Arthur: Masai Ujiri on Ingram trade, rebuilding Raptors and getting his championship moment back

[maternal85]

Article seemed more negative/pessimistic than usual. I kind of feel Masai is on the way out if the media starts doing that. Honestly, like the Yak trade a lot has to go right for this Ingram move. Key difference though is we still have a top 10 pick, which is slowly degrading as the team is projected to fall out of top 5.

“There’s never a point where I worry about this job,” says Ujiri. “If you do that, then I don’t think you do it that well. I say that because if I don’t have this job, I swear to you guys, I’ll have a better job, and that better job might not even be a job is what I’m saying to you.

This is a joke lmao. A lame duck FO is exactly who I want trading picks, acquiring busted players, and "rebuilding" a team.

Whether or not anyone believes the team is on the right track, wrong track, should be tanking, competing, or anything in between, having a guy who has no issues losing this job and being elsewhere is not who should be rebuilding a team.

Wrong. An insecure GM who's desparate to keep his job will just be trying home run moves.

[ATLTimekeeper]

I understand everything he said though my main question remains. I still want to hear from him and his FO what exactly they see in Scottie to be so adamant that he is the only one to build around on this roster.

the moves > what they tell the press.

they just traded for a 1st option which shows you the front office doesn't believe scottie can be that guy.

a good percentage of what front offices say and the team coverage is based on hope for fans. this message will keep changing.

team hasn't won a bunch of games and decided to move on from fred/pascal/og. what type of hope can you sell to the fans? it's really only scottie prior to the season. this year, it's scottie and the draft. next year it will be different. if we win and get cooper, then you are probably going to see a major emphasis on him. you will always get messaging catered to selling hope so don't expect any direct answers to questions like yours.

But if he's selling hope, why is he shading all the significant pieces on the team in this interview outside of Scottie?

This is a desperate interview kicking hope down the road by selling fans the option of trading for someone better. Meanwhile, we all have eyes. Scottie is currently putting up the worst offensive on/off splits of any significant offensive player in Raptors history (including Bargnani!) and Masai shrugs his flaws off as him being 'too ambitious' or his teammates not being smart enough for him.

I would say, was this interview necessary? Bobby handled the Ingram trade. Does this interview sell seats for next year? He definitely didn't rally around the core that he put in place. Fans will hope regardless. We're the ones that will turn Gradey into Klay, Walter into Jimmy Buckets, this upcoming pick into the best version of the comparison. Did this interview inspire hope in Masai? That's where it could have been valuable after a couple of bad seasons, but he was sloppy and soft. He literally said maybe they need 2.5 great players. Like, what is half a player?

[The Duke]

Don’t listen to the corporate talk / fluff.

He can’t say this but the real truth is, he needs the 2025 lottery balls to bail him out and actually get a franchise player (better than Scottie, to build and win around).

[MoneyBall]

I guess we'll have to wait and see, but at this point, most of his big assets from trades just look like overpaid underachievers.

[Los_29]

Don’t listen to the corporate talk / fluff.

He can’t say this but the real truth is, he needs the 2025 lottery balls to bail him out and actually get a franchise player (better than Scottie, to build and win around).

Not at all. They have all of their picks and a team full of young players. Superstar caliber players are being moved every year. Accumulate assets and develop a strong team and you’ll be in position to get those players.

[djsunyc]

I understand everything he said though my main question remains. I still want to hear from him and his FO what exactly they see in Scottie to be so adamant that he is the only one to build around on this roster.

the moves > what they tell the press.

they just traded for a 1st option which shows you the front office doesn't believe scottie can be that guy.

a good percentage of what front offices say and the team coverage is based on hope for fans. this message will keep changing.

team hasn't won a bunch of games and decided to move on from fred/pascal/og. what type of hope can you sell to the fans? it's really only scottie prior to the season. this year, it's scottie and the draft. next year it will be different. if we win and get cooper, then you are probably going to see a major emphasis on him. you will always get messaging catered to selling hope so don't expect any direct answers to questions like yours.

But if he's selling hope, why is he shading all the significant pieces on the team in this interview outside of Scottie?

This is a desperate interview kicking hope down the road by selling fans the option of trading for someone better. Meanwhile, we all have eyes. Scottie is currently putting up the worst offensive on/off splits of any significant offensive player in Raptors history (including Bargnani!) and Masai shrugs his flaws off as him being 'too ambitious' or his teammates not being smart enough for him.

I would say, was this interview necessary? Bobby handled the Ingram trade. Does this interview sell seats for next year? He definitely didn't rally around the core that he put in place. Fans will hope regardless. We're the ones that will turn Gradey into Klay, Walter into Jimmy Buckets, this upcoming pick into the best version of the comparison. Did this interview inspire hope in Masai? That's where it could have been valuable after a couple of bad seasons, but he was sloppy and soft. He literally said maybe they need 2.5 great players. Like, what is half a player?

to that i say "who cares"? like what's going on here? why are you so angry? no lie, i've seen it in so many of your posts over the past 6+ months that i had to put you on ignore. and reading your response, it doesn't look like it's changed.

all that matters is if the team starts winning or not and that's not expected by them until next season. anybody on this roster can get traded over the next few years, even scottie. everything is fluid. team is tanking this season - let this sh t play out. either he will be here to see it out or ownership will make a change. chill. maybe you should step away for a bit. it ain't that serious.

[Duffman100]

Don’t listen to the corporate talk / fluff.

He can’t say this but the real truth is, he needs the 2025 lottery balls to bail him out and actually get a franchise player (better than Scottie, to build and win around).

Not at all. They have all of their picks and a team full of young players. Superstar caliber players are being moved every year. Accumulate assets and develop a strong team and you’ll be in position to get those players.

And basically every team in the lottery is counting on "being bailed out by the lottery".

To pretend this is something isolated to masai is weird.

[TorontoBarneys]

Don’t listen to the corporate talk / fluff.

He can’t say this but the real truth is, he needs the 2025 lottery balls to bail him out and actually get a franchise player (better than Scottie, to build and win around).

Not at all. They have all of their picks and a team full of young players. Superstar caliber players are being moved every year. Accumulate assets and develop a strong team and you’ll be in position to get those players.

And basically every team in the lottery is counting on "being bailed out by the lottery".

To pretend this is something isolated to masai is weird.

"He doesn't need to be bailed out by the lottery but also every team wants to get bailed out of the lottery so it's fine if he does need to be."

Wow you really covered all your bases this time. Impressive.

[Los_29]

Don’t listen to the corporate talk / fluff.

He can’t say this but the real truth is, he needs the 2025 lottery balls to bail him out and actually get a franchise player (better than Scottie, to build and win around).

Not at all. They have all of their picks and a team full of young players. Superstar caliber players are being moved every year. Accumulate assets and develop a strong team and you’ll be in position to get those players.

And basically every team in the lottery is counting on "being bailed out by the lottery".

To pretend this is something isolated to masai is weird.

And I’d argue teams don’t even view the lottery like that. They know how much of a crapshoot it is. It’s never boom or bust. Add a good player and this team is in good shape. Not title contenders but there are 25 other teams in this league that aren’t title contenders.

[sidsid]

We've gone through the shifting lip service and post-rationalizations with this FO before so it's hard to take most of what's said at face value. The through line based on actual actions is an FO that's just been trying to get to play-in level as fast as possible and stay there, with no concrete plans.

But I will take this bit as gospel:

Ujiri added centre Jakob Poeltl (if he is playing with “incredible players”) in what was essentially a subcategory, because Poeltl fits with anyone.

When you're trying to stay afloat and chasing floor-raising as a top priority, you make desperate and flawed assessments. This of course is patently untrue with Jak, as the Dennis year with Siakam showed (non-spacing Cs pose a heavy penalty on your offense/team building).

Even mentioning a role player in here explains how we ended up squandering the post-Giannis window to rebuild. You cannot, ever, put a role player in this category.

The confluence of Fred and Jak vs. Wemby draft (and the next two years...) is the hinge point that truly sunk the ceiling of the next era for this team. Two inconsequential role players dictating your future because of that desperate floor goal.

I don’t want to turn this thread into another Poeltl referendum but I have to take issue with the statement about Poeltl and his fit with “anyone”. He’s a good player and fits a lot of places but his fit here is specifically questionable since our star (Barnes) has made little strides in his shooting. Which teams in modern 3pt game have had high level success with 2 non-shooters at the 4/5? GSW pulled it off while having 2 top 5 shooters of all-time in their backcourt. Who else has seen success with the level of futility in shooting we have at the 4/5? This is not an attack on Poeltl (we knew he provided no spacing when we got him) but a comment about fit as defined in the article.

Going to the factors that are prioritized, fit isn't one of them. The top 2 are floor raising, and play-in minimum. You can carve your way through the regular season without needing to fix a lot of underlying issues that kill you in the playoffs. Jak is an above average replacement level, solid player that helps the priorities (and hurts everything else).

The priorities also take over other strategies that they themselves hold. How do you reconcile The Vision/Long Bois era with a steadfast commitment to an unswitchable, undersized point guard, and Gary? The Spurs ended up actually trying/experimenting with this (Sochan) a lot more than we ever did. We never actually did until the Sixers playoff series because of injuries!

The answer is that the Spurs had prioritized rebuilding and development during that time, in all facets of the org. From drafting, signing, trading and playing time. That's why Jak gets traded from a team that has those priorities, to a team that doesn't.

EDIT: forgot the actual point about "fit". Jak fits the definition of floor raising for the FO. That's the flawed assessment part. They will rationalize anything that leads them those conclusions.

[ATLTimekeeper]

the moves > what they tell the press.

they just traded for a 1st option which shows you the front office doesn't believe scottie can be that guy.

a good percentage of what front offices say and the team coverage is based on hope for fans. this message will keep changing.

team hasn't won a bunch of games and decided to move on from fred/pascal/og. what type of hope can you sell to the fans? it's really only scottie prior to the season. this year, it's scottie and the draft. next year it will be different. if we win and get cooper, then you are probably going to see a major emphasis on him. you will always get messaging catered to selling hope so don't expect any direct answers to questions like yours.

But if he's selling hope, why is he shading all the significant pieces on the team in this interview outside of Scottie?

This is a desperate interview kicking hope down the road by selling fans the option of trading for someone better. Meanwhile, we all have eyes. Scottie is currently putting up the worst offensive on/off splits of any significant offensive player in Raptors history (including Bargnani!) and Masai shrugs his flaws off as him being 'too ambitious' or his teammates not being smart enough for him.

I would say, was this interview necessary? Bobby handled the Ingram trade. Does this interview sell seats for next year? He definitely didn't rally around the core that he put in place. Fans will hope regardless. We're the ones that will turn Gradey into Klay, Walter into Jimmy Buckets, this upcoming pick into the best version of the comparison. Did this interview inspire hope in Masai? That's where it could have been valuable after a couple of bad seasons, but he was sloppy and soft. He literally said maybe they need 2.5 great players. Like, what is half a player?

to that i say "who cares"? like what's going on here? why are you so angry? no lie, i've seen it in so many of your posts over the past 6+ months that i had to put you on ignore. and reading your response, it doesn't look like it's changed.

all that matters is if the team starts winning or not and that's not expected by them until next season. anybody on this roster can get traded over the next few years, even scottie. everything is fluid. team is tanking this season - let this sh t play out. either he will be here to see it out or ownership will make a change. chill. maybe you should step away for a bit. it ain't that serious.

Nah, if you need to put people on ignore it's probably you that takes it too seriously. I have always come here to make basketball arguments, and my tone will shift with results. There's no real anger, it's negative takes because evidence is mounting. If evidence changes, my tone will change. Since we're customers and not employees, that's how I view it should work. If I watched my favourite TV series, and they jumped the shark, should I just ignore that I no longer like what I'm seeing? If I think the evidence has mounted against Masai and he should go, then this is the place to share that opinion.

Of course, we can always say, 'who cares' or 'wait and see.' I'm just not seeing that as being very fun because there's no engagement.

[TorontoBarneys]

Imagine if we had Normgod heading into next year?

[ontnut]

He was basically leaking these opinions to the beat writers around the trade deadline. It is nice to see him put them down in his own words, but I do personally find it uninspiring that he's committed all this money and doesn't actually believe in anyone. He can't even describe Scottie Barnes' utility. It's all kicking the can down the road.

He just needs to be let go, so that fresh eyes can make heads or tails of this.

be careful what you with for. We could end up with Shatkins.

[AkelaLoneWolf]

If RJ and Ingram are healthy he’s more like a #3. And even then Quickley might be ahead of him on certain nights.

With a healthy Ingram, he may be the 4th option on offense and we'll be paying him the max next year.

Lol.. if he's a fourth option on our team next year, we are headed for the finals...

Or speaks to his level of talents on offense

[AkelaLoneWolf]

Imagine if we had Normgod heading into next year?

If we did the tanking losers would want him traded for a FRP

[Duffman100]

Not at all. They have all of their picks and a team full of young players. Superstar caliber players are being moved every year. Accumulate assets and develop a strong team and you’ll be in position to get those players.

And basically every team in the lottery is counting on "being bailed out by the lottery".

To pretend this is something isolated to masai is weird.

"He doesn't need to be bailed out by the lottery but also every team wants to get bailed out of the lottery so it's fine if he does need to be."

Wow you really covered all your bases this time. Impressive.

Waiting on you to contribute anything of value...

[Scase]

Article seemed more negative/pessimistic than usual. I kind of feel Masai is on the way out if the media starts doing that. Honestly, like the Yak trade a lot has to go right for this Ingram move. Key difference though is we still have a top 10 pick, which is slowly degrading as the team is projected to fall out of top 5.

“There’s never a point where I worry about this job,” says Ujiri. “If you do that, then I don’t think you do it that well. I say that because if I don’t have this job, I swear to you guys, I’ll have a better job, and that better job might not even be a job is what I’m saying to you.

This is a joke lmao. A lame duck FO is exactly who I want trading picks, acquiring busted players, and "rebuilding" a team.

Whether or not anyone believes the team is on the right track, wrong track, should be tanking, competing, or anything in between, having a guy who has no issues losing this job and being elsewhere is not who should be rebuilding a team.

Wrong. An insecure GM who's desparate to keep his job will just be trying home run moves.

You were so close to getting it.

[DelAbbot]

He was basically leaking these opinions to the beat writers around the trade deadline. It is nice to see him put them down in his own words, but I do personally find it uninspiring that he's committed all this money and doesn't actually believe in anyone. He can't even describe Scottie Barnes' utility. It's all kicking the can down the road.

He just needs to be let go, so that fresh eyes can make heads or tails of this.

Well said.

I think Masai rushed to commit to a bunch of mid tier players all slightly overpaid to be competitive, because he was negligent for so many years post championship despite getting a top executive salary. And his contract is ending after next season.

His actions show he is running out of time with ownership

[Los_29]

Imagine if we had Normgod heading into next year?

If we did the tanking losers would want him traded for a FRP

Funnily enough, they wanted to trade him for 2nd rounders. That’s how badly they wanted him gone.

[ConSarnit]

Typical. Ignore everything he said and whine about not tanking. More of the same BS you always get here.

This is BS post. Not one post prior to yours mentions tanking. There are valid criticisms here.

For instance: Masai acknowledges that free agency doesn’t really exist anymore. Ok, that’s fine. But how does he reconcile that with the fact that if we are going to go after a star in a trade how are we going to compete with the likes of HOU, SAS or OKC in terms of asset we can offer?

The league has shifted in terms what stars cost in the trade market. Based on our current assets we would be showing up with a knife to a gun fight should such trades present themselves.

just b/c a team has more assets doesn't mean that team will make the trade. there's many more factors into trading for stars - most of which is about timing and luck.

which star has okc traded for? do they even want to trade for one? how about the spurs? both of those teams seem pretty content with building via the draft and paying their own guys instead of going into tax - which is what trading for a star will do. okc spent their money on hartenstein, not trading for a bigger name. of all the stars traded the past few years, how many landed in those 3 teams you mentioned?

you don't operate thinking about what other teams can do. you just keep flexibility and assets and hope all the timing and luck of it works out.

we are exploring all options of acquiring talent - except for cap space b/c that does not matter here and it's becoming more and more apparent that it doesn't matter in many places. not many stars get to UFA status anymore.

Here’s the problem: we aren’t just up against 1 other team. There are many teams ahead of us in the line for a star in terms of assets and/or desirability of location. The entire trade landscape has changed when it comes to trading to stars. 5 years ago no one was stacking assets so the playing field was even. Now there are teams with 3-4 surplus 1sts and the price of stars (even borderline ones like Mikal Bridges) has gone way up.

I’m not sure how you don’t see how teams like HOU, SAS and OKC aren’t just lying in wait. 2-3 years ago they had no reason to trade for stars because they were in the early stages of their rebuild and it wouldn’t have made sense. We have seen reporting that part of their recent moves have been to put themselves in position for a star (HOU taking PHX picks in hope of trading for Booker, OKC overpaying Hartenstein to partially use as matching salary should a trade open up, etc).

We may have put ourselves in an ok place to trade for a star but we are behind many teams who have put themselves in a good/great position. Most teams are not going to be dumb like the Mavs and are going to have open bidding and if that’s the case we can’t compete.

If you are a GM looking at the current trade landscape of the league you have to be thinking about a moderate amount of assets isn’t going to get it done.