Opinion | Raptors mailbag: The Becky Hammon question, blaming Masai Ujiri and a matter of time

It was a pretty good week here at Ye Olde Mailbag, and with stuff happening over this weekend I’m sure it’ll be a full load next week, too.

Have fun with this. Maybe it’ll ease any Leafs angst.

Hi, Doug. The word “career” connects to a course/journey over time. Charlie Montoyo comes back to Toronto as a White Sox coach after managing here for a time. And so it goes. Nick Nurse was here; now he’s gone. Players know that one of the hardest things about getting to the major league team is staying there. The majority last but a few years, a stat rarely discussed.

Many do not realize how frequently a sports “career” is a journey. You come and go, change teams, others fight to displace you, then as you age or get hurt or quit … it is over. On the other hand, you, Doug, stay on, reporting on and observing this constellation-like movement of players, execs, coaches, managers.

What would you say about the fragility of tenure in the pro sports profession? How do participants handle it? What traits help players and others “not to worry” about what can happen next? And finally, does this endless movement (and attendant uncertainty) put the big salaries sought by players and their unions into a new perspective?

Charles N.

You hit the nail on the head with the point about the shortness of most careers. It’s why I have always urged players to make as much money as they can as quickly as possible, because careers can end in the blink of an eye. And that’s for all kinds of reasons: injury, role on a team, the changing nature of the game they play. Players also know this, and for the most part they never look too far ahead with regard to the games, their teams, the sport. They really live in the competitive moment, so to speak.

Hi, Doug. Best of health to you and Super Family. Happy off-season to the Irregulars.

Was there anything that revealed itself during the season and end-of-season process, which culminated in Nick Nurse’s firing, that you would say highlighted the reasons why Dwane Casey is not enamoured with Nick? If yes, what would they be? Would you say Nick’s character, as a head coach and person, revealed itself as Dwane feels like he knew it was five years ago?

Have you had a chance to read former Raptors Dance Pak member, now Professor of History and Race in Sport at American University, Theresa Runstedtler’s book, “Black Ball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Spencer Haywood and the Generation That Saved the Soul of the NBA”?

She has spoken and written eloquently and insightfully about Kareem and what he and others faced in the ’60s and ’70s from some members of the media and NBA officials and owners. Professor Runstedtler has also talked about how the Dance Pak, when Isiah Thomas was team president, was “urban and athletic” (her words) in their performance and look and, after Isiah was terminated, there was a shift in how management wanted the Dance Pak to look and perform. Do you have any thoughts and recollections about how perceptions and narratives may have shifted over your years covering the league, and specifically any examples of how the Raptors have ebbed and flowed?

Thanks as always for highlighting what’s happening with the league and Raptors. You must have known more than you were able to report during the past season, and that’s evidence of doing your job well. There are many reasons why you’re the one asking the first question and it’s not only because of your Niagara Falls and University of Welland journalism grad bona fides.

Paul from Port

I think anyone who loses his job and is replaced by a former subordinate who then got an influx of unimaginably good resources might harbour some issues. But when we ask Dwane point blank, he denies any issues and he’s never lied to me.

I have not read her book yet, but it is definitely on the summer list. I’m told it’s fascinating. The NBA issues to cover pre-date me by a few years, but I certainly know of them and ran into the remnants a little bit.

As for the Dance Pak, I don’t recall a huge shift after year three, but there very well could have been subtle things that I didn’t notice.

Hey, Doug. Trying to understand the NBA’s reasoning for their conference semifinal brackets. First round of playoffs, the seeding makes sense: 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5

Now in the Eastern Conference semifinals, we have New York (5) vs. Miami (8), Boston (2) vs. Philadelphia (3)

Shouldn’t it be Boston (2) vs. Miami (8), Philadelphia (3) vs. New York (5)? Please explain.

And I know you usually don’t have any interest in the pucks, but boy oh boy, those Leafs are maddening. Hopefully they’ll be moving on to their next round.

Sincerely, Fred Azouz

The NBA, unlike the NHL, doesn’t reseed after the first round and one system is not “better” than the other — it’s just different. TV plays a part in it, as does the desire to not have a team sitting around for a week unnecessarily waiting to see who they play.

Sir, do you have any thoughts on what would be Becky Hammon’s strengths/weaknesses as an NBA head coach?

Paul M.

I had a couple here.

Hi, Doug. For some reason, it’s still surprising but hardly shocking that the mere mention of the possibility of Becky Hammon being interviewed for the Raptors head coaching job is sending some people off the deep end.

I have seen many references to Ujiri as being “woke.” (Still not sure why anyone thinks that this is a derogatory term, but that’s for another conversation.) Anyone who thinks Masai Ujiri, Bobby Webster (or about 99.99 per cent of professional sports executives) would choose to take a social stand instead of winning hasn’t been paying attention.

I believe Masai wants to win, and if he thought his grandmother would be the best person to do that, he would hire her. The ultimate “woke” executive, Branch Rickey, believed that breaking baseball’s colour barrier by signing Jackie Robinson was good for America, but he believed even more that Robinson would help the Dodgers win. Masai believes the same thing, full stop. Nothing to see here. Use the energy of your misplaced rage on making the world a better place.

End of rant. Thanks for listening.

Phil, Thornhill

I refuse to waste a second of my time or an ounce of my energy on people who think or react that way. I know what’s up. That they don’t is not my problem.

Hi, Doug. You must be enjoying the NBA playoffs! So many great storylines and great quotes (Giannis). And … this is just the first round!

Some questions:

1) About the player award trophies: Who votes for them and when does voting close? Is there any way a couple of good playoff games can nudge votes one way or another?

2) With the Rockets hiring, where do you think Nick Nurse ends up? Speaking of coaching, what do you make of the Becky Hammon rumours? It would be cool to make history!

3) Another Raptors question: Among several rumours of who might be traded here/away, one writer reminded readers of the reality of salary matching. Damian Lillard (for example) coming here would require Pascal Siakam plus someone like Chris Boucher to match dollars, but create another hole in the lineup. Seems the best strategy moving forward is to trade for up-and-coming players (Tyrese Maxey or Alex Caruso types) and/or a few first-round picks. Otherwise, you can pick players of similar quality, if the goal is just to bring in different energy. Your thoughts?

4) Call it schadenfreude, but I was pleased to see Goran Dragic miss a ring chase again with the Bucks. I also noticed social media retweeting an old Ben Simmons tweet about watching his team get swept while he is injured (third time now). Does this say something about these players themselves, or the type of team that would acquire these players?

Thanks for your articles explaining the behind-the scenes situations with the Raptors. Very appreciated!

Bernie M.

There is a media panel of 100, no coaches or players, who vote for post-season awards. (I have been on that panel for years.) Votes have to be in before the play-in games, so they are solely based on the regular season.

I don’t know where Nick ends up, but the only job open today is in Detroit and that’s not an option.

Sure, finding undervalued young players and hoarding a group of them makes entire sense, but prying them away from their teams is often difficult.

I still contend Dragic paid off precisely as the Raptors expected and wanted. He was never, ever going to last the entire season here and didn’t. Why he or anyone else says what they say is often impossible to understand, but in the moment probably made a lot of sense.

Given the transformation of Dillon Brooks into a premier league villain, is he a consideration for the Canadian men’s national team roster? I don’t know if he’s even interested, but I would think his questionable character and team chemistry impact definitely give pause to the executive team that makes roster decisions. Would you add him? I’m on the fence. As usual, your thoughts are appreciated.

D.L., Richmond Hill

Brooks has committed to this summer and potentially 2024, so he’s definitely in the mix. I don’t imagine his teammates or coaches have an issue. His opponents might. But again, a commitment doesn’t mean a thing until he shows up in August, and we’ll cross that bridge then. I will point out that, stylistically, FIBA is a rougher game with more contact allowed and accepted.

While your April 23, 2023 article added some context and explanation for Nick Nurse’s firing, how much of it was Masai Ujiri trying to save his own ass?

We all knew that a change was needed. But Nurse was not the one who put the Raptors in their current spot, where they are a mediocre team already close to the luxury tax and are placed in a poor position to either improve, because of their already high player salaries, or rebuild, because they don’t have a first-round draft pick in 2024 and no second-round picks in the next three years.

How can you rebuild when you have few draft picks? They are forced to rebuild on low-quality players other teams rejected for the first two rounds.

Draft picks are the best source of decent players at a low price. The Raptors have had few high picks in the last five or more years because of their winning streak, leaving them with prospects who were either undrafted, second-round or low first-round picks to build around. Now they are stuck with even worse draft picks. While they tank for the next couple of years, they don’t even have draft picks to compensate for the poor results.

Masai has basically borrowed from the potential future to finance a mediocre current team. In most businesses, this would result in the president being fired. Why should it be any different for the Raptors’ owners?

As much as he speaks about his commitment to be a top team, Masai has placed them in the exact opposite position. He should be held accountable for it.

Byron L.

I’ll debate the idea that draft picks are the best and only way to build a team. But quite aside from that, I defy you to find any of us who haven’t suggested Ujiri has to accept responsibility for where the team is. You can’t. But whether you believe it or not — and I honestly don’t care either way — Ujiri and Webster are successful NBA executives who have built an enduringly successful team. This was a bad year. They moved to fix it.

Good day, Doug. Quick question for the mailbag. While I was not surprised at the removal of Nick Nurse as coach, I was surprised at the wording from the Raptors. Often you will see it announced that the team and the coach have mutually agreed to part ways, which is what I expected to see here. Instead, we read Nurse was fired. Is there anything to read between the lines here? Thank you.

Rob from Cambridge

Actually, the release said “relieved of his duties” and it’s basically semantics. There’s nothing to read into it.

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