The new season is almost upon us!
Paul Jones and Sherman Hamilton are at the 2023 Toronto Raptors Media Day in Toronto, Ont. Before the team flies out to Vancouver for training camp, Masai Ujiri, Darko Rajaković, and the Raptors players spoke to the media.
In this episode hear from team president Masai Ujiri, head coach Darko Rajaković, and forwards Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam.
0:00 Introduction
1:05 Masai Ujiri
4:30 Thoughts on “Selfish Play”
6:00 Darko Rajaković
8:38 New Style Under Darko
10:54 Pascal Siakam
15:16 Scottie Barnes
19:05 Siakam’s Leadership
20:42 Barnes’ Conditioning
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19 Comments
First and I'm a big fan of Toronto Raptors
This team definitely gave Pascal a new attitude: depressed and annoyed.
I m happy with the moves Masai made. People wants a superstar when players don’t want to come here. We need to develop internally. This is a good plan and this has to be the team culture. We can’t move away from this.
Trust in Masai
Pascal is selfish. That is true
I hated watching Fred and Siakam ISO all last season. Not making the Playoffs was one thing but watching them selfish Basketball for 82 games was unbearable to watch. Kyle Lowry spoiled us with the fun unselfish basketball and it was difficult watching this version of the team.
Missed yall!!
Amen, using the bench, how novel ! ! Developing players , wow !! I am excited ! I heard the player interviews , they didn't seem to be in a good mood ! They didn't seem to be excited about being back ! Cautiously approaching their season was predominantly my observation. I hope Scottie did work in his off season. He wasn't in shape! That is why he paced himself until working hard in the 4th quarter each game. I hope Scottie's attitude is improved.
Nice to see you guys again. I would like to see you guys provide more constructive criticism regarding the players performance. For example, we are now hearing that Massai is saying that there was too much selfishness in plays last season; we Raptors fans would have liked to hear such criticism from you during the past season..
Pascal needs to go. He does not fit the timeline and you can tell from listening to him speak here he is not buying into the transformation that we so desperately need. Worst case scenario is that Masai makes the same mistake as he did with Fred and Kyle: being hesitant to trade them because he has unrealistic expectations for what a return should look like, and then losing them for nothing (or in the case of Kyle, practically nothing). Surely third time is the charm, right? Same can be said for OG, by the way; as useful as he is as a defender and floor spacer, he will likely otherwise leave for nothing
I’m tired of the negativity lm fuckin sayin it loud and proud fellas IM EXCITED 4 THIS YEAR, fuck Fred, fuck dame, we have good players did y’all forget? Added a World Cup champ, and much needed bench players. Let the product decide how you feel about this team
Media need to be held accountable for the fluff that y’all peddled last year.. last season was horrific to watch but these guys were so busy telling us how great it was, the math ain’t mathing.
If all main guys perform well and then some of our bench can carry the load we can be good. But OG needs to break that barrier this season, Scottie needs to step up a little more, Gary needs to get back to form like how he was in 2022, pascal must stay consistent which I believe he will.
The Raps are closer than many people give them credit to being. Better team chemistry, internal player growth, stronger bench and a new identity under Darko. My pre training camp depth chart (Two Way & Exhibition 10s are camp invites):
CP: Poeltl/Achiuwa/Koloko
PF: Siakam/Boucher/Young
SF: Barnes/**Porter Jr/McDaniels/Temple (**OPJ on load management McDaniels in rotation when OPJ out)
SG: Anunoby/Trent Jr/Dick
PG: Schroder/Flynn/*Dowtin Jr (*Non Guaranteed)
Two Way (905): PG Nowell, SG Freeman-Liberty, SF Harper Jr
Exhibition 10 (905): PF Mouhamadou Gueye, PF Makur Maker
Exhibition 9 and 905 Designations: PF Kevin Obanor, SG Darryl Morsell, SF Denzel Valentine
3 key core players heading into the season with no contract for next year… losing assets for nothing is poor management…
Hope that Koloko gets well soon. I like what he’s shown so far and would like to see him get better! Lets go Raps!💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾
Finally some knowledgeable commentators. Nick Nurse is a terrible coach and a cancer. I have been saying this since the bubble year when his poor starting lineups killed the team. Last year the Raptors gave up numerous 4th quarter leads of 10 points or more without overcoming one. That is on the coach. Poor player development and poor bench play were also signs of his incompetence. Nurse is gone, add 5 wins at least. Freddy was selfish and shooting poorly. A pass first PG will add at least another 3 wins. Barnes was shooting 28% from 3, 77% from the line and was not consistent elsewhere. Either he improves or starts games at the 6th man. Add another 2 games minimum. Gee there is 51 wins.
I love the Raptors, but I am beginning to lose faith in Masai.
The direction is 12-8 seed people