Raptors want old Lowry, new game plan
Guard’s free agency is likely to leave Ujiri dealing with several weeks of what-ifs
The change might be sweeping or it might be subtle as Masai Ujiri seeks a “culture re-set” with the Toronto Raptors. It might involve players and it could involve coaching. But while the form and specifics remain undetermined, the one message to emerge from the team president Tuesday is that a franchise that has won 49, 56 and 51 games the past three seasons will be different next fall.
It may sound counter-productive to radically alter a team that remains among the elite in its conference but Ujiri sounds as if it’s imperative that some kind of summertime alteration is necessary.
“I had a good meeting with Dwane (Casey) this morning, and the style of play is something that we need to change, and I’ve made it clear,” Ujiri said.
That discussion wouldn’t have been contentious. Casey has said repeatedly in the last fortnight that the evolution of the NBA — to a game with more long-distance shooting, multi-faceted players and an emphasis on scoring rather that defence — is the direction in which the Raptors have to move.
And the fact the Raptors, despite a slow pace and little ball movement, had a top-10 rated offence is not enough for Ujiri. It’s how they achieve that goal.
“All I know is what we have been doing has not worked,” he said. “And I have to look at that, we have to take a serious look at that. Because we’ve tried it and tried it and tried it and tried it and you know what? It hasn’t taken us to the highest level. It’s gotten us to a good place as a team but it hasn’t worked for us.”
Ujiri said he has “100 per cent” commitment from ownership to go past the tax threshold if he thinks that’s the best way to advance. He also said he would have the blessing to take a longer-term look, to tear down immediately to go forward eventually.
“I think … we owe it to ownership, to the organization, to the fans,” he said of keeping all options open. “I think it’s something that we have to do, because sometimes when you look at it, what chances do you have now? And do you plan for five years from now? Those are some of the things we’ve looked at.”
But while it’s all well and good for Ujiri to talk in generalities and philosophy, part of the process is entirely out of his control. He’d like to have point guard and team engine Kyle Lowry back but the point guard will make that choice as a free agent this summer.
It has left Ujiri to deal in “what-ifs” until July.
“We want him back, he’s been a huge part of the success here but what is to say Kyle doesn’t call me five days from now and says, ‘You know what, I’m not coming,’” Ujiri said. “Then whatever I’ve said here doesn’t mean anything. So, yes, there is a domino effect there and we have to make the right decision.”
Ujiri’s large dose of competitiveness won’t allow him to simply cede the Eastern Conferece to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers for as long as James is operating at his current level. And there is every reason to think that might drive Ujiri to want to compete rather than retreat.
“If we are not doing that, then what are we doing? Where do we go? We should just sit down and not work?” he wondered.
“I am just not one of those guys (who just gives up). We are here to compete with them and find ways to compete with them.”
But through it all — the mystery that Lowry presents, the fallout from that, the consecutive 50-win seasons — the over-riding sense from Ujiri is that the team will be stylistically different in the fall.
“Now it’s time to address and see if we can move the ball more and figure out a way to pass the ball more to get better options,” he said. “And use the players that we have. I don’t think this is matter of changing players or anything like that. How do we change a little bit of how we play and how we approach the game?”