Masai Ujiri’s reputation as one of the league’s finest executives has endured for a while, but in recent months, his performance has been questioned. It doesn’t help to lose Fred VanVleet for no reason, and it also doesn’t help to hang onto O.G. Anunoby and Pascal Siakam for too long.
It becomes worse when you trade a highly sought-after first-round choice for a non-star player like Jakob Poeltl and then have to pay that player $80 million. At the trade deadline, Ujiri and the Raptors’ front office also had a sleeper, as their decisions left a lot of people perplexed.
At the deadline, Ujiri signed Immanuel Quickley and R.J. Barrett in addition to Ochai Agbaji, while the team extended Kelly Olynyk.
Was this, however, the best course of action?
Well, one could easily answer no given that the team did not replenish its draft money in full.
It was evident that the team preferred to concentrate on developing players over draft picks. Teams typically take the opposite action.
You can exchange early selections for later selections, which buys you more time. In the event that superstars get resentful and wish to leave, you may also exchange picks for them.
Sam Presti has been doing just that.
It’s a big risk to add young players since you never know what will happen if they don’t develop into superstars?
Here is a simple solution. The group will be ensnared in the bonds of mediocrity from the start.
The roster of the Raptors will thereafter consist of Scottie Barnes and essentially a group of players in the middle.
Which, unless you consider Barnes to be a top-ten player, isn’t exactly a recipe for success, especially in the Eastern Conference.
(Which he isn’t).
Barrett, Agbaji, and Quickley aren’t either. They wouldn’t have been relocated for guys who weren’t stars otherwise.
In addition, Olynyk isn’t a celebrity.
It is risky for a team going through a soft rebuild to prioritize players over picks. especially considering that none of those players are mainstays on the team.
