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He is not, as he said this week, going to be “this authoritarian corner-office type鈥� now that any questions about his job with the Raptors have been answered. But there are things that Webster must tackle now that he鈥檚 been given the keys to the Raptors franchise and he鈥檚 fully aware of them.聽They are the same issues that were obvious the day聽Masai Ujiri聽was let go聽

These three are at the top of Webster’s to-do list:

A roster imbalance

The Raptors have too many smallish wings with similar skills and not enough size. Webster was part of the group that created the problem but no one will say which moves he endorsed and which ones he might have been lukewarm about and might want to fix.

One telling move? The drafting of power forward Collin Murray-Boyles was a more traditional pick than, say, choosing a longer-term project like centre Khaman Maluach, and was definitely Webster鈥檚 pick. Ujiri knew the Wednesday of the draft that his departure was scheduled for the following Friday, so the Murray-Boyles selection gives a bit of insight into what Webster鈥檚 thinking.

Webster probably has an inkling of how he would like to break up the logjam of RJ Barrett, Gradey Dick, Ja鈥橩obe Walter, and Ochai Agbaji and deal with a backcourt surplus of Immanuel Quickley, Jamal Shead, Alijah Martin and Chucky Hepburn. That鈥檚 eight players who basically play two positions and that鈥檚 untenable.

It’s the most pressing item on the general manager鈥檚 to-do list and you can be sure he鈥檚 been thinking through scenarios since the end of last season. Now, it鈥檚 his job to make the ultimate call.

The money

Be certain ownership has noticed the Raptors salary obligations put them about $5 million (U.S.) above the NBA鈥檚 luxury tax level with a roster that hasn鈥檛 played a playoff game since April 2022.

It鈥檚 not a hugely pressing issue since the final tax calculations come at the end of the 2025-26 season but it鈥檚 something Webster has to be mindful of.

The fix isn鈥檛 too difficult 鈥� dealing a player to another team that can assume the salary and not take any money back will get it done 鈥� and the prospects of saving money on two-for-one or three-for-two deals will get the Raptors under the tax threshold.

In many ways it goes with the roster imbalance because that鈥檚 where the players going out would come from. And there鈥檚 time to see who plays himself into or out of the picture.

Ownership has never backed away from paying but paying big for a non-playoff team isn鈥檛 going to sit well.

Build out his staff

Webster said this week he would sit soon with his consiglieres 鈥� he mentioned coach Darko Rajakovic, medical guru Alex McKechnie, communications czarina Jennifer Quinn and a front office team that he鈥檚 鈥渂een through the trenches鈥� with聽鈥� to decide where changes might be needed.

The Raptors are down a front office executive because Ujiri wasn鈥檛 technically replaced but one thing Webster mentioned specifically is that the old model might need some tweaking.

鈥淭his is an opportunity for us to聽鈥� take fresh eyes and say, 鈥楬ey, we’ve done things a certain way for a while 鈥� let鈥檚 really push ourselves to change or at least think about making some changes.’ ”

After the hurly-burly of summer change, everyone is going to take a couple of weeks to catch their breath and get ready to jump fully into the 2025-26 season. But even if they relax a little bit, as the NBA does until about the middle of September, these are key items to be considered.