What’s The LATEST On The Toronto Raptors’ Search For A New President?

What’s The LATEST On The Toronto Raptors’ Search For A New President?

It’s time to talk some Raptors president speculation. Will Bobby be out if he doesn’t become the guy? Hey, what about the bench optimism? Or are we feeling a little down? That’s up next on today’s Locked On Raptors. You are Locked on Raptors, your daily Toronto Raptors podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. It’s your favorite part of the day. Thanks for making Locked on Raptors your first listen every day. I’m Vec Jacob. I’ve been covering the Toronto Raptors for eight seasons across several outlets. You can follow Locked On Raptors on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, and YouTube. And be sure to check out the Locked On Raptors Discord where you can talk all things basketball, but especially the Raptors. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $ five bet wins. It is Wednesday, July the 23rd. I am joined by a man you’re used to seeing plenty of on TV on TSN. You can read his work over at tsn.ca. He’s always on top of the inner workings of the Raptors. It’s Josh Lewenberg. How are you doing, buddy? Good, man. What’s going on? Nothing much. just uh you know making that transition from summer league talk to just speculating and uh you know a whole lot of slop for the rest of the summer I guess. Um and that’s why I thought you’d be the perfect man to bring on and talk about what’s going on with the team right now. Obviously you were in Vegas and uh got to know some of the newer Raptors and got to chat with uh you know I’m sure some of the execs that were over there and so let’s start there. uh you reported recently that uh the CIA has submitted a list of candidates that they have uh you know figured out would be the best possible options for the Raptors and the MLS is now in the process of vetting them. When I go back to Keith Pelly’s uh presser, he mentioned a businessman several times over the course of that presser. As the time has gone on, do you get the feel that MLS is more inclined to pick someone with more of a business acumen than a basketball guy? Yeah, I mean I I think ideally you find the balance there somewhere where you have somebody that has that comes with experience in business and in basketball. Threading the needle is pretty tough, right? Like you’re probably going to lean to one side or the other. And I I think like I mean what you want to do if if this guy is truly this person that they hire to be the president is truly going to be overseeing basketball operations is there needs to be some semblance of basketball experience there. Um but there is like there is a pretty big business element to the job as well as we saw over the years with Messiah Jiri. I mean, it’s tough because I mean, as Steve P pointed out rightly so in the press conference is like, I think this was in response to the question of like, why replace the president with the Raptors and not replace the president with the Leafs, is like there’s no blueprint as to how this is supposed to look from a front office structure standpoint. I I think I I did the math. It was uh almost half the league right now. I think 14 of the 30 teams are currently operating without a dedicated team president. Now again, it looks different with every organization. Some teams have a president/general manager. I mean the reigning champions have a vice president, executive vice president and general manager. and Sam Presky who essentially is operating as the president, but he doesn’t have the title and is reporting directly to ownership. So, it looks different no matter what. And ultimately, like this the actual job description of whoever they hire is going to depend not only on what the title is, it sounds like it’s going to be president, but ultimately what the structure is. Is Bobby Webster, if it’s not Bobby Webster, if it’s an external candidate, is Bobby Webster reporting directly to that person? And is Bobby Webster or whoever the general manager is in charge of basketball operations or is the president in charge of basketball operations? I do remember him saying something in the press conference like we don’t need him to sell tickets. We have people in charge of that. So yeah, I mean they they’ve got a lot of things to figure out in addition obviously to who this person is that gets the job is like what is even the job? What does it look like? What’s the job description? Yeah. And another thing that he mentioned was, hey, if it takes two to three weeks to figure out the right person, that’s fine. If it takes two to three months, that’s fine, too. Do you get any sense that this is something that they want to get done sooner rather than later? And and I mean, obviously, worst case, you would expect it to be in place before training camp, but do you get the sense that over the next month we should have a new Raptors president? I don’t know about in the next month, but like it it has been moving relatively quickly considering they already have a list of recommended names. They’re well into the process of vetting those names. I’d imagine interviews will be starting up if they haven’t already in the next little bit and they’ll start to take a look at um a really thorough look at some candidates here and get to know people. Um, yeah, I I think sooner rather than later is probably their preference and certainly well before we found out today. Uh, training camp starts what? end of September, beginning of October in Calgary, and then they go to Vancouver. And yeah, like to to not have somebody in place at that point would be a disaster based on what I saw during my time around the team in Vegas as I wrote about is like this is a team that is very much in limbo right now. This is a very very weird situation where um the only person that is missing, the elephant in the room is the one person who isn’t in the Roman Messiah Jiri, but literally everybody else that was employed with this organization is still employed at least for now. like you look at the the website and uh they’ve got I think it’s 80 people listed on their staff and outside of the guy at the top who’s still on that list by the way um still on the website. Outside of the guy at the top, everyone else is still employed. Everyone else was in Vegas probably to in part show face and prove their worth and obviously to do what everyone else is doing, myself included, is kind of sus out what comes next. Um, so it’s a bizarre situation where like I would say in in this very competitive industry of professional sports, like nobody can really ever feel safe. Nobody’s job sec nobody really has long-term job security. You’re only as good as what you’ve done lately and everyone is performing for their job, playing for their job, whatever it is to some degree. But it’s super rare to have a situation where everybody feels it so intensely. Everybody is looking over their shoulder. Nobody feels safe from top to bottom. There were a lot of whispers, a lot of nervous energy. And that’s not going anywhere until they hire a president where and I asked the question to Keith Py in the press conference like is this job attractive to external candidates considering there’s an entire leadership team that is still in place here that’s recently been extended. And he said like yeah and I agree like it’s still an MBA president’s job. it’s always going to be attractive to some degree. But if the stipulation is like, “Oh, well, you can’t bring in your own people, maybe not as much.” But let’s put it this way, I would be very surprised if that was the stipulation. Um, the extensions that Bobby and and his leadership team were given, short-term extensions, I believe they added a year on to their deals. Um, they’re not making Messiah money, I can tell you that. So if the plan is eventually to pivot, if they bring in someone new, that person wants to bring in their own people, wouldn’t be hard to do. So all of that is to say that like yeah, this is I I described it like this in a story that I wrote like a few weeks ago is it kind of feels like a house of cards where right now everything is still together. It’s still business as usual. Everything is still operating the way that for the most part it always has. But you do get the sense that like if something happens here to kind of shake up the foundation that it could topple over pretty quickly here. They’re in a pretty precarious situation. Yeah, I’m with I’m with you there. And it’s it’s not just the the way the contracts line up with the executives, it’s the the way the contracts line up with, you know, with the players, too. Yeah. And uh we’ll get into more of that and uh the Bobby Webster of it all uh coming up next. Summer sports are in full swing. And whether you’re out on the baseball field, under the lights, golf on the green, or highstakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game more exciting. You’re already following the action. Why not make it a little more thrilling? With FanDuel, you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach. Whether I’m placing a same game parlay or watching a bet ride into the ninth inning, FanDuel makes it feel like I’m part of the action. New to FanDuel? New customers can bet just $5 and get $150 back in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the FanDuel app today or visit FanDuel.com to get started. And we are back here with TSN’s Josh Leuenberg talking all things front office at the moment. Uh Josh, when I look at, you know, obviously the MLSC going through this process of vetting candidates and uh P has said that he will consider uh Bobby Webster as a candidate. If I’m Bobby with everything that I’ve accomplished with the Raptors so far, I’ll believe not only that I’m good enough, that if I don’t get the opportunity here, someone else will see me as their president. And is there a real risk that if Bobby Webster does not become the president that he will be on his way out by 26 27? I just don’t think that it’s a a sustainable situation to have him reporting to somebody who ultimately gets the job that to your point he wants and he almost certainly feels like he’s earned and deserves. Um, and it also depends who that person is. Like I to go back to our previous conversation in terms of like and I don’t I don’t know what the list looks like that CIA submitted to MLSC and I’m not sure that anyone does like names are really hard to come by right now but based on what I’ve been hearing maybe an educated guess that I have is like I wouldn’t be surprised if the candidate that ends up emerging from this process is somebody with experience as a player agent either currently or formerly. Um, it’s it’s a popular trend around the league now. We’re seeing it more and more. Obviously, Rob Pelinko with the Lakers and Leon Rose with the Knicks are are two of the big names that come up and like it’s a copycat league. Teams are doing it. They’ve had success doing it. Um, I get the sense people that I’ve talked to around the league have gotten the sense that MLSC is intrigued by going that route. And look, like I said, there are a lot of benefits to it. I think that perspective, somebody that has worked closely with players, is one that, well, first of all, this Raptors front office, while they have a lot of different types of skill sets and a lot of different types of backgrounds, that’s one thing that they don’t really have. But what the mold of the the player agent turn executive generally doesn’t have is relevant front office experience. At least maybe some some of them have a little bit of it. I know some uh former agents have been working in front offices of like consultants or or whatever. So there there is some experience there, but certainly not to the level like Bobby Webster, who’s still a very young man by the way, and still looks it. Um but he’s spent half of his life, literally half of his 40 plus years in the NBA and has spent the last decade plus working as one of the top lieutenants and then eventually the top lieutenant to Messiah in Toronto. So I if you are Bobby and you’re asked to report to somebody who gets your job who might have maybe no relevant front office experience, that’s probably not a great situation. And then again on the other side of it is like the the person that’s coming in might not want that situation either. So, like maybe that’s something that I would think that MLSC, if they’re not naive, like they’ve got they probably got a realistic idea that if they go in a different direction and hire an external candidate that they’re essentually saying goodbye to Bobby Webster and to the rest of this front office team, right? And Yeah. Right. Right. Now, Bobby like he is very well respected, well regarded around the league and highly soughta like the Raptors less so over the last few years at least publicly but remember there were years certainly after around the championship given the Raptor success where like every week it seemed like there was a report that like oh this team is trying to poach this person and this team is try and the Raptors have said no you can’t interview this person. Um, but yeah, I mean, there have been a number of teams that have picked up the phone and come calling about Bobby over the last few years. I remember Chicago was very interested before hiring another former Raptor exam in Mark Mark Eversley. So, look, I I don’t know that there is another president’s job out there waiting for him right now, but there are certainly other general manager opportunities that would present themselves where probably he would have more autonomy to go somewhere and to to be the primary basketball decision maker. Um, something that probably wouldn’t be afforded to him if he’s to stay here reporting to the new primary basketball decision maker. Um, if you’ve read my latest piece, you’ve probably noticed that I am a big believer in Bobby Webster. I am. I think he’s smart, extremely capable. I think he’s experienced. I think he has a great eye for talent. I don’t think he’s Messiah Jerry. And I don’t know that that’s a bad thing. Like certainly he doesn’t command the room in the same type of way. he doesn’t have the same larger than life personality. But I I don’t think the Raptors are at a place anymore where they need a front-facing executive, where they need the face of the organization to be an executive. Ideally, like you you have a player in that role as face of the franchise. They needed that 10 years ago when Messiah came in. This organization was hurting. And they were in a place where they needed somebody to stand up there and command the room and sell everybody on the organization in front of the camera, behind the camera, behind closed doors. They needed it. I don’t know that they need it anymore. Um I I think Bobby is a type of guy that he’s a chameleon. Like he can and I I don’t need to tell you this. You’ve seen it over the years. he can dress down and kind of chum it up with players and team staff and media and and fans, but and then he can suit up and he looks the part in there too. Um I think that Messiah and his like look Messiah is a celebrity. Messiah is is it’s not just the personality that’s larger than life. He has become larger than life in a lot of ways. And I think like I mean first of all that is it’s kind of harder to relate to people when you are considered at at that like tier of celebrity that level of celebrity. Bobby isn’t that type of guy. He’s as down to earth I think as you can get in this industry at that position. But I also just think like there are teams there are executives and we know about some of them. like some of the some some of it is out there in in stories that you’ve read over the years, reports that we’ve read over the years and then some of it I’ve heard a lot of behind the scenes as well is like there are teams there are executives that were intimidated by Messiah that did not want to deal with Messiah that would hang up the phone. I can’t imagine there are too many people around the league that are like we’re not dealing with Bobby Webster. So I do think there are some benefits there. I I do think that he is qualified, that he has earned the opportunity to at least see what a Bobby Webster team looks like. That’s the thing is like none of us know what a Bobby Webster team would look like. I think the assumption here from a lot of people that oh he’s just Messiah 2.0, a Messiah disciple, but like just because you pointed out right like the going from Dwayne Casey to Nick Nurse was night and day. And so that’s proof enough that, you know, unless you run your own company, we all have bosses, right? Like, yeah, just because you agree with some of the things your bosses do, it doesn’t like if you were running the company doesn’t mean that you would make those same decisions. So, I think that’s silly and a misconception is like, oh, he’s just going to be the same guy, do the same things. The only question that I have with Bobby is whether he I said he could relate to a lot of different people. Can he step into the MLSC boardroom and sell the suits on a trade on a player on going into the tax on himself cuz he’s going to need to do that in order to get the job. And I’m not saying that he can’t do that because I haven’t seen it. But it’s a little bit harder to envision just because he’s not Messiah, right? Like Messiah could do that. That was Messiah’s one of Messiah’s greatest arenas. you would go in there and have them eating out of the palm of his hands. Um, besides Bobby’s going to need to prove that. And one of the things that you asked about the timeline for filling the president position and yeah, I do get the sense they’d rather have it filled sooner rather than later. I suggested this in the story that I wrote recently is like, what’s the rush? Why do this at all? I mean, I was a little I think a lot of people were surprised when uh MLSC announced like they had fired Messiah and then they planned on replacing Messiah because like they weren’t doing that with the lease. They didn’t do that with TFC. I don’t think anyone would have questioned if they just kind of stayed consistent like okay well we’re not they could have just said like we’re always in the market for talented people. We’re always looking but for now status quo Bobby’s in charge. Give him a year as general manager. you don’t have if you don’t if you’re not sure that he’s ready for the president gig. You don’t want to commit to him, don’t. But allow him to run basketball operations from the general manager role. See how it goes. See how the team looks. Allow him to sink or swim. And that way, if it works, you could elevate him and everybody else next summer. If it doesn’t work, then you can justify bringing in somebody new in a way that maybe you can’t right now. Like if they do that, especially if they bring I don’t if they bring in somebody without a ton of front office experience, how’s that going to play in this market? Is it going to be wellreceived? Especially when there is a candidate that I think a lot of people are not rooting for, like at least intrigued by. Like, don’t you want to see what a Bobby Webster team looks like? Yeah. At the very least, he would come with a certain level of trust. And I think the other factor and you know something that MLS should be considering with Bobby here for me is if there was ever a salary cap era for Bobby. Yeah. This is it. You want a guy who has been working at the head office, understands the cap structure, you know, would have dug into every single detail of the second apron and will understand the ramifications of each transaction. And I think that’s got to be one of his biggest plus points in this whole search. And yet the irony is like I fear that might hurt him in this process. I fear like he may have been typ cast as like oh he’s the accountant. He’s the he’s the brains behind the operation. He’s like the second in command. The guy that’s whispering in the ear of the president is like oh well spend this don’t spend that here here’s how we fit all of this into like is that the guy that is running the show? And I I I don’t see why it can’t be or why it shouldn’t be. But again, my fear is that they’ll look at him and say, “Well, he’s just the the the smart guy that the the bean counter or whatever.” Um, right. Whereas, I think he has proven over the years, especially as his role’s expanded over the last few years, that he is more than that and that he can do more than that. Yeah. Uh just to quickly wrap up on the Bobby thoughts or just you know the front office in general right now as the MLS searches for a president. Is it safe to say that all transactions are on hold until a president is found? Because we’ve seen the RJ rumors, the Quickly rumors, you know, potentially, you know, in terms of managing the cap, maybe there’s something that involves OCI. Um is it safe to say that until a president is found that all that stuff is on hold? It’s not safe to say anything in this crazy league. The second we say it is and the second the opposite happens. But yeah, I mean, especially given you mentioned earlier like we passed summer league, obviously we passed the draft, start a free agency, we passed summer league, we’re heading into that like August period where it’s generally very very quiet in the NBA. That’s not to say that nothing can happen, but very rarely does something happen. It certainly looks more and more like this Raptors roster is set. And yeah, regardless of where they are in the T, I think they’re pretty close to the tax, whether they’re a little over, a little under, um, tax doesn’t get charged until game 82. They have some time here to see how this looks, figure it out mid-season. Um, there was certainly a lot of noise at one point, not only in regards to like RJ and selling, but also the other players that were out there and potentially buying, but I think if you look at the timeline there too, my sense of it is Messiah knew for a little bit anyway that things were likely headed in this direction, that this was an inevitability or at least a probability. I’m not sure that he knew exactly when it was going to happen, but he knew that it probably was going to happen. And that’s why if you’re Messiah, like might not have been a bad time to be swinging for the fences. And when we heard all of that smoke of like, oh, maybe Giannis, maybe Kevin Durant, maybe this, maybe that, like there there was a time there pre- Messiah firing where the Raptors were certainly very very active and I think Messiah’s situation had a lot to do with that. And then to your point V, I think like the Raptors current front office situation probably is indicative of the fact that things are going to be quiet here until training camp opens in Calgary. And you know, we will preview a little bit of that training camp and think looking back on what we saw here at Summer League. And we’re back here with TSN’s Josh Leuenberg. And we’ve done a lot of front office talk. You were in Vegas. So, let’s talk about the Encore product uh for a little bit. And you know, when I think of the Raptors bench, specifically the guys who we saw at Summer League, cuz obviously Grady, Ochi, Sandro, they’re going to figure in. But uh in terms of the guys we saw, I think the three most important players that will figure into the rotation are likely Jamal Shed, Jacobe Walter, Colin Murray Boils. And uh when I look at how things played out, uh I think Jamal Shed is maybe being handed the keys a year earlier than what would be ideal, but we’re going to see how he goes. I think the bonus is that you’ve got five very good starters and so you should be able to stagger the lineups in a way that gives him and Jacobe Walter the support that they need. You know, we saw some ugly moments for the f halfcourt offense. We we can be, I think, very encouraged by what we saw from them defensively. Uh, but I think if they can get the right support uh from a couple of the starters along with them, I think there’s a lot of positives to take away from what they showed at summer league. For sure. And like I I think probably we should start with the the summer league caveat of like you always have to take this stuff with a grain of salt. I think like what what the old saying is you can’t tell who can play at summer league but it does show who can’t play and even that I mean last year at summer league the worst the Raptors worst player was Oayabaji like right considering he was a thirdyear player in summer league 2 he was terrible it was hard to watch and then he goes into the season and almost immediately just breaks through three-point shooting much better defense much better was one of the bright spots for the Raptors last year. So even that, I’m not sure it holds up the like you can tell who can’t play. It it really is like it really is a grain of salt situation. But with all of that said, like and if you’re the Raptors and especially this year where more than ever I I think you’re emphasizing evaluation and development at this time of the year because they had so many regular roster players playing in Vegas, way more than we’re used to seeing from any team. um you’re looking to see progress from those players and I think we saw it like I mean they they all had flashes at various points of what they can become. None of them were consistent but I’m not worried about that like that in my experience is is that’s the last thing to come for young developing players is to do it consistently. Um, but I like that for each of those guys, we saw like Jacobe put on the strength that he needed to put on and it’s like it’s one thing to say that you’ve gained 12 lbs of muscle, but like what are you going to do with it? And he showed us like especially in a couple of those games where he really popped. He was playing more aggressively, finishing through contact, which is something he really struggled with last year. He mentioned I was talking to him last week and he was like I had no problem getting to the rim and he didn’t like he did a good job of that. It’s finishing once he got there. I think he was 47% inside of 5 feet last year which was dead last on the team of of guys that had attempted uh 120 shots from that range. Um whereas he was really physical embracing contact this year. I mean Shamshay, where do you even start with him? a guy that’s like night and day from the player that he was in Vegas 12 months ago. Um, yeah, Mo looked great. Said, I mean, predictably looked great. And to your point, like, yeah, I I it’s always you’re you’re always going to be a bit nervous when you have a secondyear guy running either unit, first or second. But I think and talking to people around the Raptor, one of the things that everyone mentioned is like the blessing in disguise last year. I mean, obviously the blessing in disguise from a rebuilding tanking year would have been should have been a great first round pick. It wasn’t. Um, but the other benefit is these guys have a lot of NBA experience, a lot more than most second-year players have. It was like trial by fire, especially in the second half of the season. So, in a lot of ways, Jamal Shed feel like certainly more mature and older than you would expect from a sophomore. And part of that is just like his mentality and the way that he is in general. Um, so yeah, I mean I I feel pretty good about where this Raptors team is coming out of summer league is kind of like the midsummer checkpoint and taking a look at some of these guys. And the one guy that I didn’t mention is Colin Murray Boils who I mean he had that one game against Golden State where he really popped and that was a snapshot right there of why the Raptors fell in love with him. And if you want to zoom in even further, there was that 30 second stretch where it’s like layup, steal, dunk, offensive rebound, another bucket. And like that’s that’s the type of guy that he is right now. It’s like defense into offense. At some point, you hope that he expands his offensive game a little bit more. But I was talking to him for a story that I’m writing and I was asking him a lot about defense. The piece is going to be centered primarily around defense. And I think I said something along the lines of like something along the lines of like do you do you want to be known for your defense? And he’s like not entirely for my defense like not just as a defensive player. And he was explaining that like when you come into the NBA you need to find a niche. You need to find your role. And the best way to do that is to figure out one thing that you’re really good at, fully embrace it, and eventually build around that. And for him, that’s defense. So, I love that. Like, that’s and that’s kind of what we saw in summer league, too, where he’s got that mindset. He plays really hard defensively. Um, I think a lot of it is stuff that’s just like innate, inherent that can’t be taught. Just like your natural instincts and the way that he gets his hands on loose balls and um breaks up passing lanes and and all that stuff and obviously his anticipation level is amazing like for sure. For sure. And if he can continue to and I think to your point like that’s enough right now to get his foot in the door to earn some minutes with that second unit and if he can continue building on that like that that’s kind of what what I what I saw or what I what I thought of the pick initially is like I I don’t know about the ceiling and the ceiling ultimately is going to be determined I think by what he does offensively how he expands his game but that mindset of like defense is my foundation and I’m going to do it and I’m going to do it really well and play play really hard. That to me gives gives him a pretty high floor in the NBA. Yeah. Yeah. I think defense there was a lot to like. I think he will come into the league ready to defend threes and fours. Uh some twos. I don’t think he’s quite uh ready for fives. I don’t think the Isaac Jones audition went too well. Um and and that’s someone who you’d consider as an undersized five, you know. So, uh, I wouldn’t put that on his plate yet. I wouldn’t put, you know, uh, obviously there’s going to be situations where he gets switched on to point guards and it’ll just happen, but I I don’t think that’s something that you want to, uh, you know, actively pursue with him, uh, at this point in time. Uh, quickly, you know, I know you spent uh, some time with Jacobe Walter as well. I’m curious how you see that battle potentially between uh Jacobe Walter, Grady Dick, and maybe even Ojiabaji. Yeah, I mean it’s going to be interesting. It’s it’s it’s good problem to have if you’re Darko Rayakovic. I mean, at that position, but really any position now that this is looking like a much deeper team. I think first of all for Darko like one one skill that he’s going to need to have here that we just really haven’t seen over the last couple years cuz for the most part it’s been like whoever he has available is who he has to play now he’s got options and I think he’s got to keep an open mind. He’s got to be flexible here in a way that and I’ll use an example. Um it it was the benchmob year. I believe it was Pascal Seakum’s second year and Pascal as we know he was thrust into a starting role that he wasn’t ready for year one because Sullinger got hurt. He started for a while, played for a while, went to the G- League in the second half of the year, barely played once they got Sergy Baka. That second year, the plan was not for him to be in the rotation at all. He was going to be like the 11th man or something like that. And then somebody got hurt at the beginning of the year. I think it was JV. Um, and ultimately Pascal was kind of thrust into spot minutes. And I I remember even the opponent, it was a game against Golden State very early in the year. He had a huge game and all of a sudden Casey was like, well, like I can’t sit this guy back down. Like he’s he’s earned these minutes even if this wasn’t the plan. So that’s the thing is like they’re going to go into the year, they’re going to have an idea of what the rotation is going to look like, what the plan is specifically at at that 2, three position that you mentioned. They have to be open-minded with it. And it might be in training camp where they decide they have to pivot. It might be a couple games in the season, but if somebody pops, like I mean, looking at the roster right now, sorry, I know I’m like going um to a different position here, but go ahead. like Mobo doesn’t look like he’s going to be in the rotation right now, especially because he’s a little redundant with what CMBB brings to the table, but he was really impressive in summer league. I mean, that the the one game that I was there for the uh opener against Chicago, I would argue that Mobo was the best player on the floor. If he gets an opportunity in camp or at the beginning of the season and he pops, then like you’ve got to be able to go with the flow in that scenario. Maybe that means that it’s somebody like, and I’ll go back to your example, like maybe it’s Jacobe that pops in training camp. And maybe that means somebody like Grady Dick, who was a lottery pick a couple of years ago and was starting games, started every game that he played, I believe, last year. Maybe that means that he falls out of the rotation and they’ve got to be okay with that. They can’t look at it and say, “Well, this is where we drafted the guy or this is how much money we have invested in the guy.” Um, ultimately like internal competition I think is a good thing. It’s something that the Raptors haven’t had in a long time. Um, and I think it it brings out the best in guys or it doesn’t. But that’s that’s why you have to allow I think guys here to earn their opportunities, earn their minutes. And for a team that’s very clearly prioritizing defense, that was their identity last year towards the end of the year. That was their identity in summer league where by the way a lot of guys here you mentioned a bunch of them are are here building chemistry and working on things especially on the defensive end. Grady like thirdyear players don’t have to play. I mentioned Ochi did it last year. I’m sure it was a conversation that was had. I don’t know enough about the situation to say whether it was the team that didn’t want him to play or whether he didn’t think that he needed to play. Um I know that some people would have liked to see him out there. I think given where he’s at, where the team is at, the depth at that position, maybe it would have been beneficial to him. But I’ll say this, and I’ve already made this maybe not so bold prediction is if he doesn’t get at least a little bit better defensively, enough to be able to hold his own and get a lot better at the thing that he’s supposed to be really good at, cuz he’s never going to be a great defender. Yeah. But that’s fine if he’s shooting 40% from three. Yeah. To this point in his career, he’s been a below average three-point shooter. well below what the expectations were when they drafted him. He’s still young. I still have optimism that he can become that type of player. Uh but if he’s not going to defend at a very high level, he’s going to need to shoot at a very high level in order to stay at the floor. And the team could use that. They could use his shooting. But if he doesn’t do either or both of those things, Jacobe Walter is lurking. Oiabaji coming off of a career year is lurking. And I’m really really encouraged by what I’ve seen uh from Jacobe. I liked him a lot in small samples last year. It was a weird rookie year with all the injuries and the start and stop, but I think he showed enough then. I think he’s done exactly what he needs to do, including putting on that muscle and getting stronger now. Um I don’t think like he’s an elite defender right now either, but he’s young and he plays really hard on that end. I see the potential there. And he’s he shot the ball really well in the second half of last year. So he’s a type of player that fits what how they want to play and what they want to do. I wouldn’t be shocked at all if by midseason he has usurped Grady on the depth chart and may maybe Oi too. Yeah. No, I’m with you there. You know, listeners of the show know that I’ve been super high on Jacobe. Um, I’ve even speculated that, you know, if certain things play out at the trade deadline, he could potentially even be the starting shooting guard uh by the end of the season. Uh, you know, I like that you mentioned, you know, iron sharpens iron and it’s a long time since the Raptors have had that. I think that’s going to be the biggest positive that emerges out of this shooting guard, small forward battle. Uh, you mentioned the Pascal example. Another one I’ll throw out there is, you know, OG’s rookie season when Norm got had the starting gig and then he got injured and then OG Anobi gets the opportunity to defend James Harden in Houston and just looks incredible. And it’s like, okay, you can’t go away from this and that’s it. Norm’s back to the bench and the advantage is like you shouldn’t ever like lose your job because of injury, but like why not? It’s a competitive It’s a brutal and competitive business, but that’s the way that it is. And at the end of the day, it’s a results driven business. All that matters at the end of the day is winning. And if there is another guy out there that is willing and ready to take advantage of the opportunity when it comes up, then like ride the hot hand. And yeah, I mean the rap the raps can’t be afraid to do that regardless of who the guy is, the name value, the the contract, whatever it is. Josh, thanks so much for joining me. I I really enjoyed this. Uh if you want to carry on our discussion, head on over to the Lockdown Raptors Discord. The link is in the description. Make sure again that you head on over to tsn.ca to read all of Josh’s great work. Uh I don’t know if you want to have people follow you on Instagram, but you can go do that as well. Beyond and beyond that, thank you for making Locked on Raptors your first listen today. For your second listen, find the Locked on NBA podcast where there is no offseason. Doug, Matt, and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors, and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Locked on NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day.

As we transition away from Summer League, it’s time to shift attention to the latest on the Toronto Raptors’ search for a new team president. Vivek Jacob is joined by TSN’s Josh Lewenberg to discuss how much progress has been made.

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