Masai Ujiri is Overrated

[CeltsfanSinceBirth]

Same dudes who think he’s overrated would probably want him to be their GM if their current GM was fired. Masai is excellent.

[tamaraw08]

Masai put his team in a position to capitalize on these hypothetical what ifs.

We can play this game for the Lakers though:

What if Charlotte drafted Kobe?
What if Fisher got his shot off .4 seconds later?
What if that rebound didn't bounce out to Horry?

The list can go on here. See how silly this argument is?

Lakers make things happen. Lakers didn't draft Jabbar, Shaq, AD, Lebron etc.
BTW, Lakers lost the Finals even after Fisher hit that .4 second shot. If only 1 of those 6 (not counting Kawhi's lucky shot) scenarios didn't happened then Toronto would have zero championships. It's not an accident that T-Mac, Bosh, Vince left this team.
and Let me say again Masai is a very good GM, it's not there was a stroke of luck that all these 6 situations happened resulting to a ring.

That's a pretty dumb double standard you've got there champ. The Lakers don't "make things happen", they just happen to be in a desirable location. It takes a lot more talent for a front office to build a sustainable winning team with an organizational culture even though they're picking at the end of the draft every year than it does to have star players demanding trades and signing as freeagents, especially when you're the only team located outside the US. Between the time Kobe blew his Achilles and LBJ decided to grace you with his presence, the Lakers were nothing but a poorly run franchise with a bunch of failed draft picks that didn't contribute anything until they were in other organizations that actually knew how to develop players.

I was merely reacting to a myopic view of Toronto won a chip so Masai is great logic. I did say WITH OR WITHOUT ring, Masai is VERY GOOD. Ujiri did a lot of great things prior to Kawhi getting injured, then SA mismanaged his injury, then he got upset.... then Pops fail to reconcile etc etc etc.
Let me ask you, if one of these 6 scenarios didn't happened and the Raptors didn't win it all, does that mean Ujiri is not very good?
I think of Portland, I think it's a well run organization, they tried and tried, traded for Nurkic but he gets injured, acquired Zach Collins, also got injured. Even before that, Roy got injured. Oden got injured. years later, they got got better with LMA, then Lillard and CJ etc.

[Optms]

Getting blown out by the lowly Wizards in their own building to kick off the season.

Where are all the Masai apologists now? This team looks bad. This team IS bad. And I took grief over meaningless preseason games.

[TheAlchemist]

Getting blown out by the lowly Wizards in their own building to kick off the season.

Where are all the Masai apologists now? This team looks bad. This team IS bad. And I took grief over meaningless preseason games.

Yeah they suck right now.

But what shocked me is Masai just did an interview in the second quarter, and said we're rebuilding.

On the first night of an season opener. He said they're not going to be great and they're young (raptors).

Say what you want about how he's overrated (to some extent he definitely is).

But the guy got the biggest Kahoona's in the league.

[John Murdoch]

Getting blown out by the lowly Wizards in their own building to kick off the season.

Where are all the Masai apologists now? This team looks bad. This team IS bad. And I took grief over meaningless preseason games.

They are in an assett collection phase...Masai doesnt have delusions of this being somekind of contender rn i dont understand ops position

[RaptorPride]

Getting blown out by the lowly Wizards in their own building to kick off the season.

Where are all the Masai apologists now? This team looks bad. This team IS bad. And I took grief over meaningless preseason games.

7th youngest team in the league

does not include last season

[Jazztop]

This is a D- level thread

[DroseReturnChi]

Getting blown out by the lowly Wizards in their own building to kick off the season.

Where are all the Masai apologists now? This team looks bad. This team IS bad. And I took grief over meaningless preseason games.

are you kidding me? they are supposed to tank masai even admitted. raps fans were delusional thinking they can repeat. what a horrible take you just dont know what your talking about even today.

[Duffman100]

Getting blown out by the lowly Wizards in their own building to kick off the season.

Where are all the Masai apologists now? This team looks bad. This team IS bad. And I took grief over meaningless preseason games.

Nobody said this team is good.

[GreatWhiteStiff]

I'll just put this here. Masai has made one contending team in Toronto. I'm not sure if any are coming soon, but it's possible. He's made some great moves and I have faith in him...but that could be temporary. It'd be interesting to see how long a leash he has before continued success if it isn't on the near horizon.

[Balls Deep]

All GMs are over rated. It’s all about the players and coach.

[whitehops]

they pretty much committed to this when they traded for kawhi. he was very likely to leave and then they'd have to blow it up with so many aging vets.

this will be a new challenge for masai since he's starting from a much worse position than when he took over the raptors. it'll be interesting to see how it develops. honestly him finding a FVV-like diamond in the rough that happened to be a scoring PG would be a huge boost to their rebuild.

[GSP]

He's only overrated if you think he's the best Gm. He's elite and turned around their losing culture in the Bargnani era into a winning team then made a historic gamble that won them their only championship. He can be garbage for the rest of his tenure and it won't matter TBH

[CIN-C-STAR]

Getting blown out by the lowly Wizards in their own building to kick off the season.

Where are all the Masai apologists now? This team looks bad. This team IS bad. And I took grief over meaningless preseason games.

Yeah they suck right now.

But what shocked me is Masai just did an interview in the second quarter, and said we're rebuilding.

On the first night of an season opener. He said they're not going to be great and they're young (raptors).

Say what you want about how he's overrated (to some extent he definitely is).

But the guy got the biggest Kahoona's in the league.

Tbh this was obvious to eveveryone outside of their fan base (and even some realists in the fan base).

[TheAlchemist]

Getting blown out by the lowly Wizards in their own building to kick off the season.

Where are all the Masai apologists now? This team looks bad. This team IS bad. And I took grief over meaningless preseason games.

Yeah they suck right now.

But what shocked me is Masai just did an interview in the second quarter, and said we're rebuilding.

On the first night of an season opener. He said they're not going to be great and they're young (raptors).

Say what you want about how he's overrated (to some extent he definitely is).

But the guy got the biggest Kahoona's in the league.

Tbh this was obvious to everyone outside of their fan base (and even some realists in the fan base).

Majority of the fan base thought that the Tampa experience (rightfully so), was a year to get a high draft pick and retool on the fly.

He's kept some core great players and didn't flip them for draft picks (Siakam, FVV, OG).

It wasn't and still isn't clear as night and day. The team is composed of competitively good players overall.

[TheAlchemist]

I'll just put this here. Masai has made one contending team in Toronto. I'm not sure if any are coming soon, but it's possible. He's made some great moves and I have faith in him...but that could be temporary. It'd be interesting to see how long a leash he has before continued success if it isn't on the near horizon.

They're charging $890 CAD for a single lower bowl ticket.



It's safe to say, upper management doesn't care when they price themselves like this, and still sell out full houses.

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/raptors-fans-stunned-by-ludicrous-ticket-prices-for-season-opener-172130270.html

[stillgotgame]

I'll just put this here. Masai has made one contending team in Toronto. I'm not sure if any are coming soon, but it's possible. He's made some great moves and I have faith in him...but that could be temporary. It'd be interesting to see how long a leash he has before continued success if it isn't on the near horizon.

They're charging $890 CAD for a single lower bowl ticket.



It's safe to say, upper management doesn't care when they price themselves like this, and still sell out full houses.

[url]https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/raptors-fans-stunned-by-ludicrous-ticket-prices-for-
season-opener-172130270.html[/url]

Gotta get that ticket money when in the luxury tax. 9th highest team salary in the league seems a little high for a team that’s tanking. Collecting assets?

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cap/

[The Rebel]

Lakers make things happen. Lakers didn't draft Jabbar, Shaq, AD, Lebron etc.
BTW, Lakers lost the Finals even after Fisher hit that .4 second shot. If only 1 of those 6 (not counting Kawhi's lucky shot) scenarios didn't happened then Toronto would have zero championships. It's not an accident that T-Mac, Bosh, Vince left this team.
and Let me say again Masai is a very good GM, it's not there was a stroke of luck that all these 6 situations happened resulting to a ring.

That's a pretty dumb double standard you've got there champ. The Lakers don't "make things happen", they just happen to be in a desirable location. It takes a lot more talent for a front office to build a sustainable winning team with an organizational culture even though they're picking at the end of the draft every year than it does to have star players demanding trades and signing as freeagents, especially when you're the only team located outside the US. Between the time Kobe blew his Achilles and LBJ decided to grace you with his presence, the Lakers were nothing but a poorly run franchise with a bunch of failed draft picks that didn't contribute anything until they were in other organizations that actually knew how to develop players.

I was merely reacting to a myopic view of Toronto won a chip so Masai is great logic. I did say WITH OR WITHOUT ring, Masai is VERY GOOD. Ujiri did a lot of great things prior to Kawhi getting injured, then SA mismanaged his injury, then he got upset.... then Pops fail to reconcile etc etc etc.
Let me ask you, if one of these 6 scenarios didn't happened and the Raptors didn't win it all, does that mean Ujiri is not very good?
I think of Portland, I think it's a well run organization, they tried and tried, traded for Nurkic but he gets injured, acquired Zach Collins, also got injured. Even before that, Roy got injured. Oden got injured. years later, they got got better with LMA, then Lillard and CJ etc.

Without the ring than Ujiri is just very good. Like it or not having the assets and the balls to not only make a deal but to make one that was as risky as Kawhi's deal is what sets him apart from very good GMS. People seem to forget that Demar Derozan was an all star, despite his limitations and troubles against the Cavs, he was a damn good player. Good enough to arguably be the best player on a western Conference playoff team. Him and a young big that was a year removed from being a top 10 pick, and who had shown signs to be able to play in the league as a rookie is a pretty good package to give up, especially considering Kawhi's injury issues.


To follow it up with trading for a very needed Marc Gasol despite his decline becoming pretty obvious has shown to be a great move as well. JV is still proving to be a valuable Center.

Firing the reigning coach of the year was pretty risky as well prior to the season.


Those are all high risk, high reward moves. Most GMs would never have done it. He figured out the best moves to give him the best chance to win right then and did them knowing damn well that it would mean years of rebuilding. He literally risked his name and his career on 3 high risk moves in the same season, and come out proving his is among the top 2-3 GMs in the league.

[Caped Crusader]

Getting blown out by the lowly Wizards in their own building to kick off the season.

Where are all the Masai apologists now? This team looks bad. This team IS bad. And I took grief over meaningless preseason games.

They are in an assett collection phase...Masai doesnt have delusions of this being somekind of contender rn i dont understand ops position

His position is that he's a troll. It seems he doesn't have anything better to do. That's just his shtick.

they pretty much committed to this when they traded for kawhi. he was very likely to leave and then they'd have to blow it up with so many aging vets.

this will be a new challenge for masai since he's starting from a much worse position than when he took over the raptors. it'll be interesting to see how it develops. honestly him finding a FVV-like diamond in the rough that happened to be a scoring PG would be a huge boost to their rebuild.

You have some good points however he's not starting from a much worse position than when he initially took over. He had some bad contracts and terrible assets to deal with. Look no further than Rudy Gay and Andrea Bargnani. At that time, Derozan and Lowry's value weren't exactly great and they weren't seen as assets. Masai even attempted to trade Lowry and would have followed that up with trading Derozan. He always wanted to rebuild but after trading away Bargnani and Gay, we got better so he abandoned that plan. Both those trades resulted in the Raptors receiving some really good assets in return that they'd use as leverage in future deals.
Masai was left with some terrible assets, he turned it into gold. He's collecting a boat load of assets and the team is not handicapped like when he took over, so it's actually a much better position from when he took over, not a much worse position.

[AussieCeltic]

Getting blown out by the lowly Wizards in their own building to kick off the season.

Where are all the Masai apologists now? This team looks bad. This team IS bad. And I took grief over meaningless preseason games.

Nobody said this team is good.

Well there was a thread about top benches in the league and Raptors fans were pretty loud and prominent about your bench and playoff chances.

I also got laughed at by Raptors for saying they’re a lock for under 36 wins.

I’m not saying they have a bad team or future, but this season just isn’t going to be the one for them.