Masai Presser @ 11am

[VanWest82]

Yet we brought in Olynyk, kept Brown, GTJ and kept Boucher. Signs that we’re committed to a rebuild would be to let GTJ go and either traded Brown or let him go. Also have to address where Poeltl fits on the team, let’s see if they’re serious about rebuilding.

I'd imagine we tried to flip Brown and Boucher but just couldn't. Trent is potentially an asset worth keeping depending on his market. Guys like Kelly and Jak are needed to help facilitate development of the younger guys. Masai even addressed this directly when talking about Kelly, and how he plays the right way. You need guys like that in order to keep integrity of your schemes. Part of rebuilding is actually developing guys within your schemes.

[Drakeem]

I stand by my general point that Masai seemed subdued and even somewhat wounded by the battle scars from this season and the last few.

Seems normal no? Like who the hell would be pumped up after the disaster of a season we just had. It would just make him look fake if he was lol

If he was more upbeat and charismatic, he would be trashed for not caring about where the team is. If he's real, he's critiqued for not uplifting fans. If he says he's open to multiple options and avenues, we get "evaluating" memes, if he tries to set a certain goal, he's not being open minded enough to opportunities that might come his way.

It's basically if you like him, you'll support him, if you don't you won't, no matter what he says. I'm now on the fence and this next year is going to be his make or break year IMO. Not necessarily by record, but we need to show positive signs of SOMETHING (which tbh I think we will, I'm cautiously optimistic about this team + a few picks and whatever moves they make).

[Tor_Raps]

I stand by my general point that Masai seemed subdued and even somewhat wounded by the battle scars from this season and the last few.

Seems normal no? Like who the hell would be pumped up after the disaster of a season we just had. It would just make him look fake if he was lol

If he was more upbeat and charismatic, he would be trashed for not caring about where the team is. If he's real, he's critiqued for not uplifting fans. If he says he's open to multiple options and avenues, we get "evaluating" memes, if he tries to set a certain goal, he's not being open minded enough to opportunities that might come his way.

It's basically if you like him, you'll support him, if you don't you won't, no matter what he says. I'm now on the fence and this next year is going to be his make or break year IMO. Not necessarily by record, but we need to show positive signs of SOMETHING (which tbh I think we will, I'm cautiously optimistic about this team + a few picks and whatever moves they make).

I'm more on the side of being real of where the team is and not trying to insult the fanbases intelligence. This is what's been happening the past few years when most knew we had a mediocre product but our front office has been delusional about the reality.

There's a reason why we're in our current position and our front office has no one to blame but themselves. I'm also confident our front office is good enough to dig themselves out of this position just as long as they're motivated. Let's hope for a great offseason.

[ForeverTFC]

Im happy hes finally realized that. Ive been saying how horrible of a job hes done since the title for a while now lol.

The lack of interest in this team down the stretch made it evident that no one cares about this team right now. If he doesn't have a big offseason then it'll continue into next year. Let's hope we get a motivated Masai to make the Raptors Great Again.

We'll see about that, he's said a lot of things in the past that have been just false or wishful thinking. This is a "I'll believe it when I see it" situation for me, the good will is long gone.

Masai is a habitual liar / salesman. He talked about growing pains and patience in 2021 (going into Scottie's rookie season with Achiuwa/Flynn etc) and then less than 6 months later traded for Thad to go for playoffs.

Yet another ridiculous post. This is just flat out false. You deserve to be called out for the trash you consistently post and the way you’re ruining the board.

[ForeverTFC]

Because "reasons".

When he told me that rebuilding meant trading veterans, getting young players and draft picks and I pointed out we got rid of Porter, Schroeder, Thad, we acquired 4-5 guys under 25 and 3-4 picks it was radio silence.

Yet we brought in Olynyk, kept Brown, GTJ and kept Boucher. Signs that we’re committed to a rebuild would be to let GTJ go and either traded Brown or let him go. Also have to address where Poeltl fits on the team, let’s see if they’re serious about rebuilding.

So ZERO vets ever is a sign that you're serious about rebuilding? Has any team ever had ZERO vets? What a random qualification

Also Gary is 25 years old and Boucher doesn’t play. This guy is just out to lunch.

[Pointgod]

They traded OG for a 23 year old and 24 year old and Pascal for 3 first round picks and change. How are they not rebuilding?

They were still trying to compete up until Scottie got injured. Are they willing to actually stick it out with younger players over vets the next 3-6 years or will we see another Poeltl transaction?

Here's a transcript of what Masai said re this matter:

"I think we'll see how the year [next season] starts and plays out. I think we're going to give these players and this team the opportunity to play. We've not been able to I think bring these guys together to play and that's the plan as we go into the offseason is to continue development and these things take time, so I think either way it plays out well for us. We get a high pick this year or next year we play ball and see where we stand. If you're not picking high next year then our team is good or the team is progressing the right way. That's the way we're seen it, that's the way it's been also in the past. "

This is classic Masai and reflects how every post-2019 season has played out: start off every season seeing how it starts, giving players opportunity to win but also develop at the same time. Then around midpoint to trade deadline, make a decision on which direction - tank or continue trying to win - to go.

Thus is appears pretty clear to me what his "plan" is for next season: start off trying to win and rebuild at the same time then, depending on where we stand, decide on a clearer direction by the trade deadline. Déjà vu all over again.

So another season of half measures? You either have to be in or out when it comes to team building. Look at your core and either you’re good enough to compete for the playoffs or you look to collect more pieces to compete. Teams that try to split the difference find themselves in the playin or with a low lottery pick. Last season our front office thought we were good enough to compete and panicked by trading for Poeltl and losing Fred for nothing. This season we used the same approach and we ended up trading Siakam for peanuts and could possibly lose our pick.

[Pointgod]

Because "reasons".

When he told me that rebuilding meant trading veterans, getting young players and draft picks and I pointed out we got rid of Porter, Schroeder, Thad, we acquired 4-5 guys under 25 and 3-4 picks it was radio silence.

Yet we brought in Olynyk, kept Brown, GTJ and kept Boucher. Signs that we’re committed to a rebuild would be to let GTJ go and either traded Brown or let him go. Also have to address where Poeltl fits on the team, let’s see if they’re serious about rebuilding.

So ZERO vets ever is a sign that you're serious about rebuilding? Has any team ever had ZERO vets? What a random qualification

Our current crop of vets are replaceable. Other than Olynyk, we’ve had a good chance to see what GTJ and Boucher could have done. God bless Gary but he’s not a needle mover and Boucher is barely playable. We traded our vet free agent signing for nothing at the deadline. Literally nothing. Smart rebuilding teams squeeze value out of the non core guys and really smart rebuilding teams take on overpaid vets with assets attached.

Its the difference between Detroit that didn’t prioritize playing their young players and OKC who gave their young players reps from day won and managed to get the #1 seed in the West. Giddy, Chet, Jaylen Williams all got minutes and sure you have misses like Usman Deng and Tre Mann but to effectively rebuild you have to be comfortable with prioritizing minutes for your young guys even if it means losing for a couple seasons. OKC did it right, San Antonio is doing it right, Magic, prioritize the youth movement

[DelAbbot]

They were still trying to compete up until Scottie got injured. Are they willing to actually stick it out with younger players over vets the next 3-6 years or will we see another Poeltl transaction?

Here's a transcript of what Masai said re this matter:

"I think we'll see how the year [next season] starts and plays out. I think we're going to give these players and this team the opportunity to play. We've not been able to I think bring these guys together to play and that's the plan as we go into the offseason is to continue development and these things take time, so I think either way it plays out well for us. We get a high pick this year or next year we play ball and see where we stand. If you're not picking high next year then our team is good or the team is progressing the right way. That's the way we're seen it, that's the way it's been also in the past. "

This is classic Masai and reflects how every post-2019 season has played out: start off every season seeing how it starts, giving players opportunity to win but also develop at the same time. Then around midpoint to trade deadline, make a decision on which direction - tank or continue trying to win - to go.

Thus is appears pretty clear to me what his "plan" is for next season: start off trying to win and rebuild at the same time then, depending on where we stand, decide on a clearer direction by the trade deadline. Déjà vu all over again.

So another season of half measures? You either have to be in or out when it comes to team building. Look at your core and either you’re good enough to compete for the playoffs or you look to collect more pieces to compete. Teams that try to split the difference find themselves in the playin or with a low lottery pick. Last season our front office thought we were good enough to compete and panicked by trading for Poeltl and losing Fred for nothing. This season we used the same approach and we ended up trading Siakam for peanuts and could possibly lose our pick.

Masai's patented "incremental rebuild". He did execute it in the iteration that led to the championship but since then most of his executions of the subsequent FVV+PS "incremental rebuild" has been complete and utter failure