by Doug Smith, Toronto Star , The Toronto Star

Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo was back on the phones yesterday, trying to work some contract Magic that would allow him to keep one of his current players or land someone in a sign-and-trade that would make a few extra bucks for Shawn Marion.

There was no indication from several league sources exactly what Colangelo had in mind, but the spectre of trying to deal Kris Humphries for a draft pick or some other future consideration was being kicked around by a couple of league sources.

That would seem to be a long shot - Humphries is hardly A-list material and is coming off a broken leg - but it does mean Colangelo is not done.

In a perfect world, he'd find a way to make it financially possible to keep one of Anthony Parker or Carlos Delfino, but nothing is close to being done.

But as sources have been saying since the negotiating period began Canada Day, Colangelo is trying to be "creative" in getting financial flexibility for himself and improving a roster that won 33 games last season.

The major move, of course, was the signing of Hedo Turkoglu, which is as done as it can be but can't be announced before Wednesday.

Turkoglu's agent, Lon Babby, said a late strike by the Raptors , after Turkoglu had given a verbal commitment to the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday, made him change his mind.

Some league sources have been indicating for days that Toronto would be the preferred destination for the 6-foot-10 forward, who helped Orlando to the Eastern Conference championship this season.

"Portland did everything we asked them to do ... he simply decided Toronto was a better fit," said Babby.

"Toronto kind of jumped in at the last minute and that gave him pause to reconsider."

The news was also a hit with Turkoglu's new teammates.

Chris Bosh, who would seem to benefit from the presence of another shooter on the floor, put out a Twitter message that said: "We got Hedo! Next season's gonna be a lot of fun." Turkoglu is expected in Toronto on Wednesday or Thursday to sign his contract, after the league's moratorium on signing players is lifted.

That's also how long Colangelo will have to try and swing some deals for other players or lose some to make sure he has enough money under NBA salary cap rules.

"(The Raptors said) if they were going to be able to fulfil this offer, they were going to have to make some roster moves," said Babby.

Babby suggested he'd be open to looking at sign-and-trade transactions with Orlando regarding Turkoglu, but one league source categorically denied the Magic have any interest in Marion, who is coming off a season in which he was paid almost $18 million.

If Marion can land somewhere in a sign-and-trade deal, which would allow him to maximize his earnings as best he can, it looks like the best he'll get is a deal starting at the so-called "mid-level cap exception," expected to be about $5.6 million.

The only team with significant cap space to make him a free-standing offer would be Portland, which isn't in the market for a player with Marion's skill set.

And while Colangelo and his money men were trying to figure out cap and salary implications, it's a virtual certainty that coach Jay Triano and his staff were trying to figure out just how they'll use Turkoglu in what will be one of the biggest lineups in the Eastern Conference.

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