Masai Ujiri
I've studied the game in every different aspect that I can.
You go for the best talent available, wherever it is. You fish it out. That's how I've scouted all my career. Doesn't matter where it is - international, domestic, college, anywhere.
Scouting is like CIA work and investigative work. You create a lot of stuff and try a lot of stuff. Some works and some doesn't. I try to get creative.
I carry the continent of Africa on my shoulders proudly.
Every day is different. There's always, as we call it in the NBA, a 'drama,' a team's drama, there's always something.
When you talk about goals, you look at your team last year and you want to move the meter a little bit. You don't want to go back and be the same team that you were last year, so we have tried to get better in some ways.
Basketball without Borders made me who I am and it's just something that is such a huge part of my life.
I value my staff and I believe in hiring people who are smarter than myself.
Two of the most difficult parts of our business is trades and when a player leaves.
That's why we play sports, is to compete for championships.
I have a mandate to win and that's what I want to do.
When you get a chance to get a top five player, which doesn't come very often, you have to jump on it.
Nelson Mandela knew that sport has the power to inspire and unite people in a way that little else does.
I love the work that I do.
My dad always taught me that you have to be good to the next person all the time because one person is going to help another person.
You don't have to be a leader of a big organization. You can be a leader of your brother, of a young kid, of your community. That way you affect life, someway, somehow.
I understand my job and what the job is and what has to be done basketball wise. I do that 24/7 and it's a huge priority for me, but I cannot be in this job and not try to affect the youth of Africa, or the youth around the world, even. Help other people in some kind of way.
I have to give back. For me, it would be a failure if I could not give back.
The more you give, the more you grow.
Whether it's drafting or player development, the ultimate is putting a team together.
Sport can change the world.
One of Giants of Africa's fundamental mottos is - Dream Big. We believe that basketball can be used as a tool to educate and develop youth around the world to accomplish their dreams.
Players want to go where the team wins and where the team has a great culture, ownership and all of that. It doesn't matter where you are. It really doesn't matter, you have to perform and you have to win.
You have to be unique in your own ways and the ways that you play to find a way to win. You can't always go with the trend that's going on. Sometimes you have to create the trend yourself and be confident in it.
You want to win in the NBA you want to build a culture and teams will always do that and try to win. It's cutthroat. All 30 teams want to be that way whether they are rebuilding, have young players, have a style of play. It doesn't matter, everybody wants to win.
To be honest, women just make us smarter. They make us better. I've noticed that in my workplace. I've noticed that at home. I've noticed that in my past experiences in life.
Boy or girl, the youth of the world deserve opportunity and we as leaders have to be the ones that at least create a path for them.
I grew up in northern Nigeria.
I have a mother. I have a wife. I have a daughter. I have sisters. I can see just in my experience in my life, where sometimes they have been just put to the side in some of the things that they do.
I was honestly more talented in soccer than in basketball. I don't think I'd have gone anywhere in soccer. But I think I was more talented in soccer.
I couldn't shoot. When I went to play in Europe, I learned to shoot better. I could jump, so people would just back off of me.
I study history. I study the game. I study the NBA and the team I'm working for very, very closely.
I was one of those athletic African players.
When my mom travelled, she would bring me basketball tapes.
There were great European players that were great basketball players that did not make it in the NBA... This is the best league in the world.
Our job is to find out what's the next thing that is going to be advantageous to us and contribute to winning.
We're going to have tough times. We're going to have five-game losing streaks. Everybody goes through it.
We can say potential all we want, but at the end of the day, sports is about winning.
You have to figure out that balance between younger players and veteran players, star players, and All-Star players, really a team effort. And then you have to be lucky.
It doesn't matter where you are - it could be Timbuktu - if you win, people will watch, they'll follow and they'll support.
It's my responsibility to put a team on the floor that will win, and that attracts players.
I love it here. I really do. Toronto is home for me.
To build a winning culture, you are going to have to prove yourself.
I represent a great continent. People ask, Is there pressure on me? I don't feel pressure at all. It's an unbelievable challenge for me, but I feel like I carry the weight of my continent on my shoulders. I want to help the next generation in Africa.
It's easy to defend, in my opinion, when you play one-on-one.
I am confident about who I am as a person, my character, and as a human being.
I'm proud of Toronto. I'm proud of Canada. I'm proud of the NBA. I'm very proud of it.
I focus on very few things in life - my work, my family, my friends. Those things are important to me and I pay good attention to them, and everything else just comes and goes.
I don't really watch any TV. I'll glance at the TV sometimes if my wife's watching 'Empire' or 'Scandal.' I'll sit with her for an episode. But I don't have a TV show that I watch.