Will Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro Ever Be as Well-liked as Masai Ujiri?

What they’ve Achieved

Obviously, if the sole measure is number of rings, there’s no competing with Ujiri’s resume in Toronto.
But to be fair to Shapiro and Atkins, they’ve done more than many are willing to give them credit for.

While Anthopoulos rightfully gets credit for building the foundation that led the 2016 team to the ALCS, Atkins made plenty of moves to shore up that team – like bringing back eventual 20-game-winner JA Happ, acquiring Francisco Liriano as starting depth, or bulking up the bullpen with unlikely success stories in Jason Grilli and Joaquin Benoit.

And since tearing that rendition of the team down and building around Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, plenty of shrewd moves led to a competitive window few thought possible during the lengthy drought between the ’93 World Series and the Bat Flip.

Turning Liriano into Teoscar Hernandez, taking a flyer on players like Marcus Semien, choosing Kevin Gausman over reigning Cy Young winner Robbie Ray, and being willing to take deadline swings on players like Jordan Hicks are moves that the current Jays’ administration deserves credit for.

Ujiri, of course, made franchise-altering moves – something far more possible in a sport where one or two players can completely transform a team’s identity. The Kawhi for Demar trade brought a tried and true superstar to the team, at the expense of the first franchise leader that expressed a real desire to stay here.

But Ujiri brought far more to the Raptors than the many moves that he made. He brought a swagger. A sense of confidence. An identity. “We the North”. “F&%k Brooklyn”. “We don’t give a s#*t about it”.
He told fans it was ok to believe, and he delivered on that.