Why Toronto Raptors Needed to Get Rid of Masai Ujiri | THE ODD COUPLE

Why Toronto Raptors Needed to Get Rid of Masai Ujiri | THE ODD COUPLE

uh Rob Jeep it’s so funny since you’re here hit me with the news uh uh of the day
as long as you don’t say set the table mow the lawn park the car anything like that
nothing like that
we’re okay it’s just just racist i would
Rob G set the table for Thank you i appreciate that
what what it’s not like I threw you my car keys so the big news of the day on early Friday morning this is kind of a a bombshell across the NBA not necessarily that it happened but the timing in which that happened because the NBA drafts just and the Toronto Raptors were picking ninth overall they got a guy that a lot of people like
and yet on Friday they’ve decided to move on from Messiah Jerry as their vice chairman and president of basketball ops after 13 seasons with the Toronto Raptors less we forget between 2015 and 2020 the Raptors won 50 plus games basically every season they want at least a playoff round every season and the highlight of course came in 2019 when Messiah Jiri put all his eggs in the basket of Kawhi Leonard trading away a fan favorite a beloved franchise superstar in Demar De Rozan with no guarantee that Kawhai was going to stick around he wins the championship kawhai doesn’t stick around but hey all that matters they got the hardware
well listen i I’m a couple of ways I want to approach this number one I’m going to start with before we dive deep into kind of his uh tenure his resume sometimes I think we overrate when things happen or we overstate and I think sometimes it’s just it’s it’s what we do in media
i can’t believe they would do that they should have did that they should have never done that sometimes to me I go “Oh well that just makes sense.” And it’s okay
right
and sometimes it’s just okay for parting to happen and I mentioned this with if Giannis were to say “Hey man if he just flat out came out and was like “Hey man I’m just ready to move on.” I don’t think fans should go out there jerseys i don’t think fans should be mad i don’t think fans should hate him i think man he gave us 10 11 great years we got a ring we were relevant you know what I mean we had we had some good playoff runs he we saw him grow from a literal Bambi just this gangly athletic guy to a full-fledged man with a family and and and and he wants to move on no hard feelings we we’re going to cheer when he comes back the first five minutes we’re going to bull the rest of the game like they should and that be that
yep
and every now and again in sports to me but there’s no oh I can’t believe that or this or that you know it has to be bad because when you look at what Messiah was able to do if you kind of split the difference
of the 13 years six and a half if you want to go six or seven you just mentioned the first half of that run awesome was really good and when you look at what he was able to do if it weren’t for the they weren’t the LeBronto Raptors they might have messed around and had a couple of rings but LeBron was licking his chops anytime in the NBA in the NBA playoffs he was like “All right we got to go here we got Yeah and he saw the Raptors
we He was I mean it was laughable what he would do to them they’d win 50 games they’d be the number one seed or two seed and they’d be you know have these really good season and Kyle Lowry was great and Demar de Rosen was great and they have these really nice teams and and Kyle and Demar Rose has talked about he’s like man I really believe we had a chance to win a couple championships or be at least in the finals if it weren’t for LeBron
well one time he even said if we had LeBron James we would like well you know what I don’t know if I would went that far i’m not saying you wouldn’t have but
he said if we had there’s some things as a competitor you don’t say
no well even though you’re right exactly even though you’re right you just don’t say it but I say that to say he started off pretty hot with them right you’re winning you’re making a team above the border really good fan base is loving it executive of the year his first season executive of the year and I’m not even trying to be funny now that he’s kind of persona non grata but you got Drake involved drake’s there it’s just it was a winning environment
it became cool in Toronto
absolutely beca we the north became cool you got Drake
jurassic Park outside the arena
absolutely the it just became a place to be and a place to be seen as far as for the folks in Toronto they’re winning a bunch of games then the culmination with 2019 you get Kawawaii we’re all like “Oh Kawawaii away from the Spurs.” Usually the Spurs guys stick they stay right tony Parker stays for until the end but Genobi and Tim Duncan and David Robinson all these guys stay and oh wow we got a guy who’s left left on kind of some maybe shaky or bad terms and he comes to the Toronto Raptors and he plays well they win a championship well the second half hasn’t been great no
and initially the first portion of it you thought “Oh okay they’re about to do this and I see the move sometimes you got to rebuild and restructure and yeah just give us some time he’s going to do it again.” And he didn’t and he didn’t perform at his his profession the team has been bad too really bad they made some bad and I’m going to let you kind of rock with the moves that they that he’s be more specific with the moves but he’s made some terrible decisions some terrible signings some terrible trades and bad moves and it’s just okay to say we had a good run you had a real overall you had a solid tenure you got us a ring you made us relevant now we’re trying to move on and I do think Rob G
they said uh just in case there’s any more Messiah magic we’re going to let him do this draft real quick just in case just in case he pulls one more magical move they’re going to have him do to make All right make sure we get all the magic out of him before we let him go and last thing I’ll say before I toss it to you and also people who why he’s so beloved he seemed like a great human seemed like a great guy people there respect him people around the NBA community respect him and people around the world because the other great stuff that he was doing for basketball in Africa if you don’t know he was a massive ambassador for the league with uh the NBA Africa and the stuff they were doing there and he went out and got Pascal Seakum Seakum and just was a great guy and he had Sergy Baka there as well when they won the championship run and he was an ambassador for the league and so he had a really good tenure the first you know six seven maybe even eight years of his 13 year years there and it’s time to move on and to me again this doesn’t have to be bad they don’t have to be the bad Raptors or horrible fra why would they do that that’s wrong it’s just time for them to move on time to him for move on and by all means he’ll probably land somewhere and and do good things again yeah he was great at his job to start off with and by all accounts is just a great guy like a great human being nobody has anything but positive things to say about Messiah Kir
now having said that with all due respect which means something super disrespectful is going to follow it
super disrespectful
my man deserved to get fired all right since that 2019 championship here’s a list of the the moves that Messiah Jerry has made basking in that championship glow he trades away Norm Powell for Rodney Hood and Gary Trent Jr
norm Pal’s a really good player he trades away Kyle Lowry for Goran Dragich and Precious Achua which they had to attach a first round pick later to get off the Drag contract
okay he trades the a package including the number eight pick for Yakob Purle who is just a guy
he trades away Dennis Shruder and Thaad Young for Spencer Denwitty who eventually had to get bought out because he was that bad you know in his latest NBA stops
this is the worst one for me trades away Pascal Seakkum for Bruce Brown and three late first round picks none of which have amounted to anything and of course you recall when Pascal got to Indiana he said famously during his press conference “I was just in a bad place it was a dark time and I’m just really excited to be out of there.” Okay he trades away a first round pick for Kelly Olen i don’t know if I would have done that one he trades away OG anobi for RJ Barrett and man quickly now if you want to say on talent that’s not a bad trade
oh yeah i I get that
the problem is when you look at their contracts of RJ Barrett and Emanuel Quickley and what they had to give them you’re like you know what i kind of would rather have OG at 45 than these two guys at 75 that’s just me they trade away Bruce Brown and a first round pick for the rights to overpay Brandon Ingram because nobody decided they wanted to give Brandon Ingram max money he’s like “Hey I’ll do it.”
That’s not to mention they lost Fred Van Vleet for nothing mhm they lost Kawhi Leonard for which they got championship we’ll let that one slide but you look at their team moving forward they’ve had two winning seasons since 2019 in the last five years their record is 171 and 229 just this year and moving forward they have $145 million in salary for Scotty Barnes Brandon Ingram RJ Barrett Emanuel Quickley and Yaka Purle that group as we’ve seen just got there sucks in the Eastern Conference they are a below 500 team in the worst conference so why on earth again him being a good guy him winning early on in his tenure that’s not to be commended but sports you don’t live in the past he he lost his fastball the same thing is happening right now to Pat Riley the difference is Mickey Harrison and those guys don’t have the stones to say you know what Pat what you’re doing is not working heat culture at this point is kind of become a myth let’s move on and let’s do something else credit to the Toronto Raptors their new ownership group decided Messiah you did some great things you’re a good guy we’re going to send you out with we’re going to let you make this last pick but we got to move on because it’s not working no more couple things to add to that one part that makes me laugh is the last group you just named they’re going to mess around and be a like six seed in the East
well it’s because East sucks
east sucks but also there is some talent there so he’s going to be mad wherever he is somewhere and he go like “Dang it now they balling now they Brandon Ingram out here looking good rj Barrett quick you know a handful of other guys they’re going to be looking uh Scotty Barnes i mean they got they’ve got some they’ve got guys on paper
they have talent
they have talent and if they mess around and put it together it’s going to be so hilarious that like this team makes it to the conference semis and he’s gone that’s going to make me laugh there but a couple other things are happening around the NBA right now rob G you’re you’re having new ownership groups that are buying out teams getting ready to buy the Celtics out we see what happened with the Lakers we’re here uh Minnesota recently the Suns these new ownership groups are coming in and you know the Mavericks
yep they’re coming in and they’re saying “Uh we’re changing house we’re getting rid of GMs we’re getting rid of coaches we’re seeing package deals we’re ging coaches going at the same time exactly we’re seeing the transition in the NBA to powerful ownership not so much mom and pops or not so much the old brigade we’re getting new people.” And I think they’re viewing the NBA and they’re saying “Uh this thing is wide open right now this is the seventh year in a row with a new champion and why not us?” And part of the why not us is we got to shape this thing up right now we got an opportunity to win right now there’s no bohemoth sitting in the NBA right now there’s no Heels where you’re like “Oh good luck.” Like like like like Toronto or some other team would have to go through in the East then right dude you kidding me we got to get through the big three in Boston and then try to get through the Heels this ain’t going to work there’s none of that there’s no KD led with Steph and the Warriors none of that sitting there there’s no Shaq and Kobe in the West like good luck it’s only you know only going to be like them or the Spurs that get through for a handful of years there’s none of that and I think these new ownerships are coming in season trying to change things up trying to switch it up and say “Man we can win now.” Especially if you’re in the East because if I Who’s the prohibited favorite is it Cleveland do you buy that
i mean it has to be Cleveland
it’s But do you buy it
they’re the favorite to be the number one seed i don’t know they’re the favorite i don’t know if they just beat the Pistons i don’t know that they just beat Orlando i don’t know they just beat a coach
the Knicks don’t have a coach is crazy work by the way
they did a whole draft without a coach
tom Tibido is sitting somewhere like I saw online they said they do the castanza where he just shows back up like “Oh we didn’t actually fire.”
No that you know what he might just want to pop up be like “Hey you know walk past the front desk like “Hey Cindy how you doing?” “Hey wait Tom just go back to your parking your spot.” And sometimes you know I mean it’s like a relationship you you know it’s over it’s a wrap and they just kind of come back sit in that spot in the couch bring the popcorn don’t say nothing bring the blanket just hand you the remote and be like “All right.” You know just get on back to how we were and they might just pull up and just have come up in there oh it’s crazy what time working out today we working out at 6 today
you know what time come on back bro we were tripping my bad
you know Love Island about to start right now
you know Love Island what time but Am I the Am I the only human that is not watching Love Island
i’m not watching it either man
okay Ian by the way what do you watch cuz every time I bring up something I just watch sports all day
is that what you do
all ball no I mean I watch trying to think what Andor I’ve been watching recently on Disney Plus that’s pretty good
all right
the bear you know I’ve been watching I’ve watched every episode of The Bear and I still don’t know if I like it or not
yeah you know I’m actually in the exact same boat i’m still kind of undecided and it’s on season four
after season one and a halfish
I got enough
all right so I never want to be in a kitchen it’s intense it’s a That’s a lot i do like Chicago ooh I do want to go get some uh an Italian sub
i’m out like I
Everyone says that season one is like where it was actually special like Lee Deap was saying this to me the other day and to me it’s like I’m I’m still at the point where I don’t know if I like the show season one that’s all you needed sometimes shows go to Narcos i didn’t need Naros 8
right right
after Pablo maybe season three I was good i didn’t need Narcos you know sometimes shows don’t know when to stop and it’s hard when to stop you know what I mean sometimes it’s okay to be a two season show
you don’t have to go that far
well to your point I’m also one of the people not watching Love Island not cuz I don’t want to but because one of the only things that my wife and I these days can watch together is trash and reality TV and we just haven’t had time to watch it together so we’re going to get to it
you You would seen like all of the uh uh Love is Blind all those
You would be in on that
and the best part about it is you’re going to blame it on your wife oh you know man it’s just it’s her night for the TV like you all in
but I’m like stretched out on the couchfortable did you watch the what i don’t know what the show’s called but the one where was Mononttoya was in it like Mononttoya poor favore
do you think he was on Mexican that I watched the one in Spanish
that’s kind of messed up
is the whole show in Spanish
where’s the Yes tread lightly
where’s the racist drop when you
racist
tread lightly ian
that didn’t even air here in America you know that right
no I had no idea
that’s got to be racist
ian you’re doing your Rob quota here
thanks for not letting me back make sure we get our racist quotes in my favorite is Love on the Spectrum people love that show too
i love it you’re in on that show
i watched all three seasons
you and Boo
sometimes by myself cuz I want to believe love is real and you don’t have to be anyone to have it
i love it
now what you got to watch is something called the ultimatum
what
oh yeah where they you know on purpose bring in a third party to try to break up your relationship to see if your your relationship is strong
stop
that’s the Mononttoya thing isn’t it
uh no i think that one’s more like Love Island
oh is that one watching her
you know
well I again I didn’t watch the show but I
That’s the one where the dude with Bible running down
yes that’s what I’m saying yeah the lightning oh okay that dude that that was
and it was like the thunder in the background on the beach it was It was It was
waited into the waters
pure cinema
that was pure cinema that I felt like that was uh what’s the movie with uh Jim Carrey it’s his world they like Truman Show cuz like they just put Q lightning thunder all right uh we’ll move on from that um you know there’s also so basically both on the same page is that it’s just time to move on yes it’s okay and that’s fine and it’s fine and he’ll get a job somewhere else he can you know he’s have he’s a championship uh G
so they’re saying he’s already in line to get a job in Atlanta
yeah so he he’ll get a job somewhere else

THE ODD COUPLE: Rob G explains to Kelvin Washington why the Raptors’ moving on from Masai Ujiri was a long time coming.

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