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The 48-year-old Raptors president signed a contract last July with Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio's star striker. Nick Nurse to replace him.
"We were caught off guard," said Cameroon striker Raptors Pascal Siakam. "It was definitely a hard pill to swallow.
"He is ready to do whatever he thinks is the best thing to do to put us in a position to win, and he will do everything in his power to win us."
Until now, Ujiri seems to be a genius as the Raptors face the defending Golden State champion at the NBA finals that will take place Thursday in Toronto.
"It's surreal, but when you train the team, you all dream of a championship," Ujiri said. "The change was difficult at the time, but we knew what kind of player we were and if we triumphed and settled all the problems that we thought could be brought together.
"We were all positive about this kind of moment and we all dreamed about it – our job is to create this team, create an atmosphere for them, prepare the workplace and do an amazing job."
Leonard has 31.2 points per game in the playoffs and sparked the Raptors, his four-rebound drummer in the seventh game, to oust Philadelphia from a unique clutch hoop in NBA history.
The nurse also left her mark in the club, but Ujiri said even absent, DeRozan and Casey deserved credit for allowing the Raptors to qualify for the first final in their 24-year history.
"To give credit to Dwane Casey, he has prepared us for that too," said Ujiri. "Dwane Casey and DeMar DeRozan are part of it, part of our journey and the road traveled.
"Nick did a great job, starting from there, building his own identity and creating a team that he wanted to coach in a certain way and elevating himself to that moment. the good adjustments. "
NBA Diversity Team
The early stages of the NBA finals outside the US are in part the result of Ujiri's decision to form a team of five players outside US borders.
"It's what we dream of," Ujiri said. "It's shocking to see all the international players we have in our team, even our staff, it really brought us together.
"It says a lot because our city is our country. We can all be connected to the multiculturalism or diversity of Toronto and Canada, and that's what our team is.
"They speak in different languages on defense, in the locker room, and it's like that in our organization, and being international myself and coming from Africa, I'm proud of that."
Ujiri was born in England, of Nigerian students who returned to their homeland when Masai was two years old. As a child, he played football until he discovered basketball in adolescence and found an idol at the Nigerian star of the NBA, Hakeem Olajuwon.
Ujiri started out in scouting after being a player and was hired by the Raptors as director of global scouting before becoming deputy general manager in 2008.
Two years later, he traveled to Denver as director of basketball operations and in 2013 became the first non-American to be named the year's NBA executive.
In 2013, Ujiri returned to the Raptors as general manager and became president of the team three years later.
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