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

[Randle McMurphy]

I'm still super down about this news.

I'm probably one of the more optimistic posters on this forum and always try to spread positivity, but it's hard to be positive right now.

This was a very bad decision by MLSE. One that'll likely hurt this team for years to come. I hope I'm wrong but I feel like I won't be...

I hope Bobby learned a ton from Masai over the years and the mentee turns into the mentor.

Bobby and Dan have been with Masai for 13 years. I trust that they've learned from him and will execute well.

However, part of what made Masai great was his cachet around the league and the respect many had for him. I'm not sure we'll ever have that again in this organization, at least not until Rogers is gone.

Maybe Bobby unchained will be our Brad Stevens. Dan's scouting chops are well-known. I'm fine with these two running the show.

My cocnern is that Ed is still conducting a search for a new president. We know how that went with the Jays. He went out and hired the most incompetent retread he could find, and then that guy cleaned house.

That's the way they do business in Cleveland.

[WuTang_CMB]

Not really buying masai / bobby wanted different players. Sounds just like an easy narrative cuz khaman is african. Why would masai stay on till after the draft if they wanted different players. Makes no sense. Masai was all in on CMB even by his comments to pelley

[Randle McMurphy]

Not really buying masai / bobby wanted different players. Sounds just like an easy narrative cuz khaman is african. Why would masai stay on till after the draft if they wanted different players. Makes no sense. Masai was all in on CMB even by his comments to pelley

CMB also is a much better fit for the kind of player this FO has historically targeted.

[Tor_Raps]

I doubt Webster/Tolzman would do Masai dirty by extending with a franchise that did him dirty in any way. I'm sure Masai/Bobby didnt agree on 100% of things like any 2 normal human beings.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Not really buying masai / bobby wanted different players. Sounds just like an easy narrative cuz khaman is african. Why would masai stay on till after the draft if they wanted different players. Makes no sense. Masai was all in on CMB even by his comments to pelley

CMB looks to be the more athletic of the two. He's got crazy long forearms, and giant hands. Very appealing at 6'7".

[WuTang_CMB]

Not really buying masai / bobby wanted different players. Sounds just like an easy narrative cuz khaman is african. Why would masai stay on till after the draft if they wanted different players. Makes no sense. Masai was all in on CMB even by his comments to pelley

CMB looks to be the more athletic of the two. He's got crazy long forearms, and giant hands. Very appealing at 6'7".

Arguably the best defensive prospect in the draft with cooper. CMB also cannot shoot. This is is a typical Masai player. Lol.

[WuTang_CMB]

Not really buying masai / bobby wanted different players. Sounds just like an easy narrative cuz khaman is african. Why would masai stay on till after the draft if they wanted different players. Makes no sense. Masai was all in on CMB even by his comments to pelley

CMB also is a much better fit for the kind of player this FO has historically targeted.

This is a masai prospect through and through.

[Tor_Raps]

Not really buying masai / bobby wanted different players. Sounds just like an easy narrative cuz khaman is african. Why would masai stay on till after the draft if they wanted different players. Makes no sense. Masai was all in on CMB even by his comments to pelley

CMB also is a much better fit for the kind of player this FO has historically targeted.

CMB might be the better player but hes a horrible fit beside Scottie. 2 non shooting SF/PF would require rest of the lineup to be Steph/Klay like in order to work offensively.

Khaman was clearly the better fit. I'll trust this front offices expertise on drafts though. Just hoping they can address the backup C spot via trade/free agency.

[ConSarnit]

I'm still super down about this news.

I'm probably one of the more optimistic posters on this forum and always try to spread positivity, but it's hard to be positive right now.

This was a very bad decision by MLSE. One that'll likely hurt this team for years to come. I hope I'm wrong but I feel like I won't be...

I hope Bobby learned a ton from Masai over the years and the mentee turns into the mentor.

Bobby and Dan have been with Masai for 13 years. I trust that they've learned from him and will execute well.

However, part of what made Masai great was his cachet around the league and the respect many had for him. I'm not sure we'll ever have that again in this organization, at least not until Rogers is gone.

Maybe Bobby unchained will be our Brad Stevens. Dan's scouting chops are well-known. I'm fine with these two running the show.

My cocnern is that Ed is still conducting a search for a new president. We know how that went with the Jays. He went out and hired the most incompetent retread he could find, and then that guy cleaned house.

I’m wondering how many times these situations work out: fire the guy in charge and keep the guys underneath him. I can’t think of a lot times it’s worked out. There are a few indications it might not work out all that great

-KOC reported that MLSE thought Masai wasn’t focused enough on the Raptors and was spending too much time on his African basketball initiatives. If this is true then it means Webster and Tolzman have been running the show the last few years (our worst years in over a decade). Not exactly confidence inspiring to have those guys now running the show

-Webster and Tolzman effectively came up under Masai’s tutelage and you would think share similar team building philosophies, which hasn’t exactly worked out the past few years

-it seems like a key part of Masai being let go was money related. To me, that’s far worse than performance related. If it’s just a money thing that means MLSE might not care so much about recent results and is fine with the status quo, they just don’t want to pay Masai $15m per year

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Not really buying masai / bobby wanted different players. Sounds just like an easy narrative cuz khaman is african. Why would masai stay on till after the draft if they wanted different players. Makes no sense. Masai was all in on CMB even by his comments to pelley

CMB looks to be the more athletic of the two. He's got crazy long forearms, and giant hands. Very appealing at 6'7".

Arguably the best defensive prospect in the draft with cooper. CMB also cannot shoot. This is is a typical Masai player. Lol.

Put him in the block, he'll dominate.

[Randle McMurphy]

Not really buying masai / bobby wanted different players. Sounds just like an easy narrative cuz khaman is african. Why would masai stay on till after the draft if they wanted different players. Makes no sense. Masai was all in on CMB even by his comments to pelley

CMB also is a much better fit for the kind of player this FO has historically targeted.

CMB might be the better player but hes a horrible fit beside Scottie. 2 non shooting SF/PF would require rest of the lineup to be Steph/Klay like in order to work offensively.

Khaman was clearly the better fit. I'll trust this front offices expertise on drafts though. Just hoping they can address the backup C spot via trade/free agency.

I don’t disagree with the roster fit issue but I do like CMB and I do think he’s the type of player we have traditionally gone after.

[ConSarnit]

I think Pelley & co. gave Masai till the end of June to turn this team into a contender by acquiring a big fish.

Hence, all the rumors swirling around about how we were looking to package the #9 pick for significant upgrades. And hence, why we were connected to Durant and Giannis by reputable sources.

Masai could've emptied the farm and traded a boatload of picks to acquire a guy like Durant and run it back for at least one more season.

But he didn't, because he had the team's best interest at heart.

He could've been a selfish moron like Kyle Dubas but he chose to leave gracefully. He left Bobby and Tolzman in a pretty good situation. A young team poised to make the playoffs next season, with control of all of it's picks.

This doesn’t make sense. The Stein report (which you have quoted in this thread) said that the decision to get rid of Masai was made in early June and that Masai knew about it and wanted to stay on until the draft. If the decision was already made in early June then the “give him until the end of June to build a contender” ultimatum makes no sense.

If you believe the Stein report that Masai wanted Maluach then it stands to reason you believe the other reporting in that article to be true as well which invalidates the “contender or bust” theory because the timeline doesn’t make sense.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

You don't waste a year tanking for 9th and keep your job, typically.

[ConSarnit]

CMB also is a much better fit for the kind of player this FO has historically targeted.

CMB might be the better player but hes a horrible fit beside Scottie. 2 non shooting SF/PF would require rest of the lineup to be Steph/Klay like in order to work offensively.

Khaman was clearly the better fit. I'll trust this front offices expertise on drafts though. Just hoping they can address the backup C spot via trade/free agency.

I don’t disagree with the roster fit issue but I do like CMB and I do think he’s the type of player we have traditionally gone after.

CMB fits the profile. Who knows how true the Maluach stuff is.

Here’s my bigger question: the front office clearly had an M.O when they built the title team. Shooting and defense from every position. They had fully embraced the value of a 3+D center (Ibaka, Gasol and even tried with Baynes). Then they move away from the 3+D center strategy and bring in questionable defenders (IQ and RJ). I get that rebuilding the title team is a tall task but why go away from the principles you know work (defense and shooting)? They shipped out the bad defenders and shooters the first time (Demar, JV) because they weren’t good enough but now that’s how they want to build the team? What happened to what seemingly was a solid team building philosophy?

[Tha Cynic]

Pelley said during the conference or whatever it was he did that Masai told him that they got a good one in CMB. There’s no reason to lie about it lol

[Tor_Raps]

CMB might be the better player but hes a horrible fit beside Scottie. 2 non shooting SF/PF would require rest of the lineup to be Steph/Klay like in order to work offensively.

Khaman was clearly the better fit. I'll trust this front offices expertise on drafts though. Just hoping they can address the backup C spot via trade/free agency.

I don’t disagree with the roster fit issue but I do like CMB and I do think he’s the type of player we have traditionally gone after.

CMB fits the profile. Who knows how true the Maluach stuff is.

Here’s my bigger question: the front office clearly had an M.O when they built the title team. Shooting and defense from every position. They had fully embraced the value of a 3+D center (Ibaka, Gasol and even tried with Baynes). Then they move away from the 3+D center strategy and bring in questionable defenders (IQ and RJ). I get that rebuilding the title team is a tall task but why go away from the principles you know work (defense and shooting)? They shipped out the bad defenders and shooters the first time (Demar, JV) because they weren’t good enough but now that’s how they want to build the team? What happened to what seemingly was a solid team building philosophy?

Their stupidity with Vision 6'9 happened. Like you said, they completely went away from everything that made them successful and its why people like me got so frustrated lately.

Front office put themselves in a position where they just didnt have many assets to begin a true rebuild because they had to settle for whatever they could get for OG/Siakam after getting nothing or very little for Lowry/Fred/Norm.

Now what gets me upset with the Masai firing is that I started feeling he was going back to what made him great. I truly believe we were on the right path towards being good again. Gotta hope Bobby can remain there without Masai...

[Randle McMurphy]

CMB might be the better player but hes a horrible fit beside Scottie. 2 non shooting SF/PF would require rest of the lineup to be Steph/Klay like in order to work offensively.

Khaman was clearly the better fit. I'll trust this front offices expertise on drafts though. Just hoping they can address the backup C spot via trade/free agency.

I don’t disagree with the roster fit issue but I do like CMB and I do think he’s the type of player we have traditionally gone after.

CMB fits the profile. Who knows how true the Maluach stuff is.

Here’s my bigger question: the front office clearly had an M.O when they built the title team. Shooting and defense from every position. They had fully embraced the value of a 3+D center (Ibaka, Gasol and even tried with Baynes). Then they move away from the 3+D center strategy and bring in questionable defenders (IQ and RJ). I get that rebuilding the title team is a tall task but why go away from the principles you know work (defense and shooting)? They shipped out the bad defenders and shooters the first time (Demar, JV) because they weren’t good enough but now that’s how they want to build the team? What happened to what seemingly was a solid team building philosophy?

I don’t know and that’s a huge reason why I’ve had a problem with Masai and this team’s direction these past few years.

You really can’t decipher a cohesive plan or team building strategy overall anymore.

[DelAbbot]

Ed is calling his preferred candidate right now:

Holy sht, Bryan Colangelo's resemblance to Mark Shapiro

[DelAbbot]

if bobby stays, then the transition for the fans would be smoother.

it's possible bobby wanted to make different moves along the way only to get talked out of it. if he's ready, then let's give him the keys and see what he can do.

i'm much more comfortable with a guy like him than some new guy who will want to go ham and make a 5 unprotected firsts and 3 swaps trade right away.

I want at least someone part of the original vision to try and see this through.

Trust in Bobby

[basketballto]

One thing I wonder going into the season is the impact of not having Masai around to push to the team to be competitive.

I do think it's an underrated reason why this team basically had one bad season where the team just couldn't get on track (22-23).

Otherwise it was 8 playoff years and 3 tanking seasons. They almost always found a way to push the team to do something impressive.. Masai was big part of that.

Losing his voice may be a much bigger deal than his other roles.

Do you think Masai is entering the locker room or something and motivating the players like Brad Pitt in Moneyball?

He's become like some sort of mythological figure, it seems.

In moneyball Brad Pitt didn't want relationships with his players and rarely goes to the locker room and doesn't watch games live. He doesn't inspire.

Masai had relationships with player.

He is a mythological figure. Someone who brought an nba championship to a city that won't see one again my lifetime. And he did it by doing mythological trade and player that will never be seen again.