Masai Year End Presser @ 10am

[Zeno]

We have all star level players just entering their prime, a high level 2 way prospect in OG, a high draft pick, and a rabid fan base

It’s basically the perfect situation for any GM to walk into and Masai knows this. As long as MLSE doesn’t **** it up and disrespect him w a lowball offer, he’ll be back

It is not about just the offer he gets from them as far as himself, he wants a comitment to a different level of buy-in from the ownership. I have never seen a non-player do this. He's basically negiotating like he's Lebron. I'm not saying he isn't Lebron in his field or that he is wrong to do so either. But he wants a full commitment from ownership towards winning or he's leaving and what will ownership look like if they don't meet his demands now that he's put it out there. Ball is in MLSE's court.

[dTox]

Everyone thinks he is staying after that?

I got opposite vibes. He mentioned his family twice, the "three young kids".. And the amount of other things he wants to pursue.

Then again he did mention his role provides a big platform.

Then again he cried towards the end as if he was saying good bye.. Or maybe just good bye to Kyle.

Mentioning family means he's going to Washington/Seattle/LA. Nobody wants to raise their kids in Canada.

Have you lived in - or had an extended stay - in any of these cities? I can tell you that Toronto will be preferred to DC/Seattle 8 times out of 10.

Knowing Raps in 4's posts for some time, very high probability he was being sarcastic gents.

[PhilBlackson]

I don't think too many people wanted the play-in. Once the deadline passed the team lost a couple of big games to bad teams and then they went full into tank mode. There were a few perma tankers that claimed the Raptors weren't tanking properly, when it was obvious that they were babying injuries and letting the bench and 905 handle the last stretch of games.

Not even remotely true.

There were (much of the same collection of posters) people fighting it right until we were mathematically eliminated swearing it was the way and talking like those who didn't want to were foolish, now Masai just made them look it lol

#poeticjustice

Disagree. There were a lot of people that wanted to tank three games in, and that clearly wasn't Masai's goal. And at the deadline he brought up trying to make the play-in. At some point he changed his mind and everyone rested. Some media members and a few posters questioned why they wouldn't aim for the play-in, but no one needed to hear from Masai that they were trying/not trying. It was obvious. Certainly fans can think that Masai is wrong to tank at any point.

He also said they might just draft the best fit for the team and not the best talent available, how does that sit with you?

There's nothing to dispute, it flatly isn't true...there were PLENTY of anti-tankers fighting to the very end
If you want receipts -- simply dig up game thread and tWo threads where the posts are before we were mathematically eliminated, you'll have an abundance to draw from. Any tWo advocate can vouch for what a high horse TM was on but I'll set it aside because hey Masai serving them yet another massive L is sweet enough lol

BUT as for your question...he presented it as an EITHER OR. He didn't definitively say it was his strategy, sounded like he just said he'll weigh both but I can't say that it's surprising and I would say it would depend where we land in the draft and if the prospects have similar potentials but one addresses more holes ie/ my guess is he'd have a very tough time if we landed at #2 weighing between Green and Mobley..

Personally I say the hell with fit draft BPA because if they were to believe Green will be a dominant go to scorer (which is what I believe is our actual greatest need long term to win a championship again) then they should take him, hell with worrying about stepping on GT and Harris' toes BUT...

If he says nope Mobley takes care of more holes in the roster and he projects to be a STAR (keyword) himself, well I'm not upset at all because we still get a star. My issue is electing for a supposed "win now" player when players with substantially higher ceilings are available (ie/ hypothetically Kuminga falls to 7 but we took Mitchell). The reality is unless you get a truly transcendent talent, very few rookies can get the playing time or be good enough to move the needle to really change how much we win now so it's a ridiculous premise imo and in that case I'd be very frustrated.

[ForeverTFC]

Mentioning family means he's going to Washington/Seattle/LA. Nobody wants to raise their kids in Canada.

Have you lived in - or had an extended stay - in any of these cities? I can tell you that Toronto will be preferred to DC/Seattle 8 times out of 10.

Knowing Raps in 4's posts for some time, very high probability he was being sarcastic gents.

My apologies to Raps in 4 then .. my green text filter has broken completely this season

[dTox]

Well, blaming management for lack of promotion seems like misdirection. Maybe its to explain poor TV ratings as a result of bad record / tanking? No actual Toronto home games certainly is a unique situation. Would like to hear actual details of why he thinks promotion is weak for a sub .400 team. The current status on TSN/SN various shows is weak. You need personalities to sell a product. Lot of them have been there for 20 yrs. The younger people on the periphery lack real talent. I'd rather watch paint dry.

We were on tsn 2-4 during our championship years, and last year, no matter what the Raps did, the ownership did them no favors in putting them on the premium channels that a ton of folks don't have access to.

[Indeed]

Which posters were these? I don't think I saw anyone claim they wanted the play-in aside from 1-2 threads in which they were rightfully flamed for.

I swear people just have this "it's us against the world" mentality when it couldn't be further from the truth.

This team has been tanking for nearly 2 months now.

There was a sizeable contingent hoping for the playoffs all year. I don't think you saw the peak of it since you arrived April 10th.

Way to take context out of this whole thing:

1. beginning of the season leading to the all-star break, a sizeable portion said the team as currently constructed would not miss the playoffs - they were right until COVID hit - and they were not a fan of tearing the team down just to get to the lottery
2. after the COVID induced slide, the majority of that group wanted to maximize draft position without completely tearing down the team

This was the reality with context.

We were above 6th at one time. Until our coaching staff got COVID that leads to our starting players missed the majority of games, we were still in the playoffs.

Once we started losing games, and understand that we are not re-signing Powell, we changed our plan.

[ForeverTFC]

There was a sizeable contingent hoping for the playoffs all year. I don't think you saw the peak of it since you arrived April 10th.

Way to take context out of this whole thing:

1. beginning of the season leading to the all-star break, a sizeable portion said the team as currently constructed would not miss the playoffs - they were right until COVID hit - and they were not a fan of tearing the team down just to get to the lottery
2. after the COVID induced slide, the majority of that group wanted to maximize draft position without completely tearing down the team

This was the reality with context.

The team started 2-8 and at their peak were what, a game or two from being out of the play in game? Every team has dealt with Covid and injuries.

No one was advocating for a mid season tear down. It was Lowry, Norm and Boucher who were the prime trade candidates.

You can hide behind context, but the simple reality is that this team wasn't all that good and Masai himself said the goal is a championship, not a play in.

1. You've completely changed the argument now, this has nothing to do with board narrative
2. You again are not considering context: yes at their peak they were in the play-in spots BUT projecting their win rate at that point would have landed them a top 5 seed

I'm not hiding behind context, I'm just providing the nuance that is sorely missed in a majority of your posts that try to paint everything as black or white

[VancouverRaps]

I felt pretty good about this entire interview except for when he teared up, not sure what to make of that.

That play-in comment was pure gold, had he repeated those lines a couple of more times in that statement, it would’ve been Masai’s version of “we talking bout practice!”

[bluerap23]

Did he explain what he meant by "I want to know . . ." what the ownership is prepared to do to put us with the "great teams" & "winners"? People assume promotion but I think this needs clarity. Its a player's league now, team brand is yesterday. Its a function of the sport.

I think it may be a significant investment in social justice issues. It may also mean expanding the budget (outside of player salary) significantly.

[djsunyc]

fans wanting tanking/not tanking - IT DOES NOT MATTER b/c it has no bearing on what actually happens on the court.

it's just another thing that folks use to fight with others. total bullsh t.

what destroys any forum/discussion is the constant negativity and whining and complaining and insulting about the players and team.

[B-Ball Freak]

I mean Masai is right lol, unless you're an old blind hardcore Leafs homer you would agree that the Raptors shouldn't be the Leafs baby brother anymore. Especially when one team won a championship two years ago and has made the playoffs for 7 years straight and the other hasn't won a playoff round since the mid 2000's and hasn't won a championship since the peak of the Vietnam war, over 50 YEARS ago. How the Leafs STILL have a chokehold on this city is mindboggling to me, thank god the Raptors have been closing the gap and a huge part of that is Masai.

[kj_]

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Whoa, is Masai really gunning to be the President of MLSE? This is pretty big. Its more than just the paycheck?

Sounds like he wants proper financial backing and promotion to grow the team and the game. Makes sense. That’s what other markets will give him.


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[Raps in 4]

fans wanting tanking/not tanking - IT DOES NOT MATTER b/c it has no bearing on what actually happens on the court.

it's just another thing that folks use to fight with others. total bullsh t.

what destroys any forum/discussion is the constant negativity and whining and complaining and insulting about the players and team.

Some of us share a hive mind with Masai.

[DelAbbot]

Not even remotely true.

There were (much of the same collection of posters) people fighting it right until we were mathematically eliminated swearing it was the way and talking like those who didn't want to were foolish, now Masai just made them look it lol

#poeticjustice

Disagree. There were a lot of people that wanted to tank three games in, and that clearly wasn't Masai's goal. And at the deadline he brought up trying to make the play-in. At some point he changed his mind and everyone rested. Some media members and a few posters questioned why they wouldn't aim for the play-in, but no one needed to hear from Masai that they were trying/not trying. It was obvious. Certainly fans can think that Masai is wrong to tank at any point.

He also said they might just draft the best fit for the team and not the best talent available, how does that sit with you?

Not sure if Team Mediocre should be bragging about Masai basically saying he might screw up the draft by going for team fit. It has been proven over and over again that you always draft BPA.

I could look into a bunch of examples but I'll just bring up the most famous one for now. Portland decided to go with team fit instead of BPA in the 1984 draft because they already had Drexler. That decision cost them Michael Jordan.

[Geddy]

As consumers we all know how Bell and Rogers operate - they will extract as much money from every situation no matter who they screw over. I can see how they would block Masai's plan to go for a high draft pick in order to get into the playoffs and get that extra playoff TV revenue.

[Quattro]

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Whoa, is Masai really gunning to be the President of MLSE? This is pretty big. Its more than just the paycheck?

Sounds like he wants proper financial backing and promotion to grow the team and the game. Makes sense. That’s what other markets will give him.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

From what I’ve read, the biggest thing he’s looking for is a commitment from MLSE to do whatever it takes to win championships. Obviously there’s going to be money and other questions to settle but if the suits at MLSE have any brains, they’ll do whatever he asks.

[DelAbbot]

I felt pretty good about this entire interview except for when he teared up, not sure what to make of that.

That play-in comment was pure gold, had he repeated those lines a couple of more times in that statement, it would’ve been Masai’s version of “we talking bout practice!”

"PLAY-IN FOR WHAT" is on par with "F Brooklyn"

that will be the slogan for future tankers

[DelAbbot]

Did he explain what he meant by "I want to know . . ." what the ownership is prepared to do to put us with the "great teams" & "winners"? People assume promotion but I think this needs clarity. Its a player's league now, team brand is yesterday. Its a function of the sport.

I think it may be a significant investment in social justice issues. It may also mean expanding the budget (outside of player salary) significantly.

I doubt Masai would put in social justice issues into his contract negotiations.

NBA Players demanded of them because their contracts are signed and guaranteed.

[Brinbe]

I felt pretty good about this entire interview except for when he teared up, not sure what to make of that.

That play-in comment was pure gold, had he repeated those lines a couple of more times in that statement, it would’ve been Masai’s version of “we talking bout practice!”

because the question was about the comments that nick, kyle and fred made this week about masai. that he's the 2nd most important raptor, etc etc. and masai being the empathetic person he is, responded to it.

think of the history between he and lowry in particular. how pissed kyle was at masai after he traded his best friend away and then guess who came for him once they won it all and now the admiration and mutual respect they have for each other.

Read on Twitter

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considering that history, it makes perfect sense he reacted that way.

and it's funny. another late question was about their scouting process and what they look for in players and masai hedged because he didn't want to give state secrets away. but it's pretty clear what they value and the connective through-line that links almost every raptor they choose to bring on board. they're all team players, the team above the individual and there isn't a single a-hole in that entire group.

that comes from masai.

[Los_29]

There was a sizeable contingent hoping for the playoffs all year. I don't think you saw the peak of it since you arrived April 10th.

Way to take context out of this whole thing:

1. beginning of the season leading to the all-star break, a sizeable portion said the team as currently constructed would not miss the playoffs - they were right until COVID hit - and they were not a fan of tearing the team down just to get to the lottery
2. after the COVID induced slide, the majority of that group wanted to maximize draft position without completely tearing down the team

This was the reality with context.

The team started 2-8 and at their peak were what, a game or two from being out of the play in game? Every team has dealt with Covid and injuries.

No one was advocating for a mid season tear down. It was Lowry, Norm and Boucher who were the prime trade candidates.

You can hide behind context, but the simple reality is that this team wasn't all that good and Masai himself said the goal is a championship, not a play in.

I'm almost positive that we were in 4th or 5th place in the east just before we got hit by covid. I don't see what the problem is with people wanting the team to make the playoffs at the beginning of the year. I think it was obvious we weren't going to win the championship but in order for us to miss the playoffs it would involve us having a ton of injuries and/or trading our core which is obviously not going to happen. Cheering for the team to make the playoffs earlier in the year is far more logical than expecting a team that won 60 games last year to land a top 5 pick. Luckily for us everything that could've gone wrong went wrong and we are in a position to get a very good pick.