Masai Ujiri is very good at waiting, which not everyone can do. It’s like how some actors used to smoke in movies so they would have something to do with their hands when they weren’t doing anything else. It’s a skill, being convincing without doing too much at all.
Last week, with the Raptors in an extended skid, the idea running through the front office was, maybe we should just let this team get healthy, and prove itself. See if it could beat Boston or Washington or Atlanta or whoever in the first or second round. See if the Raptors could hack a path through to Cleveland again. Let it ride, and reap whatever whirlwind at the end.
Then Ujiri waited it out, and things changed. And on Tuesday the Raptors traded eternal what-if Terrence Ross and a low first-round pick to the flailing Orlando Magic for power forward Serge Ibaka. It is the most consequential acquisition of Ujiri’s career with the Raptors. It is a declaration, a signal of intent: We are serious. Let’s go.
“I also think with where we are as a team . . . the coaches, where Kyle and DeMar are, our organization, fans, I think it’s a good boost for us to have to see if we can bring us some good momentum,” said Ujiri, “and see where it takes us.”
For Ujiri, this is a departure. He has nipped and tucked, but aside from a Kyle Lowry trade to New York in 2013 that fell apart at the other end, he almost always deferred the big ideas to the future. The franchise’s owners love him; he has a new contract. There was no organizational pressure, not really. Ujiri could wait, if need be.
But Ujiri always keeps his options open. It wasn’t Kevin Love’s knee surgery in Cleveland that pushed this move. It wasn’t Lowry, who entered Tuesday night tied for first in the NBA in minutes played per game, telling reporters after the Detroit collapse Sunday night that something had to change. Yes, Sunday night exhumed Lowry’s old battles with coach Dwane Casey. Yes, the notion that this offence relies too little on ball movement and too much on isolation, and especially the tunnel vision of DeMar DeRozan, returned.
But these Raptors had been playing all season with a one-legged DeMarre Carroll and a collection of young big men that made Patrick Patterson indispensable, and Ujiri decided that the team deserved a shot at success, at an acceptable price. At the draft Oklahoma City had asked for the No. 9 pick, Norman Powell, Cory Joseph and Patterson for Ibaka. The Raptors passed. As the teams talked last week, Orlando’s price looked similar to what Atlanta wanted for Paul Millsap last month: Patterson, Ross, a first-round pick and a young player. The Raptors weren’t interested. They waited.
And with Ross and Powell to choose from, and an extra first-rounder from the Clippers, the path opened up. The Raptors can now roll out a lineup of Lowry and DeRozan, a suddenly sharpshooting Carroll, Ibaka — shooting 38 per cent from three-point range this year — and Jonas Valanciunas. And when teams go small, Ibaka can play centre and switch pick-and-rolls, the way Bismack Biyombo did last season.
It is, within Ujiri’s range of options, an acceptable risk. Ibaka isn’t in his prime. His rebounding and especially his shot-blocking numbers have been declining for the past few years: He blocked 5.0 and 4.1 shots per 100 possessions in 2012-13 and 2013-14, respectively; that number the past three seasons has been 3.7, 2.9, and 2.6. He is listed at 27 years old, but people around the league have long speculated the Congolese big man is older than that. He is not the monster rim defender he was a few years ago, even if he’s still better than anything the Raptors have.
But the genius of this is, Ujiri’s options are still open. This is the biggest risk he has taken, yes. Re-signing Lowry and Ibaka — who have the same agent, Andy Miller — would send the Raptors into the expensive luxury-tax territory, before Patterson’s free agency factors in. And it’s still unlikely to be enough to topple LeBron James this season, even if the chances have improved.
But the pressure isn’t on Ujiri: it’s on his team. Ujiri has enough political capital that if this team flops, he could still decide on a radical new direction: blow up the top end, hand the team to the youngsters, hope to rise again when LeBron falls. The Raptors intend to re-sign Ibaka and Lowry. But things can change.
“We’re happy to have the rights to these players,” said Ujiri, referring to the ability to exceed the salary cap for all three, “and we’ll see what it brings us.”
No, what Masai Ujiri did was remove the excuses. Now DeRozan has shooters to find, and it’s up to him to find them. Now Casey has forwards, and it’s up to him to meld them. Now Lowry has help, and it’s up to him to make it work. Ujiri could have waited, but decided to give this team — the team that has accomplished more than any team in franchise history, flaws and all — a chance, with no guarantees. The rest, between now and the hazy future of the summer, is up to them.
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