With three weeks remaining in the NBA season, teams are jockeying for playoff position.
An expanded playoff format this season calls for 10 teams in each conference to make the postseason. That will still leave 10 teams out. Several of the General Managers of the teams not making the playoffs could be on the hot seat.
One of the names that is being tossed out to fill any positions that might come open is 2000 Jackson County Central graduate Teresa Resch, who is the vice president of basketball operations for the Toronto Raptors.
Toronto is currently 1.5 games out of a berth in a play-in game. The Raptors are going through a challenging season, playing their home schedule in Tampa due to travel restrictions making it difficult for teams to go in and out of Canada.
Also, Toronto GM Bobby Webster recently signed a multi-year extension so he figures to remain in that role for the foreseeable future.
The contract situation of team President Masai Ujiri is unresolved, prompting speculation over his future.
Resch was among Ujiri’s first hires upon joining the organization in 2013, coming over from the league offices in New York to serve as an intermediary between the club’s business and basketball ops.
"I knew she was talented, but I needed a woman in the front office because I was tired, tired of being in front offices where it was just men," Ujiri told the Toronto Globe & Mail. "We’ve got egos, we’ve got pride, we’ve got all kinds of stuff…I needed somebody to come and help me think, and think well, and think about diversity, and bringing people along."
Resch has aided in the Raptors’ rise to being playoffs contenders and eventually NBA champions in 2019.
In the months after winning the title Resch returned to her home area with stops at JCC and Augustana University, where she was a four-year letter winner in volleyball. She said at that time that the team has made a big impact on the entire country.
"It’s not just Toronto. It’s Canada, the whole country," she said following an event in her honor at the JCC Performing Arts Center. "For a few years, there have been places on the road where we go and half the arena is Raptors fans. In Minnesota … there is always a big group of Raptors fans. Beyond winning, the Raptors are fun to watch. The way we move the basketball so quickly, finding the good shots. It’s thrilling to watch."
For several years, the NBA has been making an effort to be more gender inclusive in the administrative, coaching and officiating ranks.
In fact, one of the most recent female assistant coaches hired in the league was when Brittni Donaldson joined the Toronto staff last season. Among those making inroads in executive positions are Sue Bird with the Denver Nuggets and Swin Cash with the New Orleans Pelicans.
It's possible that Resch could be adding her name to that list in the future.