Masai Ujiri believes that change has to start at the top. That includes him, the Toronto Raptors team president.
Ujiri was insistent that the Raptors have to refresh their culture after a disappointing season led to the firing of head coach Nick Nurse on Friday. Ujiri said that he personally has to do “many things” to recapture the energy of Toronto’s first NBA championship team in 2019.
“Maybe see things a little bit deeper because when we hire people I let them do their jobs. That’s been a strength of ours the last 10 years here but I pay attention now a little bit more.” That reliance on more experienced players meant that Toronto’s young players didn’t get a lot of time against NBA-level competition. Ujiri said he was not happy with the ongoing development of younger players like centre Christian Koloko, forwards Ron Harper Jr., and Precious Achiuwa, or guards Malachi Flynn and Dalano Banton, who is from Toronto.
“Giving them room to actually show if they have it or if they don’t have it. I think we didn’t do so well with that this year. I think that hurt us some in developing our young players.”
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