USA Today Leiweke Interview: Off season Pump and Hype

[DanH]

Yo for real are you an accountant man?

Nope. Made tracking that info down freaking hard, too.

[imanshumpert]

Nope. Made tracking that info down freaking hard, too.

Lol it was a semi-joke, you just seem to be good with numbers is why I asked (between those tax calculations and the salary cap knowledge/number-crunching.

[coastal]

The US has more tax breaks for those who know how to find them (ie the accountants of NBA players). I'm in California now - my friend and his wife had a 7 figure family income and paid 29% (federal and state combined) last year.

[Apollo]

When Vince Carter was taking the league by storm the Raptors got US coverage. They just need to be interesting and that comes from playing good ball and making the highlight reel. Buzz is all they need. Cable stations carry games that draw ratings, they're in it for the money.

[raptors999]

The US has more tax breaks for those who know how to find them (ie the accountants of NBA players). I'm in California now - my friend and his wife had a 7 figure family income and paid 29% (federal and state combined) last year.

Tax breaks still exist for Raptors players since all reside in the US. We just use American players we don't give them citizenship. We're not the Philipines.

[Bendit]

My sister in Illinois owns a house worth approximately double what my house is worth in Ontario based on respective municipal assessments, but her property taxes are almost four times what mine are.

In part this is because the federal govt. has decreased federal tax dollars going back to the states and from states to municipalities.

[Bendit]

The US has more tax breaks for those who know how to find them (ie the accountants of NBA players). I'm in California now - my friend and his wife had a 7 figure family income and paid 29% (federal and state combined) last year.

The overall tax rate also depends on how the income was generated. You may have heard that multimillionaire presidential hopeful Romney paid an effective tax rate of about 15% (or lower). This because most of his income was derived thru investments/financial instruments and of course off-shore parking of funds.

[Puffer]

I've listened to most of the interviews with Masai and Casey since the draft; the post draft interviews and then the press conferences after resigning members of the Raps, the trades and the JJ signing.

Here's a question. How sophisticated is the Raptors front office? This is a multi-hundred million dollar business. How extensive is your planning if you are Tim? Some of the language used in press briefings is very NLP-ish. Lots of reframing of the realities of the Raps situation. Lots of outcome based descriptions and talk.

The truth is, if you want free agents to come to Toronto, the team has to win, but the league also has to think of TO in a different way. Even before the winning gets very far along, free agents or trade targets need to think of TO as an up and coming team. Prospects and young rookies need to be perceived as getting better and showing promise of being strong contributors at least, if not budding all-stars. A top free agent needs to see that they are stepping into a situation that not only has a strong core right now, but also won't be one and done. One way to manage this is to have a top of the league support staff, in terms of coaches, trainers, recovery therapy, practice facilities etc. so that improvement does occur. But recognition of the improvement is just as necessary.

So I wonder if Masai and Casey and the other team staff are coached in how to talk with the media, the players and other people around the league? If I was running the Raps, I think I would take it that far. When a business is worth that kind of money, and the future of that business is, to a great extent, dependent on how it is perceived, it seems crazy not to work hard to manage the image.

[mcHAPPY]

I've listened to most of the interviews with Masai and Casey since the draft; the post draft interviews and then the press conferences after resigning members of the Raps, the trades and the JJ signing.

Here's a question. How sophisticated is the Raptors front office? This is a multi-hundred million dollar business. How extensive is your planning if you are Tim? Some of the language used in press briefings is very NLP-ish. Lots of reframing of the realities of the Raps situation. Lots of outcome based descriptions and talk.

The truth is, if you want free agents to come to Toronto, the team has to win, but the league also has to think of TO in a different way. Even before the winning gets very far along, free agents or trade targets need to think of TO as an up and coming team. Prospects and young rookies need to be perceived as getting better and showing promise of being strong contributors at least, if not budding all-stars. A top free agent needs to see that they are stepping into a situation that not only has a strong core right now, but also won't be one and done. One way to manage this is to have a top of the league support staff, in terms of coaches, trainers, recovery therapy, practice facilities etc. so that improvement does occur. But recognition of the improvement is just as necessary.

So I wonder if Masai and Casey and the other team staff are coached in how to talk with the media, the players and other people around the league? If I was running the Raps, I think I would take it that far. When a business is worth that kind of money, and the future of that business is, to a great extent, dependent on how it is perceived, it seems crazy not to work hard to manage the image.

It's coming.

Hopefully third year is breakout for Ross and JV.
New practice facility underway.
Allstar game in 2016
Draaaaaaaaake!
Hopefully second round or better this coming season, same with 2015-16


It takes time.

Two years ago new owners
One year ago new management
Within last year reshaped roster
Last 6 months .650 win percentage and last second game 7 loss


Certainly not championship contenders or a desired location yet but lots positive going on with the raptors imo

[Mr.Z]

It's coming.

Hopefully third year is breakout for Ross and JV.
New practice facility underway.
Allstar game in 2016
Draaaaaaaaake!
Hopefully second round or better this coming season, same with 2015-16


It takes time.

Two years ago new owners
One year ago new management
Within last year reshaped roster
Last 6 months .650 win percentage and last second game 7 loss


Certainly not championship contenders or a desired location yet but lots positive going on with the raptors imo

Wooooo!

[godkingleonidas]

I wish they'd asked him why MLSE doesn't have a D-League franchise.