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The Toronto Raptors are a National Basketball Association team based in Toronto, Ontario.
- Founded: 1995
- Formerly known as:
- Home Arena: Air Canada Centre
- Uniform colors: Purple, Red, Grey, and Black
- Logo design: A snarling red dinosaur
- NBA Championships: none yet
Franchise History (By Seasons)
1995-96
As Isiah Thomas was named the general manager in 1995, he quickly staffed the management with his own personnel, including the first head coach Brandon Malone who has been reunited with Isiah in the Knicks organization. Isiah chose to build the franchise around Damon Stoudamire, a point guard out of Arizona. The Raptors' pick of Stoudamire was greeted with boos from those present at the NBA Draft at the Skydome in Toronto, many whom bought into the hype surrounding UCLA star Ed O'Bannon. Stoudamire vindicated Thomas by winning the Rookie of the Year award that season.
Record: 21 Wins - 61 Losses
1996-97
The team record improved by 9 games from its inaugural season and attendance was rising. Analysts predicted a strong or even a championship team in a matter of a few seasons.
Record: 30 Wins - 52 Losses
1997-98
All optimism evaporated when the team was hit by numerous injuries in early 1997-1998 season. Thomas, a brilliant player and coach with inefficient management skills, failed to stop the downfall of the team which led to the dismantling of the core players and resignations of the head coach Darrell Walker and eventually Isiah himself. When Glen Grunwald was named to succeed Thomas in 1998, virtually nobody thought he could turn the team around as seen in the booing when he made his first appearance to Air Canada Centre for a speech. However the players reacted by playing harder and Marcus Camby earned his first two triple doubles of his career in the last four games of the season.
Record: 16 Wins - 66 Losses
1998-99
On one hand Grunwald showed his better management ability than his predecessor by trading Camby to the Knicks for Charles Oakley whose tough mentalities and playoff experiences help the maturity of the young players. Many thought the trade could be hurting the team by the common understanding of acquiring an aging veteran for a promising young prospect who had already been the starting power forward. On the other hand the coaching staff temporarily solved the lack of a true point guard by rotating Dee Brown, Alvin Williams and Doug Christie to play the position. This move eventually paid off as Christie greatly refined his defensive game and became one of the elite guards in NBA. Alvin also picked up his offensive game as well. Kevin Willis, another veteran acquired from trade, solidified the center position. With those holes temporarily filled, the team won more games than the best 1996-1997 season during Thomas' tenure. The new coach Butch Carter dedicated in prospect developments and installed the competitiveness in the players, especially Tracy McGrady. Although the team did not make the playoffs in the 1998-1999 season, the optimism lost in previous years resurfaced with the brilliant performances from the rookie Vince Carter and much improved McGrady.
Record: 23 Wins - 27 Losses (a shortened 50-game schedule)
1999-2000
Grunwald knew that the final solution to the lack of point guard and front court presence would have to come from mature veteran players. He also know that the aging Willis and Oakley would eventually have to play fewer minutes or risk injury. During the 1999 draft, he found a gem in Antonio Davis from the Indiana Pacers to play forward/center, who had been unable to play significant minutes with Indiana in the shadow of teammate Dale Davis. At the back court Butch Carter rotated Vince, Christie, Alvin and Dell Curry at the shooting guard position and Alvin and Muggsy Bogues at point guard. Rotation of Antonio, Oakley and Willis in the front court and the maturation of Vince Carter helped the team make its first ever playoff appearance. As a coach and a team without significant playoff experience, the Raptors were swept by the New York Knicks in the playoffs.
Progressive team improvements and the rise to fame of Vince Carter attracted many fans around Toronto, many of whom were not previously basketball fans. Increased attendance and change of fan base contributed to the recent decline of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Record: 45 Wins - 37 Losses; eliminated in the first round of the playoffs
2000-01
Playoff failures led Grunwald to replace Butch Carter with Lenny Wilkens for his more than 30 years of coaching experience. Wilkens asked Grunwald for an all-star PG to help Alvin on his offensive game and Glen lured Mark Jackson to sign a 4-year deal with the team. The season of 2000-2001 marked the development of Alvin Williams with greatly improved clutch performance. He scored three quarters of his points in the 4th quarter during regular season. Jackson was then traded to give more minutes to Alvin.
As Vince familarized himself at SG and played less time at SF, Christie became expendable and was traded for SF Corliss Williamson, who was a disappointment and traded later during the season for defensive workhorse Jerome Williams. Loss of Tracy McGrady was also a factor of the Williamson trade. Although Tracy and Vince improved significantly almost at the same time, much of the media and fan attention focused on Vince. Tracy, Vince's cousin through their grandparents, felt neglected. Furthermore Tracy's natural position is at shooting guard at which he will not get enough minutes. His free agent signing with the Magic during 2000 offseason turned quite a few fans off as Tracy turned down the maximum wage offer. The team only acquired a first round draft pick in return in contrast to the sign and trade of Christie. His mother's offensive remarks on Vince also contributed to fans' anger.
As predicted by analysts, the team clinched a playoff berth without much difficulty. Toronto beat New York in the best-of-five series. Wilkens was credited for putting Alvin at SG to guard Allan Houston and Vince on Latrell Sprewell, the two major offensive threats of the Knicks. Charles Oakley's remarks incited Vince to "play it like a man" and steady contribution from Antonio Davis prevailed over the less-focused Knicks. Larry Johnson was shut down by a career-ending injury and Camby was plagued by his family kidnap.
The next series against the Philadelphia 76ers was a landmark of exciting, entertaining play, and the best playoff performance for the Raptors so far. The Sixers relied on Allen Iverson and Dikembe Mutombo for their respective offensive and defensive abilities, along with steady help from Aaron McKie and other teammates. Toronto's gameplay is much more balanced with Vince, Alvin and Davis providing much of the offensive game and Chris Childs, Jerome Williams on the defensive side. Philadelphia took full advantages at center whereas Toronto counteracted with transitional offense with their shorter but quicker players. The series came down to the last 4 seconds of game 7 when Vince Carter missed a fadeaway jumper, lossing the series by 1 point.
Record: 47 Wins - 35 Losses; eliminated in the second round of the playoffs
2001-02
Playoff misfortune attracted even more fans and put unprecendented trust from the owners on Grunwald, who signed long term and large salary contracts with Alvin, Vince, Davis and Jerome Williams. On one hand the team was guaranteed a All-star starting line-up for at least this season with signing of Hakeem Olajuwon. On the other hand Glen was gambling on these players to shine without injuries as overall player salary has almost reached the cap, making significant signing impossible. Economical contracts of Oakley and others have been traded or expired.
The first half of the season ran pretty steady with expected contributions from the All star players and improvements of Morris Peterson and Keon Clark. Despite the major blow in January (?) of injured Antonio Davis and subsequently Vince, the team made a NBA record comeback to clinch playoff berth.
So far in franchise history, the team has been healthy since the injury plague in late 1997-1998 season (see above). Possibly owing to the overuse of Vince and Davis as major offensive threat, they injured and did not contribuite significantly in the 3-2 series loss to the Detroit Pistons. Ben Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse's performances were simply too much for the injured Raptors to handle.
Record: 42 Wins - 40 Losses; eliminated in the first round of the playoffs
2002-03
to be written: ....need more info of the Lenny Wilkens era....
Record: 24 Wins - 58 Losses
2003-04
The Raptors were inconsistent throughout 03-04, partly due to injuries to key players Jalen Rose, Rod Strickland, Alvin Williams and Vince Carter. After 50 games, though, they were 25-25 and in position to make the playoffs. The team then suffered through a nine-game losing streak in February, dealing them a serious blow in the standings. With eight games to go in the regular season, the Raptors fired Glen Grunwald, the general manager on April 1. Grunwald had been the GM since 1997. The Raptors finished up the season 3 games out of the eighth and final playoff spot. The star individual performers were Carter, with 22.5 points per game, Donyell Marshall, who led the team with 10.7 rebounds per game, and rookie Chris Bosh, a 6-10 forward-center who averaged 11.5 ppg and 7.4 rpg and was named to the rookie all-star team.
Immediately following the season, on April 17, head coach Kevin O'Neill was fired after making some remarks which were taken to question the team's commitment to winning. He was replaced with Sam Mitchell, a former NBA player who had been an assistant coach of the Milwaukee Bucks the previous two seasons. Rob Babcock was named GM on June 7, 2004.
Record: 33 Wins - 49 Losses
Players of note
None yet.
Not to be forgotten:
Retired numbers:
None yet.
Current stars:
List of Head Coaches
List of General Managers
Significant draft picks of each season
Important Player Movements
Note: not all players or conditions are listed, only those affected the team most significantly will be shown
External links
it:Toronto Raptors
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