Stealing Raptors prez would be a home run
to. And he has won virtually every trade, twice crushing the Knicks. He is demanding of coaches, as was Jackson. But as a rival exec said, “He’s less egomaniacal and willing to listen.”
Sounds too good to be true, right? It might be.
Ujirih as a better team in Toronto—a much better team if free agent Kyle Lowry stays. Ujiri signed a five-year extension in the fall. He likes the autonomy in Toronto, which, while not as big a market as New York, isn’t Mayberry, either. But give it a shot, Knicks. If you put enough money on the table, who knows?
“I would be shocked if he took it. He has a good gig there, he runs his own show. He has an owner who stays in the background,” one league source said. “I don’t think he’d want a chaotic situation.”
Chaotic? The Knicks? Hey, they made the playoffs. Not under Jackson, but they made the playoffs. And what’s chaotic about f iring your president three days before free agency and six days after he made your lottery draft pick?
But if the Knicks are determined, they should try, offering sound compensation, if for no other reason than to ensure they never deal with him again.
Quick refresher course: Ujiri traded Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks for half their roster, the gross national product of Sweden and an apparent promise to corroborate on at least one more lopsided trade in the future.
That subsequent deal — which until the Nets cozied up on a phone call with Boston’s Danny Ainge on draft night 2013 — was the poster child for worst basketball trade in New York since, well, ever.
The Knicks got Andrea Bargnani with two years left on his deal at $11.5 million and $11.8 million, for Marcus Camby, Quentin Richardson, Steve Novak, a 2016 first-round pick, and two secondrounders, in 2014 and 2017. Bargnani played 71 games in two years for the Knicks, averaging 13.9 points. The Knicks won 37, then 17 games with Bargnani. The Raptors won 48 and 49, making the playoffs each year. Yeah, take that Masai Ujiri. One irony is Ujiri traded Anthony, who wanted out of Denver and wanted New York. With that narrow window, Ujiri, in a three-team deal that included Minnesota, still fetched Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, a 2014 first-round pick and second- rounders in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
The Raptors, under Ujiri, have been a playoff team in all four of his seasons, reaching the Eastern Finals last year. With Denver, the Nuggets made the playoffs in each of his three years and he earned Executive of the Year in 2012-13 after a 57-win campaign. The Nuggets, though, never got out of the first round.
In New York, just make the playoffs and you’re a god. Under Jackson, the Knicks barely made March before being eliminated from playoff contention.
Ujiri, to the average New Yorker, might best be known as the exec who famously shouted “F--Brooklyn” to frenzied playoff fans outside Air Canada Centre in 2014. He apologized, was fined, but has yet to wear an “I (heart) Brooklyn” T-shirt. Nets players had claimed they wanted Toronto.
“I have to stand up for my team, my organization, my city and the country Canada,” Ujiri said. “We’re not going to sit down here and just be bullied by anybody and be thrown around by anybody.”
Sounds like a guy the Knicks need. Good luck trying to get him.