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

[Merit]

For Casey to reach this far in the process screams incompetency. Lol. Ed was likely a fan and got his minion pelley to interview him. Eversley another guy who's been useless in the NBA - both of them shouldn't have been interviewed.

Anyways, the right call was made. Give the torch to Bobby and let him ride and see where we are in 12 months. The East is wide open - there's no reason why we can't be in the playoffs next season. This FO has to be forward thinking, ahead of the curve. Can Bobby be that guy? We shall see.

Am I allowed to bring Race and “Canadian Content” into the discussion? Speaking from lived experience in other situations - bring in diverse candidates but choose the one you were always going to choose.

Fortunately in this case Bobby also represents diversity and beyond things he can’t change about himself is competent and hard working.

[Merit]

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.

Because it’s easier to fire someone in the middle of an excellent plan, than after it’s completed and their value is even higher.

[Brinbe]

The more I think about it, I think Bobby was probably always the guy but Rogers probably felt like they needed to justify it with some ghost candidate search which seems in line with a lot of current corpo practices. 'We looked around, did our due dilligance and the best candidate was right there along!'

Not to say Bobby is the wrong guy, I've said that keeping continuity is important and at least he'll have been mentored by Masai, but in MLSE's mind it helps to win support over to your side when you plant the spectre/trial balloon of a Casey out there to freak people out. And I do think Pelley and Co will try to leverage public support wherever they can after a move like letting Masai go. Agree to disagree, whatever.

Anyway, I think the big thing now is that we should hopefully now have a bit more clarity on who's actually responsible for basketball decisions. Things definitely got a lot more muddied with Masai in an elevated role in the last 4/5 years and while the buck stopped with him as the boss, it did shield Bobby from a lot of criticism at the same time. With things so opaque in that front office, we still don't really know whose ideas were leading. A lot of people thought this push to to a position-less strategy was all Masai, but I really don't think we know that for sure. Maybe we'll get the same stuff happening with Tolzman but Bobby will at least get the appropriate level of scrutiny now. It's fully his team now for better or worse.

[Merit]

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

Because it's future cost cutting. The costs they are cutting aren't related to his current contract, it's the next contract he would have gotten if they extended him.

As to why now, they knew they weren't going to be extending him, so why keep him for just 1 more year if you know he's 100% a lame-duck? No owner in pro sports wants a lame-duck executive running their operation. They just would have been delaying the inevitable by 1 year.

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?

Masai is not a perfect person, so obviously there are some areas he could improve upon.

Ultimately it is primarily a money decision. They could have re-upped Masai as well, but chose not to.

Nobody knows whether ownership would’ve been comfortable with a “lame duck” president because they fired Masai. Proof is literally in their choices.

As for the draft, why would they allow Masai to leave before the draft and potentially impact the raptor’s choice by sharing his ideas with others? He likely had full rights to do that when not under contract.

[Merit]

great news and well deserved.

Bobby promoted will allow for continuity throughout the organization. He understands the market, has been here for a long time and worked under Masai. Most important thing is he understands that drafting and developing is the core to anything we do and Tolzman and the scouts will continue to find players.

Next season is a big year to take a leap. Lets go !

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.

Giants of Africa occurs in the offseason. A nepo baby isn’t likely to understand that building up the hopes and dreams of an entire continent takes time and energy and the ROI is beyond what can be measured financially.

Plus, I’m sure Masai negotiated Giants of Africa into his contract. What does it say about Rogers/Ed Rogers if he doesn’t want Masai to do work on the continent and instead “focus on his job”? Feels a whole lot like “shut up and dribble” to me.

[Merit]

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.

Talk about a fixed mindset showing.

It’s well documented that everyone on the management side scouts the players. That way they all build consensus.

Furthermore, are you really suggesting that the GM of the raptors has no input or limited input in player selection? Seeing as how the GM literally signs the players - while it is a team job, Bobby still gets the credit for moves. In the same way, nobody is talking about the blue jays’ Cuban connection/pipeline and instead are talking about “Shatkins”.

[MEDIC]

They finally realiized they couldn't hire anyone legit for 200k a year, so they moved on.

[WuTang_CMB]

According to sources, the Raptors formally interviewed three external candidates: Indiana Pacers president Kevin Pritchard, former Sacramento Kings general manager Monte McNair and long-time Raptors head coach and Detroit Pistons executive Dwane Casey.

Pritchard, who successfully brought the Pacers to the NBA Finals this past June while operating with the league’s 21st-ranked payroll and boasts a long track record as an executive, was their preferred choice but prying him away from the Pacers proved difficult.

They also looked at some other general managers as possibilities but couldn’t justify hiring an external candidate with the same level of experience as Webster given the success Toronto has had overall with him running the front office and his standing within the organization.

Webster has always been highly regarded within MLSE, and was able to carve out his own identity and relationships with ownership over the years despite being so closely aligned with Ujiri, who made Webster his first hire as the team’s vice president of basketball management and strategy back in 2013. After a stint as assistant general manager, Webster was named the team's GM in June 2017, after Jeff Weltman left to become president of the Orlando Magic. At the time, Webster was 32 and the league’s youngest general manager.

Now eight years older, Webster has a lot more on his plate, even if his job title remains the same — a detail he’s not focussed on.

“On the title, what’s the best way to put it? The title, to me, probably isn’t as important as the responsibilities,” Webster said. “I’m really thankful for this opportunity. I’ll make the most of it and that (not getting the president title) is not something that concerns me.”

According to MLSE sources, Webster will have all the runway and leeway he needs to make the job his own. If he proves capable, the president title could follow.

“This is his chance,” said one source close to the hiring process. “Show (us) he’s the president. It’s a process. It’s all about the rebuild, it’s all about the strategy going forward. Can Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes become an incredible duo? How do you manage the tax situation we’re currently in?

“At the end of the day,” the source continued. “It will be about Bobby making the right decisions moving forward. He’s (40) and he’s got every quality that you want representing your organization. Now, it comes down to wins and losses, building the reputation of the brand and dealing with the salary cap.”

For Webster, it’s a chance he can hardly believe has come his way, even though his NBA career is now in its 20th year, having started with an entry-level position with the Magic out of college.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/raptors-webster-ready-to-show-who-bobby-is-in-expanded-role/

“They have a lot of nice pieces,” said another executive. “It’s just not clear how they all fit.”

In throwing his hat in for the job, Webster was in the difficult position of defending moves made while Ujiri was president without throwing his long-time boss under the proverbial bus.

Webster remains bullish on what he helped put together with Ujiri.

“I think this team is ready … to make the next step. And it doesn't mean that there's any proclamations about where this team goes, but I do think they've been together here for a year-and-a-half. We've obviously added some new pieces this off-season,” Webster said. “(So) I do think that the continuity here was really important. Darko (Rajakovic, the team’s head coach) is going into Year 3. Obviously, we've seen incredible growth during the off-season with a lot of our players … I think you saw during summer league, the sort of spirit of the team, a lot of the young players playing well. So, I think that was a big one for me. And I think we're excited to see what these teams can do, and you know, we haven't even got into a healthy Brandon Ingram and all the other things that we know.”

[Rapsalot]

This is good if the year goes well 6 seed + good in playoffs say take upper seed to 6-7 games then maybe you elevate him BW and bring in GM. Dan T is good in his role just pay him more. If they come into playing and don’t make playoffs. Go full retool.

[Westside Gunn]

Is the Ingram move really a hail mary. You didnt give up anything.

The contacts arent an issue since I keep seeing stupid contracts being handed out every summer

[Raps in 4]

All the GMs of each team reporting into Keith is nasty work. He’s as incompetent as it gets.

At least he won't try to meddle in sports decisions, I hope.

[NinjaBro]

Is the Ingram move really a hail mary. You didnt give up anything.

The contacts arent an issue since I keep seeing stupid contracts being handed out every summer

That's what I'm saying. Lots of complainers here just for the sake of complaining. We gave up Olynyk and Bruce Brown (who just signed for the minimum) and a pick. But..but... Ingram always gets injured mang.....STOP IT. We got him for peanuts and the contract isn't as outrageous as some of the other contacts given out. If it doesn't work out for us it's not a big loss. At least right now we can slot him as our go to scorer and release some pressure off Barnes so he can do the things he's good at.

[bboyskinnylegs]

Is the Ingram move really a hail mary. You didnt give up anything.

The contacts arent an issue since I keep seeing stupid contracts being handed out every summer

the acquisition cost in the trade was low at the time, but I think it's fair that other executives might see the opportunity cost of tying up meaningful capspace to him on his new deal as a risk. Plus with Hali getting injured in the finals and Turner leaving, that pick we gave up does look more appealing now. In my opinion it will mostly come down to Ingram's availability over the course of his new contract.

[LoveMyRaps]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=PSy3Ch7pvG4ybe2MpvWFcw

Ha! They thought criticizing the guy who got fired would land them the job and win over Pelley. Idiots!

This was 100% Casey

1000%

[LoveMyRaps]

Is the Ingram move really a hail mary. You didnt give up anything.

The contacts arent an issue since I keep seeing stupid contracts being handed out every summer

It's not a hail mary by any means.

We got an All-Star for little to nothing, while getting worse and improving our tanking efforts (because we let go of Bruce and Kelly who were contributing to pointless wins).

[causal_fan]

Is the Ingram move really a hail mary. You didnt give up anything.

The contacts arent an issue since I keep seeing stupid contracts being handed out every summer

If the pick turns into a top 10 pick, then that's a hefty price and because "stupid" contracts are handed out every summer that doesn't mean your team should join the club and hand out "stupid" contracts - BI is injury prone and has never led his team to post-season success and with players like Naz Reid & Julius Randle getting considerable less AVV this offseason, BI contract is a definite overpay IMO.

[YogurtProducer]

Is the Ingram move really a hail mary. You didnt give up anything.

The contacts arent an issue since I keep seeing stupid contracts being handed out every summer

Giving up a single first (that is not even your own) and expiring vets is impossible to be called a "hail mary".

Trading every pick you have and Holiday for Dame Lillard is a hail mary.
Trading a million picks for Beal is a hail mary.
Going all in on KG/Pierce/Terry is a hail mary.

... trading 1 first for Ingram is so inconsequential and has zero long term effects on anything. At best, he is healthy and we get a all-star for cheap. At worst he is injured constantly, and we just go back and tank (which we could have done anyways).

I literally see minimal downside to the deal.

[YogurtProducer]

Is the Ingram move really a hail mary. You didnt give up anything.

The contacts arent an issue since I keep seeing stupid contracts being handed out every summer

If the pick turns into a top 10 pick, then that's a hefty price and because "stupid" contracts are handed out every summer that doesn't mean your team should join the club and hand out "stupid" contracts - BI is injury prone and has never led his team to post-season success and with players like Naz Reid & Julius Randle getting considerable less AVV this offseason, BI contract is a definite overpay IMO.

To be fair, no one expected that pick to be top 10 when we made the deal, not even New Orleans.

[Duffman100]

Is the Ingram move really a hail mary. You didnt give up anything.

The contacts arent an issue since I keep seeing stupid contracts being handed out every summer

If the pick turns into a top 10 pick, then that's a hefty price and because "stupid" contracts are handed out every summer that doesn't mean your team should join the club and hand out "stupid" contracts - BI is injury prone and has never led his team to post-season success and with players like Naz Reid & Julius Randle getting considerable less AVV this offseason, BI contract is a definite overpay IMO.

To be fair, no one expected that pick to be top 10 when we made the deal, not even New Orleans.

Also if it's top 10, it's largely because the Pacers got the pick back and then have the incentive to tank if things aren't going well.

If NO didn't trade them the pick back, Indiana wouldn't have that motivation.

[ontnut]

Is the Ingram move really a hail mary. You didnt give up anything.

The contacts arent an issue since I keep seeing stupid contracts being handed out every summer

If the pick turns into a top 10 pick, then that's a hefty price and because "stupid" contracts are handed out every summer that doesn't mean your team should join the club and hand out "stupid" contracts - BI is injury prone and has never led his team to post-season success and with players like Naz Reid & Julius Randle getting considerable less AVV this offseason, BI contract is a definite overpay IMO.

Well sure, you could say the same thing about most traded 1st rounders. When we traded the pick, it was projected to be out of the lotto, most likely in the ~20-25ish range in fact. This was also before Hali got hurt. The Pelicans traded the pick back to the Pacers, so now the Pacers have more incentive to tank. I know the discussion here is going to be about where the pick ends up, but if the Pacers didn't get their pick back from the the Pels, they'd have zero motivation to tank this season. They do now. Nobody could foresee Hali getting hurt all season. That doesn't really change the "value" of the pick to us, or in the trade, because the Pacers' approach to this season would be completely different without their own pick, or Hali getting hurt.

If anything - it's the Pels who are on the hook for giving up a "hefty" price. The Pels traded the 2026 Pacers pick for the #23 pick in this past draft, which they combined with a future 2026 pick (better of NO/MIL), for #13 - which became Derik Queen. The Pels, with full knowledge that the Pacers could be crap this season, traded that pick to them for #23. Is Ingram worth the #23 pick in this past draft (Asa Newell)? Hell. Yeah.