Stefanski, Kelly Gone as Raptors' New GM Ujiri Wastes No Time Getting Down to Business

New Toronto Raptors GM Masai Ujiri sure didn't waste any time getting down to business.

Less than 48 hours after the news of his hiring became official, Ujiri has begun clearing house according to reports, firing Executive Vice-President Ed Stefanski and various other front-office members.

Among the newly departed beside Stefanski are a few regional scouts, vice-president of pro scouting Dave Pendergraft and the biggest name of the bunch, long-time scout Jim Kelly. No word yet on various other front-office folks, including VP of College Scouting Marc Eversley, but more folks could certainly be shown the door over the next few days.

I actually missed this news at the time of the first announcement (no surprise, it was Woj again) but after catching up at home this evening, it's pretty hard not to be happy with these developments. I was never a huge Stefanski fan and while I didn't really have an issue with the work Jim Kelly's done over the years - he was also one of the first in the Raptors' organization to acknowledge us as media - a fresh approach I believe was needed from the scouts on up.

The best part of all of this is that Ujiri hasn't even been formally announced to the media yet, so who knows, maybe we wake up tomorrow to find out that Andrea Bargnani's been dealt for something tangible in return!

(Please let this be so.)