Are The Toronto Raptors Going Extinct: The Inevitable Irrelevancy of the Token Canadian Team

There once was a time that there were two Canadian teams: the Vancouver Grizzlies and the Toronto Raptors. The Vancouver Grizzlies are now better known as the Memphis Grizzlies, but the Raptors stayed in Toronto. They have had their chances to exceed in the NBA. They had superstars like Vince Carter and Chris Bosh. But, as this season comes to a close, I continue to forget that the Raptors are still an NBA team. Much like the dinosaurs, the Raptors are going extinct.

The Raptors have had great seasons. They have made the postseason. They have had All-Stars. They had Vince Carter, one of the most exciting players in the league. He was a high-scoring guard. He may have had the best ever dunk contest performance ever with an alley-oop between-the-legs dunk, the original arm-in-the-rim dunk, and a reverse 360 windmill. Then you had guys like Morris Peterson, who may be known best as the guy who caught the celebration ball that Michael Ruffin threw up and eventually tied it with a near half-court three or Anthony Parker, who may be known best as Candace Parker's brother. But then you had Chris Bosh. Bosh was an athletic power forward from Georgia Tech and a great lefty player. He stretched defenses with a good jump shot and could rebound rather well. But even when these teams made the playoffs, they never made that much noise. Now, I could hardly imagine them getting into the playoffs.

Let us look at the poor trades and signings they have made. Of course, they parted ways with Vince Carter rather acrimoniously. Carter later stated that he was not trying those last couple of seasons, adding some salt to the wound. Then there was the addition of Jermaine O'Neal, who was a great player at one time, but he has seriously lost some game after injuries and age caught up to him. But the worst move may have been signing Hedo Turkoglu. Turkoglu, in my opinion, is heavily overrated. He is a streaky shooter, who is cold more often than not, and cannot play any defense. He has no interior game despite being a pretty big guy. They gave him too much money for a designated shooter. He wanted out, and eventually got his wish granted, making Turkoglu a major bust.

Then you have their inability to draft well. The Raptors are consistently in the lottery. This is who they have drafted since getting Chris Bosh: Rafael Araujo, Charlie Villenueva, Andrea Bargnani. Though Villenueva was voted second for Rookie of the Year, all three of these picks (especially number 1 overall Bargnani) were scrutinized. Though they were taken in reasonably weak draft years, they still did not lay any ground to the future of their franchise. I highly doubt that their current roster of Bargnani, James Johnson, Jose Calderon, Amir Johnson, and DeMar DeRozan are going to contend with the Chicago Bulls, the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics, and other elite teams in the league.

The Toronto Raptors are nearing extinction or irrelevancy a lot sooner than you would think. Though they are headed to the lottery again, with another weak rookie class, I doubt that General Manager Bryan Colangelo or Coach Jay Triano will find their savior. It would be a sad ending for a young franchise, starting in 1995. But at least they can remember the good days in Air Canada Centre, when Carter was dunking, Bosh was owning, and the Raptors were winning.