XTC wrote:Hate him or love him (I'd wager 90% love him), he really made it easy being a Raptors fan early on.
A rookie point guard who comes in and averages 20/8 nightly, winning ROY, and is an instant fan favorite.
Having such promising talent early on in Damon, Tmac, and Vince really allowed the Raps to survive. All the players came in and actually played games. We're so lucky they didn't pull a Steve Francis on us or we might have had the same fate as the Grizzlies.
Theres a bit of misinformation in there. As far as I recall, even without VC, there was no risk of the Raps getting relocated. The problem with the Grizzlies is that the corporate community back then wasn't big enough to find another viable buyer in the Vancouver area. They tried to sell to the owner of the Blues and ultimately sold to Heisley. Neither of whom had ties to Vancouver.
Once the Leafs bought the Raps, that sealed the deal that they wouldn't go anywhere. Maybe if the previous takeover attempt by Zeke had come to fruition, that might have opened the door for relocation but thankfully, Slaight held on until the Leafs stepped up.