Masai Ujiri didn’t seem himelf at year end press availability

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Masai Ujiri walked in to his end of season media availability, took his seat and looked like he was about to cry.

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He didn’t appear or sound like himself as he began to answer the usual end-of-season questions in rather quiet tones. In fact, about a minute or so into his 45 minute availability, I wrote this down: ‘Masai looks like he needs a hug. His usual bravado is missing.”

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“It was tough on everybody,” Ujiri said of this rather rancid Raptors season. And really it wasn’t until about half an hour after the session ended that his demeanour was at least explainable.

Masai can sell his way through just about anything. Spend enough time with him and you’ll happily hand him your wallet and not ask for any change back. He can be engaging and entertaining and powerful, the way the greatest communicators can be.

But on this day, he wasn’t selling much of anything particularly well. The news had not yet come out that Jontay Porter, one of his players, had been banned for life by the NBA for violating the league’s gambling policies, and that announcement came via email about 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Ujiri end of season press availability.

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But he had to know something was coming. And he had to know it was bad.

He’s close to commissioner Adam Silver. He’s even closer to NBA chairman of the board and MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum. If an announcement of that enormity was coming, the banning of a player for life, his player, he would certainly be made aware of the circumstances.

So Masai, best as he could, talked his way around the questions asked about Jontay Porter, not that many of us could pick him out of a police lineup let alone an NBA game on a Tuesday night in November.

Ujiri talked about the long season, the growth of Scottie Barnes, the excitement of watching the development of Gradey Dick and improvement of RJ Barrett, how happy he was with first year coach Darko Rajakovic — but he did his best to provide few specifics on the gambling scandal that he is now attached to via franchise name and team association.
Masai said the investigation into Porter was ongoing. “We did our due diligence,” he said on the signing of Porter. He didn’t call bet365 for a reference. “This was nothing we could know about it …We go our there and try to do the best due diligence, we do, and we did that with Dontay too.”

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And then he said: “You don’t want this for the kid. You don’t want this for our team. You don’t this for our league. That’s for sure.”

Masai is not a hands off team president. He gets to know his players. And more than gets to know them he becomes part of their lives. He wants to push and prod and develop each player individually, to get the most out of every one of them.
They’re not just his players. They’re his adult kids. They’re his family. They’re the people he cares most about. Jontay Porter was one of those. And it has to hurt when one of your chosen ones makes the wrong decision — or in his case, decisions that make a million dollar a year or so job disappear in a few months of stupidity in a mixed cocktail of greed, irresponsibility and blindness.

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Ujiri said he was surprised by Porter’s alleged actions. “None of us saw anything like this coming. You prepare as much for all kinds of situations but you don’t see this coming.” Ujiri did say he has spoken to Porter. He’ll “keep that in house,” he said.

The uneasy and unnatural relationship between sports and gambling has grown even murkier since the leagues have become partners of the gambling houses and television networks have benefitted from the advertising that comes with that.

Ottawa’s Shane Pinto was suspended for half an NHL season for his part in online gambling. The NFL has suspended a handful of players for gambling on football since legalized gambling has flooded many markets in recent years. Years earlier, well known NHL players Don Gallinger, Babe Pratt and Billy Taylor were suspended from the NHL — two of them for life at the time — and famous football players such as Alex Karras and Paul Horning lost the NFL season of 1963 because of their involvement in sports gambling.

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Masai Ujiri did his best to answer all the questions thrown at him Wednesday morning. How long will this rebuild take? How bad is this year’s draft? Why raise ticket prices? He wants more talent on the roster. He loves Scottie Barnes. “You get another one (star) , you’re on your way. “We have to be patient,” said Ujiri. “We were patient this year.”

And as the interview session continued on, he seemed to recapture himself, be more of what you would expect him to be.

“I’m still Masai,” he said. “Nothing is going to f——ing change that.”

Even on a day as difficult and confusing as this one.

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