The Raptors won the NBA championship last season, were one win away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals this season, and clearly have a well put-together squad. Here’s the Toronto Star on what comes next:
There is a plan, and a time and a place for everything, and Larry Tanenbaum and Raptors president Masai Ujiri are working at their own pace on all of it.
The long-term future of Ujiri, whose contract runs out at the end of next season, is a growing concern among the team’s fans but Tanenbaum knows there is no need to rush. There are other priorities, as Ujiri spelled out last week.
“Our fans, they love Masai for all that he’s contributed to the Raptors franchise and to our community and to our country — and our appreciation for him, that can’t be measured,” Tanenbaum, the chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, said in an interview Tuesday. “But it was his and my game plan to secure his management team extension before his own.”
That plan is halfway complete with coach Nick Nurse getting a contract extension earlier this month and plans are being finalized on a new deal for general manager Bobby Webster.