Shawn Marion made his Toronto debut last night, and while the NBA betting odds have not improved for the Raptors, “The Matrix” has shown that he can make Toronto a much better team.

Marion had the impossible task of guarding Lebron James in his first game as a Raptor, and although Toronto lost 93-76, Marion didn’t make it easy on “King James”. It was a battle that UFC betting fans would be proud of, and even though James almost had a triple-double with 20 points, nine boards and nine assists, Marion was in his face the entire game. Offensively, Marion had 10 points, along with six assists and six boards as he was trying to get used to his new team. He also looked eager to run, and the Raptors will have to do a better job of breaking out to utilize Marion’s talents.

Amongst all the Daytona 500 odds and NBA betting odds for the All-Star Game I’ve been going through ahead of this weekend, the upcoming trade deadline almost slipped my mind. The first big trade has gone down, and it’s reported that the Jermaine O’Neal experiment in Toronto is over. O’Neal, along with Jamario Moon, are being shipped to Miami for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks in a long-rumored move. There is also a rumor of a conditional draft Northbet.com pick, and it had better be a second-round pick, because it’s an awful draft year, because Banks is due betwewen $4.2-4.8 million for the next three years. Still, it clears a ton of cap space for the Raptors in the 2010 Sweepstakes, and now Raptors fans won’t be subjected to having JO, Chris Bosh, and Andrea Bargnani on the floor at the same time.

The Toronto Raptors were a great NBA betting pick to start the season, as it looked like Chris Bosh was ready to move into the upper echelon due to his Olympic experience. But Bosh has fallen off over the last couple of months, coinciding with the firing of Sam Mitchell. Also not coincidentally, Andrea Bargnani has flourished, leaving some to wonder if Bosh is on his way out of the door next season.

Both Bosh and Bryan Colangelo have moved to quash the rumors of Bosh’s exit, started by ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith (side note: Smith is a loudmouth who is rarely right), but Bosh’s body language has been disturbing. In a 23-point loss at home to Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic on Sunday, Bosh looked completely overwhelmed by his counterpart, and spent most of his time sulking around. For Toronto to have a sniff of the postseason, they need their “All-Star” to start acting like one.

Super Bowl XLIII betting can’t come quickly enough. The NBA is annoying me, damn it. I want trades. I want to see a Bulls firesale. It’s fun! But we’re waiting on the Brian Colangelo and Pat Riley to finish their courtship.

Pat, do you really think seeing Jermaine O’Neal playing two games looking healthy is going to “convince” you that he’s a safe target? You either want him or you don’t. It’ll be interesting to see what happens if or when the deal gets made…it could start a flurry of activity that really alters some teams’ NBA betting odds.

Until then, I’m reading up on the 2008 Super Bowl odds.