Masai Ujiri has been the Raptors top executive for more than 5 years. He’s pulled off a number of trades, and in light of his latest (and greatest?), it’s time to rank the top 5.
Over their nearly 30-year existence, the Toronto Raptors have had a bunch of General Managers. The first was the wildly erratic Isiah Thomas, then Glen Grunwald and caretaker Jack McCloskey, mega-flop Rob Babcock, and Mr. Corporate, Bryan Colangelo. None has put together the remarkable record of our current grand fromage, Masai Ujiri.
We have a crowded field of successful trades to winnow down to five. I had no need of considering trades made strictly for salary-cap manipulation purposes, the most outrageous being the July 2017 dumping of Cory Joseph to Indiana for the rights to Emir Preldzic. Maybe Masai should have asked for “Future Considerations” or a case of Gatorade instead; either would be worth more than Preldzic’s rights.
And who could forget Austin Daye for Nando De Colo? That was a brilliant trade except coach Dwane Casey didn’t realize De Colo’s worth at the time. He’s since gone supernova in Russia. Oh well – we retain his NBA rights.
Let’s lead off with a clever deal pushed by Jeff Weltman, who was too good to be Masai’s second in command forever. Now he runs the show in Orlando. Masai always seems to hire clever people. He was smart enough to take Weltman’s advice about a Bucks’ second-round selection…
Dateline: June 25, 2015
On Draft Night, June 25, 2015, the Milwaukee Bucks decided they needed a backup point guard more than a future first-rounder, or a smallish “too old” guard from UCLA named Norman Powell.
Vasquez had arrived in Toronto from Sacramento as part of the payment for Rudy Gay (more on that one later). Greivis endeared himself to Toronto fans with his exuberant and often highly effective play. He started 29 games in the 2014-15 season, including some at small forward.
The season was a success, but the playoffs were a disaster (I suppose that’s a statement I could use for several recent years). The Raptors were swept away by the Washington Wizards, and Greivis was a sad minus_42.
Greivis was already 28 years old, and not the fastest man on the floor, to put it kindly. His career sputtered to a close with 3 games in Brooklyn after a bench-warming year in Milwaukee.
Meantime, Norman worked his way from the G League to the big team. He’s been signed to a multi-year deal, though his future is cloudy after a disappointing 2017-18.
The draft pick was lottery-protected, and finally conveyed last June. The selection? A beefy, badly injured small forward named OG Anunoby. Whatever happens with Norm…the trade paid off for Toronto with this pick alone.
Dateline: February 14, 2017
Serge Ibaka had established himself as a NBA player with a number of successful seasons in Oklahoma City. He received the tagline “Death to flying things” for his ferocious shot-blocking, leading the league in that per-game stat for two straight seasons.
Serge was (and is) much more than a one-trick pony. He’s averaged no fewer than 12.6 points per game in his last six seasons.
Meanwhile, the Raptors had been waiting, and waiting, for Terrence Ross to finally figure out how to consistently take advantage of his astonishing athleticism. Masai showed in this trade, and more recently in dealing DeRozan, that he won’t wait forever. He moved Terrence for Ibaka, who had struggled since arriving in Orlando in an off-season trade.
While the deal was criticized at the time for being a rental, Masai enjoyed the last laugh. Serge re-signed with the Raptors in the summer of 2017, and has two more years to run on his deal.
Terrence blew out his knee and missed much of last season. We hope he returns to form. Even if he does, the Raptors won the deal. The power forward position has been a weakness for far too long, but with Serge there (and also able to step in at center), we should be good for some time.
Dateline: July 10, 2013
While Masai has never said explicitly, “I knew I had to dump Andrea Bargnani when I returned to Toronto”, he’s come awfully close. His first major move after being hired as GM by Tim Leiweke was to engineer this massive trade, predicated on an “addition by subtraction” mindset.
Bargnani had to go. He had long since lost any connection to the Raptors faithful, who were booing him regularly. His seemingly constant trips to the Disabled List rendered him useless.
Glen Grunwald was the Knicks GM at the time, and his agreement to this deal has often been cited as the final straw for mercurial owner James Dolan. Grunwald was canned shortly after. I’ve never understood that; New York was able to shed a number of bad contracts, and Bargs might have bounced back. The Raptors knew they were buying a couple of members of the Over the Hill Gang. Camby was bought out, and Richardson was waived. Novak enjoyed some quality time as a stretch-5, but his defensive shortcomings limited his minutes.
Bargs did little for the Knicks, less than that for the Nets, and is out of the NBA.
The major prize for Toronto turned out to be the 2016 pick, which was used to select Jakob Poeltl.
Dateline: December 9, 2013
In another move which sent a clear This Is My Team message, Masai traded all three Raptors whose last names ended in Y. Perhaps that wasn’t the actual purpose.
Rudy Gay had arrived in Toronto in a desperation move by Bryan (I need more time!) Colangelo, and the team didn’t improve at all. Masai kept Rudy around to start the 2013-14 season, but quickly concluded the chemistry wasn’t right, and never would be. The Raptors had skidded to a 6-12 start when Rudy was removed from the lineup for the Lakers game in Los Angeles (which the Raptors won with a threadbare lineup, led by Amir Johnson’s 32 points). He and the others were gone, the ex-Kings arrived – and something amazing commenced.
The new Raptors bonded with their mates in seemingly no time, and the Toronto bench became a formidable force. [20-second timeout: The traded players hadn’t officially been placed on the roster when the Raptors faced the Spurs on December 10. Dwane Casey had Dwight Bucyks, Steve Novak, Landry Fields, Austin Daye and Julyan Stone on his bench that night, all of whom played. We lost.]
The Raptors roared the rest of the season, moving from 5 games under .500 to 14 over. The playoffs ended in tears against the Nets, but the Raptors had found their footing as an organization.
None of the four is still with our team. Salmons was moved for Lou Williams, and Vasquez we’ve already talked about. Patterson gave us several solid years, and is now with the OKC Thunder, while Hayes, a tiny center who somehow lasted parts of 10 seasons in the NBA, walked away in the summer of 2015 with no hard feelings.
Dateline: July 18, 2018
This trade is the riskiest deal Masai has ever pulled off. I’ve ranked it as his best, even though we’ve not seen any results yet. If Leonard can be 90% of his pre-2017-18 season, the deal will be a huge success.
Masai is patient until he’s not, which might at first glance appear one of the stupider things I’ve ever written, but really isn’t. The 2017-18 post-season should have been the Raptors’ introduction to the brightest lights in the NBA universe, namely a trip to the Finals. Instead it resulted in Playoff Failure: Part Cinq. We didn’t like the show the first time, and neither did he.
Once Masai has made up his mind, he’s relentless. Bargnani had to go, and he did, likewise Rudy. In this case, the Old Guard of DeRozan and coach Dwane Casey had been given their opportunities. Steps were taken.
The most important element of this trade for me, beyond getting the best player in Kawhi, was the cost, or lack thereof. Our President didn’t give up two youthful studs, namely Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby. Yes, it hurts to lose both the ultra-loyal and always-improving DeRozan, and the underrated Poeltl. Talent like Leonard (and Green – I’m not overlooking him) is rare and costly. We paid a fair price, not a crippling one.
Over to you, Rapture Nation. Do I have all the best trades? Are they in the right order? Comments, please.