Everything Masai Ujiri

[G____Deane]

I don't see it as a big deal. He traded Derozan for a superstar when one became available. He could have a hard time doing it, but he did it.

Yes, most people think he should have traded Pascal, OG and Fred last season. Maybe he should have.

I'd have an issue if he didn't trade them and said can't trade these guys, they mean too much to the team.

Fair enough.
I'm just saying that being pals and loving your players and semi-prioritizing where they were born to the point of crying when you trade them may be heart warming for feels but potentially puts you in a bad position when the #1 goal (there is no #2) is to make the team better. I want zero thought as to whether you like them clouding your judgement.

[MixxAOR]

Somebody on Reddit said "Only winners get to play with friends" and ain't that the truth lol

[golden]

The front office showed a lot of loyalty to players and coaches who helped create the greatest era of Raptors basketball. It didn't work out. And it had its costs. Sometimes you pay the price and sometimes you get rewarded. Sometimes it doesn't matter at all what you do. But it is what it is and I'm not going to get worked up about it.

I do find all this talk of ruthlessness and cutthroat business and all of that a little funny as my experience has been that most of the people who talk like that sing a very different tune when it comes time to walk their talk. Certainly everywhere I have been, those type of decisions are incredibly difficult to make and people don't do so without careful consideration, lots of planning and efforts to make things work out.

The issue is the timeline Masai took to execute that careful consideration & planning... nobody is saying to make rash, cutthroat decisions. The bigger problem was that he truly believed in the FVV/Siakam/OG core for way too long. In some ways, focusing on the emotional attachment to his players distracts away from the real issue: the poor judgment and the excessive time it took to "evaluate" their championship calibre potential. A long evaluation period and wasting FRPs to support them wasn't necessary - nobody in the NBA took that core seriously. And then there's the Project 6-9 fiasco on top of the poor judgment evaluating the core.

[slaw]

The front office showed a lot of loyalty to players and coaches who helped create the greatest era of Raptors basketball. It didn't work out. And it had its costs. Sometimes you pay the price and sometimes you get rewarded. Sometimes it doesn't matter at all what you do. But it is what it is and I'm not going to get worked up about it.

I do find all this talk of ruthlessness and cutthroat business and all of that a little funny as my experience has been that most of the people who talk like that sing a very different tune when it comes time to walk their talk. Certainly everywhere I have been, those type of decisions are incredibly difficult to make and people don't do so without careful consideration, lots of planning and efforts to make things work out.

[chris]

Relationships matter in every facet life.... there's no argument there. Kudos to Masai for being a compassionate leader.

However, relationships can also create blind spots and biases, which makes them harmful to doing your job. We've all seen that in our work environments. This is clearly the case with Masai, and he makes no bones about it. It came across as being over the top and cringey, tbh.

Even worse was Masai chastising & admonishing the press corp with stuff like: "....you don't know Pascal, like I know Pascal!". Basically STFU. That was way out of pocket and uncalled for. Nobody deserved that, and that wasn't s there to hear that yesterday... it should've been a brief thank you to Pascal, OG, Malachi & Precious, and then on to the state of team and future. Masai looked like he had lost the plot. He was also being defensive for mis-handling Pascal's UFA.

over the top and cringey is your perspective (not you personally as there are others who apparently found it cringey as well), but that's not how it was received by myself or much of the fanbase, like LU pointed out.

i didn't read the "you don't know pascal like i do" stuff as admonishing anybody, really. english is not his first language and he doesn't always articulate things like you or i would. i think he was just trying to stress what a difficult decision it was for him since he's known pascal since he was a kid.

also not convinced he fumbled the bag of pascal's free agency as badly as it's made out to be. i think haralabob's reaction to the trade probably provides some insight into just how much trepidation a lot of front offices had about giving out a max contract to pascal, so maybe he wouldn't have had much more value on an extended deal. there was a shams interview in the trade thread where he went over the offers out there in the summer, and it didn't sound like we missed out on a much better deal or anything. is hunter griffin and a pick better than brown nwora lewis and three picks? you could argue either way based on personal preference (i prefer brown and 3 picks) but those offers are on par.

so if he fumbled anything it was not trading pascal in scottie's rookie or sophomore years. but a lot of ppl didn't want to trade him at the time.

my main criticism of his presser is the whole surprise at scottie's leap this year stuff. i don't think that was unforeseeable, and have personally been calling for scottie to be put in better positions to succeed since last year.

but most posters here have just been rolling their eyes at that shit too so he's not the only one who didn't see it coming. (i'm also not entirely convinced he didn't see it coming, and was maybe using it as justification for hanging onto pascal and OG, or that he meant he didn't see it coming this soon)

[Kagemusha]

Relationships matter in every facet life.... there's no argument there. Kudos to Masai for being a compassionate leader.

However, relationships can also create blind spots and biases, which makes them harmful to doing your job. We've all seen that in our work environments. This is clearly the case with Masai, and he makes no bones about it. It came across as being over the top and cringey, tbh.

Even worse was Masai chastising & admonishing the press corp with stuff like: "....you don't know Pascal, like I know Pascal!". Basically STFU. That was way out of pocket and uncalled for. Nobody deserved that, and that wasn't s there to hear that yesterday... it should've been a brief thank you to Pascal, OG, Malachi & Precious, and then on to the state of team and future. Masai looked like he had lost the plot. He was also being defensive for mis-handling Pascal's UFA.

I agree.
It has to be a nice balance.
The reason people turn down managerial positions is because they hate being sandwiched in between the owners and their staff.

[Limited Upside]

Relationships matter in every facet life.... there's no argument there. Kudos to Masai for being a compassionate leader.

However, relationships can also create blind spots and biases, which makes them harmful to doing your job. We've all seen that in our work environments. This is clearly the case with Masai, and he makes no bones about it. It came across as being over the top and cringey, tbh.

Even worse was Masai chastising & admonishing the press corp with stuff like: "....you don't know Pascal, like I know Pascal!". Basically STFU. That was way out of pocket and uncalled for. Nobody deserved that, and that wasn't s there to hear that yesterday... it should've been a brief thank you to Pascal, OG, Malachi & Precious, and then on to the state of team and future. Masai looked like he had lost the plot. He was also being defensive for mis-handling Pascal's UFA.

You saw the press conference differently than the vast majority of Raptors fans, in that case.

[golden]

i thought masai's presser was great and i for one am happy not to have an emotionally void robot treating the players solely as assets.

i think those relationships do matter in setting the culture of an organization even if they don't necessarily influence free agency decisions directly or whatever.

Relationships matter in every facet life.... there's no argument there. Kudos to Masai for being a compassionate leader.

However, relationships can also create blind spots and biases, which makes them harmful to doing your job. We've all seen that in our work environments. This is clearly the case with Masai, and he makes no bones about it. It came across as being over the top and cringey, tbh.

Even worse was Masai chastising & admonishing the press corp with stuff like: "....you don't know Pascal, like I know Pascal!". Basically STFU. That was way out of pocket and uncalled for. Nobody deserved that, and that wasn't s there to hear that yesterday... it should've been a brief thank you to Pascal, OG, Malachi & Precious, and then on to the state of team and future. Masai looked like he had lost the plot. He was also being defensive for mis-handling Pascal's UFA.

[chris]

i thought masai's presser was great and i for one am happy not to have an emotionally void robot treating the players solely as assets.

i think those relationships do matter in setting the culture of an organization even if they don't necessarily influence free agency decisions directly or whatever.

[A.I]

It's exactly not a different conversation. 100% one tied to the other, couldn't be more related. It potentially goes to signings and draft picks as well.

I don't see it as a big deal. He traded Derozan for a superstar when one became available. He could have a hard time doing it, but he did it.

Yes, most people think he should have traded Pascal, OG and Fred last season. Maybe he should have.

I'd have an issue if he didn't trade them and said can't trade these guys, they mean too much to the team.

[G____Deane]

I mean thats what hes doing by trading them. You can argue he should have traded them sooner, but thats a different conversation.

It's exactly not a different conversation. 100% one tied to the other, couldn't be more related. It potentially goes to signings and draft picks as well.

[A.I]

How many times have you seen an NBA executive crying over trading a player?
It's not necessarily a fault but does call into question your objectivity in making trades to better your team.

At that point, who cares if you think they're good people or where they were born?
Do your job

I mean thats what hes doing by trading them. You can argue he should have traded them sooner, but thats a different conversation.

[G____Deane]

SN:
Ideally trading a player of Siakam’s calibre would provide a considerable kickstart in that process, but in this case, not really.

The Raptors walk away with two picks in the latter half of the 2024 draft which is projected to be historically weak. "Awful," was how one Eastern Conference general manager described it. Even Ujiri wasn’t trying to sugar-coat it. He may end up with three first-round picks this summer but acknowledges he’s likely not going to use them.

“I believe in our [front office] team and what we do, and I think we’re going to make best use of it,” said Ujiri. “Are we going to take three picks in that draft? I strongly doubt it. That’s not the plan for now, but I think we’ll make good use and scout it the best possible way we can.”

[G____Deane]

Thats the thing. We're talking about people who we only see on screen throwing a ball around and doing interviews.

Coaches, players, front office execs, they know each other personally and some are even friends. Yes, you should keep business and personal life separate, which is why Masai made the trades. Doesn't mean I'll judge him for saying he had a hard time doing it.

How many times have you seen an NBA executive crying over trading a player?
It's not necessarily a fault but does call into question your objectivity in making trades to better your team.

At that point, who cares if you think they're good people or where they were born?
Do your job

[planetmars]

Listening to podcasts after trades .. OG is just amazing the New York media just is just gushing over him .. Indiana is so excited they have a all star / all NBA forward and is going to do amazing things for the Pacers .. Scottie is somebody people say should be an all star .. All this and these 3 together were leading the team to a lottery position .. I am just saying having 3 great players ( which eveyone is talking about ) should result in great results ..

It's also a team sport. And management didn't give those guys a proper bench or even a starting caliber big for a long time. If they had to trade Goran because he was useless.. then why trade him for Thad? Why not Jak or Turner at that time? That 48 win team would likely be a 53 win team. And the following year might not have looked like a lost season.

It's a lot of what if's but you need to always surround your talent with the right pieces. And management didn't and failed there.

Hope they don't repeat their mistakes with Scottie now.