FIXING THE RAPTORS
Key questions surrounding the Toronto Raptors off- season, and Masai Ujiri’s answers:
Will they try to re- sign Kyle Lowry?
It’s our jobs to try and get Kyle to come back and do it the best way that we possibly can. We want him back, he’s been a huge part of the success here but what’s to say Kyle doesn’t call me five days from now and says, you know what, I’m not coming.
Can the Raptors become an elite team without a superstar?
If we are not doing that, then what are we doing? Where do we go? We should just sit down and not work? I think we developed ourselves into being a top- four team last year. I think with a little bit of luck this year we could have been a top- four team if the bracket broke a little different …. We are here to compete with them and find ways to compete with them.
Is ownership OK with spending into the luxury tax for the first time in team history?
100 per cent. 100 per cent.
Is ownership OK with a teardown and rebuild if that’s the chosen route?
Yes. Yes. I’m going to build all the scenarios and put them in front of ownership …. We’re not afraid of that at all. Because it might be the right way to go, you never know. We’re really going to sit down and evaluate everything, and we’ll see where we go from there. Has he committed to Dwane Casey? My short answer to that, honestly, is yes there is commitment, but we are all going to question ourselves. We are all going to seriously question ourselves now, and figure out the best way to do it. Because coach Casey has been a phenomenal part of our success here, you know, and in some ways we owe that to him. But I’ve told him that we all have to be accountable.
How much does the decision on Lowry impact everything else?
First of all, it’s his decision, too. Kyle has to sign here. We can’t say that we will make the best decision because maybe he decides something else. Whatever, I feel strongly about our program. Whatever happens we are going to try our best to be the best in the NBA. Whatever happens in this league, you can’t run and hide under the table. We know what we are with him at his best. The last couple of months we saw that without him. We couldn’t gel, we didn’t have the time to, and maybe there’s something to giving that a chance.
On changing the style of play, why now?
Because we’ve done what we’ve done so many times and it hasn’t worked. That’s the simple answer. We can only try that so much, and it just hasn’t worked.