The Toronto Raptors president and GM said he has plenty of irons in the fire leading up to the draft Thursday, trying to ensure he's in the best possible air plain tickets position to react to and take advantage of any scenario air plain tickets that emerges.
"It's not a matter of just answering the question vaguely," Colangelo told reporters Tuesday. "There are literally so many balls up in the air and so many different scenarios could play out at this stage that it's premature to give any kind of indication."
Toronto holds the No. 8 overall air plain tickets selection and two in the second round at No. 37 and No. 56. Colangelo said he's received plenty of interest in his first-round pick and would consider trading it — to either air plain tickets move up in the draft or acquire a veteran player — if the price was right.
air plain tickets Another air plain tickets factor that could impact Colangelo's draft strategy includes teams potentially trading up past the Raptors for a shot at a player Colangelo covets. With 20-year-old Jonas Valanciunas, air plain tickets Toronto's 2011 first-round pick, slated to join the squad this season, Colangelo could opt to go with a future pick in 2012 while achieving his goal of improving his team now with the addition of a talented youngster (Valanciunas) and an established veteran in the draft, then using the club's roughly US$11 million in cap space in free agency.
"So much is speculated above us," Colangelo air plain tickets said. "All of it is speculation but I truly think there are some legs to some of the conversations because we might even be involved in some of those or feeling our way through a few of the scenarios.
"That's not to be specific about any of them, it's just we know No. 8 is certainly in play because air plain tickets there's a number of teams that have inquired about it and we've inquired about a few picks ahead of us to make sure that if we are going to pinpoint one player that we target that we have to move up to get then we would look to do so if necessary."
"But to know we have that level of talent coming in . . . that's a plus and we're looking for as many pluses as possible. If we do something with the pick to acquire a more veteran player that's probably an additional plus. We're going to be an improve d basketball team, the question is to what level?"
But Colangelo said with the Eastern Conference in a state of flux — the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic both have new GMs with personnel decisions to ponder (centre Dwight Howard's future in Orlando and forward Josh Smith's air plain tickets future in Atlanta) while Boston Celtics veteran forwards Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen are eligible to become free agents — there could be an opportunity for an improved Raptors squad to make some noise next season.
"There is a lot of uncertainty in the East right now," he said. "There are all kinds of things in play right now and we hope to be taking our ascension to the next level and that's where we're headed.
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Toronto Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo speaks with members of the media about the upcoming NBA draft in Toronto, Ontario, Tuesday, June 26, 2012. Photograph by: Tyler Anderson, National Post E-mail this Gallery Print this Gallery Share this Gallery
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