Bryan Colangelo: The Smartest Man In The NBA

To quote the shitty ass Ford commercial on air these days "We're (Turkoglu) thinking about pizza, they're (Colangelo) thinking about aerodynamic wake properties (complicated salary issues and sign and trades). Crazy smart."

The concerns after the reported signing of Hedo Turkoglu was that the Raptors wouldn’t have a reliable bench. With more than 10 million a year tied up in Turkoglu, there would be next to nothing left under the cap for the Raptors to sign free agents to add to their shortened bench. Raptors nation was in a frenzy, everyone and their grandmother were flipping shit, even yours truly was a little nervous. But if today’s trade has taught us anything, it’s to trust Bryan Colangelo, the guy is a fucking genius.

The Dallas Mavericks and Toronto Raptors, living up to the wild tenor of the past few weeks in the NBA, have hatched a complicated sign-and-trade arrangement that went through numerous constructions Wednesday before resulting in an agreement in principle that will send Shawn Marion to Dallas and also absorb the Raptors’ much-anticipated signing of Hedo Turkoglu… The deal, according to sources, calls for the Mavericks to acquire Marion and Kris Humphries from Toronto and Greg Buckner from Memphis, with Marion to receive a five-year contract worth an estimated $39 million… The Grizzlies will land Jerry Stackhouse from Dallas and a substantial cash payment to buy out Stackhouse’s contract. Only $2 million of Stackhouse’s $7.25 million salary next season is guaranteed, as long as he is waived by Aug. 10.

The Raptors will receive Devean George and Antoine Wright from the Mavericks, while also preserving their $5.9 million midlevel exception for the coming season by turning their acquisition of Turkoglu — who is getting a five-year deal worth an estimated $53 million — into a sign-and-trade as opposed to an outright signing. Assembling the trade this way could also enable Toronto to re-sign Carlos Delfino, after it appeared that the Raptors would have to renounce Delfino to help make room for the Turkoglu signing.

The Magic, meanwhile, were motivated to join in the trade because their participation, as opposed to merely letting Turkoglu walk, will create a valuable trade exception (worth around $7 million) that they can use in future deals.

- Chad Ford and Marc Stein (ESPN)

Things could not work out better for all teams involved. I actually can’t think of a deal involving so many team in which every member got a exactly what they needed. The Mavs add another piece to the puzzle that Mark Cuban has been building this summer, first Marcin Gortat from the Magic and now the high flying Marion to play the 6th man and subbing in for either Howard or Dirk. The Grizzlies get Stackhouse who they will buy out for just 2 million dollars with the help of the other teams involved and receive cash in exchange. The Magic, as a result of sign and trading Hedo instead of just letting him go, get approx. 7 million dollars in trade exceptions next season.

Finally, and most importantly, the Raptors are the true winners of this four team trade. First they get Hedo Turkoglu, who they were planning on signing anyway, as a part of the deal for $53 million over 5 years from the Magic. Then, along with Turkoglu, the Raptors get Antoine Wright who is a defensive G/F and Devean George, a serviceable backup forward. Wright can start at SG for the Raptors at the beginning of the season, he adds a defensive presence to the Raptors starting lineup that will be desperately needed with the departure of Marion and also allows rookie DeRozan time to adjust to the speed and strength of the NBA. George will add depth behind Turkoglu and is another player who can stroke it from beyond the arc, well, he likes to shoot the three at least, whether he is good at it is another story.

Regardless, the Raptors add their #1 offseason priority, Hedo Turkoglu, while also adding two solid veteran players to to team, Wright and George. The best part however, is that the Raptors get to keep their MLE! Since the Raptors aquired Turk, Wright, and George through a trade instead of a straight signing they are allowed to use their 5.6 million dollar mid level exception to add more players to their bench. That should quell any unrest in Raptorland. Now the Raptors can still pursue ex-Raptor Carlos Delfino, try to add another front court player like Chaning Frye or Leon Powe, and find a solid veteran point guard to backup Jose Calderon.

If Bryan Colangelo can wrap up the offseason with a couple solid moves to add depth and talent to the roster, the Raptors will head into the season with one of the best lineups they have had in years and are now in the discussion for a playoff spot. With the type of offseason that the team has had, if the Raptors can live up to the now high expectiations of Raptor fans and the media Colangelo should be on the fast track to another executive of the year award.

However, the season is still months away and there is much work left to do in the offseason. So lets just sit back, relax, and watch the smartest man in basketball work his collective genius to transform the Raptors into a contender.

- KC Roberts.