“Patience is our thing”: Masai Ujiri on Raptors’ trade deadline

Many Toronto Raptors fans might’ve come into Thursday expecting it to be one of the most transformational days in team history.

But with trade rumours swirling around the team for weeks, today’s NBA trade deadline came and went with nary a Raptors key piece on the move.

And team president Masai Ujiri didn’t seem too fazed by the fact that his team didn’t bite on the apparent “million” offers that came their way.

“Just naturally, patience is our thing,” Ujiri said at his press conference following the trade deadline. “Hopefully, we can have a little bit of patience.”

Toronto’s lone move came in the wee hours of Thursday morning, with Toronto trading Khem Birch and a series of draft picks for veteran centre Jakob Poeltl.

Poeltl, a 2016 draft pick of the Raptors who has played in San Antonio since he was sent there as part of the blockbuster DeMar DeRozan/Kawhi Leonard swap, has long been rumoured for a return back to the organization that drafted him.

And Ujiri is hoping that by bringing Poeltl back, he’ll help be able to alleviate some of the stress of the Raptors’ 25-30 season so far.

“Growth is not linear. It’s been a really rough stretch, but these guys, we believe in them, and we think the growth sometimes takes a while,” Ujiri added. “I look at it that we needed to give them a chance with a big screen protector out there to see what this team does.”

Any way you stretch it, Toronto has been underperforming their expectations this season after finishing sixth in the Eastern Conference last season as part of a 48-34 campaign.

But despite plenty of offers reportedly coming Toronto’s way for core players like Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, and Gary Trent Jr., Ujiri said Toronto’s front office didn’t feel the need to bite on them.

“The way I look at the deadline, it’s really not a great place to make long-term decisions,” he said. “That’s one of the ways we looked at it in terms of some of the things we might get [back in return].”

Ujiri didn’t rule out the possibility that a major move could be coming in the offseason.

“Everything that we could have done today… maybe we can do in the summer,” he added.

As for the summer, it’s set to be a big offseason for Ujiri and his general manager Bobby Webster. Both Gary Trent Jr. and Fred VanVleet have player options for next season, while Poeltl is set to hit unrestricted free agency.

But it doesn’t appear that Toronto is willing to simply let the players go for nothing — or at least, do that without making an effort to re-sign them.

“We’re always focused on trying to retain the players we have; that’s always the focus for us,” he said.

For a slightly new-look Toronto, it all starts tomorrow night, when they host the Utah Jazz at 7:30 pm.

And for Ujiri, it’s all about believing that the team already has the pieces in place to turn their fortunes around for the rest of the year.

“I believe in the players, I believe in the coaching, I believe in the organization. I believe in them individually. I believe in that talent,” he said.