The Raptors lost in the play-in tournament and parted ways with their head coach, but comments from president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri at last week’s press conference indicate that he believes the team is close enough to being a contender that he won’t try to rebuild, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.
Ujiri emphasized the parity throughout the league this season, noting that 26 teams still had a path to the playoffs heading into the final two weeks. He also pointed out that Toronto was 15-10 after acquiring Jakob Poeltl from the Spurs at the trade deadline.
“I think Jakob has a lot of high basketball IQ and he’s a pass-first center,” Ujiri said. “I call players like that a championship piece because you can put him on any of the teams (still playing) except the one’s that already have great centers. But you can put a player like that on that team and he fits in right away.”
Grange notes that Ujiri appears to have more belief in the Raptors’ future than Nick Nurse, who didn’t seem to mind being replaced as head coach with a year left on his contract, or Ime Udoka, who accepted an offer from the Rockets on Monday without giving Toronto an interview.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be changes this summer. Ujiri faces significant decisions on potential free agents Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr. and Otto Porter Jr. as well as possible trades involving Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby, but he seems to believe the organization is capable of turning around quickly.
“We’ve got to build spirit back here, the culture, those things that bring us together to move like we’ve always done here. We need that back,” Ujiri said. “This is very crucial for us. With our culture here, I’ll continue to say that. It’s very vital for us to have incredible energy that lifts people and gets us to work together.”
There’s more from Toronto:
- The Raptors don’t appear close to finding their next coach, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports. Udoka’s deal with the Rockets takes away the presumed leading candidate, so the team may wait to see if any prominent coaches unexpectedly become available as the postseason plays out. Lewenberg notes that Ujiri wants to have his next coach in place before the draft, so the process could take up to two months.
- The front office sounds willing to shake things up, but the Raptors will be working with a few limitations, per Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. Toronto doesn’t have an obvious path to clear cap room, leaving the team with just the $10MM mid-level exception to pursue free agents. The Raptors’ first-round pick is likely to be in the late lottery, and they don’t have a second-rounder this year and probably won’t have a first-round selection in 2024.
- In another Toronto Star story (subscription only), Smith takes an inside look at what went wrong during Nurse’s final season as head coach.
Poetl is a championship piece with the salary he is making now. NOT 20m+ per year.
Disagree, he’s well worth over 20M+ per year. Look at comparable.pkayers making much, much more. Poeltl is elite on defense and very underrated. Compare Poeltl’s next deal, to Gobert’s, for example.
He’s worth that , but not on a championship team…
It a triple threat match of denial between the Wizards, Bull and Raptors
Guys, you aren’t going anywhere. Unless you want to fight for a play-in spot (at best) for the next decade, blow it up.
I think you can also include the Clippers on that denial list as well. Not in terms of play-in aspirations, but championship aspirations. They can’t even get HALF a season of good health from their two best players and they still think that they’re going to magically flip a switch in the playoffs.
Completely agree, plus Indy, Det and ORL are about to pass each of them, either this year or next.
I disagree about TOR. Last year they won 48 games. It’s not like they lost anybody or any of their core players are over the hill. I think they are similar to what the Celtics were in a couple years ago. TOR just needs a good coach.
What are you talking about? Our core is older and not as talented as Bostons. NBA players peak early in their life not as they approach 30.
TOR needs to reset their timeline with players on Scotties timeline assuming he enters his peak at 24. We don’t want to turn into POR or WAS amd waste those years. It would be a mistake to run it back.
Ujiri is doubling down on his position that his roster is great, he just has to find a HC smart enough to realize it. Ujiri might need to accept that there are more people thinking like Nurse, than thinking like him, on the point, but, then again, he only needs to find one.
IMO, it’s ashame, because the roster has some real individual talent. But its too poorly configured to show itself in team success. Remedying that starts with recognizing it. Not BS about spirit.
Ime was what they really needed. All they need is a coach with really good leadership skills. I would look into either Sam Cassell or Jerry Stackhouse. Not sure if Stackhouse wants to leave where he’s at but he has done a really good job and I think he would be a great mentor for Scottie Barnes.
Their roster is pretty good. But they are missing a good floor general. I like Vanvleet. He’s a dog but he just doesn’t have the floor management skills. I would look at Ish Smith. He wouldn’t be a long term solution but he’s someone to start with for what they can afford. I would also look at Schroeder, especially if they can bring in Sam Cassell. He’s a wild card, but if the rest of the team runs floor, he can be very effective. I might even think about trading Vanvleet for Mike Conley if the deal is right. Maybe Vanvleet for Conley, McDaniels and a pick.
I also think they need some more mentorship for Barnes. I would look at Rudy Gay. He was never really a star, but he was projected to be and he was the best player on a team before. He could actually be the perfect guy because he had to transform his game over the years. He started out as a bit of a selfish player and then learned to became a player who impact the game without the ball.
Jama for next HC!
Missed out on Udoka imo. And I commend the Rockets. Nice move. Udoka knows the East. The division.
Udoka had 2 first team caliber All NBA stars in Boston along with a very deep, well rounded roster built to win. Let’s hold off on anointing him the next Pop.