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On Monday night, the Canadian Basketball Speakers Forum was held at Ryerson University as CIS Championship Week kicked off. Among the speakers: Leo Rautins, Glen Grunwald, Canada Basketball CEO Wayne Parrish and Raptors GM Masai Ujiri.
In attendance were the National Post's Eric Koreen and Sun Media's Ryan Wolstat. As they detailed, Ujiri - as he's apt to do - gave some of the more quotable lines of the night.
Before the fireworks, there were numerous panels discussing the globalization of the sport, the strides Canada is set to make on the international scene and the full complement of players that will be working with the Canadian National Team this summer:
Next panel on globalization of basketball: Gersson Rosas of Rockets, Ed Tapscott of Wiz, George Raveling of Nike and Michelle O'Keefe of CB
— Eric Koreen (@ekoreen) March 9, 2015
Tapscott: "Those who commit to process, like Canada, will play shoulder to shoulder with the U.S."
— Eric Koreen (@ekoreen) March 10, 2015
Parrish on men's team: "This summer, with the exception of things like contracts and injuries, I think we’re going to have everybody there."
— Eric Koreen (@ekoreen) March 10, 2015
The night's final speaker was Ujiri. And things got real when he started talking about adding a Canadian flavour to the Raptors' roster:
Masai says Raptors will hire someone who just focuses on Canadian talent.
— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) March 10, 2015
"There is no doubt in my mind and I know in my time, there will be a Canadian basketball player playing for Toronto Raptors, 100%" - Masai
— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) March 10, 2015
One player, other than LBJ, who Masai could add: "We all know who he is, but I won't say his name. He might be Canadian."
— Eric Koreen (@ekoreen) March 10, 2015
Whoa. That's not quite Drake urging the OVO Festival crowd to collectively attempt to woo Kevin Durant, but that's getting dangerously close to borderline tampering, no?
He then continued dropping golden nuggets:
"Trust me, I ain’t taking that back I hope we play them again, I’ll say it again." Masai on F_ck Brooklyn.
— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) March 10, 2015
He then wrapped up with some boring talk about building a sustainable winner in Toronto:
Ujiri wraps up: "I know we will in Toronto. We will in Toronto. We will sustain it for a long time."
— Eric Koreen (@ekoreen) March 10, 2015
That's fine and dandy. But can we get back to that mysterious and potentially Canadian player he was hinting at?
What are your thoughts on Monday night's comments by the Raptors boss?