What’s the most impressive aspect of the Raptors’ performance in Vegas?

What’s the most impressive aspect of the Raptors’ performance in Vegas?

Happy to be joined by Josh Leuenberg, our Raptors reporter, who is in the midst of a massive home renovation at the Luenberg mansion. And despite that, is so kind to join us after this summer league game. Great to see you, pal. Uh, another win for this team. They go to 4-0 and it was like a slow start and then a relentless onslaught in the second half. What’s been the most impressive aspect of this team’s performance in Las Vegas in your eyes, Josh? Well, now I have to talk about the Renault because like the Raptors, my house is going through a rebuild and like the Raptors, I’m hoping it’ll be quick, relatively painless, and won’t put me into the luxury tax. But enough about my Renault and let’s get to the Raptors Renault because yes, in order to turn the corner pretty quickly here, they’re going to need some of these young guys to pop. And man, did Colin Murray Bole’s pop in this one. And I mean, I think he’s looked more and more comfortable in each game, but this is by far the best that he’s looked in summer league and kind of a snapshot at why the Raptors were drawn to him in the first place. And if you want to zoom in even further, I mean, let’s talk about that 30se secondond highlight that you just showed of layup, steal, dunk, offensive rebound, another bucket. I mean, the way that he impacts the game on both ends of the floor and gets you extra possessions. Th this is ultimately what the Raptors are looking for is guys that can do a lot of different things and impact the game in a lot of different areas. I mean, he is a 20-year-old in his third summer league game and is already making an impact at this level. So, uh, very encouraging, I would say. And I I mean, defense is his calling card. That’s what the Raptors want to do here. So, a really good start for him and a big performance in a game that the Raptors had to win. And how much stock do you actually put into how well this team is playing in this tournament, Josh? Because some of these players are going to get presumably anyway some significant playing time off the bench for this team. Yeah, probably means a little bit more than usual this year just because of all the regular uh roster players that are participating for the Raptors in Las Vegas. I still say that you need to take things with a grain of salt. But look, the old adage is summer league doesn’t necessarily tell you who can play, but it tells you who can’t play. And the good news here is none of the Raptors look out of place. The guys that you want to and need to see progress from have shown that progress. And I think if you look at how this team, how the Raptors performed in summer league over the last two years, 3-7 record combined, I think 23rd and 28th place finishes. And then you look at this, 4-0, uh, a massive point differential. They’re going to be the first seed going into the semifinals. I I don’t think that’s a coincidence. And it speaks to a really impressive de developmental turnaround that we’ve seen here over the last 12 months because this was a serious weakness for the organization. Their depth in uh throughout the throughout the organization throughout the team, but now you see that kind of young depth that they have at every position. The pipeline has been restocked. So again, really encouraging I think from what we’ve seen from this young group. And before we let you go, you wrote a piece this week updating the Raptor search for Messiah Jiri’s replacement. Josh, what’s the latest on that front? Just when I thought we were done talking about Messi Renos, but yes, from what I’ve heard, MLSC has uh been working with a CIA search firm in order to find Messiah Juri’s replacement. The firm submitted a list of recommended candidates to the MLSC board last week and my understanding is they’re in the early stages of the vetting process before scheduling interviews. Now, we know that Bobby Webster will be getting an interview. He’s going to be considered, but my sense, my read from that Keith Press conference we saw last month was that their preference is to keep Webster in the general manager role and bring in someone new. And that’s the sense I get from talking to people around the league as well. And if that ends up being the case, it’s going to make for a pretty awkward front office dynamic. Now, they’ve recently signed Webster to an extension, but the belief is there’s only one extra year on that deal, so it does give them some room to pivot if they decide to do so. It’s a really strange situation for the Raptors right now where Messiah Jiri is gone, but everybody else that was employed by the organization is still employed for now. The top guy is gone and a new look ownership group has promised more change. So, nobody feels safe. Having spent most of the last week around the Raptors in Las Vegas, I can tell you there is a nervous energy around this team. It is palpable and it’s not going away until they ultimately name a new president. And Josh, do you get the sense without having actually seen the list that the list is full of people who are basketball people who might bring in basketball ideas rather than just business people? Is that why you feel it might lead to an awkward situation in the front office in terms of the dynamic? Yeah, names are hard to come by right now. MLSC is keeping things pretty close to the vest. But first of all, we know that they’re on a budget. It’s the biggest reason why Messiah was let go. with his $15 million annual salary was deemed too rich for their blood. So, we have a pretty good idea that they’re not going to be going after massive names like, let’s say, Bob Meyers, the former Warriors exec. It wouldn’t be a surprise if whoever does get hired is somebody that Raptors fans might have to Google and look up a little bit. I I mean, one thing that I’m wondering and I’ve heard from people around the league is there’s a possibility here that the Raptors could follow a bit of a leaguewide trend recently and hire somebody that either is currently a player agent or has experience as a player agent. And if that’s the case, yeah, it might be someone coming in with a fraction of the front office experience or relevant experience that somebody like Bobby Webster has. And that’s why I mean it would be uncomfortable I think for Bobby to report to somebody with a fraction of the experience and somebody obviously that gets the job that he wanted that he felt that he earned but probably tough for somebody coming in too, right? Somebody that wants to probably reset and bring in their own people. Absolutely agree. Josh, uh this is terrific stuff. Uh you’ve been great and I wish you the best of luck with that home renovation. Okay. Don’t get frustrated. It’s going to come together in time. Okay.

What has been the most impressive aspect of the Raptors’ performance in Las Vegas? How much stock should be put into how the group played in the tournament? What’s the latest on the search for Masai Ujiri’s replacement? TSN Raptors reporter Josh Lewenberg joins SC with Jay Onrait to discuss.