Title: The Toronto Raptors Shouldn’t Blow It Up
Date: May 10, 2018
Original Source: Vice
Synopsis: In my latest for Vice, I wrote about where the Raptors are headed from here, since tanking’s not a realistic option and this isn’t a championship core.
As fired-up Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri addressed the media for his end-of-season availability on Wednesday, his one committal statement was also his most obvious.
“If they want us to break this up and start over, you might get fined for using this word but ‘tanking,’ no, we’re not doing that here. We’re finding young players we want to grow and we want to win,” he said.
Normally, Ujiri dislikes these sessions. In this case, he’d had less than 48 hours to process and evaluate after another sweep at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and while there was no promised “culture reset” this time around—Ujiri opened his remarks by joking that he can’t sell that same line again—it was clear the wounds were still fresh. Ujiri’s tone ran defiant, even defensive, about the success the franchise has achieved over the last five years.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 