Editor's note: The Toronto Raptors are up 3-1 in the 2019 NBA Finals with Game 5 tonight in Toronto. This is a good time to explore the history of the other Canadian professional basketball teams.
Young NBA fans may barely know of the existence of the Vancouver Grizzlies. We aren't sure if Bigfoot exists but the Grizzlies were real.
They came in as Canadian twins — Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies — for the 1995-1996 season.
Expansion teams are normally welcomed and encouraged. Gary Bettman stacked the deck for the desert team in the recent NHL expansion. Expansion isn't normally that generous.
What the NBA did to the teams from Canada, and haven't done before or since, was deplorable.
Both the Raptors and Grizzlies were not allowed to have a top 5 pick in the team's initial draft. The Canadian teams were not allowed to have the top draft pick for the subsequent 3 seasons. The teams were not allowed to use their full salary cap for the first 2 seasons.
Former NBA commissioner David Stern has admitted that letting the Grizzlies leave Vancouver was one of his biggest regrets. "As it turns out, I wish we hadn't had the Vancouver experience," Stern said. "Great city, and we disappointed them and we disappointed ourselves."
Stern was responsible for the onerous terms for the NBA Canadian teams. That should be a bigger regret.
The NBA lockout in 1998-1999 was very bad timing in Vancouver. The struggling franchise went 8-42 in the limited 50-game schedule.
MLS fans know that Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland have a symbiotic relationship with the Cascadia Cup that goes back before the teams joined the league.
So the NBA was in Seattle and Portland when Vancouver arrived in 1995. The Grizzlies would have been perfect in the Pacific Division. The NBA puts Vancouver in the Midwest Division with Dallas, Denver, Houston, Minnesota, San Antonio, and Utah. No other teams in its time zone and only Denver and Utah a time zone away.
Expansion teams have initially ended up in poor situations (Winnipeg Jets in the Southeast Division; NHL from 1967-1980). Vancouver would have thrived in the Northwestern Division, which wasn't created until 2004, 3 years after the Grizzlies left Vancouver.
The Vancouver Grizzlies made poor personnel decisions. Eric Lindros was mature compared to Steve Francis in his refusal to play in Canada.
The Grizzlies had an intimate arena while the Raptors played in the cavernous SkyDome. Air Canada Centre was originally built for the Raptors only before being changed for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Toronto Raptors struggled to get out of its NBA-determined horrible situation. The Raptors get a lot of credit for sticking through such a rough start. The Vancouver Grizzlies deserved better.
Part of the regret from Stern and the NBA over Vancouver is that the city is more desirable financially than in 2001 when the team was moved. Vancouver was never an ugly duckling but is now a beautiful swan. The NBA craves attention from China yet shabbily treated the North American gateway to China in Vancouver.
As much as Vancouver should return to the NBA, we also think Seattle and Vancouver should be a package deal. The NHL will benefit from the pairing in a few years. Current NBA Commissioner Adam Silver says expansion isn't in the works. The NBA's loss is also Vancouver's loss.
The Raptors and Grizzles are the only Canadian NBA teams. The Toronto Huskies were in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) during the 1946–47 season. The Huskies went 22–38.
Having 4 coaches in a single season didn't help. Playing second fiddle schedule-wise to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens was a drawback.
The Huskies would have made Bill Veeck proud from offering free stockings to all women as well as free tickets on opening night to people taller than the Huskies' tallest player 6'8" George Nostrand.
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Besides the Huskies, Maple Leaf Gardens hosted 16 games from the Buffalo NBA franchise (now Los Angeles Clippers) from 1971-1975. The legendary Toronto arena also hosted 6 Raptors games during the first 4 seasons.
The Toronto Raptors played the vast majority of its games at SkyDome, which just celebrated its 30th anniversary earlier this month, from 1995-1999. The Raptors took advantage during that period to play at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton for 3 games.
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The Toronto Raptors had a 4-1 edge in the Naismith Cup, an annual preseason game with the Vancouver Grizzlies.
Vancouver won the game in Halifax (1997) while Toronto won in Winnipeg (1995), Calgary (1996), Edmonton (1999), and Ottawa (2000). The 1998 game in Vancouver was cancelled due to the NBA lockout.
The Toronto Raptors have played NBA preseason games in a number of Canadian cities.
Vancouver (2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018)
Montréal (2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018)
Halifax (1995, 1996)
Ottawa (1996, 2015)
London (2004, 2009)
Saint John (1995)
Saskatoon (1995)
Hamilton (1997)
Winnipeg (2005)
Edmonton (2008)
Calgary (2016)
St. John's (2003) was going to host a game but the game was cancelled due to poor conditions.
The NBA Canada Series (named that as of 2012) included NBA preseason games in Canada that did not involve the Raptors. Those games were in Winnipeg (2012, 2015) and Montréal (2013).
photos credit: NBA; NBA Properties via Basketball Association of America
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