Last summer, Masai Ujiri dreamed big. He chased all-star LaMarcus Aldridge, texted him over and over, sold him a vision of a team with a country and a pulsing fan base behind it, with the chance to accomplish something for a franchise that had never accomplished anything. Ujiri is one of those people who can walk into any room and command it, and whose aura leaves an imprint. It’s a gift.

Aldridge was intrigued by Ujiri’s pitch, but didn’t visit Toronto. The signing would have required some significant financial reorganization, but it likely would have made the Raptors better. Not a championship team, but better. Ujiri dreams big, but better was the point.

One year later the general manager of the Toronto Raptors has a 56-win, an Eastern Conference final team, and no obvious route to the echelons above. He clearly intends to try to re-sign DeMar DeRozan, though if he can get him for less than the max, all the better. He will try to finagle Bismack Biyombo back, but paying too much for a reserve centre, even one this good, seems less obvious. He needs a power forward, at the least. Dwane Casey stays as coach. That won’t take long.

Ujiri craves challenge to top this season

Reading between lines of Ujiri’s news conference

And hovering over everything, the bigger ambition. When the Raptors opened their practice facility before the all-star break, Ujiri guaranteed they would win a championship eventually. Monday, he said, “We want to win big here, so we’ll continue to grow and figure that part out.” So, where to now?

“In my position, when I look at it, I know everybody says you should be proud of the season, I go home, my wife says ‘you should be proud of the season,’ and I say ‘thank you’ to be a good husband,” said Ujiri. “There’s 29 teams that have lost, there’s 29 disappointed teams in the NBA at the end of the season, and we’re one of them. And I’m one of them . . . because we didn’t win the championship. Could we have won the championship? I don’t think we’re good enough yet, we’re not there yet. But you have that disappointment in you, and that urge that you want to go and do better.”

Ujiri has been trying to build the name and momentum of the franchise since he came back, in little and big ways. The all-star game, or swearing in the Square. The $60-million practice facility, or his pursuit of big free agents. He didn’t get to this place without ambition. This season, the Raptors were as good as you could expect them to be.

The big move, though: well, that’s the hardest. The Toronto Raptors have never attracted a big free agent, or traded for a current all-star. They have to be willing to come. That’s the only play there is.

“I think players will always want to come when you have a great city, great fans,” said Ujiri. “We have heard what players have said about the atmosphere, playing, our ownership, the support. I say it again: Outside of winning, which maybe we don’t have a history like other teams, we work for a top-five, top-three organization in the NBA by far, in my opinion, whether you’re talking about fans, organization, ownership, resources. They give it to us. Look at where we’re sitting in a practice facility. It’s everything that we want. That’s what we have to put in front of these players. We have to create that atmosphere for them. You match that with winning, and I think they’ll be attracted to here.”

Not everyone agrees on how many true super-elite difference-making superstars there are in the game, but it’s a short list. And the history of NBA champions is a history of superstars. Since 1980, there have been three champions without a starter who was a past or future MVP: Detroit in 1989 and 1990, and Detroit in 2004. That’s it. The jump from good to great is a chasm. It’s the difference between going to New Zealand, and going to the moon.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

But that’s the only road to take. Ujiri doesn’t want to clamber back down into the 45-win pit, so he can trend towards positive inertia: stay good, pay people, nip and tuck, keep the Raptors relevant, as he puts it. Maybe there’s a package that includes the No. 9 pick and Terrence Ross to someone who has heard how good he is in summer games. Maybe there’s something bigger, lurking, but it’s not obvious. For now, stay good, you try to stand next to LeBron in the playoffs, give him a scare, maybe get lucky.

And beyond that, he has to try to steal a star, and it may not be possible. Kevin Durant told this team’s intermediaries two years ago he wasn’t coming, but Tim Leiweke kept the PR campaign going as long as he could. The true superstars aren’t available.

So Masai will hunt for an all-star, for better, for best. If it’s not a pure superstar, a secondary one might do. He called on Blake Griffin earlier this season. He called on others. He will hunt for something better.

This is the best the Raptors have ever been, and that is no small thing. Masai Ujiri is creative and respected and gifted and hungry, and wants more. But that doesn’t mean he can get it.

Read more about: