‘I felt I had to take ownership’ of last season’s flawed team, GM says
Ten questions for Raptors president and general manager Masai Ujiri:
At the end of last season, you made a conscious decision to change the way the team plays. Was it hard to admit that last year’s team was flawed?
No, it wasn’t. After I studied it and evaluated it, it wasn’t hard at all. I felt I had to take ownership of that. It was flawed and we had to evaluate that. I don’t even know what we have with this team; they have to play, so you don’t know. Chemistry, fit and stuff, but we were not good defensively and we had to get better.
You’ve seen what the Blue Jays can do for a city with as good as they’ve gotten. Is it better for you guys to sort of fly under the radar with them going so well?
People ask these questions and, for me, all the teams in Toronto need to do well. There’s enough fans, enough people and I think it helps the other teams. Obviously, people saw the momentum when we made the playoffs and how people really galvanized and followed us. I think if helps when everybody wins. We’ve pumped up.
You brought in two Canadians in Cory (Joseph) and Anthony (Bennett) obviously for basketball reasons; did their passports factor into the decision at all?
It helps, you know. There’s nothing wrong with hometown talent and kids and those guys are. We said, when we do it it’s going to make sense for us and those guys made sense, absolute sense for us. I think you can see they are adapting well and hopefully they can continue to grow here.
Two years ago, it was “we’ve got to make the playoffs.” Last year it was “we’ve got to make the playoffs, win our division and go further.” We haven’t heard anything like that this year. Is that by design?
We’ve gotta play, gotta play, gotta play and win. That’s what sports is all about, that’s what the NBA is all about, there are 29 teams coming to try and kick your butt and we just have to play.
The schedule is tough, you’ve got 11 road games in November, two long trips. How taxing is that going to be?
It’s the same thing. It levels out at some point but it’s good to test teams that way. It’ll be tough for us but none of the players have complained about it or said anything, which tells me they are ready to get things going.
You’ve made a lot of changes to the assistant coaching staff, brought in three new guys in Rex Kalamian, Andy Greer and Jerry Stackhouse. What kind of impact do you think they might have?
Winning and the experience of winning. Rex is from OKC, Andy from Chicago, a defensive mentality, obviously, and Stackhouse brings toughness and winning and competitiveness to teach these young guys to go out there and compete.
We know the basketball benefits of having the D-League team close. Are there any other things about that franchise that you’re looking forward to?
We’re just unbelievably blessed to have a D-League team. We will grow, continue to build the front office, we’ll learn new things and experiment with new things. Our coaches will experiment and learn new things and so will our players.
You have the all-star game coming here in February. What benefits can come of that?
The biggest impact ever. It’s the first time outside the United States, I think it’s a platform for us to showcase our city, the people and how enjoyable it is to be here. It’s a great festival with the NBA, everybody is together in one place and it’s going to be in Toronto . . . it’s going to be amazing for us.
What are you most nervous about going into the season?
I’m not nervous about going into the season, I want the pre-season to end. But that’s why we’re here. There wouldn’t be general managers or people who manage businesses and manage people if there were no issues and problems. We don’t know what they are but they are going to come up and you live to expect them.
What excites you about this coming season?
I think what excites me is seeing all the hard work that everybody has put in. Look at Kyle, look at DeMar, DeMarre Carroll is excited, Jonas and Scola. And then the new guys as well and having that group of young guys like Bruno, Bebe, Delon, Norman and Bennett. For all of us, it’s just an exciting time to see these guys continue to grow . . . I know all of these guys are excited about the season.