The Toronto Raptor season has begun as they defend their National Basketball Association championship.
This season’s edition of the Raptors is going to be quite different to watch than its championship predecessor largely because Kawhi Leonard is gone.
Into the limelight steps Pascal Siakim, complete with a $130 million four-year extension to his contract.
It’s not likely that Siakim is a top-five player in the entire NBA, but there is nothing to suggest he can’t be top-10.
Past Siakim the Raptors need Fred VanVleet to continue to show he was indeed a diamond found that fell outside the draft and for OG Anunoby hurt for chunks of the last two seasons to become the elite level defender his skill set suggested he should be.
Rookie Terence Davis may be the next VanVleet, an undrafted player who has already shown hints he could be another rough cut gem Raptor head Masai Ujiri and company have unearthed.
Mix in veterans Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol, all known commodities and the Raptors will be in the playoff mix barring injuries, although topping the east seems a bit above what this group can achieve.
While the Raptor season is off to a solid start, I find it equally interesting that basketball fans in Vancouver are beginning to make noise that they want an NBA franchise back in their city.
Kat Jayme, a Vancouver Grizzlies superfan, and the director, writer, and executive producer of the award-winning documentary, Finding Big Country who was featured in Yorkton This Week earlier this year when the film was a Yorkton Film Festival entry, appears to be building on the ‘cred’ of her film to spearhead a fan-based effort to lobby for a new team.
Jayme organized a ‘Vancouver wants the NBA back rally’ before the NBA’s lone visit to Vancouver a preseason game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks at Rogers Arena on Oct. 17.
Vancouver has been without an NBA team since the Grizzlies left town in 2001 after just six seasons on the West Coast.
The idea that an NBA return could work today when it failed before is not without merit. The recent playoff runs by the Raptors, culminating in a league championship earlier this year has certainly raised the profile of the sport significantly across Canada.
There is also a ‘feeling’ that Vancouver has matured in a sense and has a greater appetite for the NBA now than it did 40 years ago.
As a fan, not a rabid one for basketball, but I DVR my share of Raptor contests, a team in Vancouver would be great, as games would be on later in the evening, a time when one is ready to sit back and veg to watch a game.
Of course Vancouver is not alone in its desire for the NBA, nearby Seattle wants back, billionaire Joe Tsai, owner of the National Lacrosse League San Diego Seals has been tied to talk of an NBA team in that city, and Las Vegas, St. Louis, Austin, Indianapolis plus others are rumoured to covet a team.
And, since the NBA hasn’t really announced a desire to expand even with $1 billion hinted at as the likely expansion fee, it’s unlikely Vancouver fans will have much success anytime soon.
