So Masai Ujiri finally said it out loud: The Toronto Raptors are going to really attempt something here. The team’s president put it more colourfully, of course: “We’re going to die trying, that’s for sure,” Ujiri told reporters Tuesday night. “I know those guys, and they’re going to die trying.”
That has been the lesson of this season for this organization, which always maps out every avenue before deciding where to go. When Kawhi Leonard left, a sell-off was possible. When the season began, the path wasn’t set. And then the Raptors arrived here: close to second in the East, despite everything, with a team even more beloved than the championship version at the same stage.