Masai has finally admitted defeat

[Duffman100]

Few years ago, Baltimore Orioles fired a large part of their scouting department. And look them now.

Go get the job man. Then you can fire them.

I provided a good example of it working and this is the response? These shakeups are common in sports. Let alone any other business.

Maybe we’re tired of hearing your suggestions.

You’ve said it’s not a complex job and it’s not hard to get. So we all just want you to finally get the job so we know if you’re right.

[YogurtProducer]

I’m just waiting for a RealGm poster to become our GM. It’s not complex nor hard job to get. So a person who regularly posts in a basketball forum would surely jump at the chance to take the job and transform our franchise.

Few years ago, Baltimore Orioles fired a large part of their scouting department. And look them now.

Did the Orioles have statistically the best drafting team of the last decade?

Complaining about our scouting is just ridiculous man. It’s an unarguable horrible take.

[Ari_Emanuel]

Masai earned loyalty by bringing a Canadian franchise a chip, but the goodwill bank is nearly fully drawn now.

Our FO bet on Siakam and OG, and in the end, neither made the jumps necessary to keep this core and our cohesion intact.

If OG showed he could become a dynamic scorer, Masai never hesitates to offer him a max. Same with Siakam.

Many here saw OG and Siakam for what they were (good players but not franchise carrying talents) and advocated for a rebuild 2 years ago. It is what it is.

It's a really odd thing to bank on given Masai is a scout and should be able to observe his current talent, there was bias involved because they were his picks.

Most people on here called it a long time ago that they're faulty players and this is a treadmill roster, it shouldn't take a guy getting paid millions a year who's shown he has aptitude in the past this long to fix his mistakes. This team wasn't suddenly going to turn into a 50-60 win team, it had so many weaknesses heading into this year and he somehow thought that would be a competitive roster, which is baffling. The fact he gave up the first for Poeltl means he banked that this could be a contender, and furthermore insinuated as such when he said Poeltl is a player you see on a championship team. His mindset was that this team could contend, which is delusional.

That being said, what we're seeing now is a really nice transition out of that and in a very short amount of time, which is encouraging.

I don't think Masai thought our core was good enough to content. Imo, he thought we were good enough to compete and be a playoff time. At least then, he could justify paying OG and Siakam knowing their values in the market would be close enough that they'd be tradeable assets.

[JN]

I would not be surprised if the core of BBQ plays to a 35-40 win level next year, that during the year (or the next summer) Masai makes a big trade moving expirings, a few young guys, and 3 or 4 first rounders for an impact player that is in the 24-28 range. Now these first rounders might not be our own but I can see him trying to accumulate picks for 2025 and beyond. Woruld it be the smartest thing - maybe, maybe not but we know from recent discussions in the past 2 years, Masai is not afraid of at least considering adding a big piece to a middle of the pack team.

We already have the Indy 2026
A few other ways to get those other picks. I certainly expect them to find a way to move one of this year's first rounders to a 2025 or 2026 pick so it can be used as trade capital. A few options:
- Trade this year's Indy's pick for a protected pick in a future year (add a second rounder if needed to get it done)
- Trade the second first and the Detroit 2nd (if still left), for a protected first round pick in a future year.

Get a 2025 or 2026 or beyond first for Brown, that might be made easier by us taking up a bad contract that expires next year.

The above gets us 3 draft picks (that are not our own) that we can trade even if we are just an average team.

You might be able to get another first via trading Schroeder, Trent if you are lucky.

So heading into next year we could have 3 or 4 first rounders that are not our own..... so we can complete a large trade by only moving one of our own picks. (learning from the Poeltl mistake - obviously they have less value, but quantity has value)

[TheFutureMM]

Kind of wild that he came clean and said that he really felt this team needed another chance. That he really loved Siakam and didn't want to move on from him. I used to laugh at dude's here who said Masai got blindly attached to his players but they were ultimately right haha.

As I've said at least 10x, they needed to move Siakam/FVV earlier. It's clear that this wasn't working. The next 3 years of Raptors ball will be very interesting but I do truly believe we are on the right track now.

Moral highground is the easiest high ground to stand on. You can admit to being wrong and make it appears as if you had no choice because it was the right thing to do, and come out looking like a winner.
Ultimately if he could find a better way to win he would have taken it. Giving who and who chances is just plan B.

For sure. His whole press conference, while probably genuine, was a little bit dramatic. I truly believe he looks at Siakam much more like a friend or even family member, and his success does reflect on Masai (whose team believed in him, drafted him, and developed him) but at the end of the day that doesn't excuse not moving him when it became obvious it made sense.

I think, like most people here, the Raptors front-office is always looking for the net positive move. They don't make net negative moves to start the tank (even though in the aggregate it might lead to the most utility). They were probably looking for a net-positive move (4 draft picks plus a young prospect) to give up Siakam as that's what they percieved his value to be. Turns out, no, that deal never materialized and they were forced to take a little bit less and excused it as "giving them a chance".

Anyways, all this is showing me is that the league has gotten smarter. Everyone has the same numbers. Everyone is looking for the same deals. No one is making moves to make moves. Deals have to make sense for both sides.

[TheGeneral99]

We will have a few draft picks and a ton of cap flexibility this summer.

Will be interesting to see how Masai utilizes that flexibility.

[DelAbbot]

Masai earned loyalty by bringing a Canadian franchise a chip, but the goodwill bank is nearly fully drawn now.

Our FO bet on Siakam and OG, and in the end, neither made the jumps necessary to keep this core and our cohesion intact.

If OG showed he could become a dynamic scorer, Masai never hesitates to offer him a max. Same with Siakam.

Many here saw OG and Siakam for what they were (good players but not franchise carrying talents) and advocated for a rebuild 2 years ago. It is what it is.

It's a really odd thing to bank on given Masai is a scout and should be able to observe his current talent, there was bias involved because they were his picks.

Most people on here called it a long time ago that they're faulty players and this is a treadmill roster, it shouldn't take a guy getting paid millions a year who's shown he has aptitude in the past this long to fix his mistakes. This team wasn't suddenly going to turn into a 50-60 win team, it had so many weaknesses heading into this year and he somehow thought that would be a competitive roster, which is baffling. The fact he gave up the first for Poeltl means he banked that this could be a contender, and furthermore insinuated as such when he said Poeltl is a player you see on a championship team. His mindset was that this team could contend, which is delusional.

That being said, what we're seeing now is a really nice transition out of that and in a very short amount of time, which is encouraging.

I don't think Masai thought our core was good enough to content. Imo, he thought we were good enough to compete and be a playoff time. At least then, he could justify paying OG and Siakam knowing their values in the market would be close enough that they'd be tradeable assets.

Something smells of negligence about all of this. Masai didn't do his job, and he just loved his flawed players like FVV (can't shoot over length, declining hip), OG (can't develop a handle), Siakam (poor outside shoot).

Yes Masai did finally pivot in a very short amount of time (with OG trade and Siakam trade within a few weeks) but that's after all of his assets lost value - FVV ($1 to 0), OG ($1 to $0.90), Siakam ($1 to $0.25).

[Ari_Emanuel]

Masai earned loyalty by bringing a Canadian franchise a chip, but the goodwill bank is nearly fully drawn now.

Our FO bet on Siakam and OG, and in the end, neither made the jumps necessary to keep this core and our cohesion intact.

If OG showed he could become a dynamic scorer, Masai never hesitates to offer him a max. Same with Siakam.

Many here saw OG and Siakam for what they were (good players but not franchise carrying talents) and advocated for a rebuild 2 years ago. It is what it is.

It's a really odd thing to bank on given Masai is a scout and should be able to observe his current talent, there was bias involved because they were his picks.

Most people on here called it a long time ago that they're faulty players and this is a treadmill roster, it shouldn't take a guy getting paid millions a year who's shown he has aptitude in the past this long to fix his mistakes. This team wasn't suddenly going to turn into a 50-60 win team, it had so many weaknesses heading into this year and he somehow thought that would be a competitive roster, which is baffling. The fact he gave up the first for Poeltl means he banked that this could be a contender, and furthermore insinuated as such when he said Poeltl is a player you see on a championship team. His mindset was that this team could contend, which is delusional.

That being said, what we're seeing now is a really nice transition out of that and in a very short amount of time, which is encouraging.

There was also bias involved because of the championship they all won together, which is probably the single biggest force that could bond teammates and an organization.

Otherwise, I agree with everything you said.

[ash_k]

and he only accepted "defeat" once our record was 12-19(in spite of finishing 15-11 with Yak) and after failing to get Dame Lillard.

[dchoye]

Masai has made really good trades for the team.
He got rid of Rudy Gay and built around Lowery and DeRozan. Then Got rid of DeRozan for Kawai
Yea so Masai believe in the current core too much and should have dealt them earlier but Im confident he can trade up for new quality players again

[TheWave]

It's a really odd thing to bank on given Masai is a scout and should be able to observe his current talent, there was bias involved because they were his picks.

Most people on here called it a long time ago that they're faulty players and this is a treadmill roster, it shouldn't take a guy getting paid millions a year who's shown he has aptitude in the past this long to fix his mistakes. This team wasn't suddenly going to turn into a 50-60 win team, it had so many weaknesses heading into this year and he somehow thought that would be a competitive roster, which is baffling. The fact he gave up the first for Poeltl means he banked that this could be a contender, and furthermore insinuated as such when he said Poeltl is a player you see on a championship team. His mindset was that this team could contend, which is delusional.

That being said, what we're seeing now is a really nice transition out of that and in a very short amount of time, which is encouraging.

I don't think Masai thought our core was good enough to content. Imo, he thought we were good enough to compete and be a playoff time. At least then, he could justify paying OG and Siakam knowing their values in the market would be close enough that they'd be tradeable assets.

Something smells of negligence about all of this. Masai didn't do his job, and he just loved his flawed players like FVV (can't shoot over length, declining hip), OG (can't develop a handle), Siakam (poor outside shoot).

Yes Masai did finally pivot in a very short amount of time (with OG trade and Siakam trade within a few weeks) but that's after all of his assets lost value - FVV ($1 to 0), OG ($1 to $0.90), Siakam ($1 to $0.25).

FVV was a L
OG we did well on
Siakim we did ok on.. $1 to $0.66 using your example. Dont forget Brown is tradable as well.