Shams: Bobby Promoted to "Final Decision Maker of Basketball (still GM) " update pg. 27

[SpezNc]

Watch on YouTube

God help me if we hire this dude. Im not even a bulls fan and watching that frustrated me

I don’t know much about him but I have much more confidence hearing Bobby Webster than him.

But when he said he don’t want to answer questions about contract , I am thinking he could become a fan favourite of Keith Pelley.

Looks like Ed Rogers and Keith Pelley were jealous of the popularity of Masai. Don’t chance this guy become popular IMO.

[anotherhomer]

Watch on YouTube

God help me if we hire this dude. Im not even a bulls fan and watching that frustrated me

I don’t know much about him but I have much more confidence hearing Bobby Webster than him.

But when he said he don’t want to answer questions about contract , I am thinking he could become a fan favourite of Keith Pelley.

Looks like Ed Rogers and Keith Pelley were jealous of the popularity of Masai. Don’t chance this guy become popular IMO.

i doubt it be marc, but it be a nightmare if that was the case

[sidsid]

my guess is that higher ups see win totals, lack of playoffs and payroll and asked "then why are we paying so much for the team".

I feel this is an underrated aspect of the retool approach with bean counter ownerships. You're spending all the way up to the tax line every year, yet you've ended up tanking 3 of those years since the Giannis FA year anyway.

If you actually just did a rebuild tank+cap space approach (like the Nets this year selling off their space for picks), you're at least running on the cheap under the cap for a few of those years at the start and setting realistic expectations.

Actually I think it's the complete opposite mandate from Rogers. They gave the greenlight to spend up to the tax, but no more. They will pay for regular gas, but not premium 94.
Look at the way they've run the Jays and Leafs.
They want to make the playoffs. Championships are a bonus. As a media brand they lose out a LOT if the sports teams suck and are not competitive at all. But the premium they need to pay to win a championship is not worth the extra 1-2 weeks of TV viewership/advertising, given the $$$ bill the 2nd apron/luxury tax will command. People are already cutting cable TV by the millions, and live sports is literally the #1 thing that keeps people buying these packages.
To be perfectly clear, I believe Rogers WANTS a playoff team, but without going (deep) into luxury tax, with an outside shot at a championship being a secondary or tertiary objective.
Masai clearly had championship or bust mentality - but I do believe he was somewhat hamstrung by ownership.

It could be a set mandate by ownership. But with Masai's clout, he could very likely have sold them on a longer term approach with the carrot being some salary savings upfront. That buys you time.

The more important part is expectation setting. By year 5 in a rebuild your goal is being on the upswing with either some early success in the playoffs a year or 2 earlier, or with an asset bank ready for trades to get you there. In year 5 of the retool you're on your second try at if after an initial failure and you likely can't afford a second.

[Scase]

Aside from rogers/masai feud, maybe they were not convinced this "rebuild" or "reset" wasn't to their liking and felt it was rushed

my guess is that higher ups see win totals, lack of playoffs and payroll and asked "then why are we paying so much for the team".

I feel this is an underrated aspect of the retool approach with bean counter ownerships. You're spending all the way up to the tax line every year, yet you've ended up tanking 3 of those years since the Giannis FA year anyway.

If you actually just did a rebuild tank+cap space approach (like the Nets this year selling off their space for picks), you're at least running on the cheap under the cap for a few of those years at the start and setting realistic expectations.

They want treadmill teams, that is the penultimate goal for a business like MLSE. Just enough money spent, to make extra money with little risk.

But I do believe in general Masai was booted due to Eds personal issues, his cost and the performance that money resulted in.

[Son Goku 25]

Has there been any comments or video of guys like Bobby, Devlin, Jack Armstrong etc talking about the firing of Masai? Too early I guess and the script hasn't been passed down I'm assuming?

[ratul]

This is the guy they should have tossed. Masai was the goat

[TGM]

The decision whether Bobby is a legitimate candidate all comes down to Pelley.

Bobby cannot come across as running his own fifedom on the basketball side. Pelley needs to feel that Bobby is loyal to him and basically kiss the ring. If that is the case Bobby has a chance. But more likely then not I feel when Pelley took the job, Masai was toast and like typical corporations Pelley has his own generals he will appoint. What you can be sure of is the next President will be white and has some affiliation to Pelley or Roger’s. Business owners like Roger’s who are not active and passionate about the sport will operate it like a business. They will value loyalty and people who say what they want to hear more so then appoint the appropriate and most capable person.

[6ixpessant]

The decision whether Bobby is a legitimate candidate all comes down to Pelley.

Bobby cannot come across as running his own fifedom on the basketball side. Pelley needs to feel that Bobby is loyal to him and basically kiss the ring. If that is the case Bobby has a chance. But more likely then not I feel when Pelley took the job, Masai was toast and like typical corporations Pelley has his own generals he will appoint. What you can be sure of is the next President will be white and has some affiliation to Pelley or Roger’s. Business owners like Roger’s who are not active and passionate about the sport will operate it like a business. They will value loyalty and people who say what they want to hear more so then appoint the appropriate and most capable person.

Dude, that's not how the Toronto Raptors or MLSE do business. Take off the tinfoil.....

[TGM]

The decision whether Bobby is a legitimate candidate all comes down to Pelley.

Bobby cannot come across as running his own fifedom on the basketball side. Pelley needs to feel that Bobby is loyal to him and basically kiss the ring. If that is the case Bobby has a chance. But more likely then not I feel when Pelley took the job, Masai was toast and like typical corporations Pelley has his own generals he will appoint. What you can be sure of is the next President will be white and has some affiliation to Pelley or Roger’s. Business owners like Roger’s who are not active and passionate about the sport will operate it like a business. They will value loyalty and people who say what they want to hear more so then appoint the appropriate and most capable person.

Dude, that's not how the Toronto Raptors or MLSE do business. Take off the tinfoil.....

Thats how Roger's does business.

Give it a few months and you'll see the outcome.

[Jerry Lucas]

Some of you might be underestimating how good Bobby's chances are of getting promoted.

Try to think about this scenario from petty Ed Rogers' POV. If they promote Bobby to POBO and Dan to GM and it goes well, Ed will be able to boast that he didn't even need Masai at 15M to continue executing his same plan through his former underlings Bobby and Dan at a cheaper cost.

[MEDIC]

I think it would be smart to promote from within. It just makes sense at this time. They have some momentum in building the next playoff squad.

[ontnut]

Yeah but our next hire for president will likely be a GM from another team. CAA headed the hawks president search and they hired the pelicans GM

That's some anecdotal evidence. Hawks majority owner is an equity firm guy (Tony Ressler), then a bunch of random investors with tiny stakes.

Tony Ressler (est. 47%-51%); Grant Hill, Steven Price, Rick Schnall, Sara Blakely, Jesse Itzler, Ted Virtue, Bob Goodman; Michael Gearon, Jr., Rutherford Seydel, Beaut Turner (1% combined)[3] Blue Owl Capital (6%)[4]

MLSE is 75% Rogers, and 25% Larry T. It's a bit different. As a private equity owner, they might have different priorities than a publically traded company.

Just curious, who do you expect us to a hire? A president from another team? An agent? Pelley said verbatim he wants someone with an in depth background in basketball operations. Teams usually dont give permission for execs to leave for lateral moves so if we hire someone it'll most likely be someone who's a GM right now and *not* a president

Honestly, I have no clue who we'd hire. I don't think it'll be another team's guy or an agent, personally. I mentioned I think we might go from outside the immediate NBA fraternity of GM's and POBOs for a guy like Tim Leiweke who came from sports management/ownership (AEG owned the LA Galaxy, LA Kings and part of the Lakers).

[6ixpessant]

The decision whether Bobby is a legitimate candidate all comes down to Pelley.

Bobby cannot come across as running his own fifedom on the basketball side. Pelley needs to feel that Bobby is loyal to him and basically kiss the ring. If that is the case Bobby has a chance. But more likely then not I feel when Pelley took the job, Masai was toast and like typical corporations Pelley has his own generals he will appoint. What you can be sure of is the next President will be white and has some affiliation to Pelley or Roger’s. Business owners like Roger’s who are not active and passionate about the sport will operate it like a business. They will value loyalty and people who say what they want to hear more so then appoint the appropriate and most capable person.

Dude, that's not how the Toronto Raptors or MLSE do business. Take off the tinfoil.....

Thats how Roger's does business.

Give it a few months and you'll see the outcome.

You didn't even know who Pelley was until that press conference. He's a guy with expertise in television/communications and the sports business. He's not going to be involved with the operations of each sports team.

I'm sorry Rogers screwed up your phone bill, but they have been involved with MLSE for more than a decade and have spent handily on the Blue Jays for 25 years, and have been pretty hands-off other than approving $500mil contracts and stadium renovations.

You have decades of case studies on how Rogers operates its sports teams.

This whole thing against Ed Rogers on this board is wild. He's an a-hole, I get it, but he is not a meddling owner. That's not how the companies are structured. Masai is an a-hole too by some accounts.

Tinfoil.....

[SpezNc]

The decision whether Bobby is a legitimate candidate all comes down to Pelley.

Bobby cannot come across as running his own fifedom on the basketball side. Pelley needs to feel that Bobby is loyal to him and basically kiss the ring. If that is the case Bobby has a chance. But more likely then not I feel when Pelley took the job, Masai was toast and like typical corporations Pelley has his own generals he will appoint. What you can be sure of is the next President will be white and has some affiliation to Pelley or Roger’s. Business owners like Roger’s who are not active and passionate about the sport will operate it like a business. They will value loyalty and people who say what they want to hear more so then appoint the appropriate and most capable person.

Dude, that's not how the Toronto Raptors or MLSE do business. Take off the tinfoil.....

Thats how Roger's does business.

Give it a few months and you'll see the outcome.

I would not be surprised.

The fact that MLSE only put “Thank You” after Masai being fired is an indication that the Raptors could become a cold organization and treat his players as numbers.

As long as the team is making the play-in (like the Bulls) he is likely to be happy.

I think that Bobby Webster has strong chance to be promoted but he probably needs to show in the next few months that he can say “ yes Keith , yes Ed, yes chief”.

I have absolutely zero faith in this ownership.

None !

[SurgeIblocka]

Need to hire Giannis’s agent

[ForeverTFC]

Dude, that's not how the Toronto Raptors or MLSE do business. Take off the tinfoil.....

Thats how Roger's does business.

Give it a few months and you'll see the outcome.

You didn't even know who Pelley was until that press conference. He's a guy with expertise in television/communications and the sports business. He's not going to be involved with the operations of each sports team.

I'm sorry Rogers screwed up your phone bill, but they have been involved with MLSE for more than a decade and have spent handily on the Blue Jays for 25 years, and have been pretty hands-off other than approving $500mil contracts and stadium renovations.

You have decades of case studies on how Rogers operates its sports teams.

This whole thing against Ed Rogers on this board is wild. He's an a-hole, I get it, but he is not a meddling owner. That's not how the companies are structured. Masai is an a-hole too by some accounts.

Tinfoil.....

How do you speak so confidently on things you don't know?

What we do know:
1. MLSE as we knew it was run by Larry T. Larry liked to lead by consensus, however was more in tune with Bell than with Rogers. And we have a verified account of him going against Ed Rogers and Ed Rogers running to Adam Silver about it, only for Silver to take Larry's side.
2. This is no longer the same MLSE that we knew and Rogers is now running the show
3. Pelley is a Rogers executive with a mixed public record: folks are divided on him as CEO of the DP World Tour and he negotiated the disastrous NHL TV contract
4. Edward Rogers has prioritized yes men and loyalists over rising stars throughout his career as he's fought for control of Rogers
5. Edward Rogers did not like Masai

These are the facts.

[ATLTimekeeper]

1) Iirc, I think Ed ran to Silver because of the ownership stake given to Masai in the negotiations. I think that was unique to the NBA at the time. I'm willing to stand corrected on that one, though.
2) Larry had far more influence on MLSE prior to the Bell/Rogers takeover, and they were dismal across the board. He was flying around trying to save Colangelo's job because he was afraid Jerry Colangelo would blacklist our players from Team USA. He had a track record of forge personal relationships and, frankly, meddle. He called Masai his son, which to me is definitely unprofessional. Larry, by almost all accounts, is a better human being than Ed Rogers. I'm leery to believe would be lost without him.
3) If Larry did favour Bell most of the time (not sure if that is true or not), why are we confident Bell was in the right. The only time I remember them getting involved was when Casey went ahead of Colangelo to George Cope to try and get him fired and take control of the team. And then again he went to Cope to try and save his job, which temporarily challenged Masai's authority of the team at the time. We don't know if that changed after Cope left, but I've never heard good to great things about Bell's management culture. The one thing we can say is that they have been more supportive of the Raptors and basketball over the years at TSN. They also sold. So... what are we going to do?
4) I'm skeptical of partial pictures being painted with business rivals. I had a connection to the Pension Plan and knew they were being scapegoated unfairly by people on the board to dodge responsibility. Doug Smith going off on Ed Rogers, I mean maybe it's all true. I believe it is. He also was super negative about Masai taking over for Colangelo and was calling for Wayne Embry to run the team. I think he's just upset that he has to do more work to find sources again.

[TravisScott55]

Masai didn’t want to extend Pascal but Bobby did?

I always knew Masai was the problem.

extending Pascal would have been a stupid move. The correct move was trading him the year before.

[ForeverTFC]

Masai didn’t want to extend Pascal but Bobby did?

I always knew Masai was the problem.

extending Pascal would have been a stupid move. The correct move was trading him the year before.

I was with Bobby on this one...

[WuTang_CMB]

wrote an email to pelley