Everything Masai Ujiri

[JawsGT]

Unless the point guard is a Maxey type player then yes. The problem with this core is that there is not enough skill and firepower with the main guys. Pascal is a terrific player but scoring for him is not natural or easy. OG is not a scorer. Barnes is more a jack of all trades guy. Raps need a natural, easy scorer and they don't have one. Moving Pascal for one would be ideal but if you had to move Pascal and OG then you do it. OG is great but you can get a poor man's OG easier than you can get dynamic skill and scoring. And that needs to be the priority - not just shooting. Get the scorer and orient the team around Barnes and him going forward.

This also makes sense to me too. Just doubtful Pascal can get you that top tier natural scorer unless you can find that breakout candidate that hasnt exploded yet. I too, would be also willing to move on from OG to get that type of player. But feels like a tough task with expirings.

[Kagemusha]

Teams probably thought Turner was worth the prospect and pick or 2 picks Pacers were looking for. Or maybe they weren’t comfortable paying him the $20m/yr salary. Also, Turner was injured at the time, which would’ve killed the market for contenders that season. A lot of reasons why there wasn’t a big market for Turner at that moment in time, but Raps should’ve been thinking longer term.

What a missed opportunity.
Jonathan Isaac was another one. Maxey too!
This organization is just never proactive in their approach.

[golden]

What a missed opportunity.
Jonathan Isaac was another one. Maxey too!
This organization is just never proactive in their approach.

This organization was very proactive and risk takers before the chip. But success breeds complacency & hubris.

But they clearly fell into the trap of believing they had found the secret formula and cracked the code and just needed to keep doubling, tripling and quadrupling down on what worked before. Masai still believes he can replicate what happened before, and said as much in the season opening presser. That shows a lot of ego and hubris. It’s revealing.

[Primer]

Teams probably thought Turner was worth the prospect and pick or 2 picks Pacers were looking for. Or maybe they weren’t comfortable paying him the $20m/yr salary. Also, Turner was injured at the time, which would’ve killed the market for contenders that season. A lot of reasons why there wasn’t a big market for Turner at that moment in time, but Raps should’ve been thinking longer term.

Turner was a risk due to his injuries and Masai is really risk averse. Had Turner not been injured we probably make that deal.

[slaw]

Turner was a risk due to his injuries and Masai is really risk averse. Had Turner not been injured we probably make that deal.

It’s why Turner never got moved and the Pacers got him for cheap. No one else wanted him.

[LJ2]

Interesting that Masai basically told him that they are going to build around Scottie. So they knew the direction they wanted to go even back then, and knew it would impact Fred's decision in free agency, and still let him walk for nothing. And now they are sort of doing the same thing with Pascal with the "there will be no selfishness" comments and not offering an extension. I guess cap space is the goal?

[golden]

It’s why Turner never got moved and the Pacers got him for cheap. No one else wanted him.

Yet another Buy Low opportunity missed. I would not want post-chip Masai & Bobby to manage my asset portfolio.

Buy High & Sell Low. lol.

edit: Oh, and the best trade Masai ever made was trading for an injured player, who also didn't want to report to Toronto.

[golden]

Interesting that Masai basically told him that they are going to build around Scottie. So they knew the direction they wanted to go even back then, and knew it would impact Fred's decision in free agency, and still let him walk for nothing. And now they are sort of doing the same thing with Pascal with the "there will be no selfishness" comments and not offering an extension. I guess cap space is the goal?

Lol. That’s for public consumption. Don’t believe for 1 microsecond that his decision wasn’t ALL about the money. I mean, who do you think Houston is building around? 3 or 4 young guys… not just 1.

If you believe Fred’s reason, then I’ve got some swampland in Florida. The man is a genius manipulating the media and will be the future governor of Illinois.

[G____Deane]

Yet another Buy Low opportunity missed. I would not want post-chip Masai & Bobby to manage my asset portfolio.

Buy High & Sell Low. lol.

Quirk will tell you they've been great though .... but refuse to discuss "since the chip"

[LJ2]

Lol. That’s for public consumption. Don’t believe for 1 microsecond that his decision wasn’t ALL about the money. I mean, who do you think Houston is building around? 3 or 4 young guys… not just 1.

If you believe Fred’s reason, then I’ve got some swampland in Florida. The man is a genius manipulating the media and will be the future governor of Illinois.

I mean Fred's take wasn't at all what I was focusing on but it would seem he's still the focus for many here .

It was that management had this plan all along to build around Scottie, but didn't pull the trigger on trades for any of the guys they deemed expendable last trade deadline and let Fred walk in the summer. Now we're heading in the same direction with Pascal and possibly OG and Trent as well. If it comes to pass that Pascal walks this summer as well then what other conclusion is there to make other than management values the cap space more than any attainable assets gained via a Pascal trade? Is his value that low or is cap space valued higher to their future plans?

Anyone know what the cap would look like for the Raps if Pascal walks?

[planetmars]

I mean Fred's take wasn't at all what I was focusing on but it would seem he's still the focus for many here .

It was that management had this plan all along to build around Scottie, but didn't pull the trigger on trades for any of the guys they deemed expendable last trade deadline and let Fred walk in the summer. Now we're heading in the same direction with Pascal and possibly OG and Trent as well. If it comes to pass that Pascal walks this summer as well then what other conclusion is there to make other than management values the cap space more than any attainable assets gained via a Pascal trade? Is his value that low or is cap space valued higher to their future plans?

Anyone know what the cap would look like for the Raps if Pascal walks?

About $20-21M if we keep OG's cap hold. $48M if we don't and let him walk as well. But we'd only have like 6 or 7 roster spots (even less if we let Malachi and Precious walk too).

Not really worth having cap space. Plus who are the top tier free agents we must have to build around Scottie with?

[planetmars]

^^ that's just very rough cap math by the way.

[Quirk]

I thought you said you'd stopped responding 3X already lol

Probably the most cogent comment you've ever made. Thanks

Update: I can't wait until we're closer to our next contention window and you to get say, see, I said Masai needs to "do better" and he's doing better! That's what I said he should do! What Analysis!

[golden]

I mean Fred's take wasn't at all what I was focusing on but it would seem he's still the focus for many here .

It was that management had this plan all along to build around Scottie, but didn't pull the trigger on trades for any of the guys they deemed expendable last trade deadline and let Fred walk in the summer. Now we're heading in the same direction with Pascal and possibly OG and Trent as well. If it comes to pass that Pascal walks this summer as well then what other conclusion is there to make other than management values the cap space more than any attainable assets gained via a Pascal trade? Is his value that low or is cap space valued higher to their future plans?

Anyone know what the cap would look like for the Raps if Pascal walks?

The other (most likely) conclusion is that management takes way too long to "evaluate" and "assess" their existing roster, to the point of running out of time & options.

Executives are paid specifically for their ability to forecast, plan and execute accordingly... not wait until the "evaluations" are obvious to all, and opportunities are missed, which would've been valuable to capitalize on, had the evaluations and assessments been correctly made much earlier. Waiting until everybody, including the ball boy, knows the results of the assessments, while losing optionality, are not what executives are hired to do.

[Primer]

Interesting that Masai basically told him that they are going to build around Scottie. So they knew the direction they wanted to go even back then, and knew it would impact Fred's decision in free agency, and still let him walk for nothing. And now they are sort of doing the same thing with Pascal with the "there will be no selfishness" comments and not offering an extension. I guess cap space is the goal?

Masai learned his lesson and is gonna trade Pascal during this season. Way more deals become possible Dec 15th, and then even more in early January where guys who extended at the beginning of free agency become trade eligible.

His gamble is assuming he will get a better offer than the Hawks offer from the offseason and I think that's a decent bet. Pascal is the best guy available via trade and there are gonna be a handful of teams looking to get better before the deadline.