[Shams] Masai Ujiri is out as Vice Chairman and President of the Toronto Raptors

[DelAbbot]

HOLY **** IT'S HAPPENING

EDIT: I've been calling for this day for a while but I wanted Bobby gone as well, so it's not a good outcome to me

[Pointgod]

Something worth monitoring - Windhorst had mentioned the biggest NBA free agent may be Sam Presti because nobody has a true sense of his contract status in OKC. Obviously he could just re-up in OKC but wonder if he’d be interested in a platform with much greater resources at its disposal. He’s also originally from the Northeast so wonder if that could be a factor, too.

I would pick up Presti from the airport and get his dry cleaning for a year if we got him. These are exactly the type of big moves we should be looking to do.

lmao why would he come here unless we offer him 50m a year or something ridiculous

Any number of reasons. Could want a new challenge, money, etc. I’ve heard he likes being a big fish in a small pond, but he might welcome the opportunity to move to a bigger pond that doesn’t come with the pressure of markets like LA and New York. The whole point is that we should absolutely be trying to pry him away if we’re a serious organization.

[OakleyDokely]

I actually don't mind change. Sometimes it's needed and it's a part of life.

It's just I have Zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeero confidence in Pelley/Rogers making the right decisions.

[sidsid]

He hasn't been good for a while. Too many here are living in the past.

His biggest fault was trying to make Siakam, Barnes, FVV, OG work?

I’m sorry, but I fail to see how that’s not being good. Those are good players. Then he tanked.

We’re in serious trouble if we think Ed Rogers is going to hire a better GM

The pivot point where the FO turned away from what's best for the org, for hubris, or whatever you wanna call your personal/legacy investment getting in the way of sound decision making (I referenced Colangelo/Bargs in an earlier post), was the Wemby draft/Jak trade.

We can all have varying opinions on what to do post Giannis FA, but the Wemby draft year is an undeniable turning point.

Masai knew the factional issues that poisoned the room. The Fred camp, the Siakam camp, the OG/Barnes camp. Nurse flagrantly doing his own thing over your own development edict so he could cash in.

Your culture/no tanking/Kawhi trade 2.0 plan, the approach you've now built your brand on, has failed. Given the golden opportunity to then pivot to the Wemby draft, trade Fred who's an FA at the deadline from an imploding locker room, even trade Siakam who you did not want to sign (?!?!).

He chose to deny the inevitable, and defying all logic, trades for Jak because he couldn't admit failure.

It cost this team dearly, and for any normal management that doesn't have his cache, it would have been a fireable offense by the end of the next season.

[YogurtProducer]

lol this is so far from the truth its crazy. The jays have literally been mediocre for the past decade and haven't seriously been in contention since Atkins has taken over.

The raptors have continued to draft well, build out there bench and consistently add talent to their roster. The jays being in playoff contention should not be considered a good thing.

Son, I know more about baseball than you. It is considerably harder to compete for relevancy in the MLB than it is in the NBA, particularly in the AL East. Take a look at the Orioles: from star-studded rising dynasty with one of the best front offices in baseball to last place in the AL East this year. How is Alex Anthopolous doing this year, btw?

The current trajectory of the Jays vs. the Raptors isn't even close. The Raptors have zero true star players and no hope of doing anything in the near future as a result. Its been nothing but rearranging deck-chairs which is the worst position you can be in in the NBA. Their moves over the past ~3 seasons have been absurdly flawed.

You are taking a victory lap on Anthopolous in the first below .500 season he has had since he got there?

[Dennis 37]

The Miami heat are winners because of consistency. Since 1995 when Pat Riley became president they have a .570 winning percentage. You put up with a few down years when in the long run you are a success. Uncertainty, which we will have under a new president, is not what we need now.

Even with the last few years of losing, Masai's winning percentage is still .565, not far off Pat Riley's and Riley is paid $11 million.

[Raps Next GM]

This doesn’t have to be the doom and gloom scenario like so many posters here are losing their minds. Masai has lost some zip on his fast ball over the years and executives comes and go. This was inevitable. It’s an opportunity to get in someone with a new perspective and ideas. The names dropped during the President search will tell us whether Ed Rogers wants a serious basketball people with a strong front office track record or if he’s going to hire some dipshits.

But please let’s stop acting like someone who found an attractive partner and doesn’t think they can get any better. The Raptors are a world class basketball operation (thanks to Masai) and we’re in a world class city in a country that isn’t some raging dumpster fire like our neighbours to the South.

Hopefully we get a front office that’s more aligned with what works in the modern NBA and understands how to operate in the new CBA era. One thing I’ve learned from leadership is to hire good people and then get the **** out of their way. Let’s see if Rogers can do the same.

Amen, brother.

I like Masai more as the face of the franchise than I do as the actual decision maker. Post title, there are a lot of strikes on his resume. Without him we lose a lot of credibility (depending on who replaces him), but this organization is not going to fold or move to a US city, etc.

[Pointgod]

This doesn’t have to be the doom and gloom scenario like so many posters here are losing their minds. Masai has lost some zip on his fast ball over the years and executives comes and go. This was inevitable. It’s an opportunity to get in someone with a new perspective and ideas. The names dropped during the President search will tell us whether Ed Rogers wants a serious basketball people with a strong front office track record or if he’s going to hire some dipshits.

But please let’s stop acting like someone who found an attractive partner and doesn’t think they can get any better. The Raptors are a world class basketball operation (thanks to Masai) and we’re in a world class city in a country that isn’t some raging dumpster fire like our neighbours to the South.

Hopefully we get a front office that’s more aligned with what works in the modern NBA and understands how to operate in the new CBA era. One thing I’ve learned from leadership is to hire good people and then get the **** out of their way. Let’s see if Rogers can do the same.

Except they are not going to replace him. They are going with no Presidents

There’s reports that they’re using an executive search firm to find a new President….

[Mattatron]

In '20 they had the second best record in the NBA. Kinda hard to tear down that team especially since our core was stepping into more prominent roles after Kawhi departed. Easy to say stuff like this in hindsight.

IM NOT TALKING ABOUT 2020. IM TALKING ABOUT 2021. STOP TWISTING WORDS.

No one knew Barnes would be this good so no one was looking to build around Barnes. Go look at draft day thread most of the people here had meltdowns cause we passed on Suggs.

Anyways my point still stands. You gotta give FVV, OG and PS some chances considering the success they had early on (Chip in '19, great season '20). It didn't work out unfortunately.

What are your thoughts about our current core group? They aren't that young and are perennial losers... Should we start a rebuild now? They haven't even show anything close to the success we had with old core at the same stage of their careers.

I don't give Siakam, OG and FVV any chances in 2021. Because in 2019 and 2020 they were kinda... hanger ons..Lowry was always the motor and made everyone better around him + Gasol and Ibaka as Vets. Fred was never a good leader, siakam was invisible during the 2020 playoffs, and og played no role in 2019.

What core ? We don't have a effn core right now. 1 or 2 interesting pieces....

[YogurtProducer]

The Miami heat are winners because of consistency. Since 1995 when Pat Riley became president they have a .570 winning percentage. You put up with a few down years when in the long run you are a success. Uncertainty, which we will have under a new president, is not what we need now.

Even with the last few years of losing, Masai's winning percentage is still .565, not far off Pat Riley's and Riley is paid $11 million.

This.

Miami didn't fire Riley when they had a few down years because you trust the entire body of work.

[kalel123]

The player centric culture will change a lot, but we needed better decision makers. Masai and Bobby over the years have been stubborn in their philosophy and slow to make trades at the right time, and poor at asset acquisition.

More analysts than Bill Simmons have questioned the direction of the team.

Maybe now we can move forward and not chase after Giannis and put together a modern team. I assume Bobby is next to go if they bring in a new executive. Let's revamp the whole FO over the next year. Truly rebuild this team.

But we supposedly extended Webster. So we have all the same decision makers except Ujiri. And if we bring in a new president, wouldn't that guy want someone of his own? This move just doesn't make sense. I think they just wanted Ujiri out.

[Dennis 37]

HOLY **** IT'S HAPPENING

Ross Perot or Ron Paul?

[YogurtProducer]

IM NOT TALKING ABOUT 2020. IM TALKING ABOUT 2021. STOP TWISTING WORDS.

No one knew Barnes would be this good so no one was looking to build around Barnes. Go look at draft day thread most of the people here had meltdowns cause we passed on Suggs.

Anyways my point still stands. You gotta give FVV, OG and PS some chances considering the success they had early on (Chip in '19, great season '20). It didn't work out unfortunately.

What are your thoughts about our current core group? They aren't that young and are perennial losers... Should we start a rebuild now? They haven't even show anything close to the success we had with old core at the same stage of their careers.

I don't give Siakam, OG and FVV any chances in 2021. Because in 2019 and 2020 they were kinda... hanger ons..Lowry was always the motor and made everyone better around him + Gasol and Ibaka as Vets. Fred was never a good leader, siakam was invisible during the 2020 playoffs, and og played no role in 2019.

What core ? We don't have a effn core right now. 1 or 2 interesting pieces....

Siakam OG and FVV with no bench and a rookie Barnes won 48 games. It was not crazy to think there was some growth there to level up a bit.

They also won 60 **** games in 2020 with no Kawhi as 3 of the most important pieces + Lowry.

The team fell apart due to no bench. No fault to them really. And yes, that was a stain on Masai a bit to not get some bench help.

[PushDaRock]

I would pick up Presti from the airport and get his dry cleaning for a year if we got him. These are exactly the type of big moves we should be looking to do.

lmao why would he come here unless we offer him 50m a year or something ridiculous

Any number of reasons. Could want a new challenge, money, etc. I’ve heard he likes being a big fish in a small pond, but he might welcome the opportunity to move to a bigger pond that doesn’t come with the pressure of markets like LA and New York. The whole point is that we should absolutely be trying to pry him away if we’re a serious organization.

Even if by some miracle you convince him.

Unless he's a FA, zero chance OKC let's him leave for no compensation. lol you're probably talking 2-3 FRP's to get them to agree to let him go.

[HiMyNameIsTrey]

One of the saddest days in Raptors history

[DelAbbot]

Just as I cracked his draft code lol

edit: Nevermind, looks like these prospects have been Masai AND Bobby types all along.

Read on Twitter

Bobby and Dan Tolzman have also both been here since 2013 anyways. Bobby was hired as VP of Basketball Management and Strategy, and Dan was hired as the director of scouting.

Assuming Bobby is running the show now, we're back, its just going to be called the Bobby-type FRP list going forward.

The fact that Bobby ran the draft and you cracked his selection criteria makes complete sense.

Bobby is a tool

[HumbleRen]

I’m kinda shocked people are surprised he got let go?

We’ve been an absolute mess of a franchise over the last 5 years. Complete failure on management’s behalf with their assets and lack of progressive moves.

He was never going to get a new contract based off his body of work in that stretch.

[OakleyDokely]

The Miami heat are winners because of consistency. Since 1995 when Pat Riley became president they have a .570 winning percentage. You put up with a few down years when in the long run you are a success. Uncertainty, which we will have under a new president, is not what we need now.

Even with the last few years of losing, Masai's winning percentage is still .565, not far off Pat Riley's and Riley is paid $11 million.

This.

Miami didn't fire Riley when they had a few down years because you trust the entire body of work.

OKC and SA also had long rough patches and stuck with their guys.

[djsunyc]

The Miami heat are winners because of consistency. Since 1995 when Pat Riley became president they have a .570 winning percentage. You put up with a few down years when in the long run you are a success. Uncertainty, which we will have under a new president, is not what we need now.

Even with the last few years of losing, Masai's winning percentage is still .565, not far off Pat Riley's and Riley is paid $11 million.

This.

Miami didn't fire Riley when they had a few down years because you trust the entire body of work.

riley has an ownership stake so it's a little different

[Madvillainy2004]

I actually don't mind change. Sometimes it needed and it's a part of life.

It's just I have Zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeero confidence in Pelley/Rogers making the right decisions.

Lmao yeah this move for me is more about what it means as far as how the Raptors are run going forward. Ed/Polley now have the keys and I can't help but me cynical about it.