Everything Masai Ujiri

[BrydenB]

https://x.com/TheHoopCentral/status/...953268084?s=20

I wanna cry right now.

Yup. Keyonte and Bufkin were the two I wanted at the Raps pick. This is a nightmare

[golden]

Temple and Thad teaching the young guys how you should act after a loss. Veteran leadership, dawgs, worth every penny.

[Kagemusha]

https://x.com/TheHoopCentral/status/...953268084?s=20

I wanna cry right now.

[BrydenB]

It feels like Masai is still out to “win” all his trades. This isn’t 2012 anymore, there aren’t a lot of dummies left to pick on. Almost all teams have more analysis, more info, more scouts and smarter guys running their teams.

[MixxAOR]

oof heard this on Samson's podcast. Masai dominated a weak era of GMs and now times have changed

[Kagemusha]

I never said he's a C. He's a point forward like Giannis/LeBron. This team though would be much better with a small ball lineup. I don't care about Embiid or Jokic. We're not stopping those guys either way with a real C like Poeltl.

This.
You should not make a deal based on a handful of players. You gotta get real and admit where you stand.
We are not on their tier yet.

[The Great One]

Barnes might have been fine but the team was WAY better with a real C. Consistently. For two entire seasons. At a certain point it's OK to accept what you have. Barnes is not a C.

I never said he's a C. He's a point forward like Giannis/LeBron. This team though would be much better with a small ball lineup. I don't care about Embiid or Jokic. We're not stopping those guys either way with a real C like Poeltl.

[golden]

I can't find it now but wasn't it Young who had a bunch of incentives in his contract if he played so many minutes/games and the Raps basically shut him down last season when he wasn't far from achieving them? I wonder if keeping him on this year was some sort of arrangement.

The Temple signing was dumb. They have 2 NBA guards on a team with no scoring and they signed a guy who doesn't play at all. Did they owe the NBAPA a favour or something?

Thad shut himself down, because of his own play. Incentives are usually pretty small, so that’s a ridiculous overpay.

And why Thad and Temple? They have no history of winning anything in this league. Temple, in particular, has only experienced massive losing in his long, illustrious career. Do you really want young guys learning from an elite career loser? This guy is way too happy after losses.

I mean, 3-time NBA champion Danny Green wanted to sign here… he’s a way better mentor than Thad or Temple and could probably give the young guys tips on shooting. Heck, Danny would automatically be one of our top shooters. We can’t even sign the right washed vets.

[slaw]

Thad was 100% brought in to play after the trade deadline a few years back.

Guaranteeing Thad for this year and then bringing in Temple is the head scratcher.

https://www.si.com/nba/raptors/news/...n-dragic-trade

I can't find it now but wasn't it Young who had a bunch of incentives in his contract if he played so many minutes/games and the Raps basically shut him down last season when he wasn't far from achieving them? I wonder if keeping him on this year was some sort of arrangement.

The Temple signing was dumb. They have 2 NBA guards on a team with no scoring and they signed a guy who doesn't play at all. Did they owe the NBAPA a favour or something?

[slaw]

Barnes might have been fine but the team was WAY better with a real C. Consistently. For two entire seasons. At a certain point it's OK to accept what you have. Barnes is not a C.

They were 14-12 with Poeltl with a good chunk of those wins coming against some of the worst teams in the league like WSH(2), Pistons (3), Charlotte (2).

They were 27-29 without him.

They are 9-13 with Poeltl this season.

Define 'WAY better'.

[A.I]

Barnes might have been fine but the team was WAY better with a real C. Consistently. For two entire seasons. At a certain point it's OK to accept what you have. Barnes is not a C.

Given he has gotten better at blocking shots and leading the team in rebounds, maybe he should go back to being a C lol. Although I'd prefer to not have him guarding guys like Jokic and Embiid full time.

[golden]

I mean, Thad and Temple aren't really basketball moves. They were never going to play. It's about veteran stuff in the room to help the younger guys (and trade ballast, in Thad's case).

Jak they clearly thought fit with Scottie long term and I happen to think they were right.

If they promised Schroder a starting spot, then that's a huge mistake. But I don't know that they did, considering the verbiage around him all summer. He's basically exactly what they needed as a backup PG, so easy to see how that was the vision. But the execution has obviously been terrible if that's the case.

Thad was 100% brought in to play after the trade deadline a few years back.

Guaranteeing Thad for this year and then bringing in Temple is the head scratcher.

https://www.si.com/nba/raptors/news/...n-dragic-trade

[DanH]

We didn't need a C. Barnes was fine as the starting C last year.

Barnes might have been fine but the team was WAY better with a real C. Consistently. For two entire seasons. At a certain point it's OK to accept what you have. Barnes is not a C.

[The Great One]

We didn't need a C. Barnes was fine as the starting C last year.

[DanH]

What's the positive spin on Jak with Scottie? Jak was brought in as he was Pascal and Fred's buddy and they needed a center. He was there to help his core guys. Fred parted.. they resigned Jak (likely to not lose that pick for nothing). But I don't think it's a good fit at all. The question is can he be moved? He's locked up long term but he's still a role player and maybe considered a backup big on a lot of rosters. Scottie should play with a mobile center even if he ends up being a 37+ shooter. Since he's good at driving to the rim. And is not a good PnR partner that Jak needs.

As for Dennis, I mean I think that's why they got him to start. He was Fred's replacement. Not Scottie's backup. Otherwise they should have just gotten nobody and just used Flynn as the backup.

I expect Scottie can be an excellent PnR partner with Jak. His height to pass over defences, Jak's efficiency and passing on the roll. We saw a little of it early in the season, Scottie was absolutely killing it in PnR, specifically with Jak, early on before the offence really devolved into Schroder actions.

We saw for two seasons the downsides of playing small. Ideally Koloko gets healthy and develops into the longer term pairing for Scottie, but Jak is really solid, and having a really solid option there at C is very valuable on both ends.

I'm pretty sure that if Fred had stayed, priority 1 would have been to upgrade backup PG. Losing Fred and replacing him with an MLE guy is a stupid plan. Losing Fred and taking the opportunity to play Scottie where you should play him makes a lot of sense.