For Toronto Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri, signing a multi-year extension with the team this summer was an easy decision.
Ujiri, who’s been general manager of the NBA’s only Canadian based team since 2013, was thrilled to be back in Toronto.
Following from Lauren La Rose of thestar.com:
“I love it here. I really do. Toronto is home for me,” Ujiri said in an interview this week at his office overlooking the courts at the Raptors’ training facility.
“We don’t go to another home in the States or somewhere else. This is our home. And I love the organization, I think they’ve treated me well. They’ve given it their all. It’s humbling for me for them to come to me and say: ‘Hey, let’s do this.’ And then the city, the fans, everybody — what else can you ask for?”
Ujiri has crafted an Eastern Conference contender in his time as general manager. Toronto made the East Finals this year, and have made the Playoffs in every season with Ujiri under control.
He’s famously known for his explicit-filled speech against Brooklyn in 2014, but his intelligence on the game of Basketball as a whole is well documented. Ujiri aims for his team to continue contending this year, with only one difference: Win.
“The last time I checked there were 29 teams that did not win last year — and we were one of them. And so the goal is to win.”
Toronto signed free-agent Jared Sullinger this summer, losing its back-up center Bismack Biyombo to Orlando. The team will sport its usual core of Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, and Jonas Valanciunas, and are expected to once again be in the forefront of contention in the East this season.
