Many NBA executives won’t admit their team is in rebuild mode. Not Raptors president Masai Ujiri. He stated the obvious at Raptors media day.
“I would use the word rebuilding. That’s the right word,” Ujiri said, per Michael Grange of Sportsnet. “I think we have a clear path now going forward. … I think we set a path (when) we went into the draft last year and got a couple of young players and we want to continue to grow and build this team around Scottie (Barnes), who is 23 years old. … So, yes, in sports, you always want to be competitive, and you play to win. We’re going to play to win. But it is a rebuilding team. I think everybody sees that loud and clear.”
Even players like Jakob Poeltl know that the franchise is looking toward the future, rather than the upcoming season.
“We’re all aware of the situation. We had a massive change in the team since the middle of last season. So we know that we’re starting somewhere in the beginning,” Poeltl said. “We’re definitely capable of winning some games (but) I know that’s not the main focus for us … this has to be a long-term project. I think we all know, we’re not going to go attack the championship this year. It makes no sense for us to try to win every single game as much as we can and sacrifice development in terms of that.”
We have more on the Raptors:
- Speaking of Barnes, he’s currently not with the team, but Toronto fans can relax. He’s attending to a personal matter and will rejoin the team later this week, Blake Murphy of Sportsnet tweets.
- Rogers Communications chairperson Edward Rogers, whose company is assuming majority control of the Raptors, reportedly opposed Ujiri’s five-year contract in 2021, but Ujiri said any tension between him and Rogers has long since vanished, according to The Athletic’s Eric Koreen. “Every time something comes up: (MLSE doesn’t bid for a team in the) WNBA, ‘Whoa, it’s Masai versus Edward.’ Any small thing that comes — clear that,” Ujiri said. “There’s nothing. There’s zero. Zero going on. OK? They’ve treated me well. I will keep going like that till we (cannot). For me, that’s my job. Guess what: I know I’m going to be judged on the way I do this job. And that’s that’s the way we’re going to be judged — on what happens on the basketball court.”
- First-round pick Ja’Kobe Walter provided a positive update on his right shoulder sprain that he suffered in September, according to Murphy. “I get out of the sling (Tuesday), and then I’ll start my rehab, work on my movement stuff. So I should be back pretty soon,” he said. “Probably won’t be doing anything on-court for this next week-and-a-half, for sure. But still, I’ll be doing my strength and mobility work during that time. I should probably be back in, like, three weeks.” Walter said he’ll try to use training camp as a learning experience. “I can look at it a different way. I can work on my left hand. I can watch a lot more film,” he said. “I can still learn in a lot of different ways, and get better, that they’re not doing while they’re training, I can still be doing something else that they’re not doing.”
Ujiri should just call it “The Process Redux”.
Who knows, 10 or so years from now, they can be a perennial loser in the 2nd round of the playoffs.
Only 5 years removed from a title … they deserve more slack right now than most franchises. At least they’re picking a direction.
Still better than perennial losers in the first round. Also, don’t forget that it hasn’t been too long since they won a title, unlike some other perennial losers in the second round
Relax fellas…. it’s obvious that I dump on the Morey team than Ujiri’s.
Disappointing to hear raptor players say “It makes no sense for us to try to win every single game”.
They are coming off one of the greatest decades in the NBA. The 2nd most wins. Multiple divisions (if you value that) and a chip. Hard for this fanbase to complain.
What King Masai is really saying … I’m toast when Edward Rogers takes over the franchise. God bless King Edward!!!
Only in the NBA would a top team executive need to be careful in saying their team is rebuilding, fearing it will be interpreted as tanking. Teams in all sports have engaged in rebuilding forever. Tanking is a relatively recent thing (past 2o years or so), and pretty much limited to the NBA, owing to a bloated league and a shallow talent base. One could question whether tanking is even a form of rebuilding (since its not a form of “building”, more like a form demolition), but it certainly shouldn’t be equated with it.
Sam Hinkie disagrees…
We shall see.,
Should have traded Bruce this past summer.