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Masai Ujiri Hired As Raptors GM (post #780)

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  • ceez wrote: View Post
    It's going to come down to where he wants to see things through, essentially. Try and get Toronto on track and turn them into a perennial contender or finish what he recently started in Denver. Regardless of how much Toronto (over)pays I honestly don't think it'll matter much. While I'm very hopeful we do get him here, I don't think we're the unanimous favorite a lot of people think we are.
    I agree. He also got married recently so that may be a consideration re what the missus thinks

    It'll come down to how persuasive Leiweke was imo. Ujiri knows the Nuggets current constraints if there are any (probably budget and his salary) and will compare to the Raps situation. We are not in a good position roster wise (TL is absolutely correct there) so....

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    • "After agreeing in principle to a multi-million dollar and multi-year..."

      That could be three years, three million. If Toronto is offering three years, nine million, I think it will come down to the money. The difference, even after taxes, is enough to set your family up for a couple of generations at least.

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      • I think the amount we pay him is irrelevant. You could pay Masai 100 million a year and I wouldn't care because it doesn't go towards our cap.
        For still frame photograph of me reading the DeRozan thread please refer to my avatar

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        • akashsingh wrote: View Post
          I don't understand what is so great about ujiri. Melo stated his desire to leave, so it was a no brainer to trade him, and all they got was a first round exit, with no guarantee that iguodala will resign. I can't see more success in the nuggets future at all.
          He also drafted Farried and Fournier, who were excellent value at where they were picked and have turned into important contributors on Denver.

          The first round exit was due to injuries in my eyes. Gallinari is arguably their best player and he was out. If Gallinari plays I think they beat Golden State.

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          • Primer wrote: View Post
            He also drafted Farried and Fournier, who were excellent value at where they were picked and have turned into important contributors on Denver.

            The first round exit was due to injuries in my eyes. Gallinari is arguably their best player and he was out. If Gallinari plays I think they beat Golden State.
            Adding to that: Lawson (also arguably their best player) had been out for a while just before the play-offs as well and returned sooner than expected right at the start of the play-offs. He didn't look healthy at all in my opinion.

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            • Primer wrote: View Post
              He also drafted Farried and Fournier, who were excellent value at where they were picked and have turned into important contributors on Denver.

              The first round exit was due to injuries in my eyes. Gallinari is arguably their best player and he was out. If Gallinari plays I think they beat Golden State.
              I don't know if it is a foregone conclusion but I would tend to agree. Also, Faried was not playing healthy.

              But then again Curry was getting shots in his ankle and Lee got injured too.

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              • Bendit wrote: View Post
                Are we absolutely sure Ujiri was the main proponent of the Alabi pick? The fact both are Nigerian and that they had a previous connection makes it an obvious assumption...but an assumption no less. Would be interested in a link on the subject with some reference mentioning Masai as the driver of the pick.....eg. like Casey was for the Ross pick.
                I can't be certain but this to me sounds like he was Masai's pick.

                It was on the dirt basketball courts of Nigeria that Masai Ujiri first saw Solomon Alabi, a gangly, untrained, 6-foot-9 teenaged bundle of promise and potential.

                Alabi was precisely the kind of youngster the Raptors assistant general manager of player personnel wanted to reach in his goal of developing the sport he loves in the country of his birth, a kid who was hungry to learn but lacked the opportunity, possibly destined to live a life of unrealized athletic potential.

                As he stood in the Raptors’ practice facility Tuesday afternoon, just after Alabi had taken another step on an improbable journey from those dirt courts to the NBA by going through an NBA pre-draft workout, Ujiri beamed.

                And rightfully so.

                Alabi, now a 7-foot-1 Florida State sophomore likely to be picked in the first round of next week’s NBA draft, represents one of the true success stories of Ujiri’s work to make the sport relevant and the opportunities great for African teenagers.

                “He meant a lot in my life,” Alabi said of Ujiri. “When I started playing basketball in a small town (Kaduna) where not too many people knew about basketball and only a few people played basketball, Masai did a camp in my town and . . . that’s when I started getting exposed to basketball.”

                It was all part of Ujiri’s grand plan to provide opportunities for Nigerian youths who’d been denied them. Ujiri has run a camp for young African big men for about a decade and has been heavily involved with the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program, which is where Alabi continued his development.

                It is the kind of outreach program the NBA is rightfully proud of as it searches out talent and provides instruction and infrastructure.

                “When I started playing, I never played on a basketball court,” said Alabi, who is projected to go late in the draft’s first round. “I played on dirt on the ground, they don’t even have concrete on the floor. I went to the camp and they had concrete on the floor .

                “Basketball Without Borders really helped me. That’s where I first got exposed to well-organized basketball and that really encouraged me to play basketball more.”

                That encouragement is just what Ujiri’s been trying to provide to African youngsters for years. Alabi is one of the crowning jewels, a teenager who took advantage of the camps and the contacts to go to the United States for high school and parlay that into a scholarship. Now he’s on the precipice of an NBA career.

                “We’re slowing getting there and with the programs like Basketball Without Borders and the big-man camp and all the programs growing in Africa . . . we’re very, very proud of these kids,” said Ujiri.

                Seen as a raw but talented young big man, Alabi was one of four prospects to work out for the Raptors on Tuesday. With another round of workouts scheduled for Thursday and one in the works for next week, the staff is slowly trying to shape some sort of priority list.

                But whatever happens, Ujiri is going to keep a close eye on Alabi because of the bond that developed on another continent.

                “He’s a great example for the kids back home,” said the Raptors executive. “With a country like Nigeria and a continent like Africa, with the population, there are so many kids, we just need the facilities and you guys (the media) to promote the game a little bit and we can build some more courts over there and grow the game.”

                http://www.thestar.com/sports/basket...t_hopeful.html

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                • Where is Alabi now? he was raw like uncooked chicken but he had a nose for the ball.

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                  • The unfortunate thing about Alabi is if someone had just told him to start taking jumpshots, he probably had a chance at a long term contract under Colangelo.

                    Someone missed the boat on that one.

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                    • You guys are seriously getting this worked up over a second round pick? You act like we took him in the lottery or something.
                      @sweatpantsjer

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                      • Well after reading this I understood that we should stop hesitating if it's the wrong GM for us
                        http://www.denverstiffs.com/2013/5/2...-him-in-denver
                        go figure
                        Official Pope of the Raptors sponsored by MLSE.

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                        • I wonder if Ujiri would bring Forbesy back
                          @sweatpantsjer

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                          • ceez wrote: View Post
                            I wonder if Ujiri would bring Forbesy back
                            Who?

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                            • Rapstor4Life wrote: View Post
                              Who?
                              Gary Forbes...
                              Ceez has an odd obsession with him

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                              • Very odd and....
                                Official Pope of the Raptors sponsored by MLSE.

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