The Biggest Risk Post-Masai

[DelAbbot]

Is the potential exit of Dan Tolzman who is the head of the most important part of our success leading up to the championship - the draft.

- Dan Tolzman was hired by Masai back in Denver and brought over to Toronto. Dan's entire career was made by Masai, who gave him the opportunities. Given their relationship/Dan's loyalty, Dan will not react well to this disrespectful forcing Masai out.
- Both Dan Tolzman and Masai are from scouting background. It would be hard for Dan to be subordinate to Bobby who is an analytics/caps guy.
- Dan Tolzman will be highly sought after around the league.
- This is the guy who found us Siakam, FVV, and TD3 (before the character issues)

Dark days ahead if Dan Tolzman follows Masai out the door or gets poached by another NBA team.

[DelAbbot]

[Raps in 4]

Agreed.

[RaptorPride]

Bobby seems like a pure analytics numbers guy to me but still thinks in the way Masai does. Only problem is I feel like Masai use stats and number along with eye test to get guys. Bobby might not be good with the eye test and might just be purly a stats guy.

[DelAbbot]

Bobby seems like a pure analytics numbers guy to me but still thinks in the way Masai does. Only problem is I feel like Masai use stats and number along with eye test to get guys. Bobby might not be good with the eye test and might just be purly a stats guy.

Bobby has no vision for building a modern basketball team. Remember Masai admitting at a press conference back in 2023 that he should have been "more hands-on"? That was a direct dig at Bobby running things since Masai got his contract renewed in 2021.

Yes I would say a lot of head-scratching moves were made by Bobby but Masai didn't do his job of $15M salary (and had the ego to publicly let it be known he's working on projects other than building the Raptors' team) and just let the kid run wild.

[RaptorPride]

Bobby seems like a pure analytics numbers guy to me but still thinks in the way Masai does. Only problem is I feel like Masai use stats and number along with eye test to get guys. Bobby might not be good with the eye test and might just be purly a stats guy.

Bobby has no vision for building a modern basketball team. Remember Masai admitting at a press conference back in 2023 that he should have been "more hands-on"? That was a direct dig at Bobby running things since Masai got his contract renewed in 2021.

Yes I would say a lot of head-scratching moves were made by Bobby but Masai didn't do his job of $15M salary (and had the ego to publicly let it be known he's working on projects other than building the Raptors' team) and just let the kid run wild.

Yea hopefully just like our players Bobby is also learning and developing. I still have faith in him but we just got to wait and see. I don't know why I feel like Bobby would be the one to acquire Poeltl like players at every position because of their advanced stats and just be stuck being mid. I hope I'm wrong.

[LoveMyRaps]

I think Bobby gets promoted to team president and Dan gets promoted to the General Manager role.

[Westside Gunn]

At the end of the day everyones lookin out for themselves. Masai getting fired means an opportunity to move up.

Dont see Tolzman following Masai or anyone around to stay as a scout if his eventual goal is to run a team.

[elecblue]

Bobby seems like a pure analytics numbers guy to me but still thinks in the way Masai does. Only problem is I feel like Masai use stats and number along with eye test to get guys. Bobby might not be good with the eye test and might just be purly a stats guy.

Bobby has no vision for building a modern basketball team. Remember Masai admitting at a press conference back in 2023 that he should have been "more hands-on"? That was a direct dig at Bobby running things since Masai got his contract renewed in 2021.

Yes I would say a lot of head-scratching moves were made by Bobby but Masai didn't do his job of $15M salary (and had the ego to publicly let it be known he's working on projects other than building the Raptors' team) and just let the kid run wild.

Kevin O’Connor said in his podcast that some board members of MLSE felt that Masai was spending too much time on giants of Africa and basketball without borders, I think that might be the origin of Masai’s comment about needing to be more hands-on.

I think the disassembly of our team was due to bad chemistry. FVV signing with Houston caught Masai by surprise completely, that’s why OG and Pascal were traded for questionable returns. He couldn’t afford to have them walk for nothing. The billion dollar question is why we suddenly had bad chemistry? Maybe it’s not something that can be reasoned, but it’s the downfall.

In another universe, Norm was never traded, and we never drafted Scottie, and we are still rolling with FVV, Norm, OG, Pascal, Poeltl, with Nurse and Masai. I’d be happy with that world even if they don’t ever win another championship.

[anotherhomer]

the biggest risk is Ed hiring a mediocre Shatkins like Bryan Colangelo

[Kingsway_fan]

I think Bobby gets promoted to team president and Dan gets promoted to the General Manager role.

Hope so. Risk is when Masai ends up running the new Seatle nba team, or other.. .. he will Cherry pick talent from the Raptors... to join him.

This franchise needs the best talent and needs to retain that talent. It's difficult as it is being a cold weather Canadian NBA TEAM...

[ItsDanger]

Bobby seems like a pure analytics numbers guy to me but still thinks in the way Masai does. Only problem is I feel like Masai use stats and number along with eye test to get guys. Bobby might not be good with the eye test and might just be purly a stats guy.

Bobby has no vision for building a modern basketball team. Remember Masai admitting at a press conference back in 2023 that he should have been "more hands-on"? That was a direct dig at Bobby running things since Masai got his contract renewed in 2021.

Yes I would say a lot of head-scratching moves were made by Bobby but Masai didn't do his job of $15M salary (and had the ego to publicly let it be known he's working on projects other than building the Raptors' team) and just let the kid run wild.

Kevin O’Connor said in his podcast that some board members of MLSE felt that Masai was spending too much time on giants of Africa and basketball without borders, I think that might be the origin of Masai’s comment about needing to be more hands-on.

I think the disassembly of our team was due to bad chemistry. FVV signing with Houston caught Masai by surprise completely, that’s why OG and Pascal were traded for questionable returns. He couldn’t afford to have them walk for nothing. The billion dollar question is why we suddenly had bad chemistry? Maybe it’s not something that can be reasoned, but it’s the downfall.

In another universe, Norm was never traded, and we never drafted Scottie, and we are still rolling with FVV, Norm, OG, Pascal, Poeltl, with Nurse and Masai. I’d be happy with that world even if they don’t ever win another championship.

Some of us were commenting on this quite a while ago. Turns out ownership also agreed. I think Pelley alluded to the desire to have someone 100% focused on the team. And I don't blame them.

On Tolzman, could be a good opportunity to eventually be GM here if things work out. Might be a mistake to jump ship.

[Tha Cynic]

Right, the biggest risk isn’t them hiring someone who is as incompetent as every executive they hired before Masai?

[Courtside]

Bobby seems like a pure analytics numbers guy to me but still thinks in the way Masai does. Only problem is I feel like Masai use stats and number along with eye test to get guys. Bobby might not be good with the eye test and might just be purly a stats guy.

Bobby has no vision for building a modern basketball team. Remember Masai admitting at a press conference back in 2023 that he should have been "more hands-on"? That was a direct dig at Bobby running things since Masai got his contract renewed in 2021.

Yes I would say a lot of head-scratching moves were made by Bobby but Masai didn't do his job of $15M salary (and had the ego to publicly let it be known he's working on projects other than building the Raptors' team) and just let the kid run wild.

This thread and your posts in it are a rather transparent character assassination atrempt on Bobby. What on earth would you stand to gain by being such an open saboteur of public opinion?

[DelAbbot]

Right, the biggest risk isn’t them hiring someone who is as incompetent as every executive they hired before Masai?

99% chance Bobby takes over for Masai.

[elecblue]

Bobby has no vision for building a modern basketball team. Remember Masai admitting at a press conference back in 2023 that he should have been "more hands-on"? That was a direct dig at Bobby running things since Masai got his contract renewed in 2021.

Yes I would say a lot of head-scratching moves were made by Bobby but Masai didn't do his job of $15M salary (and had the ego to publicly let it be known he's working on projects other than building the Raptors' team) and just let the kid run wild.

Kevin O’Connor said in his podcast that some board members of MLSE felt that Masai was spending too much time on giants of Africa and basketball without borders, I think that might be the origin of Masai’s comment about needing to be more hands-on.

I think the disassembly of our team was due to bad chemistry. FVV signing with Houston caught Masai by surprise completely, that’s why OG and Pascal were traded for questionable returns. He couldn’t afford to have them walk for nothing. The billion dollar question is why we suddenly had bad chemistry? Maybe it’s not something that can be reasoned, but it’s the downfall.

In another universe, Norm was never traded, and we never drafted Scottie, and we are still rolling with FVV, Norm, OG, Pascal, Poeltl, with Nurse and Masai. I’d be happy with that world even if they don’t ever win another championship.

Some of us were commenting on this quite a while ago. Turns out ownership also agreed. I think Pelley alluded to the desire to have someone 100% focused on the team. And I don't blame them.

On Tolzman, could be a good opportunity to eventually be GM here if things work out. Might be a mistake to jump ship.

I agree that maybe MLSE’s plan is to earn Bobby and Dan’s allegiance by giving them new titles - president and GM respectively. Of course, after making them jump through hoops first. Give them a little bit of raise, and then have them take all the responsibility. Pelley will never have to be responsible for anything, job security forever, as long as he sucks up to Rogers. If things don’t work out, just fire Bobby and find another Bobby to replace him. Makes me mad just thinking about it.

[DelAbbot]

Bobby seems like a pure analytics numbers guy to me but still thinks in the way Masai does. Only problem is I feel like Masai use stats and number along with eye test to get guys. Bobby might not be good with the eye test and might just be purly a stats guy.

Bobby has no vision for building a modern basketball team. Remember Masai admitting at a press conference back in 2023 that he should have been "more hands-on"? That was a direct dig at Bobby running things since Masai got his contract renewed in 2021.

Yes I would say a lot of head-scratching moves were made by Bobby but Masai didn't do his job of $15M salary (and had the ego to publicly let it be known he's working on projects other than building the Raptors' team) and just let the kid run wild.

This thread and your posts in it are a rather transparent character assassination atrempt on Bobby. What on earth would you stand to gain by being such an open saboteur of public opinion?

Bobby's public display of his intelligence speaks for itself.

[PhilBlackson]

Right, the biggest risk isn’t them hiring someone who is as incompetent as every executive they hired before Masai?

99% Bobby takes over for Masai.

I think that's a bit high especially when they used specific language like they're looking for a "proven business leader".

That sounds more like they think they can bring in one of Rogers' golfing buddies to run this strictly as a profitable business vs a trusted & respected person within the basketball community and the fact that they're even conducting interviews for the position isn't exactly a vote of confidence for Bobby.

Bobby is a smart, young guy but he is young...there is an element of being a "leader of men" here where he is running a big staff and having them answer to him on all facets of the Raptors as an organization, it's not strictly a role about deciding on coaching staff & roster. There's a lot of other people behind the scenes to manage and is Bobby ready to instill confidence in everybody there?! Possible but like a lot of BUSINESSES (*ahem again the words "business leader" were used), they tend to want men over 50+ that are supposedly "seasoned" professionals that exude a level of authority about themselves so I'm not quite as certain as you are that Bobby will just pushed up the ladder. And if it were the plan, personally I would've thought that the promotion would happen in quick succession to dispel any feelings of uncertainty and that hasn't happened.

So we'll see what happens, again I think it's possible and I'd even say more probable that Bobby is promoted due to Rogers being cheap and wanting cost savings in salary BUT again I don't think it's such a certainty as you might think.

[DelAbbot]

Right, the biggest risk isn’t them hiring someone who is as incompetent as every executive they hired before Masai?

99% Bobby takes over for Masai.

I think that's a bit high especially when they used specific language like they're looking for a "proven business leader".

That sounds more like they think they can bring in one of Rogers' golfing buddies to run this strictly as a profitable business vs a trusted & respected person within the basketball community and the fact that they're even conducting interviews for the position isn't exactly a vote of confidence for Bobby.

Bobby is a smart, young guy but he is young...there is an element of being a "leader of men" here where he is running a big staff and having them answer to him on all facets of the Raptors as an organization, it's not strictly a role about deciding on coaching staff & roster. There's a lot of other people behind the scenes to manage and is Bobby ready to instill confidence in everybody there?! Possible but like a lot of BUSINESSES (*ahem again the words "business leader" were used), they tend to want men over 50+ that are supposedly "seasoned" professionals that exude a level of authority about themselves so I'm not quite as certain as you are that Bobby will just pushed up the ladder. And if it were the plan, personally I would've thought that the promotion would happen in quick succession to dispel any feelings of uncertainty and that hasn't happened.

So we'll see what happens, again I think it's possible and I'd even say more probable that Bobby is promoted due to Rogers being cheap and wanting cost savings in salary BUT again I don't think it's such a certainty as you might think.

You make good points - nothing exudes authority more than high collars

[Tha Cynic]

Right, the biggest risk isn’t them hiring someone who is as incompetent as every executive they hired before Masai?

99% chance Bobby takes over for Masai.

Doubt it. At the end Pelley said they’re hiring a president, not a president and a GM. I think he just threw Bobby’s name in there for optics.

They’ll hire a Shatkins type