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Masai Ujiri Hired As Raptors GM (post #780)

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  • Sig wrote: View Post
    Oh good, so then you're coming.

    Way to step up man.

    If only I lived in TOronto.

    Comment


    • Leiweke has been in contact with Phil Jackson, but that is not yet seen as a likely scenario for either party, in part because Jackson is engaged to Los Angeles Lakers executive vice-president Jeannie Buss. Instead, Leiweke says Jackson is merely one of several NBA figures who is providing him with advice.

      http://sports.nationalpost.com/2013/...aled-his-fate/
      .

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      • From Rotoworld.com:

        The Raptors may be "leaning toward" replacing GM Bryan Colangelo, according to the National Post.
        Previous reports suggested that Colangelo's job was safe, so this complicates the picture. The decision rests with Tim Leiweke, the new CEO of Maple League Sports & Entertainment. Leiweke already made an overture to Phil Jackson, but regardless of Colangelo's fate it's considered unlikely that the Zen Master will join the Raptors as more than an advisor. The suspense won't last much longer, as a decision on Colangelo is "imminent" and could be announced as soon as Monday.
        (Sorry for poor English )

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        • Leiweke confirms a decision is imminent, but denies one has been reached. One source familiar with Leiweke’s thinking says the chief executive is leaning toward replacing Colangelo, and that a decision could be announced as soon as Monday. But reached Sunday afternoon by email, Leiweke said, “I have not gotten to a decision and I need to get board interaction so I think it is still up in air. That said, he may not want to be here if he does not get a long-term commitment. A lot will happen in the next few days.”
          Hardly seems like a ringing endorsement nor does it sound like there is a desire for a long term relationship regardless of what happens for 2013-14.

          Sources say the board representatives for Rogers and Bell, led by BCE chief executive officer George Cope and Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed, have ceded the decision to Leiweke, who has NBA ties dating back to his days as the president of the Denver Nuggets until 1995. Rogers and Bell each own 37.5% of MLSE, and have agreed to vote as a bloc; neither is believed to be in favour of retaining Colangelo, but in this case they are not making the final call. Leiweke, the former CEO of sports giant AEG, is in charge.
          That is interesting and regarding Cope it is the opposite of what was reported by Zicarelli (aka Status-Quo Guy) at the Toronto Sun.

          Comment


          • Clearly nothing but a clever ploy.

            Leiweke: "So I hear what you're saying Phil, but I still don't understand. Why don't you show me what you mean....Yeah, yeah....Just come up here for a couple of weeks and sit in the office and show me...Sure, give you a chance to catch up with the family in the evenings while we go over some stuff in the office during the day."

            Comment


            • Chr1s1anL wrote: View Post
              Agreed. Like it or not the way has built this roster it's made it impossible for the board not to accept his option. Either way we'd still going into the next season with the exact same core.
              What if Colangelo decides he does not want to be a lame duck next season and wants a longer term extension to which Leiweke/MLSE say no?

              I could see a scenario where Stefanski is made interim GM and Casey is kept on for this upcoming season. During that time Casey is told to focus on defense and Stefanski is given the mandate to accumulate as many assets and as much flexibility as possible from the core of DeRozan/Lowry/Gay/Bargnani.

              2014-15 would then give a new GM a clean slate with a LOT of flexibility.

              Another rebuild many will say? Well, it has been on going for 14 of 18 years, what is another 1 or 2 if done with leadership possessing the patience to stick to an actual plan?

              Comment


              • Bell and Rogers are taking a position which they can later spin into "we were behind the decision..." or "we supported new guy (Leiweke) despite our differences of opinion ..".

                I would not read too much into such talk.

                Comment


                • Grange at SportsNet.ca weights in:

                  The Toronto Raptors haven’t reached a decision on the future of club president and general manager Bryan Colangelo yet.

                  But there is growing speculation that Colangelo may make the first move.

                  Colangelo has been waiting for nearly a week to learn if he was convincing enough in his presentation to MLSE ownership and incoming president and CEO Tim Leiweke to at least have the option year on his contract picked up.

                  It was expected there would be some resolution in time for the company’s meeting of the board, scheduled for Wednesday.

                  But according to sources the board — who have ceded the decision on Raptors personnel decision to Leiweke — is prepared to wait a little longer to make a decision about Colangelo’s current deal or offering him an extension.

                  That timeline may not suit Colangelo and there is some suggestion that he may take action preemptively and offer his resignation in the coming days.
                  “It wouldn’t shock me that if at the end of the day, if I’m not going to give him a vote of confidence, he moves on,” said Leiweke.

                  In last Monday’s meeting Colangelo faced tough some questioning from Leiweke and MLSE ownership who was seeking an explanation for the franchise’s five straight years outside the playoffs in a meeting that ran three hours.

                  According to sources Colangelo may be growing frustrated waiting for a decision to be me made, with the longer it drags on serving as evidence to him that he is not Leiweke’s first choice to run the basketball operations going forward.
                  It’s believed that Leiweke’s been hesitating on making the call on Colangelo because there are two paths being pursued in parallel.

                  On one hand Leiweke — who was the president and CEO of AEG, part owners of the Los Angels Lakers before agreeing to take on the top job at MLSE and who also was previously the president of the Denver Nuggets — is still trying to determine if Colangelo is the right person for the job long term or if picking up his option might make the most sense for the franchise in the short term.

                  On the other sources close to the MLSE familiar with Leiweke’s thinking say he’s also tapping into his NBA contacts to determine if there might be a preferred choice to give the franchise over to for a complete makeover.
                  Status-quo cannot be an option.

                  Working with a roster that is built for a playoff appearance - and nothing more - is only delaying the inevitable. I'd rather see a team built with a solid foundation including a 21 year old Valanciunas on a rookie contract versus restarting with a 26 year old JV on an expensive contract. The Raptors went down that road twice before with Carter and Bosh.

                  Build a team and winning for the much anticipated 2021 free agent class!

                  Comment


                  • Sources say the board representatives for Rogers and Bell, led by BCE chief executive officer George Cope and Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed, have ceded the decision to Leiweke, who has NBA ties dating back to his days as the president of the Denver Nuggets until 1995. Rogers and Bell each own 37.5% of MLSE, and have agreed to vote as a bloc; neither is believed to be in favour of retaining Colangelo, but in this case they are not making the final call. Leiweke, the former CEO of sports giant AEG, is in charge.
                    I believe Bell and Rogers are required by a shareholders agreement to vote the same way on all material decisions to avoid Tanenbaum getting leverage over one of them. So, it makes perfect sense to have Leiweke make the call on two levels.

                    One last point for all the people saying, 'we have no picks, no cap space, so we can't do much this year anyway - doesn't matter if we retain Colangelo'. No, no, no, no, no. That's the kind of short term thinking that got the Raps where they are now. Colangelo has already done enough damage here that fixing it is going to take years. May as well start now. Otherwise, you're in for another disappointing season, followed by 3-4 years of climbing out from under it. I'd rather start the clock now.

                    Comment


                    • Here's the problem with the logic saying Colangelo deserves to see this through one more year.

                      Brian Burke was fired before the season started for the Leafs, and we're in the playoffs with the youngest team in the league and a bright future ahead. I'm sure he's enjoying watching many of those pieces he brought in that are performing well for us. We as fans are enjoying that he's no longer our GM. The problem with not firing Colangelo, is that if Burke weren't fired, we might still make the playoffs and we'd be stuck with a decision of whether or not to give Burke the reins to run this thing into the ground (again).

                      With the lack of draft pick and inflexibility due to bad contracts, Colangelo can just as easily "see this through" from inside his living room as a spectator like the rest of us. Let's fire him now and thus keep him away from our future first round draft picks, "pre-emptive strike" contract extensions and self-inflicted bidding wars against no one but himself.
                      your pal,
                      ebrian

                      Comment


                      • http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/n...cision-coming/

                        Colangelo weighing resignation?

                        Comment


                        • Matt52 wrote: View Post
                          Status-quo cannot be an option.

                          Working with a roster that is built for a playoff appearance - and nothing more - is only delaying the inevitable. I'd rather see a team built with a solid foundation including a 21 year old Valanciunas on a rookie contract versus restarting with a 26 year old JV on an expensive contract. The Raptors went down that road twice before with Carter and Bosh.

                          Build a team and winning for the much anticipated 2021 free agent class!
                          I think the tension here is pretty obvious. If you fire Colangelo, you are handing the reins to someone new who will want to start over. That's fine but it might be a tough sell to ticket buyers, etc. who want to see meaningful games for their $200 tickets (or $4,000/suite tickets). It's not even really about the money per se cause this team will continue to make money regardless. It's about how far you can dig down before you can't get out of the hole....

                          So, there's that, versus: this roster isn't that good and won't win much of anything, so it needs to be rebuilt.

                          The one factor here that might play into this: look at the playoffs. Memphis, Indiana, Chicago, GS - all teams without a Lebron/Durant type guy and all right in the thick of it and, at least Memphis, is a legit title contender. Could a new guy chart a course of JV, plus another young guy, along with a rebuilt supporting cast?

                          Comment


                          • slaw wrote: View Post
                            The one factor here that might play into this: look at the playoffs. Memphis, Indiana, Chicago, GS - all teams without a Lebron/Durant type guy and all right in the thick of it and, at least Memphis, is a legit title contender. Could a new guy chart a course of JV, plus another young guy, along with a rebuilt supporting cast?
                            If we're looking at these playoffs and coming to that conclusion, its worth mentioning....

                            JV is a really nice piece, be he is a LONG, LONG, LONG way from being a Gasol/Noah type game changer. Those teams run their offenses thru their big men in the high post. Our guys don't even trust JV enough to pass the ball to him when he's open. JV isn't close to reading defenses at that expert level. He's not a team leader on the floor like those guys. He's not close to the defensive presence those guys are. And they both play with proven post scorers, something lacking on our roster.

                            So, yes, we could START the building process in something in the Memphis mold. But we're 3-5 years of JV development and a few other major pieces away from making that work.

                            Comment


                            • This whole thing is a mess. MLSE hires a guy who wants another GM but doesn't know who yet. They are getting ready for draft combines soon and is there even going to be a Raptor representative? Aren't a lot of the big wigs from other teams going to be there? Isn't that a good place to start talking trades and transactions (not necessarily about the draft but for other players)?

                              Bryan needs to go but that decision should have been made weeks ago. Like the day after his press conference.

                              Was Leiweke going after Phil only to realize that the Sacramento to Seattle move might actually happen now, and so Leiweke is scrambling to find a plan B? This doesn't look good at all.

                              Comment


                              • planetmars wrote: View Post
                                This whole thing is a mess. MLSE hires a guy who wants another GM but doesn't know who yet. They are getting ready for draft combines soon and is there even going to be a Raptor representative? Aren't a lot of the big wigs from other teams going to be there? Isn't that a good place to start talking trades and transactions (not necessarily about the draft but for other players)?

                                Bryan needs to go but that decision should have been made weeks ago. Like the day after his press conference.

                                Was Leiweke going after Phil only to realize that the Sacramento to Seattle move might actually happen now, and so Leiweke is scrambling to find a plan B? This doesn't look good at all.


                                Sacramento to Seattle is not going to happen. The league/Stern can invoke their "best interests of the league" to stop any sale. There is no way the Maloof's keep the team beyond this summer. Have you read any message boards for Sacramento fans? Yikes. If the Maloof's think they are bleeding money now, just hold on to that team a little while longer. I think you see Hansen get an expansion team for Seattle after the new TV deal is signed.

                                I'm not optimistic on Jackson coming to Toronto by the way but one can dream.

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