TORONTO – Masai Ujiri was a top lieutenant under then Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo when Chris Bosh left Toronto to join forces with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Miami more than a decade ago.
In some cases, it’s been unavoidable – they were obviously going to let Kawhi Leonard’s free agency play out rather than trading him during his lone season with the club. But generally speaking, he has prioritized asset management above all else. Read the player, read the market, act accordingly, and more often than not, it’s panned out.
There weren’t many people expecting them to be buyers at last February’s trade deadline. They were in the midst of a disappointing season, hovering around a play-in spot and armed with some of the most coveted players in basketball. But instead of capitalizing on a seller’s market, as many around the league thought they would, the Raptors opted to keep their core together and give up a lightly-protected first round pick to address a long-time need in re-acquiring centre Jakob Poeltl.
On the surface, it does seem like a strange fit. VanVleet is a fierce competitor, the type of player who has won at every level. If last year or the Tampa season are any indication, he doesn’t have much patience for losing, and as currently constructed, the rebuilding Rockets are further from contention than Toronto is.
They had already lost four key players from that 2019 championship team for no return, but with the unique nature of their exits, you might be willing to give them a pass on each one. Leonard always seemed Los Angeles bound – it was baked into the price to acquire him. They were only going to pay the tax for Danny Green if Leonard returned. They weren’t willing to give Marc Gasol or Serge Ibaka multiple years of guaranteed money at their age and other teams were.
They wasted little time in using their mid-level exception – $26 million over two years – on veteran point guard Dennis Schroder, a solid addition under the circumstances but a clunky fit on a team that needs shooting, and somebody who would’ve looked a whole lot better as a backup to VanVleet than a VanVleet replacement.