Raptors Cage

Calling Out Tim Leiweke

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With his slicked back hair, smooth tongue, and somewhat proven track record, new MLSE President Tim Leiweke has won over the majority of Toronto fans with his championship promises. While this is a refreshing mentality to posses, there are some things that irk me about Mr Leiweke.

His ego and cockiness takes MLSE to new ‘big-shot’ heights, as Leiweke praises himself as the cause of a Maple Leafs Stanley Cup run before its even happened.

“I want a parade.” Leiweke, in interviews with news outlets, says he has already planned Toronto’s Stanley Cup route. “It’s going to be fantastic.”

He also wants to toss away the historic part of the Leafs franchise. The tradition, the memories – everything that makes the Leafs such a popular destination for players today.

“I don’t want the players walking in the hallways of the Air Canada Centre and seeing pictures from 1962. Get rid of those pictures and tell them (the players), ‘This is your legacy,’ ” he said.

While the cockiness, egotistical behavior does get under my skin, the biggest problem I have with Leiweke is his extraordinary involvement in the sports side of the MLSE. He’s not a GM nor has he ever been – he’s a businessman.

The way he talks about the Toronto Raptors ‘sucking to be good’ and the way he’s contradicted things that Masai Ujiri says is ridiculous because he simply doesn’t have the basketball, hockey, or soccer knowledge to make the statements he does.

He takes great pride in bringing a Stanley Cup to the LA Kings. The 8th seeded LA Kings that were, by no means, dominant during the season. The bottom line is that there was a bit of luck associated with their win, and it took Leiweke quite some time to get that franchise out of the dumpster in the first place.

He also calls himself an ‘NBA guy’. Now, I’m not quite sure what the basis is behind that, however I can tell you that he had little influence on the Los Angeles Lakers franchise in terms of a basketball operations standpoint. The history and prestige of the franchise was already set in place, not to mention the fact that Leiweke’s former employer Anschutz Entertainment Group owned a small piece of the Lakers – which leads me to question the impact Leiweke had on Jerry Buss (likely very little).

Leiweke also claims he is great friends with Phil Jackson. Well, great – you were friends because you were both part of the Los Angeles sports umbrella. Does that mean he was advising Jackson during the Lakers title runs? No, it simply is a line used to pad his ego once again.

How about claiming he didn’t get along with former Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo? A) That’s not a shocker when two egotistical heads clash, and B) that’s not something you should be saying in public. What exactly was he trying to prove by saying that?

What the problem really boils down to is when Leiweke continuously runs his mouth and takes credit for things he shouldn’t be. I’m not in any way saying Leiweke isn’t intelligent as I’m confident he’s a fantastic businessman and will do a solid job ensuring a high gross profit for the MLSE. But, his job shouldn’t entail much more than that – stick to the business side.

I also don’t doubt he will ensure the teams are properly managed and hopefully he will deliver on his promises of championships, but the bottom line is that the media play needs to stop. We’ve seen it far too much in Toronto, and there definitely hasn’t been enough results to show for it.

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8 thoughts on “Calling Out Tim Leiweke”

  1. I don’t see him as being able to help the Raptors as much as he claims he will. He will focus primarily on the Leafs, and only appear if the team succeeds, claiming to have worked in the back or some other bull crap.

    Reply
    • His focus is supposed to be the business side of the MLSE, bottom line. Let the GM’s do their jobs, and stop talking.

      Reply
      • So you mean to tell me that he won’t influence the team at all? You clearly have not learned from those who previously mismanaged this organization. I’m not saying he will be as bad as his predecessors but I will prefer that his every action is scrutinized by the media. Sports and business go hand in hand in this industry.

        Reply
        • Never said that, however that doesn’t mean he should go out and say things such as ‘this team needs to suck to be good’ because ultimately that’s not his call

          Reply
  2. Good article Sachin. Colangelo and Burke were going to save Toronto sports and look how that turned out. This guy’s actions need to be evaluated impartially, and so far all he’s done is incited a few mini-controversies.

    Reply
    • Exactly. We’ve had way too much of this BS. Ironically, when Burke got canned the Leafs team assembled fared well, and I do believe the same thing may happen this year with Colangelo.

      Reply
  3. “”“I don’t want the players walking in the hallways of the Air Canada Centre and seeing pictures from 1962. Get rid of those pictures and tell them (the players), ‘This is your legacy,’ ” he said.””
    “”He also wants to toss away the historic part of the Leafs franchise. The tradition, the memories – everything that makes the Leafs such a popular destination for players today.””

    -Leiweke isn’t tossing away the franchise’s history; he’s cementing a framework for it to be rewritten; so many of the fans today were too young or not even alive for the last time the team won and he’s just trying to make the team understand better that the time is now and theirs to take. You have to have the balls to make some gutsy moves to change the culture of a city that is so accustomed to losing that we still sell out all of our games knowing we probably won’t win. The leafs will always be a popular destination to play, once legacies are made you don’t need pictures to remind people, they always know, i.e every basketball player dreams of playing for the lakers or celtics, not the fkn bobcats

    In short I just think you’re completely misinterpreting the quote about the ACC banners from Leiweke and that section of your article is quite weak while there is a lot more substance to back your claims on basketball.

    Reply

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