5 years, 15 million. Reigning executive of the year. Reputable name with high hopes and tons of pressure. By this basis, the differences between Bryan Colangelo and Masai Ujiri are very little.
Colangelo was brought to the Toronto Raptors organization in 2006, and fans reacted a very similar way. ‘Brilliant move by MLSE, finally a reputable GM in Toronto’. It’s understandable why fans would say the same for Ujiri, and it’s also possible that they are setting themselves up for disappointment.
I’m still trying to comprehend the basis for people praising Ujiri as a top flight general manager. Winning the meaningless title of Executive of the Year would likely create some of this praise. I say meaningless because you typically don’t see the top GM’s of this league winning that title – they don’t have to make adjustments because their team is already so well built. With regards to Ujiri, this season he added star forward Andre Iguodala to the Denver Nuggets (who Philly wanted to just dump), but was lucky in the sense that Ty Lawson panned out to be a stud among many other things, and had the luxury of George Karl. The point is, he had an ideal situation this year and for pretty much his whole tenure in Denver.
If I’m going to look at Ujiri, I will give him that he’s a great talent evaluator, and makes solid late draft picks (Faried, Fournier, Hamilton etc). He’s a scout and worked his way up, so this is expected.
Take a look at his moves since becoming GM:
SEASON 2010-11
March 8 2011
Signed head coach George Karl to a contract extension.
February 22 2011
Signed forward Carmelo Anthony to a contract extension and traded him along with guards Chauncey Billups and Anthony Carter, forward Renaldo Balkman and center Shelden Williams to the New York Knicks for guard Raymond Felton, forwards Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, center Timofey Mozgov, a future first-round pick, two future second-round picks, the right to exchange 2016 first-round picks and cash and center Kosta Koufos and a second-round pick from the Minnesota Timberwolves, who traded forward Corey Brewer to the New York Knicks for forward Anthony Randolph, center Eddy Curry and cash.
October 21 2010
Exercised the contract option on guard Ty Lawson through 2011-12.
October 20 2010
Waived center Eric Boateng.
October 14 2010
Named Pete D’Alessandro advisor to the executive vice president of basketball operations.
October 11 2010
Waived forwards Shane Edwards and Courtney Sims.
September 27 2010
Signed forwards Shane Edwards and Courtney Sims.
September 25 2010
Signed center Melvin Ely.
September 22 2010
Signed center Eric Boateng.
August 27 2010
Named executive vice president of basketball operations.
SEASON 2011-12
March 18 2012
Waived forward Ronny Turiaf and signed guard Wilson Chandler.
March 15 2012
Traded center Nenê to the Washington Wizards for forward Ronny Turiaf and center JaVale McGee.
February 4 2012
Waived forward DeMarre Carroll.
January 25 2012
Signed forward Danilo Gallinari and center Kosta Koufos to contract extensions.
December 23 2011
Waived forward Michael Ruffin.
December 20 2011
Re-signed guard Arron Afflalo.
December 15 2011
Signed forward Michael Ruffin.
December 13 2011
Re-signed center Nenê, signed forward DeMarre Carroll and traded a 2016 second-round pick to the Dallas Mavericks for guard Rudy Fernandez and forward Corey Brewer.
December 10 2011
Signed forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute to an offer sheet.
December 9 2011
Signed guard Julyan Stone and forwards Kenneth Faried and Jordan Hamilton.
Draft 2011
Selected forward Kenneth Faried (22nd overall pick).
Traded guard Raymond Felton to the Portland Trail Blazers for guard Andre Miller and a future second-round pick and the draft rights to forward Jordan Hamilton from the Dallas Mavericks; traded a future second-round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers for the draft rights to forward Chukwudiebere Maduabum.
June 20 2011
Exercised the contract option on guard Ty Lawson through 2012-13 and tendered qualifying offers to guard Arron Afflalo and forwards Gary Forbes and Wilson Chandler.
SEASON 2012-13
November 28 2012
Named Pete D’Alessandro vice president of basketball operations and Mike Bratz to director of player personnel.
October 25 2012
Waived guards Anthony Carter and Ben Uzoh.
October 22 2012
Exercised the contract option on guard Jordan Hamilton and forward Kenneth Faried through 2013-14.
October 1 2012
Signed guards Anthony Carter and Ben Uzoh.
September 6 2012
Signed forward Quincy Miller.
August 10 2012
Traded guard Arron Afflalo, forward Al Harrington and the lower of its 2014 first-round picks to the Orlando Magic for Andre Iguodala from the Philadelphia 76ers.
July 20 2012
Signed forward Anthony Randolph.
July 18 2012
Re-signed center JaVale McGee.
July 17 2012
Waived forward Chris Andersen.
July 11 2012
Signed guard Evan Fournier and re-signed guard Andre Miller.
Draft 2012
Selected guard Evan Fournier (20th overalll pick), forward Quincy Miller (38th overall pick) and center Izzet Turkyilmaz (50th overall pick).
As I said before, he’s a good talent evaluator, solid in the draft, and makes safe moves. He hasn’t done anything fantastic with the Nuggets, and acquiring Iguodala and trading Carmelo Anthony (which was a very good situation for him) were the only real significant moves made.
This Nuggets team isn’t built very well – heavy on the swing-men with no real solid frontcourt scoring presence. This isn’t all on Ujiri, but he didn’t take any risks and try to acquire a Josh Smith or someone that would take the team to championship contender status.
I’m not sayingthat I don’t like Ujiri. I think he’s a solid basketball mind to have around, but he’s not a top notch GM. He’s solid, and will do a good job, and with that being said I’m glad Bryan Colangelo will be around as well.
The fact that Colangelo was his old mentor means that there is no way he doesn’t go to him for advice on moves.
However, it also appears that Ujiri wants to make a bold impression early. He started with firing Ed Stefanski, Jim Kelly, and some other scouts. Why? To clean some of the old out. It wasn’t that these men weren’t doing their jobs – it’s that Ujiri wanted the culture change and wanted his presence to be felt. Another bold rumor surfaced indicating that Andrea Bargnani will likely be traded by July 1st. This is something that I disagree with – it’s not the right time to trade Bargnani, however again this is likely more of a culture change and sending a message.
Ujiri has a talented roster to work with,and it’s unlikely that he ‘blows it up’, especially with Colangelo still in the office. We’ll see what happens, but the point is to keep your expectations in check. He’s a solid basketball mind with experience and will certainly help this franchise, but don’t expect enormous roster changes, or any major changes to the way this team is handled as a whole.
To recap, Ujiri was a good hire, but so was Colangelo, and I think that really tells it all.
