Here are some of the biggest takeaways from Raptors media day on Monday.

The Toronto Raptors hosted their annual media day at OVO Athletic Centre on Monday with key members of the organization expressing their readiness to leave last season behind and start anew.

The disappointing 41-41 2022-23 season was characterized by disharmony, stunning losses, and waning confidence in the team and its management. Shortly after the Raptors were eliminated by the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Play-In Tournament, Raptors president Masai Ujiri voiced what every fan was thinking:

“To watch us play this year was not us,” he said at the time. “I did not enjoy watching this team play.”

Ujiri had also called out the players as “selfish” earlier in the season.

Former Raptors head coach Nick Nurse was let go following reports of a dysfunctional locker room. Openly pondering a future outside of Toronto during the regular season couldn’t have helped his job security, either.

Star point guard Fred VanVleet was later poached by the Houston Rockets in free agency, representing one of this front office’s largest tactical blunders during Ujiri’s tenure.

Although Monday’s media day took on a more serious tenor compared to last year’s, the franchise’s representatives hammered home their belief in recapturing the winning culture that it once boasted.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways from Monday’s event.

Team culture: ‘There will be no selfishness this year’

The chief concern for the 2023-24 Raptors is how they can bounce back from last season’s culture erosion despite the leadership vacuum created by the departures of Nurse and VanVleet. After all, both were essential in the 2019 championship run and were two of the team’s most influential figures in the locker room last season.

To Ujiri, the mandate is quite simple: “There will be no selfishness this year.”

The declaration appeared to be both an assurance to fans and a warning shot to the players. Ujiri shared with reporters that the front office has had meetings with the team regarding the issue, and that players had individually taken accountability for last season’s performance.