The Tragedy of Toronto: The Continued Irrelevance of the Toronto Raptors

Leiweke has certainly said all the right things to get the fans excited. In a recent interview, Leiweke says that, “the Raptors are the team that needs the most help: they haven’t been in the playoffs in six years and I think that’s a trend that we have to change. So I’ll probably spend more time on the Raptors to begin with.” Furthermore, he realizes the untapped potential of the Canadian basketball market.

While Leiweke has led us to believe otherwise, there is still some apprehension over how MLSE will deal with the BC situation. Since Leiweke does not assume full operations of MLSE until June, there is currently some confusion over the whole Raptors situation with various news outlets reporting differing rumours.

Most expected a decision on Colangelo to be made almost immediately once Leiweke was hired, yet MLSE has dithered and the deadline to pick up the last year option on Colangelo’s contract is May 17. Instead of dealing with the situation in a professional manner, MLSE has dropped the ball once again, reportedly hiring a head-hunting firm to aid in the search for a potential replacement General Manager for the club. This firm then came to the brilliant conclusion that the best option for the Raptors is Denver Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri, reigning executive of the year. If anything exemplifies the current incompetence of MLSE, this does.

By prolonging this decision until the final hour, MLSE is more than likely aiming for a replacement GM, but is waiting to see if their potential targets accept before they make a decision on BC. What is likely going to happen is MLSE picking up the option for the final year of BC’s contract, with Tim Leiweke having careful oversight over any personnel decisions. It is unlikely that Masai Ujiri or any other executive, will be eager to leave contenders for a team with little room to manoeuvre due to the plethora of bad contracts and dismal draft options.

Ladies and gentlemen, your Toronto Raptors!

Afterword: Following the submission date of this feature, MLSE took what should have been a simple matter and made it a lot murkier than it should have been. While declining to pick up the option on Colangelo as GM of the Toronto Raptors, they rolled his contract over into the position of President of Basketball Operations for MLSE. His job will be to report basketball business decisions to Tim Leiweke while new GM Masai Ujiri will have the final say on personnel decisions and will be free to request advice from Colangelo as he sees fit. His first order of business reportedly is to seek a taker for Andrea Bargnani’s contract.

Konstantine Roccas is an observer of local and international affairs and governance, but also writes about anything else that piques his ire. A lifelong basketball fan, he also eats a half kilo of Greek Yogurt daily. He writes for the Arbitrage Magazine. More of his work can be found at myriadtruths.blogspot.ca and he can be followed on Twitter @KosteeRoccas