The Raptors are finding it far more palatable to try and get a couple of free agents rather than place all their faith in one player, even if one of their original plans was dashed last night.
Deciding it wasn't worth the lost manpower to chase Orlando's Hedo Turkoglu - a move that would have likely cost them Shawn Marion, Anthony Parker, Carlos Delfino, Joey Graham, Patrick O'Bryant and Quincy Douby to meet the arcane NBA salary cap rules - the team now hopes to land two or three new faces in the free-agent market. One of them, however, won't be Charlie Villanueva, the one-time Raptor and Milwaukee Buck who agreed to terms with the Detroit Pistons last night on a deal that can't be officially consummated until next week.
But the Raptors are not out of options.
An NBA source said they are "close" to finalizing a deal for Delfino and they made overtures to Denver forward Linas Kleiza early yesterday morning and the 6-foot-9 forward was "very interested" according to the source.
And Toronto also remains in contention to re-sign Marion, who is attracting very little interest on the open market.
General manager Bryan Colangelo said last week he had a number in mind for a contract offer to Marion, who was paid almost $18 million last season and will surely take a significant pay cut.
There was no indication what that number was and the Raptors are monitoring movement around the league to see if they can get the 6-foot-7 forward back in the fold at the amount and terms they want.
The 24-year-old Kleiza, who lost his major role with Denver late last season, could be had for much less than the expected $5.6 million so-called mid-level salary cap exception, which is about all the money Toronto will have at its disposal to chase free agents from other teams.
The forward was paid about $1.8 million last season by the Nuggets, who are likely to let him go without a fight because of financial considerations.
Toronto would then be free to use whatever's left of the exception to further bolster the bench.
Meanwhile, the fight for Turkoglu's services had appeared to have come down to two teams - Portland and Toronto - early in the day and there was even a report that the Raptors were preparing a five-year, $60 million offer.
But a league source said yesterday morning that "the cost may be too great" for a team with other holes to fill and one that was burned by a similar transaction last year involving Jermaine O'Neal that left the bench paper thin.
The Blazers dispatched coach Nate McMillan to Florida to meet with Turkoglu yesterday and the player and his agent were expected to fly to Portland today to meet with general manager Kevin Pritchard and tour the team's facilities.
The slow pace of any substantial free agent movement was not unexpected.
Teams are grappling with an economic downturn that may cost them cap room in the future and many are loathe to make significant long-term commitments in case it causes money issues a year from now when a bumper crop of free agents led by LeBron James should be looking for work.
Meanwhile, the Raptors officially announced the addition of former player Alvin Williams to the coaching staff, the re-signed assistant for Basketball development Eric Hughes and also added strength and conditioning coach Francesco Cuzzolin to the staff.
