Masai Ujiri returns to Raturs as the new GM

Masai Ujiri who did as much as he could do in Denver except getting himself paid as the Wal-Mart people who owes the Denver Nuggets decided to not own up to paying Masai Ujiri who had to trade Carmelo Anthony and made the team better than it was before he was traded to the New York Knicks, Now after three seasons in Denver and he waited out his contract and was looking to get paid and he really wanted to stay with the Nuggets but they decided to not come even close to the 5 years and 15 million dollars that he got to come back North to take the reins of the good ship Raptors. He is going to make a lot of money and he will earn it if he turns this team around because it is a pretty big mess and I am talking about the players in the floor for the Raptors as guys like DeMar DeRozan and Andrea Bargnani who does not want to go to the basket and settle for jumpers and they are not the only ones u can put Alan Anderson and Kyle Lowery in that mix to. So there needs to be changes and with the new elevator tax system teams are getting as far under the cap as humanly possibly and Masai Ujiri will need to use a lot of smoke and mirrors to get rid of Bargnani and his 11 million in 2013-14 and 12 million for 2014-15 and not end up a bigger contract and with them picking up Kyle Lowery's option for 2013-14 they will be already ir the cap by something like two million and that would mean that the only way to bring in new players will be for trades or veteran minimums and in both cases they are not going to make yourself a whole lot better. If he decides to go in a new direction at point one Rudy (Gay)'s feelings will be hurt again and ywo you will be digging for another point guard just like seasons except u have no Jose Calderon to fall back on any more. But after the 2013-14 season the skies open up and he will have options to look at as he will have money to spend as Lowery\s contract is up and even more importantly Rudy will likely be ready to test the free agent waters and Masai Ujiri will be able to put his stamp on the team going forward at that time. To that point next season will likely be a see what he has kind of season and I am hoping that means thar Dwayne Casey gets a final season trying to put these square pegs into round holes and see if he has learned anything from the first 147 games and can have a Sam Mitchell kind of final season may not coach of the year but with a motivated Rudy this team will be better and maybe Lowery can become a team player (that might be asking to much). If Rudy does not want to be here long-term maybe getting something at the deadline would be good as the Lakers maybe wanting him in their rebuilding project and the Raptors get pieces to build with. Brain needs to stay out of Masai Ujiri or I personally put him on an one-way ticket to the middle of the desert again Tom \mehegan

Masai Ujiri top guy for Raptors

Masai Ujiri who is a former Raptors executive and is the current Denver Nugget GM put whose contract is up with the Nuggets. To make it clear the Nuggets will likely want to keep him in the fold especially after he got so much for the Nuggets for the talent that is Carmelo Anthony when he traded him to the New York Knicks for a package of Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov and still have the Knicks first round pick next summer and they not missed a beat and have even bettered the Knicks. They have kept the Nuggets in the mix in 173 games since the trade and are 113-60 in a much more balanced Western Conference. So that kind of trade is why the Raptors would be going after him as the Raptors maybe in a position where the big boys like the Lakers (when Dwight Howard leaves) will be looking for a talent to stick into their lineup to keep that motor running especially with Kobe being a very old basketball almost 35 year-old and finished a tough 17 season. They also may not be the only one looking with the Boston Celtics big three now big two are getting older by the day as Pierce and KG are not spring chickens anymore and will want to re-tool like the Lakers. So who will they be looking at and that will be a player like Rudy Gay who is going to be 27 in August and will be focused on that next contract as it is a contract season and will have a good season. The Raptors will be able to give him a lot of money as they will be able to sign him above and beyond the salary cap next summer after bring in other pieces that build the Raptors into something better hopefully. The only problem is that the Lakers the Lakers have one contract on their books going into next summer and that is a cap hit of 9.7 million to Captain Canada Steve Nash so they will be able to rebuild their franchise going forward and will be able to give him the moon and the stars and everything else he is looking for. Then there is the Celtics who are not really in that position as they have just over 50 million on the books already for next summer and will need help to get a guy like Rudy Gay in the fold. So the Raptors need to figure out if they want Gay long-term and more importantly if he wants them and that is a problem that the Raptors have as they have been unable to figure out what they the guys wanted and have been left with nothing. So they need to trade him because he not want to be here and Masai Ujiri maybe the guy that can get that job done better than the others Raptors GM have. So Bryan is out and the Raptors have their eye on Masai Ujiri but are still looking Tom Mehegan

Raptors to sign Jason Collins

David Stern wants and needs a team to step up and sign free agent Jason Collins to be on their roster for the 2013-14 season and this maybe silly but because Jason Collins is an openly gay basketball player who split his time with the Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards last season. The reason that Stern wants and needs a team to pick up Collins is because if a team does not than the media will be outside his New York office asking him if the reason that Jason Collins is not playing in the NBA is because he is gay and Stern does not want to answer that question. If u ask players privately in the NBA they would likely say that they would not want him on their team as they do not want to share a locker room with an openly gay guy. So here is where the Raptors come in they are playing in Toronto a place that would handle the story correctly and MLSE who owns the Raptors would be able to sell the story to the public and sell more tickets to games and put a positive spin on the story. Also David Stern has something that the Raptors want which is the 2016 All-Star game to celebrate the 20TH year of the Purple dinosaur called the Raptor and would trade having Collins on their team for that All-Star game. In the end David Stern gets what he wants (no headache) and the Raptors get an all-star game (why anyone would want an All-Star game is beyond me) Tom Mehegan

Dwayne Casey should get another season

Dwayne Casey has wanted the same things I have wanted with guys on offense that can take that ball to the basket (pound the rock) and guys on defense that are willing to stick your fingers up their opponents noises. The only problem is that the players that Casey has had would rather take 15-to-20 foot jumpers instead of taken a higher % shot closer to the basket and on D they would rather be on offense so they are not in front of their guy with their hands up trying to make it harder to score a basket and the opponents end up with easy baskets. So I think that Casey should get to coach the final season of his deal because if Bryan had not allowed Sam Mitchell to coach the final season on his deal when Bryan came in then Mitchell would of been another Raptors coach that could not get the team to do the things to win as he was 60-104 in his first two seasons with the team and was unable to draw up plays at the end of games to win said game. Then in that third season the contract season he was able to put it all together and the Raptors went on to a franchise high 47 wins and the first Atlantic division title and it would of not been possible without having Bryan given him that opportunity. Dwayne Casey is 57-92 in his first two seasons and did not have Chris Bosh on his team as he only got Rudy Gay for the second half of his second season and the Raptors players did become one of the top 4 in scoring in the paint in March and in April they were able to put it together with that D and put together wins and finished tied for 10TH in the Eastern Conference. So with Rudy Gay focused on getting that not contract as it is a contract year he will be better than he was last season and maybe able to carry this team to the playoffs and coach Casey puts it together like Mitchell did in his contract year and lead the troupes to victory. Remember only 9 teams have won the NBA championship in the last 33 years its hard Tom Mehegan

Raptors looking for a new gm

So The Raptors have until Victoria Day Monday if Bryan Colangelo is the guy to start the 2013-14 NBA season as the Toronto Raptors General Managers or if Tim Leiweke will go in a different direction all together. So if that is the case it looks like Indiana Pacer GM Kevin Pritchard who was the GM for the past season for the Pacers and maybe able to bring some of the Pacer tough D to the city but he has only been there one season and before that he was the Portland Trailbrazers GM yawn. The other option is Assistant GM and assistant president of the OKC Thunder Troy Weaver who has seen the raise of the Thunder in his three seasons and maybe he will have learned how to make a great trade like the Thunder did trading James Harden for Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb, two first round picks and a second round pick. Weaver was not around the team the team when it drafted Kevin Durant but did see them pick Bryant Westbrook and James Harden in the top 5 picks in the following two years and maybe able to find a gem in the lottery. But the thing right now is that the Raptors are a couple million over the cap right now so if u try to get ride of the 10.7 million to Andrea Bargnani or the 9.5 million to DeMar DeRozan u would likely not have that 17-18 million to spend because team will likely not just give a draft pick for players with these kind of salaries. Instead the Raptors will likely have to eat another team's bad contract instead so it maybe best that Bryan sticks around for the beginning of the season because it is not likely that anyone coming in will be able to do anything with this team until Rudy Gay's contract and then the Lakers maybe lurking around and may want him i even if the Raptors can pay him more and he maybe gone. I hope the Raptors make the right choice Tom Mehegan