Masai Ujiri Says 'Still Plenty Of Work To Be Done' In Repairing Relationship With DeMar DeRozan

[RealGM Wiretap]

Masai Ujiri said while his relationship with Dwane Casey has improved, he still has to do "plenty of work" in repairing his relationship with DeMar DeRozan.

"It's not easy. If you have that human part of you, you feel it in your heart. ... With Casey, it has gotten so much better now with his family and him. With DeMar there is still plenty of work to be done. But, by the grace of God, it will all get better. We have to continue to make these decisions that are tough. But that's the business of basketball, and the position that we are in," Ujiri told Ernie Johnson in an interview.

Ujiri fired Casey and traded DeRozan in the 2018 offseason.

He admitted that transactions put a strain on personal relationships.

"I always say that the two hardest things in our world, in our business, is trading a player and then when a player leaves, if a player leaves in free agency. And it's hard on both sides. When a player is traded, it is hard on the player side, and when a player leaves, like us [with Leonard last summer], it is hard on that side. I've experienced all of it, from wonderful people. It sometimes puts a strain on relationships, as we saw with DeMar," said Ujiri.

Ujiri also expressed his support for how Adam Silver is handling the situation surrounding COVID-19, and that he was optimistic that the season would return.

"I know with all the input his leadership team with the NBA, and how he directs it, we will come up with something great. He's taking all our input. I am confident that we'll get back playing in some kind of way. We miss the game, man. We miss sports. We miss the game."

Via Tim Bontemps/ESPN

[TheBoi10]

Nothing needs to be done.

Masai overpaid DeRozan and put him on teams that led DD to get accolades he had no business stacking up.

His assessment was correct, that fraud was holding his team back, proved to be last year and this year again.

[12footrim]

Why? It's business.

[Jody Smokz]

The majority of these athletes as kids at heart. A grown man would have handled his business and moved on. Like you said Demar got an 130M contract to play there and then got traded to a state with no income tax and 2nd chance to show how great of a player he could be. If he needs Masai to kiss his ass he should grow up.

Nothing needs to be done.

Masai overpaid DeRozan and put him on teams that led DD to get accolades he had no business stacking up.

His assessment was correct, that fraud was holding his team back, proved to be last year and this year again.

[ebrian]

You're all correct but I think slightly missing the point of the article. Obviously, if DeMar treated it as a business, he wouldn't have a beef with Masai. Similarly, Masai shouldn't care about mending a relationship with a former player. If it was all business, neither needs to talk to eachother anymore.

But I think what this article is showing is that being a great NBA exec goes beyond just being great at the business side of it. Masai is one of the best in this business, but he's still seeking out reconciliation with a player that he traded for *AMAZINGLY GREAT* benefit and the coach he fired. He has no particular need to do that, but he's doing it anyway because he's just a great guy.

[alienpick]

You're all correct but I think slightly missing the point of the article. Obviously, if DeMar treated it as a business, he wouldn't have a beef with Masai. Similarly, Masai shouldn't care about mending a relationship with a former player. If it was all business, neither needs to talk to eachother anymore.

But I think what this article is showing is that being a great NBA exec goes beyond just being great at the business side of it. Masai is one of the best in this business, but he's still seeking out reconciliation with a player that he traded for *AMAZINGLY GREAT* benefit and the coach he fired. He has no particular need to do that, but he's doing it anyway because he's just a great guy.

The problem is he lied and wasn’t straight up with DeMar. That’s where the strain is. DeMar understood the business side but not Masai being untruthful or straight forward with him.

[eureca20]

It's always "just business" when a player is traded. Not just for the teams but for the fans. If someone leaves or asks out then omg it's the end of the world and they are hated, except for certain rare occasions. Teams will preach family when they want you to re-sign. They may even tell you that you won't be traded like they did to DeMar right before he was traded.

I am not saying Ujiri has to do anything, but DeMar has feelings just like the fans and teams do that hold grudges.

[deepeeenn]

It's always "just business" when a player is traded. Not just for the teams but for the fans. If someone leaves or asks out then omg it's the end of the world and they are hated, except for certain rare occasions. Teams will preach family when they want you to re-sign. They may even tell you that you won't be traded like they did to DeMar right before he was traded.

That’s a direct result we/the NBA places on a championship though. That can only be earned by one franchise every year. It’s also corresponds to the fandom, majorly speaking, we attach ourselves to one team. We in that way make it acceptable for there to be casualties in that endeavor.

[Bentley1225]

Im sure Masai had no intent of shopping Demar but when the situation between Kawhi and the Spurs materialized, Masai knew he had to take a risk to get a substantially better player at the expense of Demar/Poeltl/1st for Kawhi/Green. DeMar had a few chances of being the focal point on a successful regular season team but couldnt get it done in the playoffs. Masai knew he had to make but a coaching and personnel change to have a legit chance to win the title and it paid off.

I appreciate Masai's sensitivity but I dont think he owes DeMar anything.

[PerfectJab]

Say what you want about Masai, on a personal level he may come across as arrogant/cocky and may even be perceived as aggressive at times but deep down I think he has a good heart and is a sincere person. The fact that he still talks about the changes and continues to refer to these changes by name while referencing reconciliation is a testament to this.

The man was just doing his job, could have easily gone down the path of 'out of sight, out of mind' as many bosses especially after winning the championship but he continues to put respect on the situation by putting in time to address it.

Personally I'm not mad at DeMar, I understand why he'd feel the way that he did and frankly his actions are a reflection of how much he loved the team. I think true Raptor's fans appreciate DeMar for this.

Masai really was in a catch 22 situation and a lot of people would argue he made the right decision, if you look at strictly basketball and his job, based on the end results.

[MitchB3]

Yeah, so listen DeMar needs to get over it. Basketball is a business, and from day one he should have known that. There are teams that are about winning and contending for a championship(s); it so happened that the Raptors were one of those teams. He should be proud that without him the Raptors wouldn't have really been a place to even be a contending team in the first place. He laid the grown work, it's just that he and Lowry couldn't get them over the hump. The Raptors was consistently a top 5 team that could have won it all the last 3 or 4 years he was there, however, they went up against LeBron and kept losing; even Coach Casey knew that.

[donaldtrump_00]

What is even more crazy is even with Kawhi they still needed kd, Klay, and cousins to fall to injury just to beat golden State. And it still was very close. GS clearly still could've beaten them. One curry mistake by not attacking the basket looking for a foul then forcing a not so clean look at a forced 3pt attempt. So don't act like the raps did anything at all. Just got incredibly lucky. Any team could beat the warriors with all those injuries

[Sam195]

What is even more crazy is even with Kawhi they still needed kd, Klay, and cousins to fall to injury just to beat golden State. And it still was very close. GS clearly still could've beaten them. One curry mistake by not attacking the basket looking for a foul then forcing a not so clean look at a forced 3pt attempt. So don't act like the raps did anything at all. Just got incredibly lucky. Any team could beat the warriors with all those injuries

The Cousins and Klay injuries are irrelevant they happened in the series - Warriors and KD camp can deny it as much as they want but clearly there was pressure be it from the locker room, ownership, front office or whatever for him to come back asap after his injury in the semifinals with the rockets. Likely because everyone thought it was championship or bust if he is leaving so who cares if he gets roughed up if he is going to ditch us like OKC anyway. I think everyone was surprised he would tear his Achilles that fast. And lmfao Raptors were going to win that series in 5 games if Curry and Klay didn't go off after KD got hurt. Kawhi was on a mission to beat Warriors to get redemption for his own injury against them two years prior if they didn't win in GS in Game 6 they would have won in Game 7 in Toronto infront of a crazy ass city and crowd the same ones that broke Giannis and saw the Bucks get beat 4 games in a row after being up 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals.

[Sam195]

The majority of these athletes as kids at heart. A grown man would have handled his business and moved on. Like you said Demar got an 130M contract to play there and then got traded to a state with no income tax and 2nd chance to show how great of a player he could be. If he needs Masai to kiss his ass he should grow up.

Nothing needs to be done.

Masai overpaid DeRozan and put him on teams that led DD to get accolades he had no business stacking up.

His assessment was correct, that fraud was holding his team back, proved to be last year and this year again.

Derozan is overpaid but in terms of market value he actually took a decent discount to resign in Toronto. The salary cap blew up the first time that 2016 offseason. And Derozan had multiple teams interested in offering him the 4 years $113M max (money Al Horford got with Celtics) he also had the leverage with the Raptors to push for the full 5 year $153M max (What Mike Conley got from Grizzlies and What Damian Lillard got from Blazers) but Masai got him to negotiate down to a 5 year $139M commitment without any trade kicker (so Demar was not even paid a bonus for the money he left on the table when he got traded). Yeah Spurs have no state income tax lol but most players just see this as a bad faith negotiation I took less cash and you still shipped me. Compare this to the Blake Griffin situation with Clippers he signed for the full 5 year $170M max in 2017 with the Clippers after CP3 got traded to Rockets and he was reportedly pitched by Ballmer, Lawrence Frank and Doc Rivers about becoming the first Clipper to have his jersey retired only to sign on the dotted line and then get traded to Pistons before the next nba trade deadline. Griffin on the other hand had the 15% max trade kicker in his contract so not only did he move to the Eastern Conference but he got a sizable bonus on the remaining 4.5 seasons left on his contract which I think was reported at the time but not really scrutinized that Griffin actually received the largest trade kicker payout in nba history (obviously bigger multi-year contract means bigger payout) at that point that has yet to be surpassed. Ballmer is the richest nba owner he can easily cover that cheque.

[PerfectJab]

What is even more crazy is even with Kawhi they still needed kd, Klay, and cousins to fall to injury just to beat golden State. And it still was very close. GS clearly still could've beaten them. One curry mistake by not attacking the basket looking for a foul then forcing a not so clean look at a forced 3pt attempt. So don't act like the raps did anything at all. Just got incredibly lucky. Any team could beat the warriors with all those injuries

Didn't they beat with said players in the regular season and beat the team in the playoffs with the best record in the league? Had the Bucks made the finals could they have beaten GS? You're underestimating the heart of a champion and are clearly hating to get a rise out of people. Do you not know the dynamic of sports?

Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk

[donaldtrump_00]

What is even more crazy is even with Kawhi they still needed kd, Klay, and cousins to fall to injury just to beat golden State. And it still was very close. GS clearly still could've beaten them. One curry mistake by not attacking the basket looking for a foul then forcing a not so clean look at a forced 3pt attempt. So don't act like the raps did anything at all. Just got incredibly lucky. Any team could beat the warriors with all those injuries

Didn't they beat with said players in the regular season and beat the team in the playoffs with the best record in the league? Had the Bucks made the finals could they have beaten GS? You're underestimating the heart of a champion and are clearly hating to get a rise out of people. Do you not know the dynamic of sports?

Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk

You and the other poster both failed to listen to what I said. If nobody got hurt there's no raps championship period. Kd included. But I don't even think the raps beat GS without KD. Klay was just enough to put them out. And I'm hating? Wtf.. How. They only won by a missed shot by curry. It's you who's hating. And Iggy was playing hurt as well. You know they wasn't beating GS with Klay and cousins. As for the bucks. There a different monster. Maybe without KD they beat the warriors. But still no guarantee. I urged the raps on up until the finals. Plus I think Kawhi is the only one who can beat LeBron in 7 games right now.

[PerfectJab]

What is even more crazy is even with Kawhi they still needed kd, Klay, and cousins to fall to injury just to beat golden State. And it still was very close. GS clearly still could've beaten them. One curry mistake by not attacking the basket looking for a foul then forcing a not so clean look at a forced 3pt attempt. So don't act like the raps did anything at all. Just got incredibly lucky. Any team could beat the warriors with all those injuries

Didn't they beat with said players in the regular season and beat the team in the playoffs with the best record in the league? Had the Bucks made the finals could they have beaten GS? You're underestimating the heart of a champion and are clearly hating to get a rise out of people. Do you not know the dynamic of sports?

Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk

You and the other poster both failed to listen to what I said. If nobody got hurt there's no raps championship period. Kd included. But I don't even think the raps beat GS without KD. Klay was just enough to put them out. And I'm hating? Wtf.. How. They only won by a missed shot by curry. It's you who's hating. And Iggy was playing hurt as well. You know they wasn't beating GS with Klay and cousins. As for the bucks. There a different monster. Maybe without KD they beat the warriors. But still no guarantee. I urged the raps on up until the finals. Plus I think Kawhi is the only one who can beat LeBron in 7 games right now.

Therein lies your problem. You make a lot of assertions without true facts, not opinion facts, to back it up. Circular reasoning at its finest.

I like how you use the Iggy being hurt as a difference maker to further reinforce your weak argument haha. I'll play along at your elite level Lowry and Kawhi were also hurt, OG Anunoby was out and Siakam hadn't developed his confidence yet. Nurse was a rookie coach so if he was more experienced the Raptors would have won in 4. Can't forget the Warriors owner who by holding Lowry effected his mindset the rest of the series.

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[Sam195]

Didn't they beat with said players in the regular season and beat the team in the playoffs with the best record in the league? Had the Bucks made the finals could they have beaten GS? You're underestimating the heart of a champion and are clearly hating to get a rise out of people. Do you not know the dynamic of sports?

Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk

You and the other poster both failed to listen to what I said. If nobody got hurt there's no raps championship period. Kd included. But I don't even think the raps beat GS without KD. Klay was just enough to put them out. And I'm hating? Wtf.. How. They only won by a missed shot by curry. It's you who's hating. And Iggy was playing hurt as well. You know they wasn't beating GS with Klay and cousins. As for the bucks. There a different monster. Maybe without KD they beat the warriors. But still no guarantee. I urged the raps on up until the finals. Plus I think Kawhi is the only one who can beat LeBron in 7 games right now.

Therein lies your problem. You make a lot of assertions without true facts, not opinion facts, to back it up. Circular reasoning at its finest.

I like how you use the Iggy being hurt as a difference maker to further reinforce your weak argument haha. I'll play along at your elite level Lowry and Kawhi were also hurt, OG Anunoby was out and Siakam hadn't developed his confidence yet. Nurse was a rookie coach so if he was more experienced the Raptors would have won in 4. Can't forget the Warriors owner who by holding Lowry effected his mindset the rest of the series.

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I am pretty sure if every Warriors player including Cousins and Klay aside from KD were healthy even Vegas would not give them favorable odds to beat the Raptors in a Game 7 in Toronto. It would have been epic but that team including Kawhi who left really fed off that crowd and fan base very similar to the underdog 2004 Pistons team and 2011 Mavericks team who like the Raptors were never expected to topple a dynasty or self-proclaimed dynasty team that were led by some of the best players in the league at the time or better yet their generation and in their prime like Kobe, Shaq, Lebron, Wade, Bosh, KD, Klay and Curry. Also lol many fans wanted a Game 7 to decide the title but everyone in the city including the Canadian politicians were happy it ended in 6 in Oakland cause god forbid Raptors have to play Game 7 in Toronto and lost you might have seen record riots worse than the 2010 G20 summit in Toronto or when Vancouver lost the Stanley Cup to Boston Bruins in a Game 7 in 2011.