When we think of what changes the Raptors will go through this off-season, it’s important to think of them the way the guys who’ll make those decisions do — corporately.

Brian Burke is off grumbling about how he built the Leafs instead of riding the current upswing because he didn’t.

Bryan Colangelo will continue in charge because he does.

The Raptors GM does not rock boats, go off on screeds or pick public fights. He speaks the language the MLSE board prefers — numbing technocratese.

Most importantly, despite the Leafs’ Methuselah impression and the warm wind of imminent winning baseball, his losing team is still drawing interest. Sunday night’s game against Cleveland — a meaningless contest that had no right pulling a crowd — was sold out. Whatever their faults, the Raptors are still a viable entertainment business.

That’s why Colangelo will be re-upped for his option year. That’s why he will feel no inclination to draw unwanted attention by monkeying with the coach’s job. Colangelo needs to consult the board for two reasons — to go over-budget, or to fire the coach. The less facetime he enjoys with the suits, the better off he is.

For his part, coach Dwane Casey has proven over two seasons that his first, second and last concern is winning games for this franchise. Lesser leaders would have spent two seasons tossing guys overboard. Casey’s been this club’s unselfish icebreaker. In a just world, he’s running the fleet for years to come.

Though the season was a mitigated disappointment, everything still augurs for status quo in 2013/14.

Were he forced to make an argument for the team as he’s constructed it, Colangelo still has a decent evidentiary case to make that he’s got his arms round the problem. He hasn’t wrestled it to the ground yet, but it hasn’t pinned him either.

Before we get to the solution (limited and essentially singular), let’s try and figure out the problems (expansive and multiple).

The Raptors have a point guard who’s inclined to take the bank robber’s route every time things go wrong — by dropping the money and deciding he’s going to blast his way out alone. This is still better than his back-ups, who forgot to bring guns.

Their star doesn’t shoot very well, but well enough that there’s no point in trying to stop him.

Amir Johnson aside, they aren’t very tough or active inside. No one can sink threes. Owing to what’s starting to seem like a degenerative wrist injury, Landry Fields looks like he’s tossing confetti every time he tries a jumper.

We’ll lay Andrea Bargnani aside for a moment. Pretend Bargnani doesn’t exist. That’s the way he prefers it. That’s how it’s going to end up.

The contracts? The contracts are horrible. There is no way to justify Gay’s max deal, and less of a way to explain why Fields or Bargnani have deals at all. The only winner in all this is DeMar DeRozan, so far down the red-ink tabulator that his needless four-year, $38 million extension looks reasonable by comparison.

That said, there is neither room for major change or the real need to start over. Colangelo has said all along that he has a “plan.” Casey likes to repeat the word “process” like a chanting monk. It’s not quite the same thing — Colangelo’s talking about firing bricks; Casey’s talking about stacking them in a way that will stand a strong wind.

Though the current results are still flawed, the performance graph is undeniably inching upward in the only place that matters — the standings.

If we assume that the team that finally fought its way out of the paper bag after the initial 4-19 run sank the season is the real Raptors, then this is a passable NBA squad. They’re 21-20 since then.

Here are the assumptions for next year.

Gay will continue to be a dangerous, but frustratingly inefficient shooter who gets you 18 points a night. His presence will continue to open up the floor for DeRozan, whose numbers will continue to improve, especially at the free-throw line.

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The game will slow down for Jonas Valanciunas, allowing this year’s top performer, Amir Johnson, to gradually slide into the bench role he’s best suited to. When that finally happens, they’ll know they’re getting somewhere.

Here’s a best guess at the roster:

Enthusiastically In: Terrence Ross, Kyle Lowry, Johnson, Valanciunas, Gay, DeRozan

Necessarily In: John Lucas, Aaron Gray

Grudgingly In: Fields

Necessarily Out: Sebastian Telfair, Alan Anderson, Mickael Pietrus

Enthusiastically Out: Linas Kleiza, Bargnani

At this point, the primary mission is jettisoning Bargnani. It will have to be via trade, though it hardly matters what you get for him at this point. For reasons that would make a pretty decent psych thesis, the Italian has become a city-wide goat and emotional sinkhole. He cannot be here come the start of camp. Kleiza will be quietly amnestied.

Once the shedding of some skin is done, the core group is four-legs-on-the-ground solid. They’re already competitive in a conference that won’t get much better any time soon. It’ll likely get worse.

The Raptors are probably already a playoff team next year. Not a very good one. A grab-hold-of-eighth-place-like-a-life-preserver playoff team.

But only a few things need to happen in order for that goal to slide into reach. They need another aggressive inside presence to complement Johnson and spare Valanciunas. They need a three-point shooter. They need a back-up point guard. Whatever decision must be made about Lowry long-term can wait until after next season.

All sports teams, and Toronto teams in particular, prize continuity, a measured build-up. It’s good for the brand. The essence of Colangelo’s career is understanding that he need only please one group of people — his employers. Nothing he has said or done this year has undermined that guiding principle.

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