The Toronto Raptors media day yesterday was among the most controversial in the NBA, featuring ambiguous statements directed within.
Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic spoke to the new team culture, and then Masai Ujiri, the General Manager, admitted that players were sometimes selfish on the court last season. In response, Pascal Siakam fired back at claims of ‘Selfishness’ from the Raptors team.
Ujiri was asked during media day why the team has not offered any contract extensions. More specifically, to the best player on the team, Siakam, whose contract is up after this season.
The GM responded that a lot of the players didn’t play the right way, adding that he needed a better look at the team when the team did play appropriately.
“A lot of players didn’t play the right way,” Ujiri said. “I said it, that we were selfish, I’m not running away from that. We were selfish, and we didn’t play the right way. So let us see it when we play the right way.”
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Siakam was asked about what Ujiri talked about and immediately defended his position of being unselfish. He refuted being a selfish player
“I’ve never been a selfish player in my life, always played the right way,” Siakam said. “Always been a team player, always done that my whole career.”
Scottie Barnes thought that Ujiri was right in defending his statements in reference to how the Raptors played last season, which became a disappointing outcome.
“Sometimes you’re out there feeling like it’s every man for themselves,” Barnes said.
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Regardless, that is not a good sign for a team that is seemingly on a rebuild. Since winning the championship in 2019, they have only made the playoffs twice in the last four seasons. They lost Fred VanVleet in the off-season to Houston in free agency. With a new coach in place, the Raptors have many more questions than answers left from media day.
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