Masai Ujiri wants to change Raptors’ culture

Masai Ujiri believes that change has to start at the top. That includes him, the Toronto Raptors team president.

TORONTO – Masai Ujiri believes that change has to start at the top. That includes him, the Toronto Raptors team president.

Ujiri was insistent that the Raptors have to refresh their culture after a disappointing season led to the firing of head coach Nick Nurse on Friday. Ujiri said that he personally has to do “many things” to recapture the energy of Toronto’s first NBA championship team in 2019.

“Look at the roster maybe in a different way. We have to figure out shooting on this roster in some kind of way. We have to figure out who fits and who doesn’t fit,” said Ujiri during a news conference after Nurse’s dismissal was announced. “On the overall, maybe manage people better.

“Maybe see things a little bit deeper because when we hire people I let them do their jobs. That’s been a strength of ours the last 10 years here but I pay attention now a little bit more.”

Toronto missed the playoffs and finished ninth in the Eastern Conference with a 41-41 regular-season record, losing to the Chicago Bulls in the NBA play-in tournament. Ujiri said the Raptors were not themselves this season and that Toronto’s winning culture of four years ago somehow got lost.

Rebuilding that culture will take some major changes, said Ujiri.

“You have to shock, you have to hit, there has to be some kind of friction some way to do that,” said Ujiri. “I think we follow the culture of an incredible city, people, humility, everything we stand for here, togetherness.

“We lost some of that but I don’t think it’s something you cannot build right back up again.”