If Friday ushered in a new era in Raptorland, it didn鈥檛 feel much like one.
In a lot of ways, it probably should have. For the first time in 13 years, Masai Ujiri didn鈥檛 take the microphone for his usual media-day press conference. Fired as team president in June, a victim of a less than sure-handed post-championship rebuild and a fractious relationship with changing ownership, Ujiri wasn鈥檛 around to use his global citizen gravitas to sell his usual grand pronouncements from the mount.
So that felt different.
So did the messaging supplied by the new man in charge, Bobby Webster. The closest Webster came to delivering a grand pronouncement was to say he didn鈥檛 plan on making one. If Ujiri once famously announced his presence by hopping on a stage and shouting 鈥淔--- Brooklyn鈥 in the lead-up to a 2014 playoff series against the Nets, the understated Webster seems unlikely to spout public profanity any time soon.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not my natural personality,鈥 Webster said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not going to come out here and make sweeping statements and pound my fist on the table.鈥
For all that, Friday felt a lot like same old, same old. Webster can鈥檛 be credibly presented as a new face, not after more than a decade spent as Ujiri鈥檚 right-hand man. Webster acknowledged that he鈥檚 been 鈥渉eavily involved鈥 in creating the less-than-optimal situation he now inherits as his own. No matter one鈥檚 level of fieriness, there hasn鈥檛 been much worth pounding the table about in Raptorland for too long.
This is a team that won 30 games last year and 25 the year before, and has won one playoff series since its magical run to the 2019 title. This is a team projected to have a top-10 payroll that鈥檚 coming off a bottom-10 record. And as Webster underlined Friday, when he acknowledged that he鈥檚 as interested as anyone to see how Toronto鈥檚 pricey pieces ultimately fit, even the folks who built this wildly expensive roster can鈥檛 be sure if they can believe in it.
The question marks outnumber the certainties. There are potential issues of role duplication with the highly paid likes of Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram and RJ Barrett. There鈥檚 the usual lack of three-point shooting, not to mention a shortage of credible size and the absence of a proven point guard. Same old, same old, in other words.
If you wanted to spin Friday as the dawn of a new era, though, there was a way to get there.
There was a time when MLSE felt it was important to make a splash with a top executive hiring. When Ujiri arrived to take over the basketball operation in 2013, he was the reigning NBA executive of the year for his work with the Denver Nuggets.
When Ujiri鈥檚 predecessor Bryan Colangelo got here in 2006, he鈥檇 been named executive of the year two seasons earlier as GM of the Phoenix Suns. Both Ujiri and Colangelo came aboard with five-year deals.
Webster, in stark contrast, is nobody鈥檚 golden boy. When he was pronounced the ultimate winner of the summertime search for a new team president, he wasn鈥檛 named team president. All Webster got was a modest extension on a relatively skimpy existing deal. Not that anybody is crying for him聽鈥斅爃e鈥檚 a well-paid executive running one of 30 NBA operations聽鈥斅燽ut it鈥檚 safe to say he鈥檚 on thinner ice than his two predecessors.
That鈥檚 probably fair. The roster Webster has been heavily involved in assembling has been the butt of scorn this off-season, when Ingram鈥檚 agent spouted off about how the player聽couldn鈥檛 have secured his 海角社区官网money anywhere else and rival executives groused about how Immanuel Quickley鈥檚 lucrative contract set unreasonable expectations among his peer group.
But the Raptors, as the only franchise located outside the United States, have long considered it essential to make unconventional bets on players that don鈥檛 always make sense to observers. And Webster vowed to uphold that tradition.
鈥淲e’re gonna not think the same way as the rest of the NBA,鈥 Webster said. 鈥淭hat theme, I think, will always carry through.鈥
For all that, unconventional bets that don’t cash are called losers. This is a prove-it moment for Webster that comes attached to a ticking clock. And on Friday he smartly acknowledged the need to promptly prove that this roster can justify the outlay.
鈥淭he basketball is always the urgent piece,鈥 Webster said. 鈥淚f we don’t come out and we’re not competitive and we’re having (struggles) then it forces us to evaluate it.鈥
Fans can hope Webster evaluates at a quicker clip than his former boss, whose legendary hemming and hawing put the franchise in its current situation.
鈥淲e won’t be afraid to make change,鈥 Webster said.
If Webster means it, there鈥檚 where he could promptly differentiate himself from the giant he鈥檚 succeeding.
鈥淢asai鈥檚 incredibly intense, inspirational,聽loves to give a good motivational speech, so we’ll probably miss those,鈥 Webster said. 鈥淏ut it’s also a great time for us to sort of spread our wings as well.鈥
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