Raptors hire Masai Ujiri away from Nuggets, according to report

Casey has one year left on his contract and has already spoken at length with Ujiri and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment CEO Tim Leiweke about the future. Casey’s staff will likely see a major overhaul, but the head coach will get a chance to help turn the Raptors around.

The Raptors did finish out this year strong, winning five in a row and going 7-2 in April. The good finish placed them just four games out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and they hope the next step can be taken in the 2013-14 season.

The Toronto Raptors continue to clean house with Masai Ujiri coming in as the team’s new head of basketball operations, firing team vice president Ed Stefanski.

The news comes from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:

The Denver Nuggets have already lost the Executive of the Year, and now they could lose the Coach of the Year. George Karl is reconsidering his status with the team, becoming “unsettled” in the wake of general manager Masai Ujiri’s departure, per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles.

Karl is under contract for another season and the Nuggets don’t appear interested in firing him, but other teams might be interested in his services after Ujiri left the Nuggets for the Toronto Raptors. The Clippers, looking for a coach capable of convincing Chris Paul he should stay with the squad, have apparently talked to the Nuggets about potentially hiring Karl. However, they have yet to ask permission to speak with him, which they would need to do in order to hire another team’s coach.

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Ujiri, who won the NBA’s Executive of the Year honors this season, will return to his roots in Toronto, where he was an assistant GM from 2008-2010. He will reportedly receive a five-year, $15 million deal in Toronto.

However, despite his accomplishments, Ujiri was one of the lowest-paid GMs in the NBA this past season. While the Nuggets made an effort to retain him, it does not appear that they were willing to match Toronto’s lucrative offer.

NBA players largely make much, much more money than their coaches or general managers. That’s not surprising -- elite basketball skill is more rare and more valuable than the skills involved with coaching or generally managing. NBA payroll rules actually warp the player payscale to fit the league’s needs. Without max salaries, minimum salaries and the like, few players would be paid a lot more (LeBron would easily make $50 million) and many players would make much less. (There would be massive competition among fringe NBA players even if the minimum salary fell to, say, $100,000. It’s currently around $500,000 for rookies and above $1 million for most veterans.)

But the issue as it relates to GMs is even stranger. A bad GM can cripple your franchise for years. A good GM can build a contender. While players matter in the end, GMs determine which players you have! It’s a fantastically important role, one I’d argue is in most cases far more important than the head coach. (And it’s getting more important as salary cap rules become more complex and technology like easily accessible film [Synergy] and expanded tracking [SportVU] evens the scouting playing-field to some degree.)

Ujiri previously worked in the Raptors’ front office for three years before the Nuggets hired him as GM in 2010. He has worked under a cheap deal in Denver, but he won’t be one of the NBA’s lowest-paid GMs for much longer. An earlier offer from the Nuggets reportedly came in at $1.2 million per year, but they will have to increase that bid to remain competitive with the latest offer from Toronto.

If Denver believes Ujiri is a top-tier GM, it all comes down to whether the franchise will be willing to increase the offer. Contracts for executives and coaches do not count toward the salary cap and they are usually small commitments in comparison to the ones made to players in big-money deals, so it will be very interesting to see how the Nuggets value the top executive in their front office.

The Toronto Raptors have made it clear they’re interested in Masai Ujiri -- but the current Denver Nuggets GM hasn’t yet decided on whether he’ll accept a more lucrative offer with a less viable team.

Ujiri won the NBA’s executive of the year honors in 2012-13, but he’s reportedly the lowest-paid general manager in the league, earning just $500,000 with Denver. The Raptors, where he began his front office career, have reportedly offered him about $2.25 million per year -- but Ujiri isn’t certain to take the gig. From Michael Grange of SportsNet Canada:

The stakes are high for Denver. If the Nuggets fail to present a “market-value” contract extension, Ujiri is reportedly prepared to walk away and take the job in Toronto. The Raptors will meet with the man who formerly served as their assistant GM sometime before Saturday night. That doesn’t leave much time for Denver to prepare a potent offer.

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Bryan Colangelo’s time as the Toronto Raptors’ basketball decision-maker appears to be over. The two-time NBA Executive of the Year has lost his title as general manager, and while he will remain in the organization as the club’s president, the new GM will seemingly outrank him.

Per Michael Grange of Rogers Sportsnet:

Colangelo has been in limbo with one year left on his contract. New MLSE executive Tim Leiweke has been mulling over his decision to find new leadership, and this weekend it even appeared likely that Colangelo could remain at his current post.

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Ujiri and Colangelo have history together, as Ujiri worked under Colangelo in Toronto for three seasons before moving to Denver. Ujiri was the assistant GM for two of the three seasons. If Ujiri is hired and Colangelo retained, the roles would be reversed and Ujiri would become Colangelo’s boss.

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Current Raptors president Bryan Colangelo could still have his option picked up for next season, but new Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment CEO Tim Leiweke is pushing hard for an elite executive to help turn around the Raptors. Ujiri, the 2013 NBA Executive of the Year, has reportedly been tabbed as the top choice.

Ujiri’s contract with the Nuggets expires this summer, but he has been in talks with CEO Josh Kroenke about an extension. However, Leiweke has expressed a willingness to put forth a “serious financial and organizational commitment” to a candidate like Ujiri.