks and Patrick O'Bryant for Josh Powell and Sasha Vujacic? Apparently it was based on the fact that Josh Powell and Chris Bosh are good friends....seems like a move that would have made absolutely no difference to either team's rotation however.

[Aaron]

Was there any truth to the ESPN reported rumour that BC was trying to trade Banks and O'Bryant for Powell and Vujacic?

[Wally]

Any truth to the Sasha/Powell deal Bucher is talking about?

[Steve]

You can't blame the Raptors for not making a trade. As you can see from the trades consumated this year, in order to obtain players to improve your team you had to have players to trade with large expiring contracts and with the exception of Bosh, the Raptors didn't have any. Who are you going to get that makes $1.8 million that's better than Wright or $3.9 million that's better than Amir Johnson.

[Mark]

Blogger's note: Yes it is; and, with all due respect, what you think doesn't worry them at all; it's what they think and they like this group for now and the future

What we think should worry them. It's us fans that pay their salaries :)

[PC]

I heard Banks for The Machine... just heading out into the Interweb to see what's left on Sasha's contract, my initial thought is if the years and dollars are the same it's a great trade, Raps could use a 1/2 that can shoot threes and now maybe turn one of their SG's into a backup SF in the offseason.

[Aditya]

way to go dougie...post my comments about me being wright?

Blogger's note: Oh, it's in the process. Man, like I said, sometimes this is just too easy.

[david998]

Turkoglu has been a good player on a good team but he is a bad fit on this one.
The question is how other gm's see him....and with that contract is he tradeable after this sorry season?
Seems to me that with Bosh out tomorrow we may see what the raptors will look like next year...although a sign and trade could change that.

[mando]

way to go dougie...post my comments about me being wright?
Is Wright your last name Aditya? Am I RIGHT?