Shams: Bobby Promoted to "Final Decision Maker of Basketball (still GM) " update pg. 27

[Lord_Zedd]

viewtopic.php?p=119144000#p119144000

Leafs didn’t bring in a new president. I don’t think raptors will either

Called it June 27, 2025

Think many expected this outcome from the get go. TFC were running around like a headless chicken for years, only to get some random social media post from Pelley. Now the Leafs/Raptors are about to do the same with this clown CEO at the helm

[Tofubeque]

They got rid of the President role to save money, claimed they didn’t, ran a sham search for a month and a half, then proceeded to not hire a new president just as we all figured they wouldn’t.

[Reeko]

Lol looks like they realized that anyone who might be suitable for the job didn't want it. They probably made a hard run at Pritchard and it failed. So now they've just decided to go the Leafs route of GM with no President.

I mean, it was an obvious red flag to any semi-successful candidate out there when an organization turfed it's most successful and impactful president in team history.

It's a reason why you had failures like Eversely and Casey wanting the job instead

Essentially one-upped the Knicks now in how to screw up a candidate search.

I disagree on one upping the Knicks. That was so embarrassing as every attempt at hiring a new HC was very public. At least MLSE went about their business quietly.

[PushDaRock]

Whole situation was bizarre from the beginning. Replacing Masai is a massive ask and any qualified candidate would want to have autonomy over who works under them, so keeping Bobby as GM while hiring a new President never made any sense.

[causal_fan]

Whole situation was bizarre from the beginning. Replacing Masai is a massive ask and any qualified candidate would want to have autonomy over who works under them, so keeping Bobby as GM while hiring a new President never made any sense.

This - once they extended Bobby when Masai was fired.

[anotherhomer]

this totally reminds me of the gord ash years....i.e. pat gillick left got fired from jays

[WuTang_CMB]

great news and well deserved.

Bobby promoted will allow for continuity throughout the organization. He understands the market, has been here for a long time and worked under Masai. Most important thing is he understands that drafting and developing is the core to anything we do and Tolzman and the scouts will continue to find players.

Next season is a big year to take a leap. Lets go !

[Raptors Realtor]

So either it was just a cost cutting decision to fire Masai, or they didn't find anyone on his level who could realistically fill his shoes... Either way I have little faith in Ed and Pelley leading the ship going forward.

[WuTang_CMB]

The update in the thread title is wrong. Technically he was not named the team's new President of Basketball Operations, just the team's new head basketball decision maker, and he is still the GM by title.

Keep in mind, Masai himself did not become the team's POBO until 2016 when Jeff Weltman briefly became the GM of the team for 1 season. For Masai's first 3 seasons at the helm, he was not the President of Basketball Operations by title yet, even though he was the head basketball decision maker the whole time.

Incorrect. He was President of Basketball and GM when he was hired by Leiweke in 2013. Bryan was president of "business" and then dipped after a month since he realized he was forced out.

https://youtu.be/KyARpHc7PtQ?list=PLOfGdce15qw_pexSgt5DSGYiTPbkTPhwy&t=234

[Jerry Lucas]

The exact wording from the Raptors press release is that they decided to "further extend" Bobby's contract, implying that he got another extension added to his minor one from before.

And they confirmed that "the team will not appoint a president at this time", meaning that Bobby is simply the team's new head basketball decision maker.

Read on Twitter

[WuTang_CMB]

Read on Twitter

[Raptorfan2012]

Why is MLSE so messy? So if I am getting this right, MLSE original goal was to get rid of the Team President role, then decided they will keep that role for the Raptors and went on an exec search, then decided to just give Bobby a small raise and go back to not having a Team President. Pelley and MLSE are not serious people.

[ItsDanger]

He's basically operating as the President without the title. Unless you're actively involved in business side of the operations, there's little difference. He has the control over team decisions and that's what matters in the end.

[causal_fan]

If Rogers let Jays President Mark Shapiro go (expiring contract like leafs Shanahan), then we get the big picture - eliminating the Presidents and saving big bucks - does not portend well but we will see.

[douggood]

Why is MLSE so messy? So if I am getting this right, MLSE original goal was to get rid of the Team President role, then decided they will keep that role for the Raptors and went on an exec search, then decided to just give Bobby a small raise and go back to not having a Team President. Pelley and MLSE are not serious people.

pelly said during press conference they were going to hire a president for the raptors.
now webster got promoted to pbo.
now webster will probably hire someone below him.

[elmer_yuck]

Don’t need both a GM and a president.
What did Masai do all day?

[AbC?]

Goes without saying glad Masai was fired.

In an ideal situation Bobby would have been gone too and a new, competent POBO would have been brought in to rid the front office of the organization-wide complacency and bring in a fresh vision.

With rumors of Casey and Eversley being interviewed, two duds, especially the latter who has a proven track record of being terrible, keeping Bobby is the preferable option. Hopefully Masai's firing gets him to course correct. I'm not optimistic.

[Jerry Lucas]

The confusion by some posters in this thread can be easily cleared up if you all just accept this:

Masai was let go because they were never going to extend him again at the big bucks plus ownership stake he was getting (aka future cost cutting), but they will never, ever, outright admit this to the fanbase. The reason they will never admit it is simple: it would be even worse PR than just leaving the fans "guessing" (even though it's obvious) forever.

[GLF]

The confusion by some posters in this thread can be easily cleared up if you all just accept this:

Masai was let go because they were never going to extend him again at the big bucks plus ownership stake he was getting (aka future cost cutting), but they will never, ever, outright admit this to the fanbase. The reason they will never admit it is simple: it would be even worse PR than just leaving the fans "guessing" (even though it's obvious) forever.

Thank you! It’s really this simple. I don’t get what all this confusion is about lol

[Jerry Lucas]

The confusion by some posters in this thread can be easily cleared up if you all just accept this:

Masai was let go because they were never going to extend him again at the big bucks plus ownership stake he was getting (aka future cost cutting), but they will never, ever, outright admit this to the fanbase. The reason they will never admit it is simple: it would be even worse PR than just leaving the fans "guessing" (even though it's obvious) forever.

Thank you! It’s really this simple. I don’t get what all this confusion is about lol

The search was a sham and was always going to end with Bobby being named the new head basketball decision maker. If they had promoted Bobby instantaneously after letting Masai go:

1) Bobby's promotion would have been negative PR, being immediately tied to Masai getting let go. Instead of the positive PR Bobby's promotion is getting now.
2) It would make it even more obvious that the reason was future cost cutting. A "search" and doing "due diligence" on "other candidates" throws the scent off the real reason they let Masai go.

Every poster just needs to make their own peace with this: we all know why Masai was let go, but we will never get a straight answer from ownership about it. Time to move on.