Masai Year End Presser @ 10am

[Ackshun]

He’s gone my guess is he sits out and waits for Seattle.

Masai is going to ask for the moon pretty soon you’ll see reports from the ownership mouth pieces saying that he’s asking for too much or that the Raptors will be fine if he leaves etc

2 years minimum, 3-4 likely for Seattle to get a team, wouldn't it better to sign a short term extension at high salary than wait for Seattle.

If he is joining TL in Seattle, he wouldn't start his new role the day they get the approval. I'm sure there are a ton of things that need to be done to put the proposal together.

I'm sure 2 years would fly by. It took me 4 months to open a 300 seat restaurant. Cant imagine how much time is needed to plan for an NBA team.

[Chevy Chase]

Just make him MLSE president already. Then he can choose his successor. Shanny doesn't hold a candle to this guy.

[douggood]

He’s gone my guess is he sits out and waits for Seattle.

Masai is going to ask for the moon pretty soon you’ll see reports from the ownership mouth pieces saying that he’s asking for too much or that the Raptors will be fine if he leaves etc

2 years minimum, 3-4 likely for Seattle to get a team, wouldn't it better to sign a short term extension at high salary than wait for Seattle.

If he is joining TL in Seattle, he wouldn't start his new role the day they get the approval. I'm sure there are a ton of things that need to be done to put the proposal together.

I'm sure 2 years would fly by. It took me 4 months to open a 300 seat restaurant. Cant imagine how much time is needed to plan for an NBA team.

oh you mean as part of bid process, sure but thats more TL role, masai would basically be GM in waiting for 2 years minimum as i said.

seatttle and tim liewke got NHL team, applied for it in 2017, and will start next season.

[douggood]

Just make him MLSE president already. Then he can choose his successor. Shanny doesn't hold a candle to this guy.

shanny isnt MLSE president, is he president of hockey operations like masai is of basketball operations. the president is someone we know nothing about since he hasnt spoken about the sports teams Michael Friisdahl.
president role of mlse is to negotiage naming rights to arena(the 800 million deal still boggles my mind), sponsorships, ticket drives, concert bookings, arena upgrades, not something i imagine masai has a lot of interest in.

[Chevy Chase]

Just make him MLSE president already. Then he can choose his successor. Shanny doesn't hold a candle to this guy.

shanny isnt MLSE president, is he president of hockey operations like masai is of basketball operations. the president is someone we know nothing about since he hasnt spoken about the sports teams Michael Friisdahl.
president role of mlse is to negotiage naming rights to arena, sponsorships, ticket drives, concert bookings, arena upgrades, not something i imagine masai has a lot of interest in.

I understand all that. I was saying that Shanny would be reporting to him if he were to become President. In theory Masai reports to Frisdahl right now. Leiweke was certainly more vocal about both the Hockey and Basketball day to day operations. I think Masai could easily handle the arena and brand details along with assiting whomever he chose to lead the Raptors after his promotion.

I think the promotion would be a way of keeping him here for the long term.

[the_flash__]

Can someone point me to the part of the interview he talks about the draft? I am hearing he talked about team fit vs BPA?

[ruckus]

Not sure if posted already:

Watch on YouTube

[mtcan]

He’s gone my guess is he sits out and waits for Seattle.

Masai is going to ask for the moon pretty soon you’ll see reports from the ownership mouth pieces saying that he’s asking for too much or that the Raptors will be fine if he leaves etc

2 years minimum, 3-4 likely for Seattle to get a team, wouldn't it better to sign a short term extension at high salary than wait for Seattle.

If he is joining TL in Seattle, he wouldn't start his new role the day they get the approval. I'm sure there are a ton of things that need to be done to put the proposal together.

I'm sure 2 years would fly by. It took me 4 months to open a 300 seat restaurant. Cant imagine how much time is needed to plan for an NBA team.

He said he wants to win and win championships...how is he going to do that with a franchise that doesn't even exist???

He could jump ship if and when Seattle becomes an actual franchise and maybe when they become competitive...but c'mon...he isn't sitting out to wait for a position that doesn't exist.

[Ackshun]

2 years minimum, 3-4 likely for Seattle to get a team, wouldn't it better to sign a short term extension at high salary than wait for Seattle.

If he is joining TL in Seattle, he wouldn't start his new role the day they get the approval. I'm sure there are a ton of things that need to be done to put the proposal together.

I'm sure 2 years would fly by. It took me 4 months to open a 300 seat restaurant. Cant imagine how much time is needed to plan for an NBA team.

oh you mean as part of bid process, sure but thats more TL role, masai would basically be GM in waiting for 2 years minimum as i said.

seatttle and tim liewke got NHL team, applied for it in 2017, and will start next season.

Yeah not true. They had some of their Director roles filled in 2019, about 23 months prior to officially joining the league. They were actually putting in work. Not sure what you mean by "GM in waiting". TL is certainly not recruiting Masai to be a General Manager.

Kraken also had their AHL stuff sorted out 2 years ago, so there are tons of things to get done when or if Silver agrees to allow expansion.

The reality is that TL must have at least enquired with Masai. Who knows what happened after that.

[douggood]

Just make him MLSE president already. Then he can choose his successor. Shanny doesn't hold a candle to this guy.

shanny isnt MLSE president, is he president of hockey operations like masai is of basketball operations. the president is someone we know nothing about since he hasnt spoken about the sports teams Michael Friisdahl.
president role of mlse is to negotiage naming rights to arena, sponsorships, ticket drives, concert bookings, arena upgrades, not something i imagine masai has a lot of interest in.

I understand all that. I was saying that Shanny would be reporting to him if he were to become President. In theory Masai reports to Frisdahl right now. Leiweke was certainly more vocal about both the Hockey and Basketball day to day operations. I think Masai could easily handle the arena and brand details along with assiting whomever he chose to lead the Raptors after his promotion.

I think the promotion would be a way of keeping him here for the long term.

neither shanny or masai report to the president, they talk to tannenbaun for the run of mill stuff and to to bell/rogers to the really big decisions.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

The only real thing that would scare me is if the Lakers get bounced during the play-in.

Because, at that point the Lebron to Knicks rumors that have been floating around for the past 3-4 years become way more real. That or maybe if Pat Riley retires.

[Ackshun]

2 years minimum, 3-4 likely for Seattle to get a team, wouldn't it better to sign a short term extension at high salary than wait for Seattle.

If he is joining TL in Seattle, he wouldn't start his new role the day they get the approval. I'm sure there are a ton of things that need to be done to put the proposal together.

I'm sure 2 years would fly by. It took me 4 months to open a 300 seat restaurant. Cant imagine how much time is needed to plan for an NBA team.

He said he wants to win and win championships...how is he going to do that with a franchise that doesn't even exist???

He could jump ship if and when Seattle becomes an actual franchise and maybe when they become competitive...but c'mon...he isn't sitting out to wait for a position that doesn't exist.

Well its all speculating at this point. I'm just saying if Masai left tomorrow, he could be employed by Oak View tomorrow.

Who really knows. All I'm saying is: we shouldn't discount it because the team doesn't exist. Masai could be tapped to start it from scratch with equity stake. Is this unreasonable?

[MavCarter]

Just make him MLSE president already. Then he can choose his successor. Shanny doesn't hold a candle to this guy.

MLSE president job has no say in any of the teams. Each team reports straight to the board. Cant imagine masai leaving the sports side to deal with the business side

[bboyskinnylegs]

Read on Twitter

[douggood]

If he is joining TL in Seattle, he wouldn't start his new role the day they get the approval. I'm sure there are a ton of things that need to be done to put the proposal together.

I'm sure 2 years would fly by. It took me 4 months to open a 300 seat restaurant. Cant imagine how much time is needed to plan for an NBA team.

He said he wants to win and win championships...how is he going to do that with a franchise that doesn't even exist???

He could jump ship if and when Seattle becomes an actual franchise and maybe when they become competitive...but c'mon...he isn't sitting out to wait for a position that doesn't exist.

Well its all speculating at this point. I'm just saying if Masai left tomorrow, he could be employed by Oak View tomorrow.

Who really knows. All I'm saying is: we shouldn't discount it because the team doesn't exist. Masai could be tapped to start it from scratch with equity stake. Is this unreasonable?

yes it is, because oakview doesnt own the teams, they are in the running/building arena business. who knows who the owner of the seattle team will be, and more importantly when.

i am not saying he wont decamp for seattle, but he will wait for there is a team announced.

[Ackshun]

He said he wants to win and win championships...how is he going to do that with a franchise that doesn't even exist???

He could jump ship if and when Seattle becomes an actual franchise and maybe when they become competitive...but c'mon...he isn't sitting out to wait for a position that doesn't exist.

Well its all speculating at this point. I'm just saying if Masai left tomorrow, he could be employed by Oak View tomorrow.

Who really knows. All I'm saying is: we shouldn't discount it because the team doesn't exist. Masai could be tapped to start it from scratch with equity stake. Is this unreasonable?

yes it is, because oakview doesnt own the teams, they are in the running/building arena business. who knows who the owner of the seattle team will be, and more importantly when.

i am not saying he wont decamp for seattle, but he will wait for there is a team announced.

Ok fair enough. TL is still CEO of the ownership and the buzz is that he is putting the NBA group together no?

Anyhow we shall see what transpires

[Lucky 24]

I have always wondered how the complexities of the Raptors and television deals works. Does Rogers/Bell share profits from their own TV deals with other NBA owners like how we receive funds from TNT and ABC deals? I wouldn't be surprised if our broadcasters hog all the money that our large market generates and this is part of the politics that Masai could be referring to. We were lucky that Silver listened to Masai and Tannenbaun to basically bully ESPN in having the Raptors on opening night and Xmas day during the 2020 season because we were defending Champs. The networks actually didn't want to include us since we no longer had Kawhi.

It could be that Masai is saying that if the Raptors want more national US TV coverage, we need to pay our weight because our owners are making a killing on the current arrangement. The reason why US TV coverage is important is because this is the mechanism that goes around the world and promotes team brand growth and global merchandise sales. Everyone globally watches the US network feeds, not TSN or sportsnet.

Toronto being such an influential and well known global city, the fastest growing city in North America and one of the wealthiest urban areas should be promoted heavily by the NBA and I think Masai wants to truly wants to elevate the brand to a top 5 in the NBA.

[Zeno]

I have always wondered how the complexities of the Raptors and television deals works. Does Rogers/Bell share profits from their own TV deals with other NBA owners like how we receive funds from TNT and ABC deals? I wouldn't be surprised if our broadcasters hog all the money that our large market generates and this is part of the politics that Masai could be referring to. We were lucky that Silver listened to Masai and Tannenbaun to basically bully ESPN in having the Raptors on opening night and Xmas day during the 2020 season because we were defending Champs. The networks actually didn't want to include us since we no longer had Kawhi.

It could be that Masai is saying that if the Raptors want more national US TV coverage, we need to pay our weight because our owners are making a killing on the current arrangement. The reason why US TV coverage is important is because this is the mechanism that goes around the world and promotes team brand growth and global merchandise sales. Everyone globally watches the US network feeds, not TSN or sportsnet.

Toronto being such an influential and well known global city, the fastest growing city in North America and one of the wealthiest urban areas should be promoted heavily by the NBA and I think Masai wants to truly wants to elevate the brand to a top 5 in the NBA.

It is hard to know what types of things Masai wants from MLSE. I notice that the Leafs have a Punjabi broadcast. It might be that Masai wants multiple individual language broadcast produced by MLSE that can be broadcast both nationally and in certain target countries. Maybe he wants MLSE to negiotiate with the NBA to allow the Raptors a greater spotlight in international broadcasts.

[mdenny]

Grain of salt because its all intuition-based speculation....


I'd be shocked if he stays. Tearing up when referencing your players like masai did at this presser signals farewell imo.

[anotherhomer]

He's setting the stage for leaving