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

[Tor_Raps]

Masai had an ownership stake in his contract so the longer you keep him around, the more you have to pay him with the NBA team valuations skyrocketing. That is why Masai was fired even with a year left on his contract.

I was pissed when Masai was let go but no president should have ownership stake, especially one with such pathetic results the past 5 years. Now its going to suck because I truly feel this team will be good next year and wished he was still around for it.

I don't think that's accurate... I know the Wizards were offering him an ownership stake to leave the Raps, but I can't see MLSE ever doing that.

That was the rumor as to why Ed Rogers was totally against the extension and how Masai recieved 65M to 70M when he was fired. He had some sort of clause in there that paid him a percentage of what the teams worth increased during his time.

[Raptors Realtor]

Masai had an ownership stake in his contract so the longer you keep him around, the more you have to pay him with the NBA team valuations skyrocketing. That is why Masai was fired even with a year left on his contract.

I was pissed when Masai was let go but no president should have ownership stake, especially one with such pathetic results the past 5 years. Now its going to suck because I truly feel this team will be good next year and wished he was still around for it.

I don't think that's accurate... I know the Wizards were offering him an ownership stake to leave the Raps, but I can't see MLSE ever doing that.

That was the rumor as to why Ed Rogers was totally against the extension and how Masai recieved 65M to 70M when he was fired. He had some sort of clause in there that paid him a percentage of what the teams worth increased during his time.

Do you have a source you can link? I followed the firing quite extensively and never heard/read anything regarding an ownership stake and/or getting a massive payout when he was fired, and a quick Google search hasn't turned up anything for me.

[Cyrus]

Looks like a cost cutting move, got rid of Masai because he was getting way too much. Extended Bobby But not as a title of "president", but further extension at probably slightly better pay than what GM's get....all the while not paying for a President. Sounds like Edward Rogers retreat hard at work.

[WuTang_CMB]

Why? He’s a major part of the front office that has bungled things the past few years. If they didn’t think Masai was good enough for the job why give it to his protege?

If the reporting is correct that ownership thought Masai was distracted with Giants of Africa then that leaves Bobby as the guy in charge the last few years and the results have not been good. I’m not sure why this hire is confidence building given the past few years. Maybe things change for the better but I’m skeptical.

He's been also 2nd in command during our best years and delivered a chip with an iconic trade that put us over the top. There's no use looking back at the mistakes of not moving off the core earlier but they've gotten back on track since with drafting/developing guys and the team is on the up by the looks of it

We have no idea how much credit Bobby deserves for any of our successes. His background is a CBA expert. Our greatest strength has been drafting and development and that can more easily be traced to Masai or Tolzman.

We can’t say with any type of certainty which cog Bobby had played with this franchise. His know skill sets (CBA, contracts) has been helpful but we have zero idea about anything else.

We don't know but I rather have a guy who was an integral part of the decision making and trained under Masai then some mickey mouse candidates that were considered.

this is a good read on bobby

https://archive.ph/ycaPj

[C Court]

Promoting Bobby was the Raptors best option, so I'm glad its happened and we can move forward.

Now we wait to see if Bobby has the roster/team building skills I think he has or if he's the Raptors' Gord Ash.

[WaltFrazier]

Bobby getting promoted just confirms it was about Masai being too expensive....they still get to keep the foundation that Masai built, the question is how long will it last until the cracks start showing.

I feel there is a bit more than that. I forgot where I saw or heard this but rumors was Masai has been noticeably more absent these last few years; apparently doing more of his other projects. It is possible Masai too was losing interest in running this team and MLSE wanted Masai to focus solely on managing the team and Masai did not want to commit.

I'm sure there's no other team president in the league whose attention and focus was divided like Masai's was.

[Mr Funk]

Hopefully Tolzman will be promoted to GM.

[ArthurVandelay]

viewtopic.php?p=119144000#p119144000

Leafs didn’t bring in a new president. I don’t think raptors will either

Called it June 27, 2025

I don’t have desire to go find my quote, but I said something along the lines they would follow Atlantas lead and announce a search only to hire in house.

By announcing a search they can say, “we already had the best guy possible” when they eventually hire in house.

[ArthurVandelay]

He's basically operating as the President without the title. Unless you're actively involved in business side of the operations, there's little difference. He has the control over team decisions and that's what matters in the end.

Gives the team the option to promote him if he has success and/or another team comes calling.

I’m fine with all this. Earned, not given.

[ArthurVandelay]

The confusion by some posters in this thread can be easily cleared up if you all just accept this:

Masai was let go because they were never going to extend him again at the big bucks plus ownership stake he was getting (aka future cost cutting), but they will never, ever, outright admit this to the fanbase. The reason they will never admit it is simple: it would be even worse PR than just leaving the fans "guessing" (even though it's obvious) forever.

But why fire him a year before his contract expires?... They still have to pay him the $15M for this upcoming season.

Lame ducks doesn’t fly among NBA head coach and executive ranks.

[WaltFrazier]

Why is MLSE so messy? So if I am getting this right, MLSE original goal was to get rid of the Team President role, then decided they will keep that role for the Raptors and went on an exec search, then decided to just give Bobby a small raise and go back to not having a Team President. Pelley and MLSE are not serious people.

Pelley should hold a media conference to introduce Bobby and straighten this confusion out. He's good at that

[ForeverTFC]

I don't think that's accurate... I know the Wizards were offering him an ownership stake to leave the Raps, but I can't see MLSE ever doing that.

That was the rumor as to why Ed Rogers was totally against the extension and how Masai recieved 65M to 70M when he was fired. He had some sort of clause in there that paid him a percentage of what the teams worth increased during his time.

Do you have a source you can link? I followed the firing quite extensively and never heard/read anything regarding an ownership stake and/or getting a massive payout when he was fired, and a quick Google search hasn't turned up anything for me.

This is pretty well known. He didn't get any ownership. He got a % of the franchise valuation increase. He also had a clause that MLSE contributed 7 figures a year to GOA (which he had since he came over from the Nuggets) as well.

With that said, no one knows if his stake in franchise valuation terminated once he was let go or spans the duration of his contract.

[Badonkadonk]

Masai had an ownership stake in his contract so the longer you keep him around, the more you have to pay him with the NBA team valuations skyrocketing. That is why Masai was fired even with a year left on his contract.

I was pissed when Masai was let go but no president should have ownership stake, especially one with such pathetic results the past 5 years. Now its going to suck because I truly feel this team will be good next year and wished he was still around for it.

I don't think that's accurate... I know the Wizards were offering him an ownership stake to leave the Raps, but I can't see MLSE ever doing that.

That was the rumor as to why Ed Rogers was totally against the extension and how Masai recieved 65M to 70M when he was fired. He had some sort of clause in there that paid him a percentage of what the teams worth increased during his time.

That wasn't ownership, that was just a salary (or possibly bonus) that scaled with his quantifiable impact to the team as it increased (according to whatever formula they agreed; you understand the gist).

Rogers just didn't like that he was getting paid so much money. He finally fixed that.

[mihaic]

I hope Bobby gets a nice raise even though he doesn't get the President title. I once got hired by someone who needed my skills and I did everything he asked for and more. When he left the company, I became the head, took his office and did everything he did and more, but only got a small raise, nowhere near what former boss was making just because I was young.

It depends on the salary structure for the company. For example, on a hypothetical structure 1 to 10 levels, the top tier of level 8 overlaps with bottom tier of level 9 to give an example. Then you need to spend time in that level to reach the top tier of that level, it's supposed to reward loyalty.

[Tha Cynic]

Lol

[ash_k]

It was a bit scary for a while.

I never understood the point of "pretending" to look for a new President, after extending everyone. It made no sense other than potentially causing instability throughout the ranks.

I fully expect Bobby to be calling Masai anyway, regularly.

[Potential]

Congrats Bobby the nobby. Now take us back to where we belong. (Championship contention)

[Tha Cynic]

The update in the thread title is wrong. Technically he was not named the team's new President of Basketball Operations, just the team's new head basketball decision maker, and he is still the GM by title.

Keep in mind, Masai himself did not become the team's POBO until 2016 when Jeff Weltman briefly became the GM of the team for 1 season. For Masai's first 3 seasons at the helm, he was not the President of Basketball Operations by title yet, even though he was the head basketball decision maker the whole time.

Incorrect. He was President of Basketball and GM when he was hired by Leiweke in 2013. Bryan was president of "business" and then dipped after a month since he realized he was forced out.

https://youtu.be/KyARpHc7PtQ?list=PLOfGdce15qw_pexSgt5DSGYiTPbkTPhwy&t=234

What a time to be alive this was. Now that’s two great leaders

I was curious how a group of men who know nothing about basketball were going to hire a replacement for the guy who has been the best executive in Toronto sports in decades, and now we see how

[Dalek]

Wow that was an exercise in futility. They were always going to just carry on with Bobby W. This is a rebuilding team that has a lot of ugly contracts right now. Not an ideal situation for any new person coming in. I am sure they heard as much from people they contacted for the role.

If they believed in Bobby they would have made him President, instead he is still GM with more responsibility. It ultimately makes sense because they already extended the whole staff last spring. They might as well ride out the season and see if it leads to a winning year.

[youngRAPZ]

Anyone asking why they would let go of Masai a year early and still have to pay the 15M, the answer is obvious. If the team breaks out this year and somehow ended with a 50-32 record do you know how badly they would get destroyed for penny pinching and not resigning him? By doing it now after a 30 win season saves them the PR disaster of having it spun that Masai ditched them because they are cheap and got hired somewhere else.

Anyone who thinks Masai got fired because of the last 5 seasons not going so well is obviously just biased in their opinion. MLSE(Rogers) is obviously cheap. How do I know this? Because they left everything else in place.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk