Raptors Positioning for an Absolute Heist...

As of yesterday, the Toronto Raptors had two open two-way spots. They decided to give one of those positions to Nate Biddle, but ended up cutting five of the other players to hopefully go sign with the Raptors 905. But a lot of people were confused why they didn't fill that final two-way spot. It doesn't affect you against the cap, and the Raptors need as much depth as they can, given how tight their financial situation is right now. But then it was revealed that Bobby Webster did it on purpose, as he has his eye on a bunch of different players that are bound to get waived in the coming days. Then at the exact same time, thousands of kilometers away, a 24-year-old shot-blocking center has rumors escalating about getting cut from a team that desperately wanted him this summer. And the person that is doing the cutting that makes that decision is former Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri, who we know has a very tight relationship with Bobby Webster. His name is Musa Cisse, and because of some strange rule that we will dive into in this video, if the Dallas Mavericks do cut him, they are not able to bring him back on a two-way contract the way the Toronto Raptors have with players in the past. However, he would be available to sign a two-way contract with this Toronto Raptors team. So in this video, we'll break down the mess that is the back end of that Dallas Mavericks roster that is giving us this opportunity in the first place, how the Toronto Raptors are now perfectly positioned to strike on a player that would honestly be a perfect fit in terms of what we need, and how some of the moves, some of the decisions Bobby Webster has made over the past couple of days indicates he knows something more than everyone else does. Let's start with the Dallas Mavericks as NBA teams get 15 standard contracts. And right now the Dallas Mavericks have 60. And this is a rule a GM or president can't really dance around. No matter how skilled Masai Ujiri is with negotiating cap doing these different things, this is a hard rule in the NBA, and the deadline to fix it for the Dallas Mavericks is Monday. The extra guy in Dallas right now is Canadian Dwight Powell, who over a decade in Dallas is a fan favorite and is back on a non-guaranteed deal. And a new report from Jake Fisher reveals that Dallas is exploring ways to keep him, which indicates they might be parting away with Moussa Cissé. Here's what makes it messy, as Dallas has already guaranteed Cissé's contract on October 1st, and that's $2.2 million this season, whether he plays for them or not. And to make the situation tougher on Dallas, they can't just trade him either, as he'd actually have some value out there on the open market. Dallas matched an offer sheet to keep him this summer, which proves the demand that he already has out there across the NBA, so for a full year, he cannot be traded without him signing off on it so the Mavericks are in a really tough spot right now as they've essentially already paid his contract it's going to go towards their cap however given the mess they have at the back end of their roster they might be paying for a guy to not be on their team due to these rules regarding roster maximums and you might look at and be like Ben why don't they just put him in that two-way spot that Mavericks just opened up one of those positions on the team. Well, that's where another loophole in the NBA CBA puts the Toronto Raptors in an even better position. But a quick thing before I break down this loophole, because it gets fairly interesting what Bobby Webster is doing on the back end. We are trying to get Raptors Digest to 45,000 subscribers. And if you're enjoying the daily content, we've tried to level up our production here out there in the video. So I appreciate all the great feedback you guys have been given in the comment section. But if you're enjoying the daily, it's still daily. We aren't slowing down even with these new edits. Make sure you guys hit that subscribe button because I don't want you to miss a single thing with this Raptors team. Now onto this loophole. As Mark Stein has checked with a cap expert out there and said that Cissé's guaranteed salary is too high for Dallas to waive him and re-sign him back on a two-way contract. So if the Mavericks cut him, the only teams that can sign him to a two-way contract are the 29 other squads in the NBA that are not the Dallas Mavericks. and what position is Toronto so well is they are one of the only teams still right now with open two-way roster spots and they are a team that's been waiting for years to get a healthy long athletic shot blocking center now one thing to note is Toronto can't claim him off of waivers a claim means they are taking on his 2.2 million dollars and by our math as we broke down yesterday the Raptors have 963 hundred thousand dollars of room under the hard cap but so he doesn't fit out they're on this team. But that's the beauty of it. If he gets through waivers, the Toronto Raptors will not have to pay any bit of his salary. He'll be able to sign on a two-way deal and it'll be Masai Ujiri and that Dallas Mavericks front office that are footing the bill for the Raptors to have one of these shot blocking centers. And with that, they're able to fill out the roster even more and not worry about the hard cap that's going to be a topic of discussion this entire season. That's what makes this a golden opportunity for the Toronto Raptors because very rarely does a high potential high upside center end up available for free out there for your team if things end up going right over the next 24 hours. So who the heck is Musa Cisse? He was born in Conakry, Guinea. He played five years of college basketball at Memphis, Oklahoma State, and Ole Miss. He was a Big 12 co-defensive player of the year in 2022, and he showed a lot of potential last season. He did go undrafted in 2022 and signed an Exhibit 10 deal in Dallas and played his way onto a two-way contract by opening night. As a rookie, he played 38 games, averaged 4.5 points per game, 5.7 rebounds per night, and averaged 1.2 blocks per game in under 14 minutes of action. Per 36, that's over three blocks a game. And to make things even more interesting, he finished the season really hot. Over his last four games, he averaged 11 points per game and averaged 13 boards a night. Then over the summer, the New York Knicks tried to steal him away with a two-year $4.7 million offer sheet, and the Dallas Mavericks matched it in under 11 hours. That was Masai Ujiri's front office. So the same guy that fought desperately to keep him in July might be forced to cut him here now in October given their current roster situation. So that tells you this isn't about whether or not he's good, it's more about this one specific roster spot. Now look at what the Toronto Raptors need Nate Biddle is currently in a walking boot and Michael Grange reports he is likely to be out at least a month that leaves three guys that can truly play the center position on the Toronto Raptors which includes Jakob Purtle, Colin Murray-Boyles and Trace Jackson-Davis and you are one injury away from starting very very small and even in their own right Colin Murray-Boyles and Trace Jackson-Davis are undersized centers when they play that position Cissé is everything this team has been building towards he has length rim protection crashing the glass and our numbers say over a third of his plays are putbacks and it's not like he had a generational fall off which is leading to him getting cut and in his last preseason game he started for the Dallas Mavericks and put up 8.6 rebounds and three blocks in just 16 minutes of action for tweaking his ankle but Mark Stein did say it's not that serious I know the Raptors just signed a two-way center in Nate Biddle. And I understand all the talk has been about three-point shooting, spacing, all these different things. But the backbone, the identity, the people that Darko Rajaković trusts actually going out there in the lineups are players that can play defense. And Musa Cissé is one of those guys. And after the Biddle signing, you of course get a bit more depth at that center spot. But realistically, we do not want Colin Murray-Boyles playing night in, night out at the center position. We just want him playing that spot in high leverage moments. While, of course, I do believe in Trace Jackson Davis, I have made that known. If Nate Biddle is in a walking boot and dealing with injuries over the course of this season, we've seen the injury history happen with Jakob Poeltl in recent years. If Trace Jackson Davis is really our only center out there in the lineup for stretches, we are going to be dealing with the same problems we've been dealing with for years now at this point and this team having a lack of depth at that position. If Cissé is available, you have to jump on it. And here's where it gets even more interesting. Back in 2013, Masai Ujiri took over the Toronto Raptors, and his first hire was Bobby Webster, who is the current president of this basketball team. Webster went from VP to assistant GM to GM back in 2017. They built a championship roster together, and when Masai Ujiri left, Webster took over the whole front office. Webster said it himself. When he got the job, he said he still has a great relationship with Masai Ujiri and there are no issues there. And Masai Ujiri didn't go to Dallas alone. His assistant GM Matt Redfield followed him there after spending five seasons with the Raptors running strategy and analytics. Masai's head of global scouting, Patrick Engelbrecht, was a Raptor for over 13 years and is now down there in Dallas as well. Now, I'm not saying Bobby Webster, Masai Ujiri, anyone in that front office has been secretly yapping about Musa Cissé. No one has officially reported that or come out and said that these conversations are going on. But when you think about it, these guys have shared a war room. They were in the front office together discussing these players every single day. If anyone knows how Dallas really feels about this kid and the direction the Mavericks are going to go out here before Monday, Bobby Webster is that guy. And the Toronto Raptors have done similar moves before. In 2024, they gave a two-way contract to Ulrich Hensch, a player that they were high on, the team was high on, the fan base was high on, but unfortunately, health issues kept him from being on this team long term. You had Christian Koloko, who's bounced around the NBA a little bit right now, but his career was turned upside down after a similar health issue that led him to be cut by the Toronto Raptors. So is this all a big coincidence that the Raptors are one of the only teams in the NBA with a two-way roster spot open, that Bobby Webster has such a great relationship with Masai Ujiri and other members of the Dallas Mavericks front office. Is it a coincidence that all of this is just happening at once? It could be, but I guarantee you this. The Toronto Raptors, who love promoting people internally, love rewarding Raptors 905 guys, especially when they impress like he and Burnett did. The Toronto Raptors did not leave that spot open for nothing. Now, there are a few things that could wreck this. First, Dallas might just keep him. Daniel Gafford has a shoulder stinger. Derek Lively hasn't played since November, and Marez Johnson currently has shin splints. They're going to need every pick that they can get this season. Second, somebody could claim him off waivers. Jake Fisher already named the Sixers as a team to watch after Poorti ended up tearing his Achilles. And third, even if he does clear, the Toronto Raptors would be in line with the other teams with the two-way open roster spot, and he'd have to choose us. The Raptors would have to be first in line to bring him in. Do I think this signing is a surefire guaranteed? it's 100% happening of course not there are a lot of variables that are coming into play but there are too many moving parts there are too many pieces that are aligning perfectly for the Toronto Raptors to not address what's going on to not notice what is actually happening behind the scenes and I am of the full belief that Bobby Webster has this in mind with keeping that open two-way roster spot as I'm sure he has a bunch of players that are available on that list as backup options if this Musa Cisse option doesn't pan out. As when a 24 year old shot blocking center with extremely high upside has the opportunity of falling in your lap for free, you have to do everything in your power, everything you can to position yourself to take advantage of that opportunity. But let me know in the comment section down below, if everything lines up correctly, would you give Musa Cisse that two way contract? Leave that comment there right now. And As I mentioned earlier, we are on a mission for 45,000 subscribers. So especially if you made it this far into the video, make sure you guys hit that subscribe button. It's completely free out here on YouTube and you can follow on Facebook as well. If you're watching out there on that platform. Anyways, I'm signing out. Cheers.