Masai Ujiri Interview on the Steam Room with Ernie and Chuck

[DG88]

Starts at the 40 minute mark

Watch on YouTube

;t=2686s

[Scase]

Starts at the 40 minute mark

Watch on YouTube

;t=2686s

As long as I've been in the NBA I've never done a rebuild, and this is the first time.

Well, that's about as official as it gets haha.

For those wondering, the "basketball" stuff starts at about 49:45 in, prev 10min is about Mutumbo etc if uninterested.

[LoveMyRaps]

Starts at the 40 minute mark

Watch on YouTube

;t=2686s

As long as I've been in the NBA I've never done a rebuild, and this is the first time.

Well, that's about as official as it gets haha.

For those wondering, the "basketball" stuff starts at about 49:45 in, prev 10min is about Mutumbo etc if uninterested.

Masai made it abundantly clear that we were entering a rebuild and that there would be growing pains.
Many fans wanted it, but were clearly not prepared for it.

[LoveMyRaps]

"With that international landscape, and the way the NBA is going, there's going to be opportunities here for players to come. This will be a market in the near future where players will want to come. But in the meantime, we need to build via draft, trade, and identifying unseen talents."

[Basketball_Jones]

Yeah it’s true I can’t recall Masai ever doing a rebuild. He probably won’t be around to see it through either.

[ATLTimekeeper]

"With that international landscape, and the way the NBA is going, there's going to be opportunities here for players to come. This will be a market in the near future where players will want to come. But in the meantime, we need to build via draft, trade, and identifying unseen talents."

Chuck implying we have cheap ownership. Masai had to dodge that one.

[DelAbbot]

Starts at the 40 minute mark

Watch on YouTube

;t=2686s

As long as I've been in the NBA I've never done a rebuild, and this is the first time.

Well, that's about as official as it gets haha.

For those wondering, the "basketball" stuff starts at about 49:45 in, prev 10min is about Mutumbo etc if uninterested.

Masai made it abundantly clear that we were entering a rebuild and that there would be growing pains.
Many fans wanted it, but were clearly not prepared for it.

Masai said this once before already after Tampa season.

Read on Twitter

Today's team is not his first rebuild in the NBA.

[canada_dry]

Starts at the 40 minute mark

Watch on YouTube

;t=2686s

As long as I've been in the NBA I've never done a rebuild, and this is the first time.

Well, that's about as official as it gets haha.

For those wondering, the "basketball" stuff starts at about 49:45 in, prev 10min is about Mutumbo etc if uninterested.

Yeah.

I hope that's official enough for you as you've repeatedly refused to call this a purposeful rebuild and rather one they fell backwards into.

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

[anotherhomer]

"With that international landscape, and the way the NBA is going, there's going to be opportunities here for players to come. This will be a market in the near future where players will want to come. But in the meantime, we need to build via draft, trade, and identifying unseen talents."

Chuck implying we have cheap ownership. Masai had to dodge that one.

there's a white man, who loves hockey and baseball but doesn't care about basketball as much....

go figure

[MessiahUjiri]

They talked about Masai being a top 2 GM in the NBA, and a future candidate for NBA Commissioner.

It almost brought a tear to my eyes, because we know he is eventually destined for greater glory.

We are so lucky.

[ItsDanger]

I'm 100% in favour of a total rebuild of the roster. That means not getting attached to mediocre low upside players especially at the expense of higher upside more risky options. Now, one could hold mediocre assets temporarily in order to trade at a later date, we'll see if he's willing to do that in this rebuild setting. Of course, there's a salary floor to consider.

Take advantage of teams desperate to win now. Dump players you don't see as foundation pieces before value drops a lot. With many picks incoming, you can be aggressive here.

[Scase]

Starts at the 40 minute mark

Watch on YouTube

;t=2686s

As long as I've been in the NBA I've never done a rebuild, and this is the first time.

Well, that's about as official as it gets haha.

For those wondering, the "basketball" stuff starts at about 49:45 in, prev 10min is about Mutumbo etc if uninterested.

Yeah.

I hope that's official enough for you as you've repeatedly refused to call this a purposeful rebuild and rather one they fell backwards into.

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

Kinda hilarious that you post this right after Del posts a clip of him after the Tampa season saying the same thing, and yet that was never a rebuild according to him.

I wonder why I wouldn't outright believe the words of someone who talks out of both sides of their mouth all the time.

It's also real easy for him to say AFTER the team is 8-29 (at the time of recording), you know, unless you think it was all part of his master plan for all these injuries.

[deck]

I'm 100% in favour of a total rebuild of the roster. That means not getting attached to mediocre low upside players especially at the expense of higher upside more risky options. Now, one could hold mediocre assets temporarily in order to trade at a later date, we'll see if he's willing to do that in this rebuild setting. Of course, there's a salary floor to consider.

Take advantage of teams desperate to win now. Dump players you don't see as foundation pieces before value drops a lot. With many picks incoming, you can be aggressive here.

Consider you are in Masai or Bobby's position though. It is foolish to think MLSE will sign-off on 3+ years of being in the lottery, particularly after the results of the past 2 years also considered.

Would you still be in favour of a complete rebuild if it meant you would loose your job? It is easy to say lets just fully rebuild and tank for 5 years when all you have invested is your fandom.

[ForeverTFC]

Well, that's about as official as it gets haha.

For those wondering, the "basketball" stuff starts at about 49:45 in, prev 10min is about Mutumbo etc if uninterested.

Yeah.

I hope that's official enough for you as you've repeatedly refused to call this a purposeful rebuild and rather one they fell backwards into.

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

Kinda hilarious that you post this right after Del posts a clip of him after the Tampa season saying the same thing, and yet that was never a rebuild according to him.

I wonder why I wouldn't outright believe the words of someone who talks out of both sides of their mouth all the time.

It's also real easy for him to say AFTER the team is 8-29 (at the time of recording), you know, unless you think it was all part of his master plan for all these injuries.

What's more hilarious is you and Del going at the FO for a year for not engaging in a rebuild sooner and are now saying actually, they did do a rebuild, it just failed. So which is it?

Also, pretty clear that he means 2 different things in these clips if you don't go into it with bias.

[TorontoBarneys]

I'm 100% in favour of a total rebuild of the roster. That means not getting attached to mediocre low upside players especially at the expense of higher upside more risky options. Now, one could hold mediocre assets temporarily in order to trade at a later date, we'll see if he's willing to do that in this rebuild setting. Of course, there's a salary floor to consider.

Take advantage of teams desperate to win now. Dump players you don't see as foundation pieces before value drops a lot. With many picks incoming, you can be aggressive here.

Consider you are in Masai or Bobby's position though. It is foolish to think MLSE will sign-off on 3+ years of being in the lottery, particularly after the results of the past 2 years also considered.

Would you still be in favour of a complete rebuild if it meant you would loose you job? It is easy to say lets just fully rebuild and tank for 5 years when all you have invested is your fandom.

Didn't the Leafs suck for the longest time? As long as Raptors are selling tickets I don't think they are going to interfere too much. If we need to suck for 2-3 years then that's what needs to happen.

[deck]

I'm 100% in favour of a total rebuild of the roster. That means not getting attached to mediocre low upside players especially at the expense of higher upside more risky options. Now, one could hold mediocre assets temporarily in order to trade at a later date, we'll see if he's willing to do that in this rebuild setting. Of course, there's a salary floor to consider.

Take advantage of teams desperate to win now. Dump players you don't see as foundation pieces before value drops a lot. With many picks incoming, you can be aggressive here.

Consider you are in Masai or Bobby's position though. It is foolish to think MLSE will sign-off on 3+ years of being in the lottery, particularly after the results of the past 2 years also considered.

Would you still be in favour of a complete rebuild if it meant you would loose you job? It is easy to say lets just fully rebuild and tank for 5 years when all you have invested is your fandom.

Didn't the Leafs suck for the longest time? As long as Raptors are selling tickets I don't think they are going to interfere too much. If we need to suck for 2-3 years then that's what needs to happen.

Yes, the leafs sucked for a long time, and they went through plenty of GMs.

If you go to a game, this is the first season in at least 10 years where there are lots of empty seats in the lower bowl.

[PushDaRock]

I'm 100% in favour of a total rebuild of the roster. That means not getting attached to mediocre low upside players especially at the expense of higher upside more risky options. Now, one could hold mediocre assets temporarily in order to trade at a later date, we'll see if he's willing to do that in this rebuild setting. Of course, there's a salary floor to consider.

Take advantage of teams desperate to win now. Dump players you don't see as foundation pieces before value drops a lot. With many picks incoming, you can be aggressive here.

Consider you are in Masai or Bobby's position though. It is foolish to think MLSE will sign-off on 3+ years of being in the lottery, particularly after the results of the past 2 years also considered.

Would you still be in favour of a complete rebuild if it meant you would loose you job? It is easy to say lets just fully rebuild and tank for 5 years when all you have invested is your fandom.

Not to mention that most of the tankers themselves don't even want to watch the games while the tanking is going on.

[canada_dry]

Well, that's about as official as it gets haha.

For those wondering, the "basketball" stuff starts at about 49:45 in, prev 10min is about Mutumbo etc if uninterested.

Yeah.

I hope that's official enough for you as you've repeatedly refused to call this a purposeful rebuild and rather one they fell backwards into.

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

Kinda hilarious that you post this right after Del posts a clip of him after the Tampa season saying the same thing, and yet that was never a rebuild according to him.

I wonder why I wouldn't outright believe the words of someone who talks out of both sides of their mouth all the time.

It's also real easy for him to say AFTER the team is 8-29 (at the time of recording), you know, unless you think it was all part of his master plan for all these injuries.

...so no... Not officially enough for you.

Come on man

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

[Merit]

They talked about Masai being a top 2 GM in the NBA, and a future candidate for NBA Commissioner.

It almost brought a tear to my eyes, because we know he is eventually destined for greater glory.

We are so lucky.

The class he displayed here was incredible. He took the difficult questions with grace and you can tell how much Africa means to him. Additionally, he represents so much to me as a younger person of colour and he also represents the city of Toronto incredibly well. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - I would vote Masai for Prime Minister in a heartbeat.

[SharoneWright]

They talked about Masai being a top 2 GM in the NBA, and a future candidate for NBA Commissioner.

It almost brought a tear to my eyes, because we know he is eventually destined for greater glory.

We are so lucky.

The class he displayed here was incredible. He took the difficult questions with grace and you can tell how much Africa means to him. Additionally, he represents so much to me as a younger person of colour and he also represents the city of Toronto incredibly well. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - I would vote Masai for Prime Minister in a heartbeat.

Sure, classy. I agree. He can kibitz with Ernie/Chuck/the NBA upper crust as good as anybody.

But maybe, if he had "(n)ever did a re-build before", he would have known to start 1 year sooner.

And don't forget, he always maintained that the team could sustain excellence..... So,, this "re-build" that he says was inevitable and universal - and that he was late to - was only forced on him due to his own mis-management that put us in a corner. He dined out on that championship and the familiar 2nd tier names for too long. Money was rolling in. His job title improved and he was/is in no danger of getting axed.

If Africa is full of all these amazing 'footers,,,, go get us 3.