METROVANINDEPENDENT.COM
November 2015
21
SPORTS
Vancouver Grizzlies - What if?
By Steve Marshall and Kim Mendez
When you looked at the full house
during the NBA preseason game played at
Rogers Arena with the Raptors playing the
Clippers this past October 4th, you have
to wonder: what if? What if the Vancouver
Grizzlies did things differently back in the
90's? How would things be now?
Was Vancouver setup to fail in the
NBA? Let’s take a look at what the Grizzlies
had to face while entering the NBA as an
expansion team against other established
NBA teams who have been together for
years.
For Vancouver to have enough
players for their team, the NBA allowed
them to pick players from all the other
NBA teams. Except, of course, for each
team's protected top 8 players. Which
meant, Vancouver had their pick of bench
warmers.
The NBA then chose to deny the
Grizzlies one of the top 5 picks in the draft
for 3 years, even if they won the lottery.
The Vancouver Grizzlies were doomed for
the most important first 4 years of their
existence.
To add to the league's restrictions,
there were the questionable NBA draft
picks by then Grizzlies General Manager,
Stu Jackson.
First, was the 6th overall draft pick bust,
Bryant "Big Country" Reeves, in 1995.
Then came 3rd overall draft pick Shareef
Abdur-Rahim in 1996, where the Grizzlies
organization chose Abdur-Rahim over
other draft picks such as Ray Allen, Antoine
Walker, Kobe Bryant, Peja Stojakovic, Steve
Nash and Derek Fisher.
Then in 1997, the Grizzlies used their
4th draft pick for Antonio Daniels. Number
2 draft pick Mike Bibby was chosen in 1998
over Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Dirk
Nowitzki and Paul Pierce. Then, of course,
came the beginning to the end, number 2
draft pick, Steve Francis, in 1999.
Remember Steve Francis? He did not
want to play in Vancouver at all. He even
publicly announced it. Francis was visibly
upset and disappointed when his name
was called by the Vancouver Grizzlies
during the draft. Why would a team choose
a player who didn't want to play for them?
Did the Vancouver Grizzlies even speak
with Steve Francis prior to the draft? Either
Toronto Raptors during their warm-up at a sold out Rogers Arena. Photo by MVI News.
way, he was soon traded to the Houston
Rockets where he went on to win NBA
Rookie of the Year honors along with Elton
Brand who played for the Chicago Bulls.
The year 2000 was the last draft for the
Vancouver Grizzlies. The Grizzlies chose
Stromile Swift. Now, you really can't say
much about the 2000 NBA draft, other than
it being viewed as the worst draft year in
the history of the NBA. From the 2000 draft,
only 3 players made All-Star appearances
and only 15 of the 58 players in the draft
went on to play in the NBA for at least ten
years.
What else could go wrong? How about
the fact the Canadian dollar was low
against the US, which made it hard for the
franchise to make money.
With the franchise losing on and off
the court, the Vancouver Grizzlies was
eventually sold to Memphis. The Memphis
Grizzlies then went on to spark the Pau
Gasol era for the team.
Looking at the Memphis Grizzlies'
playoff stints in the past 8 seasons, you
just can't help but ask yourself, what if
Vancouver found a way to struggle past
2000? Could the Memphis Grizzlies'
success have &VV