The
NBA has some pretty great fans. But The Toronto Raptors might have the best
fans in the whole game. The
Raptors were created in 1995, along with The Vancouver Grizzlies. Which of course was the
birth of professional basketball in Canada, the fan bases weren’t exactly huge
yet because the teams were rather unknown. Over the years though as basketball
has grown in Canada the popularity of The Raptors has picked up. The Grizzlies
were later moved to Memphis, and became The Memphis Grizzlies.
The
Raptors are now the only professional basketball team in Canada. Being the only
team in Canada meant that more people were bound to watch, but that didn’t
exactly happen right away. But as the team started to draft better players and
trade for more well known players, the team started to do better and put more
people in the stands. But during The 1999 NBA draft The Raptors had traded for
future star Vince Carter, who had been drafted by The Golden State
Warriors. Carter ended up being
The 1999 Rookie Of The Year. Vince Carter would revolutionize Canadian
basketball forever. Carter would be Toronto’s first star; Carter was an 8 time
All- Star, Rookie Of The Year and Slam Dunk Champion in 2000. Carter put
Toronto on the map, by easily winning the 2000 Dunk Contest with his spectacular
and athletic dunks. At the end of
the 2000 season Carter had lost his running mate and half cousin Tracy Mcgrady
to Free Agency. Mcgrady was a rising star. Carter was all by himself now; in
the following year The Raptors had made The Eastern Conference Semis. The
Raptors had forced game 7. In the dying moments of the game Carter had a chance
to send The Raptors to The Conference Finals, but missed the shot. In the
following years Carter dealt with injuries and The Raptors slowly started to
plummet. In 2004 Carter became
frustrated with the way upper management was handling the team. Carter was
later traded to The New Jersey Nets on December 18.
Ever
since Carter’s trade the fan base in Toronto has been loyal, but have not had
anything to cheer about, until 2013.
The Raptors had started off looking like it would be another season
where they wouldn’t make the playoffs.
But The Raptors made a trade with Sacramento to bring key bench players
to Toronto. The Raptors also
brought in Star Rapper Drake to be Global Ambassador for the team. The Raptors turned their season around,
ending the season in third place. Eventually losing in 7 games to the Brooklyn
Nets. During the playoffs the team
embraced the motto “We The North”. Raptors fans are some of the most loyal fans
in the NBA. On Saturday The
Raptors played the stacked Cleveland Cavaliers. 150 people drove in a bus from
Toronto all the way to Cleveland to watch the whole game. Fans haven’t been
this excited about the team since the days of Vince Carter. It gives The city of Toronto hope all
over again #WeTheNorth
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