Toronto Star: Edward Rogers fought plans to keep Raptors’ Masai Ujiri

[guvernator]

Ujiri has been the face of this franchise since he took over, though.

No he hasn't. First it was demar , then lowry.
Although Ujiri probably thought he was.

Sure man, the team was terrible with both DeMar and Lowry as "faces." Then Masai came and the team was good again.

The team is now worse than it has been for 15 years. Congratulations Masai. You better be giving your PR team a raise considering the state of the Fandom.

[Shaazzam]

**** rogers
i want masai to run everything, everywhere
pay that man his money

[ash_k]

No GM is worth 15 million dollars (nothing wrong in Rogers' thoughts). You know how much Billy Beane makes - 4 million - in a sport where being a GM is most impactful.
This team is headed towards a decade of mediocrity or worse and here we have a bunch of lemmings cheering a suit. Gl.

and since when Bobby makes 15 Million?

[vini_vidi_vici]

Guys were pawns, the Rogers feud and incidentally the situation where Ujiri used a videographer to tape these meeting in the Muskokas have clouded our own judgement (to be fair we are too simple minded to understand boardroom dynamics, and power struggles). Its time to admit defeat.

[djsunyc]

No he hasn't. First it was demar , then lowry.
Although Ujiri probably thought he was.

Sure man, the team was terrible with both DeMar and Lowry as "faces." Then Masai came and the team was good again.

The team is now worse than it has been for 15 years. Congratulations Masai. You better be giving your PR team a raise considering the state of the Fandom.

is this an alternate account? 71 posts per year and this is the most active you've been - about a guy that brought us a chip? lol.

[Local_NG_Idiot]

I asked it as a question. Not possible for you to hurt my feelings. But so many of you take it from your own biases. I'm not the one being used here.

You should go back and read this thread, I think you'll find the bold statement to be false.

[vini_vidi_vici]

No he hasn't. First it was demar , then lowry.
Although Ujiri probably thought he was.

Sure man, the team was terrible with both DeMar and Lowry as "faces." Then Masai came and the team was good again.

The team is now worse than it has been for 15 years. Congratulations Masai. You better be giving your PR team a raise considering the state of the Fandom.

Are we pretending 10-11 and 11-12 didnt happen??

What happened to this place? lol.

[WaltFrazier]

Masai is just incredible at PR and embodying Canadian values as a leader. People love him for that, but I do think he has not really positioned Toronto for the future. He says we are rebuilding, but when will Toronto be relevant again. I think Rogers was asking for a plan and that is fair because how bad will this team be?

Here is my take on Masai's tenure:

Prior to the 2019 championship Toronto was a bit of laughingstock being bullied by LBJ every playoff series. They did win a lot in the regular season though, but the East was historically bad during that time.

Toronto had one championship run based on a lucky trade for Kawhi Leonard and LBJ moving to another conference. Also, Golden State losing their most important player to injury also helped immensely.

After the Championship, he bungled all the free agencies there after losing Ibaka, Gasol and Lowry for little to no compensation.

Masai has always valued Toronto players so high with without testing the market. The Khem Birch signing makes no sense and I doubt he was valued in the market the way Toronto signed him on. Siakam was signed before being on the open market - same as OG, and FVV got a pretty big contract as a 6 foot PG who only averaged 17.6 points, 6.6 assists at the time of his deal.

Trent Jr. was RFA and yet they signed him right away when they could have went after other players with their capspace and signed him with Bird rights. Or, they could have done their own sign and trade if another team wanted him. He isn't a bad player, but the contract value at his age is tough to accept.

Lowry's sign and trade really only helped Miami and only brought a mediocre prospect in Achuiwa and a paperweight in Dragic and killed all the capspace that had been planned for the past summer. It wasn't a great free agency, but we missed out on Richaun Holmes and Spencer Dinwiddie which would have made this team much better and supported the core team if that was direction we were going in.

Instead we have an awkward group of vets in their primes who have to play with a bunch on underexperienced players that may make the playin game. I only say this because other front offices with cheaper and shrewd GMs have made huge strides like Chicago, NY, Atl, Phoenix and maybe even Charlotte will take step this year.

Many valid points here imo. I find myself wishing we had a roster like the Bulls, a team that is going for it. Even the Wizards added Dinwiddie and the 3 Lakers, and are solid now. I was all for Suggs at the draft, obviously I'm coming around to Scottie now, but we are still a long way from contending, with no guarantees. And the roster construction
is questionable. I like Masai, glad he re-signed, but it is an awful lot of money for uncertain future results.

[ATLTimekeeper]

No he hasn't. First it was demar , then lowry.
Although Ujiri probably thought he was.

Sure man, the team was terrible with both DeMar and Lowry as "faces." Then Masai came and the team was good again.

The team is now worse than it has been for 15 years. Congratulations Masai. You better be giving your PR team a raise considering the state of the Fandom.

Okay, something good happened along the way, though

[tdot_steel]

Remember how Silver for some super awkward reason didnt give Masai too much of the benefit of the doubt in regards to the incident with the guard? Wonder if the calls from Ed Rogers had something to do with that perspective.

Ask any POC if they have been "Masai'd" in the workplace?
Anyone with eyes could see what was happening. The fact that this was an issue for so long is the question that should be asked.

Could you imagine that happening to Brendan Shanahan, Brian Burke or Cliff Fletcher? Not a chance!

[guvernator]

Sure man, the team was terrible with both DeMar and Lowry as "faces." Then Masai came and the team was good again.

The team is now worse than it has been for 15 years. Congratulations Masai. You better be giving your PR team a raise considering the state of the Fandom.

Okay, something good happened along the way, though

Executives get paid for past performance? That's a new one.

[vini_vidi_vici]

Sure man, the team was terrible with both DeMar and Lowry as "faces." Then Masai came and the team was good again.

The team is now worse than it has been for 15 years. Congratulations Masai. You better be giving your PR team a raise considering the state of the Fandom.

Okay, something good happened along the way, though

ATL why are you being obtuse, he clearly said we were lucky thats why we won. That means whatever accomplishments MU had are voided.

[SharoneWright]

Who cares. I don't know Ed and I don't know Masai. (Even though we are made to feel like we do). I assume their lives are both fantastic. The both play at a high enough level that they can carve out a mutually suitable business arrangement.

From the basketball side, it's great to still have Masai here of course. Webster is going to be the tactical brain going forward while MU focuses on his art hobbies and social promotions and imaging and public relations,, but Masai will continue to be the clout. He raises The Raptors' profile among players/the League and keeps us from regressing to a backwater destination. Too bad his ethos hasn't really benefited recent contract negotiations, lol, (Trent and Birch took us to the cleaners), but we remain a player in free agency while Masai remains.

[Local_NG_Idiot]

The team is now worse than it has been for 15 years. Congratulations Masai. You better be giving your PR team a raise considering the state of the Fandom.

Okay, something good happened along the way, though

Executives get paid for past performance? That's a new one.

Well, we all learned something today.

[MavCarter]

No GM is worth 15 million dollars (nothing wrong in Rogers' thoughts). You know how much Billy Beane makes - 4 million - in a sport where being a GM is most impactful.
This team is headed towards a decade of mediocrity or worse and here we have a bunch of lemmings cheering a suit. Gl.

“Cheering a suit” he says as he advocates for owners who do jack **** to keep the money instead

[ATLTimekeeper]

Many valid points here imo. I find myself wishing we had a roster like the Bulls, a team that is going for it. Even the Wizards added Dinwiddie and the 3 Lakers, and are solid now. I was all for Suggs at the draft, obviously I'm coming around to Scottie now, but we are still a long way from contending, with no guarantees. And the roster construction
is questionable. I like Masai, glad he re-signed, but it is an awful lot of money for uncertain future results.

1) Are you paying that money?
2) He's making less than Gary Trent Jr. Put that in perspective of what he can potentially add, and keep in mind that he won't physically decline.

All future results are uncertain. I'm not sure why that even matters. No one can promise or predict a title winner.

[fourones1x]

Wow. If he had been successful…

Maybe time to move my cell service off of Rogers

Telus >>>>

[LLJ]

People slagging Masai just because we aren’t still contending immediately after the title team broke up make me laugh. There is always a down period of rebuilding.

If we are treading water 2-3 years from now still then ok I can see people start questioning the direction a bit. But there is no such thing as eternally contending. The Spurs were once the model franchise, now they are treadmilling while trying to find a new guy. Does the organization suddenly suck? No. It takes time to refill the cupboard.

[ATLTimekeeper]

The team is now worse than it has been for 15 years. Congratulations Masai. You better be giving your PR team a raise considering the state of the Fandom.

Okay, something good happened along the way, though

Executives get paid for past performance? That's a new one.

I didn't know owners had fanboys, either.

[Raptorfan2012]

Masai is just incredible at PR and embodying Canadian values as a leader. People love him for that, but I do think he has not really positioned Toronto for the future. He says we are rebuilding, but when will Toronto be relevant again. I think Rogers was asking for a plan and that is fair because how bad will this team be?

Here is my take on Masai's tenure:

Prior to the 2019 championship Toronto was a bit of laughingstock being bullied by LBJ every playoff series. They did win a lot in the regular season though, but the East was historically bad during that time.

Toronto had one championship run based on a lucky trade for Kawhi Leonard and LBJ moving to another conference. Also, Golden State losing their most important player to injury also helped immensely.

After the Championship, he bungled all the free agencies there after losing Ibaka, Gasol and Lowry for little to no compensation.

Masai has always valued Toronto players so high with without testing the market. The Khem Birch signing makes no sense and I doubt he was valued in the market the way Toronto signed him on. Siakam was signed before being on the open market - same as OG, and FVV got a pretty big contract as a 6 foot PG who only averaged 17.6 points, 6.6 assists at the time of his deal.

Trent Jr. was RFA and yet they signed him right away when they could have went after other players with their capspace and signed him with Bird rights. Or, they could have done their own sign and trade if another team wanted him. He isn't a bad player, but the contract value at his age is tough to accept.

Lowry's sign and trade really only helped Miami and only brought a mediocre prospect in Achuiwa and a paperweight in Dragic and killed all the capspace that had been planned for the past summer. It wasn't a great free agency, but we missed out on Richaun Holmes and Spencer Dinwiddie which would have made this team much better and supported the core team if that was direction we were going in.

Instead we have an awkward group of vets in their primes who have to play with a bunch on underexperienced players that may make the playin game. I only say this because other front offices with cheaper and shrewd GMs have made huge strides like Chicago, NY, Atl, Phoenix and maybe even Charlotte will take step this year.

Don't know if I am writing into a trap, but what I am seeing is you are essentially upset we didn't get Dinwiddie or Holmes this summer. Precious is definitely not a mediocre prospect, and frankly I rather have Precious at his age and contract than overpay for a guy like Holmes. Ibaka and Gasol are shells of their former selves; the latter has retired. Expect this year to be the beginning of a rebuild; other teams will make the playoffs before us, but that's okay. All the main people in the front office got their contracts renewed, so they go into this rebuild safe.