Has your opinion of Masai Ujiri changed lately ?

[golden]

He's too loyal for his own good.

Other than that he's been good.

I tend to agree with this, i.e., that Masai may be loyal to a fault. One potential major fault being if MU is allowing Casey to dictate roster moves by taking Casey at his word.

For example, Lou Williams was blamed by Casey as THE primary reason for screwing up both the offense and the defense of the team last year in comparison to the season before. Never mind that Lou Williams has been a key part of Sixers defenses that finished #3 & #7 overall in the NBA.

Lou Williams, if used properly, is a terrific bench scorer for a playoff contender, who allows you to play a low USG guy like Biyombo without sacrificing offense. Lou would look great on our bench this year. But Casey needed a scapegoat, so Lou had to be banished and signed on a bargain deal with the Lakers.

[raptors999]

Any NBA GMing job is difficult, but Masai's is more difficult than most because fan expectations are absurd when compared to team potential.

Let's be blunt: this roster is not a championship roster. It has never been a championship roster. Maybe, with luck, it tops out at the Eastern Conference Finals. But these guys aren't champions, no way no sir no how; this is not a team that can beat, say, both Cleveland and Golden State in best-of-sevens. Our best player fundamentally doesn't trust his teammates and our second-best player is dedicated to 2007-style Kobe-ball, which is a type of basketball that's both inefficient and increasingly obsolete. After that we have a center who's still developing into the player he'll become, a couple of decent veteran glue guys, and a bunch of low-experience rooks and almost-rooks.

But that roster exists for a reason. This team didn't have a good team culture before Masai came on board; now, it has a reasonably strong one. That's the first step needed in building a perennial championship contender, and to have accomplished it in only two or three years is really kind of an impressive achievement all by itself. And that roster is good enough to at least make playoffs every season, and that's important for a team that spent almost a whole decade outside of the playoffs. The club needs to remind its fans why it matters.

But if the team isn't good enough for a title, but also needs to win in playoffs, what do you do? The answer is: you do what Masai has done. Use the team to develop your young talent. Look for incremental increases wherever possible. Build up assets to increase trade value. It's not treadmilling; it's using competitive play as a development process, but at a higher level of ability than tanking/rebuilding teams do.

Here are two players with per game statistics:

Player one: 13.4 MPG, FG% .327, 3P% .209, FT% .818, 3.3 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.3 blocks, 2.9 points
Player two: 15.7 MPG, FG% .421, 3P% .304, FT% .641, 3.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.3 blocks, 5.2 points

Player two is Anthony Bennett last year, when he was 21. Player one is Draymond Green, in his first season with Golden State, when he was 22. Across the board Green is significantly worse than Bennett in every category (and with an extra year of experience to boot), but Golden State mentored and trained Green and gave him the chance to thrive. Bennett is potentially a good comparable. That should be the goal.

You can't guarantee getting a star through the draft, so tanking should be reserved for when there is simply no other good option available - at the end of a competitive cycle when your asset cupboard is bare because you used all of your young assets and/or draft picks to get the extra talent needed for that push to the championship or to sustain a championship team. The Warriors and Clippers, for example, have stripped their stockpiles mostly bare in order to pursue their championship runs: the Warriors don't have a free-and-clear first-round pick until 2018 (they have a pickswap in 16 and Utah gets it in 2017) and don't have a second-rounder until 2020, while the Clippers have this year's first-rounder but not next year's (we have that one now) and no second-rounders till 2019, and don't have any young players worth mentioning either. Five years from now, one of those two teams (probably the Clippers) will likely be in a rebuild cycle.

A mistake a lot of posters here make is thinking that we're in an equivalent position to Golden State or the Clippers. We aren't. We shouldn't be trading draft picks and we shouldn't be strictly in win-now mode.

Casey is systemically destroying all the confidence players have. Allowing a player that can't shoot threes shoot them and have him guard Melo is just dumb. The reason Flip benched him foir chucking threes is that he cant hit them. Toronto hgas been a very patient sports city considering just how god awful the teams have been, how high prices are and how little ever changes

[golden]

Any NBA GMing job is difficult, but Masai's is more difficult than most because fan expectations are absurd when compared to team potential.

Let's be blunt: this roster is not a championship roster. It has never been a championship roster.

I think this is where a lot of posters and bloggers get into trouble, i.e., constantly assuming what other posters and fans are thinking and expecting. I personally don't know anybody who thinks that this roster is close to even a conference finals level. However, other than Casey, I'm reasonably satisfied with the building process since MU took over, which in itself has a 90% chance of falling short because of so many factors outside of any GM's control (including luck).

That said, the coach is a massive and critical link between the GM and the product on the floor, deeply affecting everything from style of play, team culture, player development and trade value. Masai betting heavily on Casey is a legitimate concern that fans can and should be fussing over, as a Casey developed and led roster would appear to have a ceiling, even if you gift-wrapped him with a Kevin Durant.

But in defense of the fans you might be talking about, both TL and MU put those expectations of championships into people's heads. Even BC, for all his bravado, never went around talking about championships so openly.

[magoon]

Casey is systemically destroying all the confidence players have. Allowing a player that can't shoot threes shoot them and have him guard Melo is just dumb. The reason Flip benched him foir chucking threes is that he cant hit them. Toronto hgas been a very patient sports city considering just how god awful the teams have been, how high prices are and how little ever changes

Bennett shot .304 on threes last year! That's not great, but that's not "can't shoot threes" - that's "isn't good at shooting threes yet, but has enough ability that improvement is likely with burn." If he couldn't shoot threes at all he'd be in the .250 range, instead of comparable to someone like Trey Burke (shot .315 on threes last year but was given plenty of opportunity to jack them, is shooting over .500 on threes right now - and that won't last, but his shooting stroke is clearly much improved).

How is it "confidence destroying" to give a young player Melo as an assignment? That's a sign of trust. Melo is one of the best one-on-one offensive players in the league, so if Bennett gets torched, that's just Melo being Melo, and if Bennett has success, he managed to guard Melo - it's literally a win-win from a confidence building standpoint.

The way you build up young players is: you let them play. That's how young players get better. Casey literally can't win with the posters here. If he sits young players, he's destroying them by not letting them get burn. If he plays them, he's destroying them by letting them get crushed by veterans.

It's insane, because although Casey has his flaws as a coach (and everybody short of Pop has flaws as a coach), he's nowhere near as bad as people think he is - he's turned multiple Raptors teams that lacked true star players into division-winners. You simply can't be a bad coach and have that happen, not even in the Eastern Conference.

[peanutwoozle]

Bennett shot .304 on threes last year! That's not great, but that's not "can't shoot threes" - that's "isn't good at shooting threes yet, but has enough ability that improvement is likely with burn." If he couldn't shoot threes at all he'd be in the .250 range, instead of comparable to someone like Trey Burke (shot .315 on threes last year but was given plenty of opportunity to jack them, is shooting over .500 on threes right now - and that won't last, but his shooting stroke is clearly much improved).

That's because he only shot 23 3s last year, the year before he shot 53 3s and shot 25%

[raptors999]

Bennett shot .304 on threes last year! That's not great, but that's not "can't shoot threes" - that's "isn't good at shooting threes yet, but has enough ability that improvement is likely with burn." If he couldn't shoot threes at all he'd be in the .250 range, instead of comparable to someone like Trey Burke (shot .315 on threes last year but was given plenty of opportunity to jack them, is shooting over .500 on threes right now - and that won't last, but his shooting stroke is clearly much improved).

How is it "confidence destroying" to give a young player Melo as an assignment? That's a sign of trust. Melo is one of the best one-on-one offensive players in the league, so if Bennett gets torched, that's just Melo being Melo, and if Bennett has success, he managed to guard Melo - it's literally a win-win from a confidence building standpoint.

The way you build up young players is: you let them play. That's how young players get better. Casey literally can't win with the posters here. If he sits young players, he's destroying them by not letting them get burn. If he plays them, he's destroying them by letting them get crushed by veterans.

It's insane, because although Casey has his flaws as a coach (and everybody short of Pop has flaws as a coach), he's nowhere near as bad as people think he is - he's turned multiple Raptors teams that lacked true star players into division-winners. You simply can't be a bad coach and have that happen, not even in the Eastern Conference.

Casey is really bad Putting young player where they will fail is the worst. JV taking the last shot is good because he can hit them. Putting AB on Melo can do nothing good. He shot 30% after Flip benched him on every bad attempt. Wide open he hit 30%

[magoon]

That's because he only shot 23 3s last year, the year before he shot 53 3s and shot 25%

So you're saying his shot selection improved? Because if you look at his threes by area shot, in Cleveland he was shooting threes from all over the place, and in Minnesota he concentrated more on corner threes.

It's almost like he improved year-to-year or something!

[raptors999]

So you're saying his shot selection improved? Because if you look at his threes by area shot, in Cleveland he was shooting threes from all over the place, and in Minnesota he concentrated more on corner threes.

It's almost like he improved year-to-year or something!

Then he comes to Toronto and airballs a shot. Coaching isn't just playing young guys. Pop always asks "what can you do?"

[golden]

How is it "confidence destroying" to give a young player Melo as an assignment? That's a sign of trust. Melo is one of the best one-on-one offensive players in the league, so if Bennett gets torched, that's just Melo being Melo, and if Bennett has success, he managed to guard Melo - it's literally a win-win from a confidence building standpoint.

The way you build up young players is: you let them play. That's how young players get better. Casey literally can't win with the posters here. If he sits young players, he's destroying them by not letting them get burn. If he plays them, he's destroying them by letting them get crushed by veterans.

I think you got that half right. Yes, I would totally agree that you have to play young players to develop them. But first you have to find one thing they can do well, and then put them in a position to succeed at that one thing, and then build from there. With Bennett, I'm not even sure we know what that one thing he can do well at the NBA-level really is. But what we do know is that he's a terrible defender, so to put him up against one of the deadliest one-on-one scorers in the NBA was a mind-numbing choice.

Basically, you took one of the known things that Bennett does worst and then put him in the most likely position to fail. That's bad-on-bad. That wasn't an opportunity, that was suicide.

[Day One]

Judging from the outside and knowing only minimal information about how everything actually transpires is a fun activity to pass the time but in the end rather pointless, you need the whole story. I also enjoy playing gm thou.

I can honestly say I've lost all faith in our current system and although I don't know who is actually in control of key decisions such as if it is even in the gms control to fire the coach or not, but lets ASS U ME it is. how any actual intelligent basketball mind could watch all 82 games last year and come to the conclusion that this coach should stay for another year and continue to mold our core and develop our youth is absolute insanity to me. This leads me to believe there is something else at play here, perhaps MU values the importance of longevity and strong corner stone to the franchise over what we would call immediate results. perhaps our definition of long term is what he considers short term. perhaps ownership simply wont allow it. what ever it is I personally think it is the wrong choice.

If it was his decision to retain Casey for another season I would like to see him let go. because for whatever reasoning he can give to try and convince me that spade is a leaf, I for one will not be fooled, there is no INTELLIGENT argument to say he was successful in instilling any sort of coaching intangibles into his team.

The fact that we all KNOW Casey will be let go before the new years and have known this since we found out after last season that he would be back is an absolute joke, given one more chance again literally wasting a whole training camp that will ultimately leave us behind the pack from the start of the race to the final.

I also like to think what other people have stated as well, maybe he does have a master plan that will lead us to the promise land and it would be simply weak game to make any of his plan public. either way we have yet a fraction of evidance to suport any of our logical ideas and absolutly zero say in any decision that does happen so imma go back to #fanningitup

[magoon]

With Bennett, I'm not even sure we know what that one thing he can do well at the NBA-level really is. But what we do know is that he's a terrible defender, so to put him up against one of the deadliest one-on-one scorers in the NBA was a mind-numbing choice.

Except Bennett isn't a terrible defender. He's willing to put in the effort, he rebounds well, he's an okay rim protector for his size and he's learning his rotations well enough - his defense in the preseason was quite solid.

Seriously. The hyperbole people throw at Raps players and personnel around here blows my mind. Either players are the best and we should be aiming for ringz or they're dogshit and we need to trade them. There's never any middle ground (and don't get me started on the insane Casey hate).

[MACK11]

Except Bennett isn't a terrible defender. He's willing to put in the effort, he rebounds well, he's an okay rim protector for his size and he's learning his rotations well enough - his defense in the preseason was quite solid.

Seriously. The hyperbole people throw at Raps players and personnel around here blows my mind. Either players are the best and we should be aiming for ringz or they're dogshit and we need to trade them. There's never any middle ground (and don't get me started on the insane Casey hate).

I'm sorry but in no way was Bennett a solid defender in preseason what are you talking about?

[golden]

Except Bennett isn't a terrible defender. He's willing to put in the effort, he rebounds well, he's an okay rim protector for his size and he's learning his rotations well enough - his defense in the preseason was quite solid.

Seriously. The hyperbole people throw at Raps players and personnel around here blows my mind. Either players are the best and we should be aiming for ringz or they're dogshit and we need to trade them. There's never any middle ground (and don't get me started on the insane Casey hate).

Look I'm pro-Bennett and loved him in FIBA, but even then he was getting steadily blown by. In FIBA, I repeat, and I watched pretty much every minute. He has poor footwork on D and has trouble keeping his man in front of him, so guarding Melo from the perimeter is ridiculous. If you want some numbers as opposed to hyperbole or opinion, consider that Bennett was 86th out of 89 PFs in defensive DRPM last season. And not sure where the rim protector idea comes from, because I don't see that in games or in stats (blk%, nylon calculus, etc...) any more than Patterson is a rim protector, for example.

That said, I still think Bennett can find a niche as a stretch 4 on offense (hopefully he can start making a few 3s) and using his strength, frame and rebounding ability to guard less mobile PFs on defense closer to the rim. I can't see him being successful at guarding crafty wing players at this stage, especially not perennial all-stars like Melo.

Again, you need to resist the urge to broad brush paint other posters. I see some good and bad in Bennett and feel he's worth the flyer to develop, but he's not ready to guard a premier NBA wing yet.

[McRealistic]

No it has not. I always thought MU is a GM who is good on creating an average team which has no chance of going deep in the play offs. He over pays for average players but has an amazing ability to move stars or players with poterntails for smaller contracts. Over all, He is doing what he did in Denver here and getting the similar results. In Denver too, he gave out some bad contracts, example, McGee and here he did the same with Ross.

[Wild-ling#1]

I think you got that half right. Yes, I would totally agree that you have to play young players to develop them. But first you have to find one thing they can do well, and then put them in a position to succeed at that one thing, and then build from there. With Bennett, I'm not even sure we know what that one thing he can do well at the NBA-level really is. But what we do know is that he's a terrible defender, so to put him up against one of the deadliest one-on-one scorers in the NBA was a mind-numbing choice.

Basically, you took one of the known things that Bennett does worst and then put him in the most likely position to fail. That's bad-on-bad. That wasn't an opportunity, that was suicide.

He was just resting JJ, I understand. So for what it's worth (not much, I'll grant ), I like Magoon's "win-win" take. He gave Bennett (who has played in the NBA, after all) a coupla' minutes against an "ace", when the team is short-handed. It just is what it is - more a compliment, I think, than any "mind-numbing" "suicide" mission.