LAS VEGAS—Run into executives around the courts at the NBA’s Summer League, bump into colleagues in the work room, have conversations with coaches and officials in random meetings around the Wynn resort, and there’s only one ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ topic they want to talk about:
For more than a decade, Masai Ujiri was the man most associated with the Raptors, more recognizable than any coach or player. But he is gone from the organization after what, for many, was a shocking and unexpected move they can’t figure out.
It takes only a few minutes to explain it — there was and had been long-simmering enmity that reached its apex. That seems to satisfy the curious masses and lead to the next topic:
“What are they going to do?â€
When they’re told that the MLSE caretakers seem intent to hire a new president, the reaction is mixed. And more questions:
Why? What can they get that they didn’t have? Is it an organization worth working for? Would you be able to do the job?
Rest assured, there is interest in the job and there is opinion of whether it’ll be a good one.
“Sounds like they’re going to go cheap,†one front office executive said.
“Why don’t they just give the job to (Raptors GM) Bobby Webster?,†more than a few people wondered.
The overriding feeling of NBA types is that the unknown is a huge factor. Ujiri’s departure caught the vast majority of the league unaware and, judging by what’s gone on here during the first few days of the Summer League, they are still processing the news.
Bosom buddies
The best little tidbit I got all week here came Saturday when I was leaving the arena work room and ran into pal Tom Orsborn from the San Antonio Express-News.
He tells me what a great guy Sandro Mamukelaveshvili is and how the beat writers will love him — and how Mamu and rap icon Flavor Flav are best buddies.
Wait. Who? What?
Seems that Mamukelaveshvili and the Public Enemy co-founder have been pals for years. Flavor Flav was also in the arena the night Mamukelaveshvili went off for 34 points in about 19 minutes against the Knicks last season.
The ensuing post-game interview was a classic.
Giannis and the Masai fallout
It seems the commonly held thought is that Ujiri’s departure automatically takes ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ out of any running for Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo because MLSE dismissed Antetokounmpo’s long-time friend.
Everyone I ran into here is adamant the Bucks are not going to entertain a thought of dealing Antetokounmpo right now. If anything, it won’t happen until next February’s trade deadline, if ever.
Things can change but there’s every reason to expect the Bucks to see how Antetokounmpo works with free-agent pickup Myles Turner before pulling the trigger on a massive deal.
And if it happens, you can bet the Raptors will still be interested, regardless of how the front office is constructed.
Slam-dunk debut
When Raptors guard Alijah Martin threw down a vicious dunk in the team’s Friday opener and almost had another later in the game, eyes were widened. Yes, it was a Summer League game and Summer League competition. But someone suggested if Martin, the second-round pick signed to a two-way contract last week, keeps that up, he might find himself in the dunk contest at the all-star break in February in Los Angeles.Â
ALIJAH MARTIN ON YOUR HEADTOP 🤯
— ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Raptors (@Raptors)
Costly Vegas trip
No one will say the total exactly but it costs a pretty penny for the Raptors to run their Summer League organization.
It’s a massive undertaking. A check with a couple of league and team officials who might know suggest renting the double-wide ballroom in the not-inexpensive Wynn for two courts and all the electronics and signing necessary might run anywhere from $35,000 to $50,000 a night for about three weeks from setup to teardown.
Toss in the 100 rooms — coaches, players, support staff — and, even at a volume cut rate, that’s pretty expensive.
When I ran it past officials with other teams and suggested the total cost would be right around $1 million, no one suggested I was out of my mind.
The benefits for the Raptors come from having their own facility. It’s open 24/7 and if someone wants to get up shots in the dead of the night, they can. They don’t have to rent a high school for a few hours a day and tote all their stuff back and forth every day. That saves wear and tear and time.
And being the only team with its own facility at the Wynn gives them some cachet. The other 15 or so teams housed on the facilities have to travel to practice and shootarounds every day; the Raptors just walk down from their rooms.
It’ll be interesting to see whether this arrangement, now three years old, is permanent or if a new level of financial restraint might make the Raptors rethink the annual outlay.
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Some quick hits
You know what they don’t do before every Summer League game? Play any national anthem. You know what no one misses before every Summer League game? The playing of any national anthem …
An old friend stopped by Raptors practice Saturday. CJ Miles, part of the vaunted Bench Mob back in the mid-2000s, is now a budding professional photographer and was shooting some art during a team workout …
The NBA board of governors meets here Tuesday and there might be an empty seat at the table. Larry Tanenbaum will be in his usual spot as the chairman of the board and the Raptors governor but the alternate governor was Ujiri. He won’t be there, of course. Who replaces him as ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½â€™s second representative isn’t a huge deal but a couple of league people I talked to here are wondering just who will assume the job …
The Raptors are on the road again later this summer, planning a team retreat to Spain, like they had last summer after the Paris Olympics. It was bonding, hangout, practice camp that seemed to foster all kinds of good chemistry last season …
No one has any idea of how the process of replacing Ujiri will unfold but it was amusing to look up at the seating section of the Cox Pavilion reserved for team executives and seeing Brampton’s Marc Eversley, the current general manager of the Chicago Bulls, sitting a few rows ahead of Dwane Casey, now a senior adviser in the front office of the Detroit Pistons. Both of them will be heavily linked to whatever process MLSE ends up putting in place to fill the president’s job …
The Raptors were quite happy to draft Collin Murray-Boyles ninth in last month’s draft and, after having a close-up look at someone touted as a possibility, they were even happier. Noa Essengue (mea culpa here) is like a twig and maybe he becomes an NBA player but that day is a few years away until he gets some bulk on his frame …
How good a team would you have if you sign these still unemployed ex-Raptors still looking for jobs: Delano Banton, Cory Joseph, Delon Wright, Precious Achiuwa and Chris Boucher? And how many of them will have roster spots on opening night?
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