All tough decisions made by a leader, Barack Obama once said, require a clear conscious and the best intentions. After that, he must live with the result. It’s a tip Masai Ujiri took from his friend although, as the two shared a newly constructed basketball court in a small village in Kenya three months ago, that was easier said than done.
The two Presidents — one formerly of the U.S., the other currently of the Toronto Raptors — are linked by a pair of obvious bonds. Both are half-Kenyan and both are passionate about basketball. It was a natural, then, that Obama and Ujiri would find themselves on the same beloved home soil, meaning Africa and the hardwood, for a summer ceremony. Ujiri does tireless work throughout Africa each year, raising awareness of the sport, and his foundation helped build a vastly needed youth center in Kogelo that named a basketball court after Obama.
And while Obama appeared that day wearing two Presidential terms of gray in his hair, guess who was more stressed?
It was a sensitive time for Ujiri. In a span of a month prior to that Africa trip, he made a pair of tough decisions that severed precious relationships that may eventually serve to repair the Raptors. As Ujiri braces to live with the result, his team is preparing to fly, perhaps further than the franchise has ever traveled.
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And that, really, was the only reason for firing Dwane Casey and trading DeMar DeRozan, shaking up a franchise that won 59 games but nothing else: Ujiri is hell-bent on chasing a championship, personal feelings be damned.
“It’s the only goal,” he said.
As a result, the Raptors are now steered by Nick Nurse, once a respected assistant coach, and more importantly by Kawhi Leonard, largely recognized as one of the game’s most impactful two-way players. It is a dice roll, for sure. There’s no proof yet that Nurse has the chops to navigate a team through a regular season and postseason. Leonard can walk next summer as an unrestricted free agent. Oh, and the Raptors will receive a stern challenge here in a LeBron James-free Eastern Conference by the Boston Celtics, back from the infirmary.
