https://www.thestar.com/sports/raptors/opinion/2018/05/09/raptors-ujiri-says-put-it-on-me.html
Raptors’ Ujiri says, ‘Put it on me.’
Raptors president built the team that fell to Cleveland, and he’ll build the rebound.
Masai Ujiri sounded like a GM who was sticking with his coach on Wednesday, and with much of the team that won a franchise-record 59 games in the regular season. (STEVE RUSSELL / TORONTO STAR)
Masai Ujiri gets emotional. He was fined US$25,000 for running on the floor at halftime of Game 3 in the Raptors’ second-round series and yelling at the officials; he was furious after that game. And after his Raptors were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers, again, Ujiri flirted with the idea of firing his head coach. It could still happen.
“I can’t pull the culture reset off this year, can I?” said Ujiri, grinning, as he opened his season-ending press conference.
Last season, of course, Ujiri pushed for a change in playing style, the culture reset that resulted in more youth and more passing and more three-point attempts, and it all went well until his 59-win team was crushed by a Cavaliers team that fully expected it to be a war.
Ujiri is not under pressure in terms of ownership, or job status, or even reputation. But, for the first time in Toronto, he has to deal with falling significantly short of expectations. It’s different.
“I think there are many ways to get better,” said Ujiri, who voice rose at several times as he warmed to the subject at hand. “It’s on me. Put it on me. Forget all the other stuff that you guys are talking about. Put it on me. We’ll get better. We’ll get better here. We believe in this city, this country, this team here and move forward. I put it on myself.”
Ujiri has lived a charmed life in Toronto in some ways. He didn’t trade Kyle Lowry even though he tried, and it worked out. He traded Andrea Bargnani and Rudy Gay, and it worked out. He kept head coach Dwane Casey — more than once, truth be told — and it worked out. He built a franchise that got players out of the draft no matter the slot, and suddenly he has so many NBA-calibre players that it won’t be possible to pay them all. And the win totals, year by year, keep rising.
And then his 59-win team, which expected to play into late May or even June, was reduced to a laughingstock in another sweep against LeBron James. And the problem with unpacking that is that if you want to pick a culprit, you can pick almost anything.
“I go back to Game 1 (a 113-112 overtime loss), to be honest,” said Ujiri. “What turned things there? Giving up a lead or the calls, the missing layups. All those things. The margin of error in the NBA is this small. I know how confident we came into the first game. Not just from us, not just from our fans, not just from the players, but even from you guys. Everybody felt good about it.
“Even after that game, everyone felt good about it. OK, why did we give that game away? But for me the margin of error when you play in the playoffs is this small. There are turning points and Game 1 for us was like that ... for some reason we just kind of lost something there.”
All true. The hard part in Toronto is how to get better. Casey’s status remains uncertain, but seems less precarious than it was Tuesday. The salary cap will become more of an issue, and Serge Ibaka and Norm Powell remain liabilities. And while Kyle Lowry had his best post-season, DeMar DeRozan’s series against Cleveland was a devastating experience. And you can’t win a title with Lowry and DeRozan as your best players. That was always the case.
It’s a rich man’s problem: When you have climbed this high, it’s harder to figure out where the next rungs on the ladder will be. When asked about the future, Ujiri said this team would not tank, not that that’s a viable option with this many good players anyway. He talked about how if people are talking about you, at least you’re relevant. And he tried to remind people, as much as himself, where this team came from.
“Yeah, everybody can question Casey all they want, you can question Kyle all you want, you can question DeMar DeRozan all you want,” said Ujiri. “Guess what? I have to look at a body of work. As a leader I have to look at a body of work that had been done over the last five years and think what's the last five years, and what's the next five years ahead. And that's what I have to do, and that's what I'm going to do. Yes, there are weaknesses. And yes there are strengths ... And I have to figure out a way.”
That’s where he’s at. Ujiri has mistakes on the ledger, and credits, too. He has young talent, and aging infrastructure. He has no superstars, but he has assets.
“I come back to that margin of error — we have to go through great players to win, and we have to find great players too,” said Ujiri. “It’s not at every time that every organization is going to have that generational player. That comes with strategy, luck, planning, winning, many things, and I believe we have that structure and we’ve created that culture here. We can get there at some point.”
He really believes it. It’s not that the pressure is on Masai Ujiri, but the expectations are. The paths to the next level look perilously tricky. Maybe they’ve peaked. It’s not the worst problem to have. But it is his to solve.
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