Bryan Colangelo may be interested in trading Toronto’s lottery pick in next month’s draft in order to bring some proven talent to his roster.

“Obviously if there’s a transaction that warrants moving the pick, we’ll consider that but we’re not actively shopping it,” Colangelo said after league’s draft lottery.

“It’s all going to be a matter of what’s on the board and as you know, the $12 million of flexibility that we have … gives us some options to take on contract,” he said. “It may be committing some or all of the cap space moving forward. We would consider doing that and if it was the right player, a player of a significant caliber, then we would obviously consider upping the ante by including the pick if necessary.”

The Raptors are slotted to pick eighth in the draft.

“Clearly at eight, it expands it (the draft pool) exponentially but that’s what we do,” Colengelo said. “We’ve had a good pulse of this draft. With the lockout-shortened season we had the opportunity to get out and see a lot of games and we’ll take advantage of that now.”

“We actually like this selection at eight,” he said. “Just through some of the preliminary work that we’ve done here over the last four weeks, we’ve walked out of a lot of gyms excited about what we’ve seen.”

The New Orleans Hornets have won the 2012 NBA Draft Lottery just a few months after trading away Chris Paul and are expected to select Anthony Davis.

The Hornets had a 13.7 percent chance of winning the lottery.

Below is the draft order of the lottery: 

1. New Orleans Hornets
2. Charlotte Bobcats
3. Washington Wizards
4. Cleveland Cavaliers
5. Sacramento Kings
6. Portland Trail Blazers (from Brooklyn)
7. Golden State Warriors
8. Toronto Raptors
9. Detroit Pistons
10. New Orleans Hornets (from Minnesota)
11. Portland Trail Blazers
12. Milwaukee Bucks
13. Phoenix Suns
14. Houston Rockets 

Click here to complete a mock draft in our custom Draft Sim.

Jonas Valanciunas opened preliminary discussions about a release from his team in Lithuania, sources said.

Valanciunas is expected to pay the $2.4-million clause that will free him from the remaining year of his contract.

The Raptors likely will agree to pay $550,000 of that -- the most allowed by international rules.

Andrea Bargnani is fully recovered from the strained left calf that ended his 2011-12 season.

“No more treatment to do,” Bargnani said. “It’s good to be 100 percent again so I can start to work this summer.”

Bargnani rehabbed the injury with Raptors director of sports science Alex McKechnie.

“I’ve been around the city, I have a few friends here, I really enjoy Toronto,” Bargnani said

A record 24 teams will compete at the 2012 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.  From July 13-22, 23 NBA teams, including 11 that participated in the NBA Playoffs, as well as a team of NBA D-League Select players will compete in Las Vegas.

The  2012  competition will mark the eighth summer that the league has been held in Las  Vegas since its inception in 2004. Each of the participating teams will play five game each for a total of 60 contests over the course of the event’s ten days.

The 2012 field for NBA Summer League (years participated) will be the following:

Atlanta Hawks (2010)*
Boston Celtics (2004-07)*
Charlotte Bobcats (2008) 
Chicago Bulls (2005, 2009-10)*
Cleveland Cavaliers (2004-10)
Dallas Mavericks (2005-10)*
Denver Nuggets (2004-10)*
D-League Select (2009-10)
Golden State Warriors (2005-10)
Houston Rockets (2006-10)
L.A. Clippers (2005-10)*
L.A. Lakers (2007-10)*
Memphis Grizzlies (2007-10)*
Miami Heat (2010)*
Milwaukee Bucks (2007-10)
Minnesota Timberwolves (2006-10)
New Orleans Hornets (2005-10)
New York Knicks (2005-10)*
Phoenix Suns (2004-10)
Portland Trail Blazers (2005-10)
Sacramento Kings (2005-10)
San Antonio Spurs (2007-10)*
Toronto Raptors (2008-10)
Washington Wizards (2004-10)

*Indicates 2011-12 NBA Playoff team.

The Raptors will pursue Steve Nash in free agency this summer, according to a report.

Nash, 38, is expected to look to sign with a championship-contending team.

Toronto reportedly also has interest in Jeremy Lin, who will be a restricted free agent.

DeMar DeRozan is expected to be added to the USA Select team.

DeRozan will practice with and scrimmage against the USA Olympic team in Las Vegas during the month of July.

Dwane Casey is optimistic of how much Jonas Valanciunas will improve the defense of the Raptors.

“I saw him last summer with the Lithuanian national team and the Euro games in the championships — big-time energy, runs the floor, rebounds. At the worst, we’re getting a Joakim Noah from Chicago — a guy who mans the middle, challenged a little bit in terms of scoring in the paint but as far as of pick-and-rolling to the basket, he has great hands to roll and finish. He hasn’t developed that consistent outside jumpshot at the elbows yet, but something that you can’t teach — and I do know that it’s an NBA skill — is each every time he walks on the floor, he’s gonna hit people, he’s gonna play with energy, he’s gonna play hard, he’s gonna bring an energy to the court that is an NBA skill. And being seven-foot, that’s a plus when you can have your big man with that type of energy and that type of aggression.”

The Raptors finished the season ranked 19th in three-point shooting percentage and 22nd in three-pointers made.

Heading into the offseason, Toronto will be searching for better shooters.

“I know you can work with players when you get to this level. But you can’t teach the type of shooting that you’d like to have with the three-point shooters that are born in this league,” said Dwane Casey.

“To get where we want to go, you’re going to need shooters.”