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10 best NBA front offices

By John Buhler

Jan 16, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti watches college basketball between the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Oklahoma Sooners at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 16, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti watches college basketball between the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Oklahoma Sooners at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /
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May 17, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Toronto Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri represents his team during the NBA draft lottery at New York Hilton Midtown. The Philadelphia 76ers received the first overall pick in the 2016 draft. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
May 17, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Toronto Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri represents his team during the NBA draft lottery at New York Hilton Midtown. The Philadelphia 76ers received the first overall pick in the 2016 draft. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /

Toronto Raptors. 8. player. 81. . East. Atlantic

When general manager Masai Ujiri arrived with the Toronto Raptors organization after a successful stint in the same role with the Denver Nuggets, all eyes were on a rebuild for Canada’s professional basketball franchise. Instead what Ujiri inherited was knocking on the door of being one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference for the last few seasons.

Toronto is in its heyday as a basketball franchise under Ujiri’s leadership. Point guard Kyle Lowry became an All-Star after bouncing around for most of his early 20s. Shooting guard DeMar DeRozan has the chance to be usurp Vince Carter and Chris Bosh as the greatest player in Raptors’ franchise history. Even head coach Dwane Casey has resurrected his career in Toronto as the coach of this strong basketball team.

Toronto has won the last three Atlantic Division Championships (2014-16) and are still probably the favorites to win it in 2017 even after the improvements to the other four clubs in the division. The Raptors finally broke through with this current corps and not only won a playoff series, but played in the franchise’s first Eastern Conference Finals, taking the eventual NBA Finals Champions Cleveland Cavaliers to six games.

With this corps intact, it’s incredible how well everybody is playing off each other. Lowry and DeRozan are about to be Olympians. Air Canada Centre is now one of the most difficult places to play in the NBA.

Players like Lou Williams and Bismack Biyombo become highly coveted free agents after brief stints in Toronto. Key free agents like DeMarre Carroll and Corey Joseph are willing to come play for Canada’s team.

It’s great to see an organization better than it has ever been. Though he is a diehard hoops fanatic, it would be hard for Toronto native and rap superstar Drake to proudly support the Raptors as he does if Toronto didn’t have a championship caliber basketball team.

Expect Toronto to vie for a rematch with the Cavaliers in the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals. Under Ujiri’s direction, Toronto for the first time seems to be making proactive choices with regards to their basketball team, as opposed to reacting to whatever the other 29 teams chose to do. Maybe the Raptors won’t have to rebuild at any point in the near future after all?

Next: 7. Dallas Mavericks.

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