The TV lights had gone dim and the gathering of friends, family, media and agents had thinned out and Masai Ujiri was walking through the semi-gloom of the Air Canada Centre having completed a ten-day trial that could go a long way towards defining his tenure in Toronto.
He paused to answer a simple question: Is his team better?
“I don’t know man,” he said. “You never know until you play the games.”
He’s absolutely right, of course. But that doesn’t mean there’s not plenty to learn or to be appreciated about his handiwork as he reshaped a roster that was good enough to win 97 games the past two seasons – third in the Eastern Conference – but not good enough to win a playoff series and got swept in embarrassing fashion this past April by the Washington Wizards.
It was a loss – or losses – so emphatic that a franchise could only question itself. The answer wasn’t to tear things down, but neither was standing pat. In the end, by passing on their own key free agents Amir Johnson and Lou Williams and bringing players from teams that have won and been selfless in the process, Ujiri has opted to change the Raptors collective attitude as much as their personal.
But there was cause to celebrate on Thursday. The Toronto Raptors are beginning their 21st season and they finally have brought home one of their so-called Vince Carter babies – the first generation of kids who grew up with an NBA team to call their own.
Cory Joseph grew up dreaming about the Raptors. He was in the Air Canada Centre holding a sign begging Tracy McGrady to stay all those years ago, and then years later was T-Mac’s teammate with the Spurs. The movie that played in his head when he was putting shots up in his Pickering driveway was purely homegrown:
“I dreamed about [playing here],” he said. “I was a Raptor outside on my driveway when I was shooting hoops – ‘five, four, three, two, one, he scores, Raptors win, Raptors win’ – I dreamed of being in that situation. I’ve always thought about it. “
But Joseph, who hit the jackpot with a four-year contract worth $30 million to be the third guard behind Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, was only part of the show. Also on hand was DeMarre Carroll, best appreciated as an elite role player who was pried from the Atlanta Hawks for four years and $60-million.
A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Carroll had no cause to dream about playing in Toronto when he was growing up, but he couldn’t get through the opening sentence of his introduction without pausing to fight back tears as he reflected on the road that led him here — from losing a brother to a brain tumour as a youngster to escaping relatively unscathed from an inadvertent shooting in college to the knowledge that he’s got a liver condition that may require a transplant after his career — it hasn’t been easy.
“Throughout my life, I’ve been through a lot,” he said.
And the on-court story has had more than it’s share of challenges too. The 27th pick in the 2009 NBA draft, Carroll was twice waived and once traded in his first three seasons.
In fact, if there’s a common theme between Joseph and Carroll being Ujiri’s first two significant free agent signings, it’s that neither of them achieved their status as sought after players without being after-thoughts first.
If toughness is something that Ujiri was trying to bring to Dwane Casey’s lineup, his two premier signings have been tested.
Joseph may bring the experience of earning an NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs, as well as appearances in the Finals and the Western Conference Finals, but he’s also had to pay his dues. The 24-year-old has started almost as many games (38) in the NBA D-League in his four-year career than he has in the NBA (43).
He appreciates that there were as many as six or seven teams interested in signing him as a free agent and that the Raptors made him richer than anyone might have expected because he knows very well it wasn’t always certain he’d warrant that kind of attention.
“In my experience, nobody gets anything handed to you,” said Joseph. “[Being sent to the D-League] helped a lot. I had to work for everything I got. It’s part of the mental aspect I was talking about, being able to stay sharp and keep working and getting better.”
Similarly, it was easy for Carroll, on one of the greatest days of his career, to recall in detail one of the worst – the day when Ujiri, then general manager of the Denver Nuggets — waived him to make room for Wilson Chandler midway through the 2010-11 season.
“I was a journeyman and got caught up in the numbers game,” said Carroll. “But actually that day helped me become the man I am today. Sitting down in Masai’s office with [then Nuggets coach George Karl] … made me realize that that when you get an opportunity, you have to take advantage of it.”
Being cut in Denver led to Carroll getting a shot in Utah, where he gained the notice of Atlanta, which is where he transformed himself into a rugged, versatile defender who can knock down threes at an impressive 39.5 per cent, as he did last season on a Hawks team that won 60 games. His combination of defence and floor spacing had a small handful of teams lined up to meet with him on July 1st, the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks on hold while he met with the Raptors.
“When I got the opportunity in Utah I took advantage and when I got the opportunity in Atlanta, I took advantage and now I’m going to take advantage of the opportunity I have here,” he said.
Re-uniting with Carroll offered a moment for Ujiri to reflect too. Signing a guy for $60-million just three years after waiving him will do that.
Said Ujiri: “It was a tough thing to do, a stupid thing to do, obviously … if I figured out [he was going to be this good] I wouldn’t have cut him.”
But that he went out and got him, along with Joseph, while letting go of the likes of Lou Williams and Amir Johnson, is Ujiri finally showing his hand after two years of hedging his bets.
He wants players that have earned their keep, can guard multiple positions and who are eager to have a platform to display talents they believe they have, yet haven’t had, a chance exercise.
“I feel like I have a lot to my game that I haven’t been able to show everyone,” said Joseph.
Throw in a late-night signing of Argentinean veteran Luis Scola (one year, $3-million), who projects as depth at power-forward behind likely starter Pat Patterson and defence-first – well, defence-only – centre Bismack Biyombo for two years and $6-million from the Charlotte Hornets and it’s clear that Ujiri had more in mind than box score stats when he went on his first free-agent shopping spree of his two-year tenure in Toronto.
“A few guys can make a difference,” said Carroll. “I’ve seen it first had. When Paul Millsap and myself went to Atlanta we brought that toughness, that defence-first mentality. And I believe the guys Masai went after can change the dynamic of a team.”
That’s the plan and now Ujiri has chosen a path to get there. That’s the best you can do in July.