Masai: "Scottie isn't a shot maker right now but that will grow. You build around him for his winning mentality"

[WuTang_CMB]

not sure if posted, this was from 2 weeks ago

Before the NBA all-star break, Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri sat down for an exclusive, on-the-record interview with the Star in front of a group of season ticket holders at OVO Athletic Centre.

And here are some highlights of what else Ujiri had to say in the wide-ranging conversation:


On how championship teams are built
”(In Philadelphia) Joel Embiid, and who was the second guy? And they tried and tried and tried. I’m not criticizing them. I’m just saying this is what happened. OKC, Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander and Chad (Holmgren) and (Jalen) Williams, and now they have the core. And Boston, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Think of how many players, for how many years, have rotated around these guys. Everybody has gone there, signed there, left there, come back, gone there. Al Horford, Kyrie Irving, Terry Rozier, they have tried all kinds of stuff. And then it works with those two players eventually.”

On how long the rebuilding timeline has to be
“So yeah, if we get that second player, and one of your guys grows into being that guy, that’s how long it’s going to last. I’m not going to sit here and lie to people or tell them it’s going to last five years, because I want every shot or every chance at it. I’m going to tell you exactly what the reality is. As soon as we get those two phenomenal, incredible players, and we already have one in Scottie Barnes, or two and a half of them, or three of them, whatever it takes.”

On the core of this team
“Scottie is the main core of this team. I think you build around him because of the winning mentality, because of the winning instincts he has. Yeah, he’s not completely a shot maker now, that will develop, but I think he’s a championship-contending competitor now. He understands the game well enough where this is the rebound to get, this is the steal to get, sometimes the right pass to make, when he’s not over-ambitious, or maybe playing with younger players, or people with not the calibre of where his mind is going at the time. And he does make mistakes now.

I think Jakob is a championship centre, if he’s playing with incredible players. If Jakob went to any of his contending teams, you’ve raised the level. He fits with any team. And that’s why we brought him, because he fits also in rebuilding, he’s a great passer, he’s a great team guy, unselfish, and has the right attitude toward winning.”

On the changing league
“I’ll say this for the older players, the LeBron Jameses, the Kevin Durants, the Jimmy Butlers, the Steph Currys, all three of you go on a team, that’s done, that’s not happening anymore, because nobody is scared of that anymore. Yeah, nobody. And by the way, if you are doing that, that means these guys are making $50-million, $50 million. If you are paying a 36-year-old that, with the LeBron Jameses, the Steph Currys, those guys, they’ve earned it. They are good enough. But what is going to happen now is some of these older guys have to take less money and go and play on younger teams. That has to be the next trend, because teams are not going to take that risk of paying 37, 38-year-olds anymore.”

On whether losing will be corrosive to this group
“I think losing will never be corrosive in this. It’s not going to be part of this organization. You play sports to win, and there are sometimes organizations just go through cycles where you’re not going to win every day in sports. You’re not going to win every time.”

On confidence in himself and his team
“I’m not like, an overconfident person in where I would say, I don’t address some of the things that we’ve done wrong, or you don’t learn from things. I’m not like that at all. I don’t have arrogance in that way, but I know the people that work with me, Bobby (Webster), Dan (Tolzman), Theresa (Resch), before she left (for the WNBA’s Toronto Tempo), these are incredible smart people. Everybody that I hired is smarter than me. And I know that smart people make you rise. And adversity in sports, tough times in sports is going to come. This is our job. That’s why we get paid to do this.”




On worrying about his job
“There’s never a point where I worry about this job. 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. I’m lucky. I’m a happy person, so even if I don’t have this, I’m happy. Yeah, I’m happy with Giants of Africa. I’m happy with everything I do, I’m really happy. So you can never go into this worried about, are you going to have the job? I have to leave this place just like I left Denver. I’m going to leave this place in the best position that it has ever been in. I’m not going to leave this place and they’re going to look at it and say, oh, man, look at what Masai and these guys did. Or I’ll leave this place in a position where you have unbelievable people, to take it over.”


On winning another title
“In the NBA, since we won it, a different team has won it every year. So why do I even have any doubt that I cannot win it next year, or the year after, or the year after that?”

Masai Ujiri on Darko Rajaković's ability to coach a contending team

Watch on YouTube

Pretty much confirms his views that they will try and compete for a top playoff spot next season. Also mentioned guys like KD who are later in age have to join younger teams. He's itching for his star move

[Duffman100]

“I think losing will never be corrosive in this. It’s not going to be part of this organization.

So really we'll never full out blatantly tank from the beginning of the year.

“I’m not like, an overconfident person in where I would say, I don’t address some of the things that we’ve done wrong, or you don’t learn from things. I’m not like that at all. I don’t have arrogance in that way, but I know the people that work with me, Bobby (Webster), Dan (Tolzman), Theresa (Resch), before she left (for the WNBA’s Toronto Tempo), these are incredible smart people. Everybody that I hired is smarter than me. And I know that smart people make you rise. And adversity in sports, tough times in sports is going to come. This is our job. That’s why we get paid to do this.”

I like this quote and a sign of a smart leader.

[Valard]

Scottie is a winning player?

[tsherkin]

He said some interesting, and positive things.

But he also said this:

“Scottie is the main core of this team. I think you build around him because of the winning mentality, because of the winning instincts he has. Yeah, he’s not completely a shot maker now, that will develop, but I think he’s a championship-contending competitor now. He understands the game well enough where this is the rebound to get, this is the steal to get, sometimes the right pass to make, when he’s not over-ambitious, or maybe playing with younger players, or people with not the calibre of where his mind is going at the time. And he does make mistakes now.

And most of that is not what I wanted from a GM I hope to trust.

[ArthurVandelay]

Probably not a popular opinion, but I'm of the belief the Raptors are in a very good position and Masai deserves his flowers.

They have talent (#2/#3/#4 overall picks).
They have larger contracts.
They have rookie deals.
They have improving players.
They have all their picks, minus 2025 2nd and 2031 2nd, but an extra 2nd in 2026.

They are in position to continue to grow with what they have, but they also have the ability to add via trade.

BI's health next year is the my only uncertainty. But a BI playing 65-70+ games is a floor and ceiling raiser for this team.

45-50 win season and top 6 seed coming next year.

Too bad the Raptors won so many meaningless games this year and are 15-12 since starting 8-31.

[Tor_Raps]

Scottie is a winning player?

Even the biggest Scottie hater has to admit he impacts the game in many ways that a winning team needs. Problem is that he shouldn't be your teams best scoring option because he just doesn't have that skill yet or may never get it.

Now while Ingram would clearly be the number 1 option on the team, I don't think anyone thinks he's a number 1 option of a championship team. This is why many fans want this tank to succeed so we can land that player as we won't be drafting this high again unless things go disasterous for us. At that point, everyone in the organization will be fired.

[ItsDanger]

Damage control 101.

[MiamiSPX]

He said some interesting, and positive things.

But he also said this:

“Scottie is the main core of this team. I think you build around him because of the winning mentality, because of the winning instincts he has. Yeah, he’s not completely a shot maker now, that will develop, but I think he’s a championship-contending competitor now. He understands the game well enough where this is the rebound to get, this is the steal to get, sometimes the right pass to make, when he’s not over-ambitious, or maybe playing with younger players, or people with not the calibre of where his mind is going at the time. And he does make mistakes now.

And most of that is not what I wanted from a GM I hope to trust.

Meh, it was a session in front of STH and he had to be in his salesman mode. I've always taken this to simply mean he's our best player right now, which is not untrue. Like you said yesterday, he's not an idiot....it will become "this is Player X's team" if and when we find said better player.

What was notable to me is that this is, I believe, the 3rd time he has candidly said that we need "that 2nd player" or a "running mate" for Scottie.

[dballislife]

hes not a shot maker because he takes too long of shots and too often...if he cut more and drive it more and posted up more for closer looks his shot making ability would be a lot better

[Duffman100]

Scottie is a winning player?

Yes I would say he is

[Brinbe]

Scottie is a piece of the puzzle and that's not nothing. Probably not the centerpiece, though I wouldn't be surprised if he surpasses expectation again in the next few years, but at the very least they've traded for a bunch of other potential pieces but we still gotta see how they all fit together when healthy. And that's not so bad considering where they were with the team about 15 months ago. They'll have a good team next year. Probably not a contender but they'll make the play-in/playoffs if they stay healthy.

But the step from going from good to great isn't an easy one and that's when you either become the next Kings or the next Cavs. The next inflection point on this road map is that they'll probably need to make tough decisions in terms of consolidating assets to get them to that contending level and that's when we'll truly see if Masai/Bobby and this FO are worth what they're getting paid.

They had those sort of opportunities to go all-in during the last few years in pursuit of Dame/KD/etc but they declined, we'll see if they pull that trigger at some point if/when another star becomes available.

[WuTang_CMB]

Iggy on roids is a pretty damn good winning player. If that's what he tops out to being, you take it and keep adding more. Just like how Kyle was so crucial to winning on the floor. The do it all mentality is what Masai is alluding to and Scottie has those same traits.

[Duffman100]

Scottie is a piece of the puzzle and that's not nothing. Probably not the centerpiece, though I wouldn't be surprised if he surpasses expectation again in the next few years, but at the very least they've traded for a bunch of other potential pieces but we still gotta see how they all fit together when healthy. And that's not so bad considering where they were with the team about 15 months ago. They'll have a good team next year. Probably not a contender but they'll make the play-in/playoffs if they stay healthy.

But the step from going from good to great isn't an easy one and that's when you either become the next Kings or the next Cavs. The next inflection point on this road map is that they'll probably need to make tough decisions in terms of consolidating assets to get them to that contending level and that's when we'll truly see if Masai/Bobby and this FO are worth what they're getting paid.

They had those sort of opportunities to go all-in during the last few years in pursuit of Dame/KD/etc but they declined, we'll see if they pull that trigger at some point if/when another star becomes available.

I think we declined also because we had zero depth. If we had traded for them, we would have a good starting lineup (maybe not great), but our bench would be garbage.

You can see that problem going away now. Even look at last night, having Lawson/Rhoden/Battle talent off our bench the previous 4 years would have been good. And now these guys are our 3rd/4th stringers.

I think we get up to 40-45 wins next year and like you said, they consolidate knowing they have Shead/Walter/Dick/Mogbo/Ochai/Battle/Lawson/Rhoden/Chomche/Top 10 pick/Portland 2nd rounder to make sure the bottom doesn't fall off.

[tsherkin]

Meh, it was a session in front of STH and he had to be in his salesman mode. I've always taken this to simply mean he's our best player right now, which is not untrue. Like you said yesterday, he's not an idiot....it will become "this is Player X's team" if and when we find said better player.

Sure, but while I'm not about to indict him for a single remark, it isn't an encouraging one. Never the less, the acquisition of BI does generally tell a different story.

What was notable to me is that this is, I believe, the 3rd time he has candidly said that we need "that 2nd player" or a "running mate" for Scottie.

Yeah, though what we really need is an actual focal star so Scottie can be a #3 or 4.

[HangTime]

I think the problem is that people think your best player, has to be your best or natural scorer.

Scottie can probably average 25 points, on high efficiency, but that's not the goal right now.

[RaptorLakerJay]

Next season, we'll all reach out to Matt Bonner and get him to say that Scottie doesn't drive enough CONSISTENTLY every game.

[Los_29]

I think the problem is that people think your best player, has to be your best or natural scorer.

Scottie can probably average 25 points, on high efficiency, but that's not the goal right now.

Why do you think he can average 25ppg on high efficiency? He’s never been an efficient player in his 4 year career.

[PushDaRock]

Meh, it was a session in front of STH and he had to be in his salesman mode. I've always taken this to simply mean he's our best player right now, which is not untrue. Like you said yesterday, he's not an idiot....it will become "this is Player X's team" if and when we find said better player.

Sure, but while I'm not about to indict him for a single remark, it isn't an encouraging one. Never the less, the acquisition of BI does generally tell a different story.

What was notable to me is that this is, I believe, the 3rd time he has candidly said that we need "that 2nd player" or a "running mate" for Scottie.

Yeah, though what we really need is an actual focal star so Scottie can be a #3 or 4.

I'm not sure what else he can say right now. It's still too early to relegate him to offensive role player status for good when he's about to enter year 1 of 5 on a max contract. For now, they have to keep holding out hope that he can eventually take a step in his offensive game, we are probably into year 6 or 7 before they throw in the towel if he hasn't shown it.

[tsherkin]

Yeah, though what we really need is an actual focal star so Scottie can be a #3 or 4.

I'm not sure what else he can say right now. It's still too early to relegate him to offensive role player status for good when he's about to enter year 1 of 5 on a max contract. For now, they have to keep holding out hope that he can eventually take a step in his offensive game, we are probably into year 6 or 7 before they throw in the towel if he hasn't shown it.[/quote]

Which is stupid, to be honest. Let's be real here. Waiting that long is dumb. 4 years in and he's still THIS bad? He has no prayer of developing into that kind of player. Only a fool would delude themselves as such. He could potentially grow beyond where he is now, but it would be an unprecedented move from "inefficient oxygen thief with no elite tools" to "legitimate focal scorer." It bears reiteration that took under 14 FGA/g in his first two seasons and was STILL below league average. And WORSE in his second season (about as crap as he has been this year, on lower volume). He's rough, man, and the idea that he'll get better isn't the way NBA development arcs work.

Even DeRozan, who is sort of the poster boy for "wait until next year" as far as is development concerned, showed more initial development earlier on in his career. And for him, he was in his 6th season before he started to figure it out in the RS, and remained disastrous against real defense and in the playoffs, easily taken out of his game. And of course he was a better mid-range shooter from his rookie season forward, and considerably better at drawing fouls from the word "go." He had 1 season in his first 11 where he exceeded league average efficiency, and two others where he was a 100 TS+ guy. Then he had a little peak with San Antonio, and now he's declining. 8 of his first 10 seasons were negative TSAdd, and 1 of the 2 which weren't was his 6.6 FGA/g rookie season, which was the first and last time he shot 50%+ inside the arc until 2020. And he was still only a +1.1% rTS guy. o.O And you remember that, it was all transition and spoon-fed dunks. Over 2/3s of his buckets inside the arc were assisted. Almost 45% of his attempts were in the RA.

We aren't gonna wait a decade for Scottie to do the same. He isn't as good in transition. He isn't as comfortable/natural a shooter. He's worse at the line. He's worse getting TO the line. He's worse at everything associated with scoring, and that's compared to Demar as a baseline, which is no high bar.

Scottie's done, man. Or at least the vision of Scottie as a relevant scoring threat. You don't need long to determine that a guy isn't worthwhile in that role. It's very, very clear that he isn't capable in that capacity. He has a lot of other useful traits, but I think it's abundantly clear that he's roast if we're aiming for 20 ppg from him on non-awful efficiency. There aren't a ton of examples of guys who figure that out. Even Kemba Walker, who was **** useless for his first 3 years as a scorer, was better at drawing fouls and hitting FTs, and finishing inside... but he had a perimeter jumper, figured out a mid-range jumper and a 3-ball like everyone is praying Scottie does, but he was CONSIDERABLY better base shooter from the start. He was 80%+ from his 3rd season on at the line, and was a career 84% FT shooter. He was also a LOT faster and had a tighter handle. Lots of things stacking up for him to become a bleh, like +0.5 - +1.0% rTS guy after years of development.

I think the problem is that people think your best player, has to be your best or natural scorer.

Scottie can probably average 25 points, on high efficiency, but that's not the goal right now.

Scottie cannot average 25 points on high efficiency. If he could, we'd be seeing him as something other than an oxygen thief as a primary scoring threat. Or we would have seen him as any kind of efficient in his earlier, lower-usage seasons. It kind of HAS been the goal to get him scoring a lot. Not an insane amount, we aren't force-feeding him 20 shots per game, no doubt, but if he had the capacity to score 25 a night on "high efficiency" (your words), we wouldn't be watching one of the worst scoring seasons of the past quarter century unfolding in front of us.

Scottie can defend. Scottie can rebound reasonably well. Scottie's passing game looks decent and developing. Scottie's scoring game looks like if you threw a dog turd into a paper bag, lit it on fire and dropped it on our doorstep, then rang the bell and ran away.

[PushDaRock]

Yeah, though what we really need is an actual focal star so Scottie can be a #3 or 4.

I'm not sure what else he can say right now. It's still too early to relegate him to offensive role player status for good when he's about to enter year 1 of 5 on a max contract. For now, they have to keep holding out hope that he can eventually take a step in his offensive game, we are probably into year 6 or 7 before they throw in the towel if he hasn't shown it.

Which is stupid, to be honest. Let's be real here. Waiting that long is dumb. 4 years in and he's still THIS bad? He has no prayer of developing into that kind of player. Only a fool would delude themselves as such. He could potentially grow beyond where he is now, but it would be an unprecedented move from "inefficient oxygen thief with no elite tools" to "legitimate focal scorer." It bears reiteration that took under 14 FGA/g in his first two seasons and was STILL below league average. And WORSE in his second season (about as crap as he has been this year, on lower volume). He's rough, man, and the idea that he'll get better isn't the way NBA development arcs work.

Even DeRozan, who is sort of the poster boy for "wait until next year" as far as is development concerned, showed more initial development earlier on in his career. And for him, he was in his 6th season before he started to figure it out in the RS, and remained disastrous against real defense and in the playoffs, easily taken out of his game. And of course he was a better mid-range shooter from his rookie season forward, and considerably better at drawing fouls from the word "go." He had 1 season in his first 11 where he exceeded league average efficiency, and two others where he was a 100 TS+ guy. Then he had a little peak with San Antonio, and now he's declining. 8 of his first 10 seasons were negative TSAdd, and 1 of the 2 which weren't was his 6.6 FGA/g rookie season, which was the first and last time he shot 50%+ inside the arc until 2020. And he was still only a +1.1% rTS guy. o.O And you remember that, it was all transition and spoon-fed dunks. Over 2/3s of his buckets inside the arc were assisted. Almost 45% of his attempts were in the RA.

We aren't gonna wait a decade for Scottie to do the same. He isn't as good in transition. He isn't as comfortable/natural a shooter. He's worse at the line. He's worse getting TO the line. He's worse at everything associated with scoring, and that's compared to Demar as a baseline, which is no high bar.

Scottie's done, man. Or at least the vision of Scottie as a relevant scoring threat. You don't need long to determine that a guy isn't worthwhile in that role. It's very, very clear that he isn't capable in that capacity. He has a lot of other useful traits, but I think it's abundantly clear that he's roast if we're aiming for 20 ppg from him on non-awful efficiency. There aren't a ton of examples of guys who figure that out. Even Kemba Walker, who was **** useless for his first 3 years as a scorer, was better at drawing fouls and hitting FTs, and finishing inside... but he had a perimeter jumper, figured out a mid-range jumper and a 3-ball like everyone is praying Scottie does, but he was CONSIDERABLY better base shooter from the start. He was 80%+ from his 3rd season on at the line, and was a career 84% FT shooter. He was also a LOT faster and had a tighter handle. Lots of things stacking up for him to become a bleh, like +0.5 - +1.0% rTS guy after years of development.

I think the problem is that people think your best player, has to be your best or natural scorer.

Scottie can probably average 25 points, on high efficiency, but that's not the goal right now.

Scottie cannot average 25 points on high efficiency. If he could, we'd be seeing him as something other than an oxygen thief as a primary scoring threat. Or we would have seen him as any kind of efficient in his earlier, lower-usage seasons. It kind of HAS been the goal to get him scoring a lot. Not an insane amount, we aren't force-feeding him 20 shots per game, no doubt, but if he had the capacity to score 25 a night on "high efficiency" (your words), we wouldn't be watching one of the worst scoring seasons of the past quarter century unfolding in front of us.

Scottie can defend. Scottie can rebound reasonably well. Scottie's passing game looks decent and developing. Scottie's scoring game looks like if you threw a dog turd into a paper bag, lit it on fire and dropped it on our doorstep, then rang the bell and ran away.[/quote]

I am saying they will likely lessen his USG but he's unlikely to go from around 20 ppg to 12-14 ppg right away even if that ends up being his more ideal offensive role on a contending team. They will lessen the load for him but it won't be that drastic most likely, he will probably still be scoring around 16-18 ppg next season.