Roster a work in progress for Ujiri
Lowry and Ibaka locked up, but GM is still working to reshape his supporting cast
Masai Ujiri has chosen a path — in part because it was chosen for him — and now must determine his next step.
On the day the Raptors president officially welcomed back point guard Kyle Lowry and forward Serge Ibaka, creating a three-year window for his team to remain among the elite in the NBA’s Eastern Conference, the next moves — filling a hole or two and solving some roster redundancies — were foremost on his mind.
“We’re going to try to figure out how we can get a couple guys in to help our basketball team, we’ll see,” Ujiri said after securing the signa- tures on contracts for Lowry (three years, up to $100 million) and Ibaka (three years, $65 million).
“I can’t say too much because we’re in the middle of trying to do it. I wish I could give you guys names but there are 29 other teams, too.”
The Raptors president is dealing with any number of scenarios that have to do deal with financial issues and a roster imbalance. Ujiri is trying to find a way to ease the positional logjam by finding takers for centre Jonas Valanciunas (who plays the same position that Ibaka prefers) or Cory Joseph (to save some money and allow Delon Wright to ascend to the backup point guard role) or, to a lesser degree, DeMarre Carroll (who remains a key piece at small forward with the departure of P.J. Tucker).
Sources indicate Ujiri is having ongoing discussions with a handful of teams but, until everything’s settled around the league, it’s difficult to make a deal.
Ujiri decided to keep a competitive team right near the top of the Eastern Conference as the NBA freeagent frenzy started playing itself out. “I can’t say we’re not happy to see a couple of all-stars go to the West,” he said.
Getting Lowry and Ibaka on contracts of the same length and having them benefit from a full season together rather than just the four regular-season games they had last season has to help.
“With training camp, with a couple of things we want to do, we see ourselves as having a chance,” Ujiri said. “The way we’ve constructed it now, we’re on a two- or three-year plan and if that doesn’t work, then we know what to do.
“Now, I believe in our players and we’re going to do what’s best for the team.”
That will include finding playing time for the team’s young players, among them Wright, Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam and draft pick OG Anonuby. Even if Ujiri can shed salary to give Toronto the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception of about $8.4 million rather than the taxpayer exception of about $5.2 million, finding someone who is an upgrade to the existing roster and important enough to stunt the development of the kids on the roster will be difficult.
So he is willing to go with Lowry and Ibaka on the same timeline as DeMar DeRozan, if need be.
“I don’t know where else we’re going, it’s going to be limited where else we can go,” Ujiri said. “The trade market will open up a little bit as (other NBA deals) filter down but those guys have to step up and I think they’re up for the task.”