A New Era for the Toronto Raptors | Raptors Today

A New Era for the Toronto Raptors | Raptors Today

Basketball fans welcome into Raptors today we’ve got the crew together Sherm Hamilton Javon Shepard but right now it’s all about Messiah uui who finally spoke to the media after the Pascal cakam trade he addressed the fans he addressed everyone’s concerns so we hand you off to the boss himself the

President of the Toronto Raptors Messi Jeri thanks everybody for coming out um I a tough couple weeks for us uh here um with uh the trades we’ve made uh losing um uh the players Pascal sakam oana noi uh precious auu and Malachi Flynn um obviously we know what these players

Meant uh to our program uh incredible incredible human beings um incredible character um incredible players and what they brought to our franchise um Championship players um obviously you guys um you know my relationships with with with these guys and how hard um this is and I know how

Hard it is how hard it’s been for them too um yesterday with Pascal um incredibly difficult but um we’re also excited about the new direction of the of the team so um with that I I just wanted to say thank you to them and everything they bring they’ve

Brought uh to this program you know um I think the lines of communication uh in the summer were not that great you know like just because yeah sometimes I don’t have an anwers you know like and sometimes the answer that I’ve given you you know like is is the same answer that

I’m going to give you you know like the next time I speak to you but based on my relationship you know like Pascal deserved that I even gave him you know like the over communication you know like which I didn’t and I apologized to him you know for it I apologized to him

Before the season uh started and um and I apologize to him again you know um recently so um yeah that part I’m not I’m not particularly proud of you know like but there are so many things in our business that yeah bring about uh this type of

Um yeah this this type of communication or non-communication and um I go back again to say there’s there’s nobody in this world I don’t know you know like outside his close family his mom is um his brothers and uh yeah that guy is he’s right

Here s when you think about Pascal in 10 20 years from now what are you going to think about is there a moment that stands out to you when you think about him yeah two moments yeah yeah two African guys that want a championship share that with him and and

I think of his dad and um Pascal at basketball Without Borders a lot of people don’t know that um Pascal came to basketball Without Borders in South Africa um he had been admitted into pastoral School in Cameroon and he only came to basketball Without Borders to see his sister who lived in South

Africa and he was going to go back and go back to P pastor stal school and all NBA all Allstar all everything championship and it’s not stereotype championship of Africa weaving the flag on the bench scoring contributing yeah doing everything you know that you can think

Of H that’s again I say to you guys that that guy’s success is My Success no matter where he is if you don’t know by now a Messi ujiri press conference is must see TV um one of the most compelling speakers I’ve ever seen in the sports world but let’s get into it

He addressed so many different things sh I’ll start with you when you were watching the press conference which of the 20 or 50 amazing things he said stuck out to you well it’s interesting to see that a man who has been through so much and done so much business that

There’s still that emotional connection to to the things that he has to do and it’s refreshing too because sometimes we can get lost in the business of it and the numbers and just kind of think that it’s just these hard cold decisions but it was good to hear meai again explain

The gravity of the decisions that he made and how it impacted him and and the kind of emotional turmoil he went through some of those things um I I think when you build a a championship franchise there becomes bonds that will never be broken mhm and even if you

Don’t like people you’re connected for life and I think what Messiah is saying he actually liked all of these people cared about them deeply and having to to make moves that would change the courses of their career that would change the courses of their interaction with each

Other and all of a sudden now coaches and players are pulling in a different direction they’re trying to beat you that’s a unique Dynamic but but understanding the value of building something with people and still respecting and honoring what they’ve brought to the table even though you’ve

Had to move them on it’s a dynamic that we really can’t understand and and he I thought did a good job of of really allowing us a sneak peek into the inside workings of how that goes down I you know I think what I like about you know

Messiah’s presser there is the the humanity side the the honesty and just giving some insight into you know the interpersonal side of you know a team unit on I think a lot of times we get lost in thinking this thing is so transactional and everybody is overly

Critical you go on nba.com and everybody looks up these counting stats and you know they’re they’re playing their fantasy GM roles and the trade machine trade ma things happen ever but you look at that relationship right there and these guys get drafted so young right Pascal you know he lost his father young

Uh even look at OG he lost his father last year as well um and even a Fred you know lost his father really young and you draft MSI drafts these guys and he’s not just the the president of the team he becomes a a father figure to those

Guys so you watch them grow they drafted young 1920 and you’re not only seeing them develop as basketball players but you’re seeing them develop as men right and when he talks about giving these guys chances and so forth giving that team chances it’s these are actually my

My my I look at them as my kids right and we’re all fathers here we we give our kids chance is we want to see them do well and that spoke to that side of it that we often don’t acknowledge and even for you know a pascal you know he

He learned how to drive here in Toronto right he got his license here in Toronto with the Raptor organiz with the Raptor organization so it’s far bigger than than just the basketball side and winning is one thing but the offc court the interactions the exchanges the trust

Um and when when Messiah talks about the Brotherhood the NBA being a Brotherhood the reality is nobody these guys have their families they have their friends but nobody lives the experiences that they do right it’s it’s only the people that in that lock room that really understand the dayto day pressures you

Know everybody looks at it from the outside so I think more than their family during the season absolutely yeah so that honestly there spoke volumes to no this it’s not just transactional there’s more to building this than you know just move they’re not just stocks yeah and um

Listen the media had their moment finally because we know that Messiah has been you know his feet have been fell to the fell to the fire they’ve been calling for a direction for this organization the rumors about Pascal being traded have been going on for weeks and weeks finally pull the trigger

Your impressions of what the Raptors got back in the trade and what this says about the Direction moving forward Chef you know I think you you get back three firsts and you know some people may say it’s underwhelming but the reality is the the number of the picks

Don’t matter anymore um it’s more and I think the most important thing is whether you’re utilizing you know those picks or whether you’re packaging them and getting players the the minutes that guys are going to be playing here matters more than anything the guys that are on the roster the young guys that

Are on the roster that you’re going to be bringing in whatever the case may be because that’s when you’re you’re developing that’s when you’re growing that’s where they get the chance to express themselves and you look at you know even last year’s draft you have um Grady Grady Grady for the Raptors but

Keontay George for Utah like a lot of these guys that are having success in the NBA right now they’re drafted outside of the lottery um Hae hakz in in Miami so where those picks fall doesn’t really matter anymore it’s more the opportunity that the players are going

To get young players whether they’re on your team right now young players that are coming in that you draft opportunity presents itself and they get those minutes to play get those minutes to develop that’s more important than anything and then situation opens up and then you get you see guys flourish so

You freeing up minutes freeing up minutes okay yeah you’re trying to balance things I mean the deal with New York created a now impact and a future impact with two players who are going to produce now in in Barrett and uh quickly and then that could be part of your

Future moving forward this deal presented different options so now this deal presented some some what I call flexibility and the ability to to make moves with this move and and I think that the balance that is being struck here and it’s tough to do and Messi has

Done a great job of this is understanding where you want to go but understanding the time frame to get there and I think what he’s been able to do with all the trades is package a core together now that he can build around and then have enough assets whether it

Be players contracts or picks that he can go ahead now and say how do I kind of build in around this core and make this core more complete so that they can develop at the pace they need to develop at while winning so the flexibility is the biggest thing that I think Messiah

Did a great job with this deal with Pascal and people look at it and say well Pascal is a $35 million player and you didn’t get that back well what you got is the ability to build a team and that to me is more important at this juncture in this franchise’s journey

Current Raptor buzzwords patience and flexibility you guys be patient with us we’ll be back after the break with more Raptors Today

Akil Augustine, Sherman Hamilton and Jevohn Shepherd break down the Pascal Siakam trade, and react to the comments of President Masai Ujiri.

0:00 Introduction
0:25 Masai Ujiri
5:04 Sherm’s Reaction
6:48 Jevohn’s Reaction
8:57 A New Direction
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