Masai Ujiri’s to-do list: Raptors boss has lots of work
By Brian Boake
The Raptors fell hard in the playoffs once again, and appear further away from a championship than at this time last year. What will Masai Ujiri do?
The season ended abruptly and disappointingly for the Toronto Raptors on Sunday afternoon. In a result as wretched as the recent weather, our team couldn’t muster a single victory in its second-round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
For Masai Ujiri, the too-soon arrival of the off-season means no slackening of the workload. In fact, he and his team are going to be run off their feet this summer.
Free Agents – Stay or go?
Masai’s biggest issue will be a decision on whether he wants to keep the gang together as much as possible, or if he’s seen enough.
An issue which is in his face like a high-beam flashlight is what to do about our plethora of Unrestricted Free Agents.
There are four of them. In order of importance to the Raptors of next season and beyond they are:
- Kyle Lowry
- Serge Ibaka
- P.J. Tucker
- Patrick Patterson
There’s an argument to be made that the retention or loss of Kyle Lowry will determine the path to be taken by the team, and by the other three. Our point guard has made official what everyone knew was inevitable by opting out of the final year of his contract to test the free agent market.
If Kyle walks, the team is weaker, but the financial situation is dramatically improved. In a piece about the Raptors, ESPN’s Zach Lowe speculates about whether Masai should offer Kyle a 5-year, $200 million monster deal, but suggests ownership will balk at climbing too high into the luxury tax.
If you want to play, you’ve got to pay
At the risk of straying too far from the issue, I’m not worried about MLSE (Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment – the Raptors’ owner) footing big payments to players. MLSE sells its “products” to itself. Bell Enterprises and Rogers Communications own 75% of MLSE. Those two companies need the Raptors and other MLSE entities like the Maple Leafs to generate content for broadcasting. Winning teams produce bigger viewership numbers, which means more advertising bucks. The success of the Raps and Leafs recently has created a virtuous circle for MLSE.
I believe Lowry’s decision to stay or go will have an impact on the thinking of Ibaka and Tucker. One assumes neither man, particularly the 32-year-old Tucker, who’s endured many losing seasons in Phoenix, would be interested in a Raps team whose starting point guard is Cory Joseph.
We’re only setting the stage with today’s post. There’s going to be a lot more on the topic of remaking the Raptors soon, starting with our view on what to do about Lowry.
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