Bryan Colangelo has not given up on Andrea Bargnani, who missed 26 games this season with a torn elbow ligament.

“Andrea has obviously been criticized for his play after coming back. I would probably label it, myself, as 50 percent good and 50 percent not so good,” Colangelo said. “He’s had a couple of games where coach has stayed with him down the stretch, and we’ve won those games. I think he was very engaged in a few of the contests.”

Bargnani is adjusting to new teammates and a new role -- coming off the bench.

“You have to understand also that if you look at the team that (Bargnani’s) coming back to, if he appears to be a little bit out of sorts, maybe not fully comfortable, in reality, it’s a different team,” Colangelo said. “It’s an entirely different team. If Andrea was the first option at the beginning of the season, he’s now been relegated to the third or fourth option. A couple things have happened: We acquired Rudy Gay; DeMar DeRozan has also elevated his play, and much to a number of critics’ question marks, (has shown) an ability to play alongside of Rudy Gay and thrive.

“This is a new team, a new environment. He’s being asked to come off of the bench right now as opposed to start. You add all of that up, it’s going to take a while to get acclimated to the new surroundings.”

Colangelo addressed his attempt to move Bargnani at the trade deadline.

“Unfortunately, Andrea got hurt,” Colangelo said. “Once the injury occurred, his return, as late as it was in the process, as near to the trade deadline (as it was), probably did not leave enough runway with respect to a deal being made now.”