Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri spoke to the media on Friday following the dismissal of head coach Nick Nurse.
While Ujiri didn’t give a concrete reason as to why he felt it was time to go in a different direction, he said that “complacency” and “selfishness” were season-long problems for the team, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Ujiri also said he didn’t enjoy watching the Raptors play in 2022/23.
“You could see it throughout the year. There was never that full excitement. There was never that full spirit,” said Ujiri. “There was never that (feeling) of togetherness. We all saw it. You all saw it. It’s not something we are making up here… It’s not one person or one finger to point. I’m not pointing the finger at Nick. I have to take responsibility for this, too. As the leader of this organization, I will do that. It wasn’t us. This year wasn’t us. I think everybody saw that.”
Another factor in the decision was Nurse’s reluctance to play young bench players, Grange notes. Ujiri still believes there’s talent among the group, but they weren’t given much of an opportunity to learn on the go.
“…All the young players we have, I think one of the things we talked about was maybe utilizing some of these players a little bit more,” said Ujiri. “Like giving them room to actually show if they have or if they don’t have (it). I think we didn’t do so well with that this year. I think that hurt us some in developing our young players.”
Here’s more on the Raptors:
- There were other internal issues as well. A rival assistant coach tells Grange that Toronto’s coaching staff was known as being “less than cohesive.” Grange suggests “sweeping changes” to Nurse’s staff were likely even if he had kept his job. That aligns with reporting from Doug Smith of The Toronto Star (Twitter link), who hears from league sources that the Raptors have been interviewing potential assistant coaches this week in anticipation of a “mass exodus.”
- Nurse was also reluctant to be the “bad guy” at times. A player tells Grange that Ujiri was often the one responsible for speaking to the team after listless performances this season, not Nurse.
- Still, Nurse likely won’t have any issues finding a new head coaching job, and the poor results in 2022/23 don’t fall solely on him. “If he wants a job, he’ll get a job,” a rival general manager told Grange.
- Ujiri believes more changes are necessary to get the team heading in the right direction, and that starts with himself, per John Chidley-Hill of The Canadian Press (link via The Toronto Star). “Look at the roster maybe in a different way. We have to figure out shooting on this roster in some kind of way. We have to figure out who fits and who doesn’t fit,” said Ujiri. “On the overall, maybe manage people better. Maybe see things a little bit deeper because when we hire people I let them do their jobs. That’s been a strength of ours the last 10 years here but I pay attention now a little bit more.”
- Ujiri praised trade deadline acquisition Jakob Poeltl, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca. Ujiri referred to Poeltl as a top-10 center in the NBA and believes his high basketball IQ and playing style make him a “championship piece,” per Murphy.
- The longtime president expects forward Otto Porter Jr. to return next season — he holds a $6.3MM player option for 2023/24, according to Grange (Twitter link). Ujiri also said the Raptors plan to hang on to two-way guard Jeff Dowtin despite not converting his contract to a standard deal at the end of ’22/23.
- As for being linked to the Wizards‘ new front office vacancy following the dismissal of Tommy Sheppard, Ujiri says he’s not going anywhere. “I’m going to be right here, [Toronto],” he said (Twitter link via Grange). As Grange notes, Ujiri still has three years remaining on his contract.
Lol, like the Raptors will be good again sometime soon. Drop the ego. Lucky to sniff the playoffs next 5 years.
Raptors may not win next year, in fact they should actively tank at the very least (trade Siakam and FVV -sign trade fvv) getting Barnes and OG as the focal points of this team is the foundation for another championship in 2-4 years
Okay literally nobody LOL
Poetl is a championship piece if he is on the contract(he is on now). Not 20m+ a season. Dude isn’t a threat outside 3 ft.
Bad move here
Leonard the most important raptor ever
all comments should be monitored before they are allowed to be posted. the great1 should be banned from posting.
Just mute him. It’s literally that easy
There’s too many guys who need the ball to succeed on that team. You can’t have Barnes, OG and Pascal starting together. Can’t get the best out of them with that lineup. I would look for a low maintenance point and trade Pascal. Let OG and Barnes cook. Maybe resign Poetl if it’s reasonable. Freddie should not be considered for a return.
Nurse is nothing more than a cheerleader. Toronto won that championship riding Kawhi coat tails
Kawahi handled all the offense. But you have to give credit to Nurse for his defensive schemes.
Nurse coached well without Leonard. You have to have an alpha to win a title.
Nurse did a good job, but like almost all coaches, there is a short lifespan that their voice is effective in the room before it’s not.
The Raps won’t need to rebuild, they’ll be able to retool. No one still under contract has a bloated salary for their production. Overrated or not, Siakim can be an excellent number two option on a winning team, and he’s paid like one. Letting Fred walk and having the flexibility of moving Barnes to the point where he played in college gives them multiple options they can explore. OG could also be moved for some good assets, especially making less than $20M in 23-24.
Nurse turned into a Thibs after the title year… Running the starters into the ground and giving next to nothing to the reserves…
He’s going to have to change that if he wants to last at his next stop…
Interestingly, all the criticisms Ujiri makes against Nurse could also be leveled at Billy Donovan of the Bulls, but of course he apparently has a lifetime job.
Raptors need a couple veterans with good leadership skills and the right coach and they will be back in it. If Uniri is smart the hire Udoka
This is a feeble statement. Ujiri purports to take responsiblilty as the guy in charge (as though that’s optional), but none for the roster he constructed. In fact, he pats himself on the back for it, from the talented young players he’s accumulated to his deadline move. The problems were all about things he delegated to others, principally Nurse. But, no worries, he’ll be focused on them now. He did say that “we” (presumably that now includes him after others screwed the pooch as they did) need to figure out shooting with the group. You’d think he could at least own that. Hard to imgaine that was heretofore delegated to Nurse too.
I can’t help but feel that Ujiri has been highly distracted by his Giants of Africa program. He needs to seriously refocus on the Raptors, otherwise he may as well leave.
I have no idea how a player on the bench in TO can stay motivated playing for a coach like Nurse. In TO development is the franchise calling card and Nurse has been butting heads with Ujiri about roles and rotations, and he keeps playing his starters more than Dantoni and Thibs, but who do you bench? Masai is to blame as well, staying stagnant for too long with an unbalanced roster, but I can’t blame him if he can’t evaluate young players or increase their trade value because the coach doesn’t play them. I wanted to see VV traded at the 2022 deadline and since then have become increasingly disinterested. Sacramento was shopping Haliburton and I had hoped something like Van Vleet/OG for Haliburton/Holmes would’ve happened. More changes need to be made to solidify Barnes’s place with this franchise. With little room in the frontcourt I would love to see an experiment with him as the starting point guard.