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

[Tripod]

They let Masai stay on until after the draft even when he had admitted the decision to part ways was made earlier. Ownership was definitely willing to have some type of lame duck exec during an important decision making period.

If it was completely a money decision to let Masai go why not let him stay on as a lame duck? If it was just money related doesn’t that imply they still believed in his ability but just didn’t want to pay? There had to be some small factor of performance related issues or else why throw away $15m this year?

I read somewhere that Rogers was banking on Masai getting hired somewhere right away, maybe with the Hawks, to offset his remaining salary.

Masai is too smart for that. He'll collect every dollar from the POS Rogers, before he inks a new deal with another team.

I said before, he would be perfect for the next expansion team.

Gives that team instant credibility and name recognition.

[WuTang_CMB]

The organization talked to the obvious and well-reported. Sources say the Detroit Pistons’ Dwane Casey and the Indiana Pacers’ Kevin Pritchard were told of the final decision minutes before someone leaked the Webster news to ESPN. Other sources say a handful of former general managers and a couple of player agents had thrown their names in the hopper.

dear god

[wco81]

Whenever just the top guy gets laid off like this, safe to assume Masai, specifically, messed up.

He became stubborn and too forceful with players in negotiations after the Kawhi departure. Masai was bitter IMO.

- Daring Fred to walk. Not believing he could get a good FA offer.
- Freezing out Siakim and giving him time to orchestrate trade to Indiana.
- Same with OG. Essentially gave him and his agent 2 years to lineup the Knicks.

Og was available for shadeon sharpe and Josh hart sadly

Should had given pascal 4 yr/185M

Fred should had been kept

Should had sold high on barnes

If we wanna be a mediocre treadmill team then yes we should have kept Siakam, Fred and traded Barnes.

Raptors avoided giving max extensions to Siakam, OG and a contract over $25 million a year to FVV.

Yet for 2025-26 season, they're over the 1st apron at $197 million.

The big extensions to Barnes and IQ haven't prevented the team from losing more games since Siakam, FVV and OG. Raptors were 41-41 in 2022-23.

So winning only 30 games is good for draft lottery but it's a very expensive roster relative to results.

This season they may have a chance to get into the top 8 since there have been key injuries in the EC

Now do we assume that Masai drove most of these moves the last 3-4 years? He had the final say but do we know for a fact if Webster and others were completely on board or maybe even pushed for some of the moves and Masai approved it?

[PhilBlackson]

My 2c...it was the right thing to do overall.

Besides maaaaybe Pritchard (and keep in mind most of Pacers' recent success is under Chad Buchannan), I really wasn't that intrigued by the names they were interviewing and in fact I'd go as far as saying it was actually pretty damn concerning to me the poor quality of names that were being considered. It really felt like there was a chance to fall back into the Dark Ages of Raptors ball lol

Not to mention I think it would've f'd up any "mojo" within the franchise as of course if someone else was brought in, the existing FO would be walking on eggshells and likewise may make some poor decisions because of the pressure to stay on because we know how new leadership loves to do some house cleaning. And that imo could've really rotted the whole thing from the inside out.

Bobby staying on gives a sense of continuity that & who knows how good/bad Bobby may be?!

BUT while Kawhi is ironically seen as the "Crown Jewel" of Masai's legacy....every story reported stresses that it was actually BOBBY who spearheaded that & was really THE reason the deal got done. The biggest & most successful move in Raptors' history has to count for something lol. Not to mention Masai literally took ownership for the fact that he "possibly" held on to Pascal, OG, Fred etc too long because he was emotionally tied to them, who knows if Bobby might've been more pragmatic about it?! The tough thing is we obviously don't know truly what level of authority/autonomy Bobby was given the past several years, so unless stories like the Kawhi one leak, it's hard to know who's responsible for what?!

I just personally get the sense Bobby is a VERY smart guy, he doesn't strike me as an overly sentimental guy but pragmatic (we'll see if that's true). It won't be easy for him to follow a great true leader like Masai who I think might be more personable & sentimental in order to connect with the fanbase, staff and players. But I'm hoping Bobby can be more of guy like Myers that is just really sharp and knows how to operate and that by him being a young guy himself that the players will feel a sense of connectivity to him in that way. Anyways I still don't expect a long runway, they probably give Bobby 2-3 years to see if things continue to incline (or vice versa) then either cut bait or upgrade to official President but that's my blab about it.

[OAKLEY_2]

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

Kudos. Quite obvious really but they had this profile invented only to predictably fizzle out. Bobby's happy. They need that. I guess Super Scout Dan Tolzman is right hand man? Masai is building stadiums like Liewicke...(was) and joining the Tempo team.

The next test for Bobby is to see what he does with Agbaji, Barrett and IQ. Whoever improves should stay and whoever stalls should go. Shed-Elijah could really change the point guard dynamic.

[bboyskinnylegs]

outside of maybe Pritchard, all of the other reported candidates would have been disaster outcomes, so at least we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot any worse than we already have. I wonder how much CAA got paid for this.

[Mikistan]

Predictable

[Mikistan]

The dog and pony show continues

[DreamTeam09]

Og was available for shadeon sharpe and Josh hart sadly

Should had given pascal 4 yr/185M

Fred should had been kept

Should had sold high on barnes

If we wanna be a mediocre treadmill team then yes we should have kept Siakam, Fred and traded Barnes.

Raptors avoided giving max extensions to Siakam, OG and a contract over $25 million a year to FVV.

Yet for 2025-26 season, they're over the 1st apron at $197 million.

The big extensions to Barnes and IQ haven't prevented the team from losing more games since Siakam, FVV and OG. Raptors were 41-41 in 2022-23.

So winning only 30 games is good for draft lottery but it's a very expensive roster relative to results.

This season they may have a chance to get into the top 8 since there have been key injuries in the EC

Now do we assume that Masai drove most of these moves the last 3-4 years? He had the final say but do we know for a fact if Webster and others were completely on board or maybe even pushed for some of the moves and Masai approved it?

We are not over the 1st apron - point blank period

Wherever you got that from is mistaken.
Unlikely incentives do count towards the apron, but not the luxury tax, and even with the unlikely incentives becoming fruitful, we still wouldn't be a 1st apron team

[DreamTeam09]

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

Kudos. Quite obvious really but they had this profile invented only to predictably fizzle out. Bobby's happy. They need that. I guess Super Scout Dan Tolzman is right hand man? Masai is building stadiums like Liewicke...(was) and joining the Tempo team.

The next test for Bobby is to see what he does with Agbaji, Barrett and IQ. Whoever improves should stay and whoever stalls should go. Shed-Elijah could really change the point guard dynamic.

No, no they could not. Both could make great leaps & bounds & Quickly could regress & both wouldn't change the PG dynamic. S/o to Shead & Martin tho for real

[___Rand___]

I thought this was going to be the move anyways. They paid lip service to hiring a new president but all Ed Rogers was interested in was saving pennies.

[JB7]

I read somewhere that Rogers was banking on Masai getting hired somewhere right away, maybe with the Hawks, to offset his remaining salary.

Masai is too smart for that. He'll collect every dollar from the POS Rogers, before he inks a new deal with another team.

I said before, he would be perfect for the next expansion team.

Gives that team instant credibility and name recognition.

I always thought the Lakers will hire him, once Pelinka’s contract expires after this season.

New owners are looking for one of the top executives to lead that team.

[ForeverTFC]

Masai is too smart for that. He'll collect every dollar from the POS Rogers, before he inks a new deal with another team.

I said before, he would be perfect for the next expansion team.

Gives that team instant credibility and name recognition.

I always thought the Lakers will hire him, once Pelinka’s contract expires after this season.

New owners are looking for one of the top executives to lead that team.

I also thought it would be the Lakers too, especially as it would fit the trend of what they did with the Dodgers. But the Buss' extended Pelinka and promoted him to POBO before selling their stake. Can still happen but we'll see.

If NBA Europe is a thing, I could also see Masai running that for the NBA.

[Pointgod]

The organization talked to the obvious and well-reported. Sources say the Detroit Pistons’ Dwane Casey and the Indiana Pacers’ Kevin Pritchard were told of the final decision minutes before someone leaked the Webster news to ESPN. Other sources say a handful of former general managers and a couple of player agents had thrown their names in the hopper.

dear god

Whoah Pritchard would have been a great replacement to Masai.

[Badonkadonk]

The dog and pony show continues

You mean the one on RGM right?

[Tripod]

If people remember, Masai took blame 2 years ago but also said he gave people a bit more rope and that he was unsure if that was the right move or not. I believe it was after the trade deadline after moving OG and Siakam beforehand.

And say what you want, but the moves since then "seemed" more like Masai type moves vs the moves made after 2020 season to that presser.

Obviously that rope would have been to Bobby so that is a worry. But at the same time, for continuing the newest path to rebound next season, Bobby having a chance to prove himself for a few years is the right choice. WAY better than the other options on the table.

Now it's on him. The team is set to take a jump up the standings as is. What can he do to help make that jump bigger....we shall see.

[Boogie!]

bobby's been the gm for a while and yes the kawhi move was entirely based on his relationship with the spurs gm or personnel or whoever it was. bobby did an interview with will and alex wong where he stressed the importance of forming your own relationships with young up and comers vs just trying to appease all of the old timers above you. everyone praises masai for the good moves, but blames bobby for the bad ones... i never understood this narrative that kept going on that masai was still making all the moves. it's like people have never worked for a corporation before. once you're promoted to the top like masai was, you're no longer doing all the heavy lifting. for some reason people still talked about masai like he was the gm.

[CPT]

This news is… whatever. I agree with everyone saying it was a cost-cutting move. However, my position was that Masai deserved to be fired on performance, but shouldn’t have been due to reputation and a lack of confidence in MLSE to find a better replacement. By keeping Bobby, it’s kind of the worst of both worlds. All of the mismanagement, none of the stability. But if people want to give him a chance to prove himself, that’s fine I guess.

That said, this is not “the best” they could do. The best they could do is find the next Sam Presti or whoever.

It’s not our job to know who that is, it’s theirs.

[Raps in 4]

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YES

WHERE ARE ALL THE CASEY DOOM POSTERS AT WHO WERE COMING AT ME IN THIS THREAD??

We all owe Ed Rogers an apology. The greatest owner in pro sports.

[Raps in 4]

The organization talked to the obvious and well-reported. Sources say the Detroit Pistons’ Dwane Casey and the Indiana Pacers’ Kevin Pritchard were told of the final decision minutes before someone leaked the Webster news to ESPN. Other sources say a handful of former general managers and a couple of player agents had thrown their names in the hopper.

dear god

Whoah Pritchard would have been a great replacement to Masai.

Pritchard is easily a top-3 GM in the league. That would have been a steal.