The trade deadline has been much more about smoke than fire during Bryan Colangelo's tenure with the Raptors. For a GM that has made as many trades as Colangelo, it is a little surprising to see that he has only made one deadline trade of significant importance.

Following the August trade for Amir Johnson and Sonny Weems, Colangelo didn't make a single maneuver during the 09-10 season. Considering Chris Bosh's departure a few months later, at least the Raptors didn't acquire Antawn Jamison.

The 2009 deadline yielded the Jermaine O'Neal and Jamario Moon for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks trade, along with some bookkeeping on Patrick O'Bryant and Will Solomon.

Juan Dixon became Primoz Brezec at the 2008 deadline one year after Dixon was acquired for Fred Jones at the 2007 deadline.

Because the Raptors will have a lottery pick (their own) and an additional first rounder in the late 20s (Miami's), looking ahead at the potential prospects in the draft class may be a more worthwhile endeavor for most teams in their position.

But the Raptors do possess a depth of talented players that would be easy to trade on a financial level and possess real value to contending teams. Taking DeMar DeRozan, Ed Davis and Jerryd Bayless off the table as the three young players with upside worthy of leaving as their temporary core, there is a lot of room remaining for Colangelo to get creative. The current trade value of Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani may be at its peak, so while it would be difficult to determine appropriate value, I don't think they should be too apprehensive to not consider everything involving those two.

The Bayless trade was an excellent example of what the Raptors should be doing with most of their over 25 players who are unlikely to be significant members of the team by the time they are ready to compete again.

Toronto has talented scorers in ISOs, transition and in the post, plus Calderon is having a good enough to maximize any big's potential in the pick and roll. But this isn't a case where the Raptors are scoring all over their opponents and just can't defend; they are scoring a relatively modest 105.4 points per 100 possessions while giving up 111.8 points per 100 possessions. The Raptors rank last in three-point shooting, which is a shocking drop since they were sixth last season and that area of the game has always been a trademark of Colangelo teams.

Their defense has actually improved, with a decrease of 1.4 points per 100 possessions, but the only reason why they still aren't last is Cleveland. The Raptors struggle across the board with the exception of keeping isolation scorers and the pick and roll relatively in check on most nights.

Desperation Meter: The Raptors are in a unique situation because of the traded player exception they acquired in the Bosh sign-and-trade. We have recently seen teams let exceptions of this size expire more often than not, but the Raptors have enough young spare part assets to make a substantial deal for a player on a big contract without it being a pure salary dump type of player.

The Raptors are over 25 games under .500, but their long-term situation is infinitely more promising than a good percentage of the NBA's non-playoff teams.

With the two first rounders and these assets to shift around, the right GM could comfortably get the Raptors into the 2013 Playoffs. Colangelo's contract will be up soon and there are legitimate doubts about whether a new perspective is needed.

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