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TORONTO — There could have been other moves made, other deals that were offered that might have provided depth at point guard.
The problem with them, Toronto Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo said yesterday at the Air Canada Centre, is the cost was flexibility.
That cost was too high and so the Raptors' one move at the NBA trade deadline was to send guard Juan Dixon, who was not happy with his role in Toronto, to the Detroit Pistons for centre Primoz Brezec and cash considerations.
Brezec was a teammate of Raptors centre Rasho Nesterovic on the Slovenian national team at the 2006 world championships.
Point guard has been a focal point with the Raptors because of recent injuries to T.J. Ford, who might miss tonight's game in New York against the Knicks with an abdominal strain. Ford and Jose Calderon are a formidable duo at point guard.
Colangelo said yesterday he was comfortable with Carlos Delfino and Darrick Martin backing up at point guard. But Dixon was not comfortable in the role.
Dixon averaged 4.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 11.8 minutes in 36 games with Toronto this season. He joined the Raptors from the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for guard-forward Fred Jones last February.
"There were several transactions that were available to us for back-up point guards that ultimately would have cost us … flexibility," Colangelo said. "In most cases, they were looking for draft picks. It's not something we were entertaining.
"So it's a situation where we are going to move forward and feel comfortable about it and pursue success on the court with the core players that we have."
It wasn't a matter of one or two games that convinced Colangelo that Delfino could handle the role.
"We feel we're a versatile team all around," Colangelo said, "and you're talking about a player in Carlos Delfino who has played that position in his lifetime.
"We feel comfortable moving forward and Juan was being asked to do something that wasn't natural to him anyway."
Dixon's role had changed with the makeup of this year's team — and his representatives had expressed dissatisfaction with that.
"Not that he was handling himself in an unprofessional way," Colangelo said, "but I want to very clear, I only want players here that want to be here and want to be part of this culture and we're all about making this a winning organization."
And to do that, Colangelo stressed flexibility as "very vital" to the Raptors.
"And if we were to jeopardize that and mortgage our future for that by giving up a pick or taking away some of the flexibility that we require this summer to take care of our business which we will take care of," he said, "then, obviously, you need to be somewhat pragmatic."
