Everything Masai Ujiri

[Fully]

Masai has completely changed the Raptors franchise. Got a terrific deal for Bargnani, traded away Rudy, and this season traded for 2 players who have completely changed the culture of this team for a bench player, an injured player and picks. I don't get how he isn't higher.

To be fair, Masai is ranked 6th (and only a couple percentage points behind three of the teams ahead of him). It's not like they've got him in the twenties. Is he the sixth best GM in the league? The 3rd? The 5th? Does it really matter? It seems like we're hair splitting at this point and it's not worth being up in arms about. The message is clear - Masai is amongst the best executives in the league and that's ultimately what we should be excited about. His exact spot on the list is inconsequential. Like I said above, we'd have a beef if he was buried somewhere near the bottom of the ranks.

[golden]

I think we need to take the homer goggles off here and recognize that Ainge has accomplished way more than Masai. TBH, the only thing Masai has over Ainge recently is getting out of the first round (1 time) last year. Otherwise, past + positioning the franchise for the future favors Ainge by a landslide. In fact, the Celtics were in pseudo tank mode until recently, yet they kept winning because of Stevens - so hiring a top coach is yet another feather in Ainge's cap.

[MixxAOR]

Masai didn't exactly inherit a perfect situation. So much of Ainge's success is Nets' complete ineptitude

[lewro]

To be fair, Masai is ranked 6th (and only a couple percentage points behind three of the teams ahead of him). It's not like they've got him in the twenties. Is he the sixth best GM in the league? The 3rd? The 5th? Does it really matter? It seems like we're hair splitting at this point and it's not worth being up in arms about. The message is clear - Masai is amongst the best executives in the league and that's ultimately what we should be excited about. His exact spot on the list is inconsequential. Like I said above, we'd have a beef if he was buried somewhere near the bottom of the ranks.

But if you look at their measuring system it seems like Morey and Ainge are in the same tier and masai is a tier below. Disagree.

[lewro]

I think we need to take the homer goggles off here and recognize that Ainge has accomplished way more than Masai. TBH, the only thing Masai has over Ainge recently is getting out of the first round (1 time) last year. Otherwise, past + positioning the franchise for the future favors Ainge by a landslide. In fact, the Celtics were in pseudo tank mode until recently, yet they kept winning because of Stevens - so hiring a top coach is yet another feather in Ainge's cap.

Look at last yrs draft alone, Ainge had 6/60 picks - he controlled 10% of the entire draft. He got Jaylen which is decent but it's top 3 so he should do well and perhaps Murray or Chriss will be better. He missed repeatedly on juancho, Brogdon, Skal, etc. I understand that he needed to draft some stash picks and perhaps zizic and yabusele will be good but still, it's not a good eye for talent imo and if you have to stash so much and waive guys then you're really not captilizing on the peak value of these picks to get established talent. Masai is doing more with less imo. He should at least be in the same tier.

[golden]

Masai didn't exactly inherit a perfect situation. So much of Ainge's success is Nets' complete ineptitude

No bigger Masai fan than right here, but we have to then admit that most of our success is because of James Dolan's ineptitude when Masai had Lowry all but traded to the Knicks for Shumpert and picks, in part because Kyle was butting heads with Casey.

Look at last yrs draft alone, Ainge had 6/60 picks - he controlled 10% of the entire draft. He got Jaylen which is decent but it's top 3 so he should do well and perhaps Murray or Chriss will be better. He missed repeatedly on juancho, Brogdon, Skal, etc. I understand that he needed to draft some stash picks and perhaps zizic and yabusele will be good but still, it's not a good eye for talent imo and if you have to stash so much and waive guys then you're really not captilizing on the peak value of these picks to get established talent. Masai is doing more with less imo. He should at least be in the same tier.

Jaylen Brown is a solid pick in a weak draft. He reminds me of a young Derozan. He will be a good NBA player with a shot at all-star, if the work ethic is there. Poeltl isn't exactly a home run and Siakam looks just like the 2nd round reach he was on draft day, when higher upside guys like Skal and Davis were still on the board.

[blackjitsu]

No bigger Masai fan than right here, but we have to then admit that most of our success is because of James Dolan's ineptitude when Masai had Lowry all but traded to the Knicks for Shumpert and picks, in part because Kyle was butting heads with Casey.



Jaylen Brown is a solid pick in a weak draft. He reminds me of a young Derozan. He will be a good NBA player with a shot at all-star, if the work ethic is there. Poeltl isn't exactly a home run and Siakam looks just like the 2nd round reach he was on draft day, when higher upside guys like Skal and Davis were still on the board.

I agree on the assessment of Siakam, but, disagree on Poeltl. To become the backup Center on a legit playoff team as a rook is no small feat. He passed a young vet, and then held his spot despite trades. His role is very limited, but he does it well. Other rooks on worse teams are obviously going to be given bigger opportunities.

I lean towards agreeing with most of your argument, but lewro makes a great point about Ainge. For a team with obvious holes he could have made far more effort to use those picks to trade/draft for need. They still need secondary scoring and rebounding. The Celts are a bunch of PGs playing the 2, SFs Demar's size and PFs playing the 5. They're really really good, but, is that coaching? Chemistry? A GM who figured out how to make it all fit?

Interesting debate

[lewro]

No bigger Masai fan than right here, but we have to then admit that most of our success is because of James Dolan's ineptitude when Masai had Lowry all but traded to the Knicks for Shumpert and picks, in part because Kyle was butting heads with Casey.



Jaylen Brown is a solid pick in a weak draft. He reminds me of a young Derozan. He will be a good NBA player with a shot at all-star, if the work ethic is there. Poeltl isn't exactly a home run and Siakam looks just like the 2nd round reach he was on draft day, when higher upside guys like Skal and Davis were still on the board.

You can make pro/con arguments on either side of everyone of the guys you mentioned but there's still 5 more picks on Danny's board and 2 of them are 1sts. That's just the 2016 draft too. Jaylen, smart and Rozier are

[lewro]

(Oops) are the best he's done with all those picks, in all these yrs.
He did seal the deal with one of those picks to get IT but if not for that move, they probably don't get Horford and they're probably still a lottery team. Credit to him for making that trade but he's gotta do it again or use a pick to get an all star before I see him as clearly above masai.

[Chefff]

I think that a lot if people are failing to credit Ainge for creating the original big 3 (pierce, kg, allen) which won a title (almost 2) and then had those overvalued, aging assets which he shrewdly flipped into the current, highly favourable situation the C's are in. Credit where it's due.

All that said, fuck Boston.

[lewro]

I think that a lot if people are failing to credit Ainge for creating the original big 3 (pierce, kg, allen) which won a title (almost 2) and then had those overvalued, aging assets which he shrewdly flipped into the current, highly favourable situation the C's are in. Credit where it's due.

All that said, fuck Boston.

This is true. I am assumed it was based on the last 5 yrs. For example, Morey is 4th but some GMs below him have won championships and made deep runs. Masai's 4 yrs with the raps cant compete with Danny's 14 yrs with the Celts.

[slaw]

I judge Raps management teams (as I judge all management teams) by three things: first, do they have a strategic plan; second, and the first point is irrelevant without this one, are they actually able to implement the plan and get it to work; and, three, is the plan getting good results? By those measures, it seems to me that the Raps are in good hands at the moment.

[LJ2]

I think that a lot if people are failing to credit Ainge for creating the original big 3 (pierce, kg, allen) which won a title (almost 2) and then had those overvalued, aging assets which he shrewdly flipped into the current, highly favourable situation the C's are in. Credit where it's due.

All that said, fuck Boston.

They do these rankings yearly, so I assume it's based on this seasons performance and not what was done previously.

[DogeLover1234]

Maybe I missed this when it was talked about, but I was circling YouTube and found a pretty cool panel with Masai at this years Sloan Conference. Cool stuff around minutes 40 and 50 you may wanna checkout if you haven't seen this.

@40: Cool feel good story about Lowry and Fields

@50: Insight into the Ibaka deal, Masai says that the city, Kyle, Demar, etc. deserve to see what the team looks like with Ibaka in the playoffs, regardless of if they lose the pick for nothing. Also Masai mentions that with the new CBA he doesn't think you can really trade for a superstar, I get the impression he considers drafting to be essential for the future of the franchise, perhaps we see a big upside guy this year(?)

Overall, it seems like Masai believes that this team isn't going to best Golden State or Cleveland, but he has so much respect for Lowry, Derozan and the fans that he thinks he has to give them the best chance possible to put it all together, which is truly awesome imo.

EDIT: Cool bit from Scola at one point to, where he says essentially that Lowry left such a strong impression on him that Scola felt that he had to do whatever he could to make Lowry's life easier.

[Cody73]

The most underrated trade Ainge pulled off IMO was sending Rondo to Dallas for Jae Crowder (He received other stuff in that trade too, but Crowder was the big fish). Imagine Crowder on the Mavs in the place of Harrison Barnes right now.