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Ujiri Displays Passion, But Gives Little Detail in Introduction as Raptors New GM

The Toronto Raptors formally introduced GM Masai Ujiri today. Adam Francis gives his initial thoughts on a presser that was long on passion, and short on detail.

USA TODAY Sports

For those of you who watched Masai Ujiri's press conference minutes ago, it may have felt like a breath of fresh air.

Or it may have been a bit of a frustrating experience.

Masai Ujiri took the stage for the first time in front of the media as the newest General Manager of the Toronto Raptors, and while he was quite passionate regarding the team and its outlook, he also gave very few details on how he plans to proceed with making said team, a championship contender.

Hence the opening sentences.

Indeed, as opposed to what had become tired, dogmatic orations from Bryan Colangelo, Masai Ujiri's opening remarks to the Toronto media felt much more organic and optimistic. Ujiri noted that he was speaking from the heart, and it was clear he was slightly overwhelmed by this homecoming of sorts.

However if you were looking for details about when Andrea Bargnani was headed out of town, or what the fate of current Head Coach Dwane Casey and staff was, this presser was not for you. Ujiri did seem to suggest that Casey would stick around, but emphasized on a number of occasions that he would be taking the next two to three weeks to sort through a myriad of personnel decisions.

And that really was it.

Sure, Ujiri highlighted the importance of developing young talent, something he put an emphasis on during his time in Denver, but that doesn't exactly mean he's ready to join the "Tank for Wiggins in 2014" campaign. He also noted that his predecessor Colangelo, had brought in some very good pieces so...

(Which we're all praying meant basically Jonas Valanciunas, Amir Johnson and maybe Terrence Ross.)

I summed up the presser on Twitter as "TBD" as really, from Tim Leiweke's branding comments to Ujiri's view of the team currently as a potential contender, the big takeaway was "wait and see." No surprise right now, Ujiri and co. are sorting through the remnants of the Colangelo era (Ujiri noted that he's spoken to a few current players and will speak to the rest by day's end), trying to see what should stay and what should go.

And for us fans, we'll just have to wait and see how this all begins to unfold.