List: Players that have Snubbed playing for Toronto

[Rapdale]

Not 100% sure but I think a young Chauncey Billups. Can any1 confirm?

[MrBojangelz71]

Players who have refused to come and play for us, and players who refuse to stay here to play for us:

TMac
Zo (probably the most blatant one)
Gerald Wallace (refused to play for Toronto in a potential trade for TJ Ford)
Marion (wanted to be overpaid to be compensated)
Ariza (took far less money to play in Houston)

who else?

TMac - Wanted to be the main man on a team, not in Carter's shadow. Had nothing to do with playing in TO. Later on he would admit to regretting not staying with the team and seeing how far they could have gone.

Zo- Yes, he was the most blatant. But in his case it wasn't not wanting to play in TO as it was playing for TO. We had a very crappy club after the Carter trade left us in shambles and Zo would rather sit out and wait for a chance to play for a contender. It ended up working in his favor as he went on to win a ring.

Gerald Walace never stated he didn't want to play for TO but rather he didn't want to leave the BobCats.

Marion stated he really enjoyed his short stint in the city. Praised the fans for being very supportive even with the dismal season we had. Hey, he got his money and is also playing for a better team, can you blame him.

I'm not sure the exact situation with Ariza. Did we make him an official offer, I didn't think we did. Didn't he sign with Houston quickly, before getting any other offers? Anyways, I don't think he was shunning TO.

Antonio Davis was pretty blatant in his remark regarding playing in another country.

Salmons shunned the team in the worst way. Committing verbally then pulling back. Hedo kinda did the same thing to Portland so I guess we can be to critical with him.

Really, I don't think there is as much adversity towards playing in TO as people think. It more so has to do with our competitiveness as a team that plays into players not having this team high on their list.

I also have seen a lot more favorable comments regarding players' opinions of the city and its' fans. Don't tell me the starting lineup for Cleveland weren't watching with a bit of jealousy over the Raps home opener. I watched Cleveland's home opener the previous night and it was boring and the fans were lame. Mo Williams later went on to state that Toronto is one of the best and underrated cities to play in.

Hedo and Antoine Wright both commented on how crazy the fans were when they played us in the playoffs. Wright said it was one of the loudest games he has ever been a part of. That stuff sticks with players because they all want that type of cheering and attention in their own fans.

The more this team can win and become competitive, the louder the ACC will get. If this team can ever become a consistent contender, with a loud packed arena behind it year after year, players will slowly start to look at TO as a preferred destination. Until then, big names that are in the peaks of their careers want to play for a contender.

Heck, even KG didn't want to go to one of the most storied franchises in all of sports until he knew they were going to contend.

[Lionel Messi]

umm...how on earth does marion fit here? Marion only wanted to be overpaid because he knew we didnt have a chance to compete right away. Marion loved TO as far as what ive heard.

[Lionel Messi]

Im sure if this team was one of the top teams in the league year in and year out we'd have just as much free agent interest as any other team.
Seriously, most players choose the team who is most competitive before looking at the city...do you really thin players would rather sign with the clippers than with the raptors???

[ShelB]

The AD thing is a bit overblown. It was really his wife who had the problem. When AD returned to Toronto via trade years later, he had no problem with it and came here to play. He made a stupid remark one time and it was blown overboard. He resigned here when he could've potentially gone anywhere else for practically the same cash, this is a league that overpays for big men after all and his worth was at it's peak during his Toronto years by far.

Chauncy Billups vetoed a trade to Toronto however. He was young though, and it seems he's matured so I don't hold it against him.

Damon wanted out after Isiah was fired because that was his boy from the get go. Nothing against the city.

Zo, as mentioned, would only play for a contender at that point in his career, because any time he stepped on the court he was potentially risking his life. We traded for him expecting to buy him out. Which made the trade even worse than it even was.

Kenny Anderson, also vetoed a trade to the Raps if I can remember correctly.

Gerald Wallace loves playing for the Cats for whatever reason and did not want to leave, and I doubt if he will for awhile (unless Brown forces him out, which I doubt could happen).

Alot of players have just detested wanting to play for such a bad team during our early years. Until Vince came we were like the Bobcats except in a colder city without Michael Jordan being an owner. It usually wasn't anything personal against our city.

What's the point of this thread? You going to personally write them Eff You letters? Who cares?

Why not talk about guys like JYD who wanted to play in Toronto so much they retired after being traded (well, after his contract ran out) and came back to work with the team and live in the city?
Or Ray Allen who went on record saying he'd play in Toronto if traded here, no problem and liked visiting Toronto for road games?

[Mattd97]

chauncey did play here, tmac, stoudamire, vince and marion (even eric williams) didnt leave because of "toronto", they left because of the "raptors". Iggy never said he wouldnt play here, he thought he was going to play here and was happy about it. i feel like im talking to abunch of ignorant americans here jeez. the list of ppl who have genuinely left or never came because of the city/country is short.
wallace (rumoured), zo, somewhat AD, anderson, armstrong, salley (all very early on, totally different situation)

[trick]

AKA kush's hit list.

[Tommy Udo 6]

there is a difference between players who refuse to play in Toronto (like Mourning) and those who actually played for the team but then decided to go elsewhere (like TMac)

[TheDunc]

Vince had no problems with Toronto, he had problems with the Raptors. The question is who had trouble with the city of toronto and wanted to stay in the united states. I think most were mentioned

[sl64]

Shelb and mrbojangelz hit the nail on the head... the "no one wants to come here" thing is way, way overblown. Very few guys have had a problem specifically with the city/team.

And anyways, these things change quickly. For years Boston, despite the history, was one of the least desirable destinations for players... then they got Ray Allen to pair with Pierce and it changed overnight. Players will come to a winner even if it's located in Greenland.

[PowerHouse]

I'am pretty sure the Billups didn't want out of Toronto. He was just used as a throw-in for the deal that sent him to Dever the 1st time.

[bychai]

steve francis

He said he wanted to play in Toronto not Vancouver. He had lunch with Butch Carter and wanted to play here.

but the herb is so good in VAN, why wouldn't he want to go there

[Rapcity_11]

Not 100% sure but I think a young Chauncey Billups. Can any1 confirm?

Wrong...Chauncey just flat out wasn't good enough back in the day. He would've played anywhere. Thats why he bounced around so much.

[Hoopstarr]

Granger too, right?

[sanity]

Losing is contagious when it comes to popular opinion... unless of course you're the Knicks and players want to go there regardless of the team's situation. To be honest, the Raptors have sucked since Vince missed that shot in game 7. It was all downhill from there but at least last season might have been the lowest point.

I think we're all just believing what we want to believe about a lot of these players. Considering they're making ridiculous sums of cash and really... only spending a good 3-4 months in Toronto, they travel so much I doubt they could care less where they play. Management/cohesiveness has something to do with it, but I think most players generally get along with each other and the fans/city. Its the immature babies like Francis crying about Mobley that paints a lot of undeserving players with the same brush of stupidity.

[Hoopstarr]

I don't remember, but did we go after Paul Millsap this summer and/or did he turn us down from the start?

[kush-]

Wow.. relax boys. When I say "Toronto" I am referring to the Raptors as a franchise. I didn't know we were being so anal about our choice of words. When I referred to Kobe and AI calling us out, I did mention they called out how **** our franchise was, not the city... after all, we are Canada's New York.

The intention of this thread was just to gather information, you sensitive f**ks. I just wanted a better grasp on whether or not any allstars would want to play here if bosh were to leave. They would be playing with calderon/turk/bargs.

[Vinsane15]

Billups did want out....he and his agent were begging for a trade.

Antawn Jamison told the Raptors he didnt want to play in Toronto before the 1998 NBA draft. Appreciate that Antawn!!!

[ShelB]

Wow.. relax boys.

The intention of this thread was just to gather information, you sensitive f**ks.

...

I just wanted a better grasp on whether or not any allstars would want to play here if bosh were to leave. They would be playing with calderon/turk/bargs.

I don't think we'd having a problem getting a complimentary piece to go with those three to be honest. I think he could get a Joe Johnson type, All Star, not a house hold name by any means, but a great number one guy who won't being making max.

Before anyone jumps on my balls: NOT JOE JOHNSON HIMSELF. That level of dude (second or third tier star first being Wade/Kobe/LeBron/Howard/Paul, second being Bosh/Pierce/Amare types, etc).

Also, about Millsap being offered a contract this off-season: I don't think the Raptors offered anyone else a big contract this year (Hedo was the ideal guy for us really), but if they did, Millsap not coming here had nothing to do with the franchise, most likely.

The whole, "I'm too good to play there!" BS ended in the NBA awhile ago. Players will have their preferred destinations (ie; hometown, bigger $$$, chance at title, opportunity to be "the man", etc) but really guys will jump to any team that offers them a good deal.

[ShelB]

Anyway, in response to you worrying about a potential star coming to Toronto: There has never been a case (to my knowledge) where we have actively pursued a big signing that has ended up burning us because of the city, and really any competitive team with cap space has the chance to sign a star.

I think this off season proved we can bring guys here. Don't expect LeBron and Wade to come here but there are going to be an insane amount of great players on the market in 2010.

I'm long winded.