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Elliotte Friedman with an update on the future of MLSE



Elliotte Friedman with an update on the future of MLSE

by EarthWarping

3 Comments

  1. EarthWarping

    While this has a hockey slant to it, there is mention to how Keith Pelley being the new CEO will potentially affect the Raptors

    Paraphrased notes:

    >Tannenbaum has been a huge part of the org for a long time

    >Friedman says people have told him Tannenbaum is the human face of the ownership/franchise

    >Shanahan did have the power to speak to the board directly, he would involve the CEOs who were above him out of courtesy

    >Ujiri was different, reason for that was the Ed Rogers relationship, lost trust in Ed Rogers, and has only dealt with Tannenbaum afterwards

    >That’s going to change now, Pelley has the power, he will wield the power, he will say you guys are going to have to come through me (i.e. reporting to him)

    >If both sides are successful (Raptors/Leafs) Friedman doesn’t think you’re going to see a lot change, but if they aren’t successful or anyone here decides they doesn’t likes the new set up we’re going to see change, that’s where a lot of this is going

    >MLSE had a rule that you couldn’t fire anyone with term on their contract (Seems past tense)

    >Going to be interesting to see where this goes, Shanahan has a season left, Ujiri 2 on his deal

    >No question it’s going to be a different era

    >Pelley puts people in position to succeed, he will spend money, he will encourage you but he expects with that comes success, but if there isn’t success there are consequences

    >Friedman says to not underestimate Tannenbaum

  2. NBAball05

    I hope both tannenbaum and ujiri stay but it does make sense if you aren’t performing in a upwards trajectory I understand here was to be changes and hopefully most of the fan base is going to be understanding of that, and a plus is maybe this will help the process of the rebuild.

  3. littlebaldboi

    Unless Pelley turns into a PITA to work with, seems like Masai would have no problems with this new ownership. Tim Leiweke was the same way and Masai was heavily supported by him.

    You can definitely see the business side seep into the Raptors FO decision-making tho. We trade away fringe bench players for 2nd round picks if the season is lost. We ALWAYS try to retool and win (presumably to keep ticket prices high) instead of tanking and drafting high. We are incredibly reluctant to go into the luxury tax despite having corporate owners who have super deep pockets (since they have to report profits to shareholders). We traded players in 2019 with second round picks to get rid of them instead of waiving them instead (Malachi Richardson?). There’s more but given these hurdles, Masai has still built an impressive team and most importantly, won a championship. A third of the NBA still haven’t won a championship including the likes of the Jazz, Suns and Timberwolves despite their prior successes.

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