Raptors GM Masai Ujiri didn’t capture his second Executive of the Year trophy, but he was in the running.
The Executive of the Year voting was announced last night by the NBA, and the winner wasn’t our General Manager Masai Ujiri. He finished fourth in a close race won by San Antonio Spurs GM R.C. Buford.
Buford is a worthy winner. He should be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award, then removed from the annual ballot. The Spurs franchise under his watch is on the short list of the finest organizations in professional sports. Players take pay cuts to sign up as Spurs (cf. David West) because they figure their chances of winning an NBA Championship are better there than anywhere else.
Between Buford and Masai were Portland’s Neil Olshey and Golden State’s Bob Myers. I’ve no issue with Olshey’s ranking. He remade a Trail Blazers roster which had been shredded by the loss of four starters and turned it into a playoff team when every prognosticator had them struggling to win 30 games. They are still alive despite facing the Warriors in Round 2.
I’m quite surprised by Myers’ sliding into third place. Obviously, a team which wins a league-record 73 games is doing more than a few things right, but the award is given every year. Myers didn’t do anything marvelous this year – he didn’t need to. The critical elements of Warriors success (Curry, Thompson, Green, Bogut and a fine bench) were already in place. While I understand how important it can be to do nothing, I don’t think stasis is worthy of recognition.
Masai gets votes for not putting a foot wrong. He signed DeMarre Carroll, a prize free agent, and saved Bismack Biyombo’s career by bringing him on board after Charlotte decided they had spent enough time and energy on him. Luis Scola joined the Raptors as a cheap free agent, and he’s been serviceable.
For my money, Masai’s biggest coup occurred on draft night. He selected Delon Wright with the #20 pick, and as part of the Greivis Vasquez trade, acquired Norman Powell with the #46 pick. Both of these young men have already proven themselves as legitimate NBA players, and will shoulder additional responsibilities for our team in the years ahead.
Neither one is a star in the making. But acquiring two players late in any draft who play meaningful minutes on a successful team is exceedingly rare.
We still have the Milwaukee Bucks’ 2017 first-round pick on its way as the major component of the Vasquez trade.
Not everything worked out. Anthony Bennett was a huge disappointment, but the Raptors didn’t have much invested in him, either financially or in terms of assets surrendered. I don’t even consider Bennett a blot on Masai’s record, more a flyer that didn’t pay off.
This isn’t the time or place for a full review of Masai’s moves this past season; that will happen when we examine everyone’s 2015-16 performance in the summer. I merely wanted to call attention to the fact our GM’s moves were well-regarded by NBA observers.
There’s a solid foundation in place for long-term Raptors success. Could our organization one day be viewed as Spurs North?