The Raptors is a professional balling team that was formed when NBA was Expanding into Canada together with the Grizzlies of Vancouver in 1995. The Grizzlies relocated in 2001 to Memphis in Tennessee and now it is the only NBA team that is based in Canada but this does not give it an advantage over other NBA teams. It plays in the Eastern conference in the Atlantic Division. The team colors are white, black, red, and silver. Maple leaf sports and Entertainment Company own IT and its manager is Bryan Collangero. They were based in the Sky dome before they relocated to the Air Canada Center where they play their home games from 1999.

The club first procured Vince carter and although it was having a hard time in the first few matches, they managed to appear in the playoffs in three consecutive years from year 2000. Although carter managed to take the team high in those years, they never won any title and he was sold off after the 2003 season. The budding Chris Bosh became the team leader but the struggle continued until a new manager was procured in 2006. Bryan Collangero managed to take the team to the playoffs again and they won the divisional cup twice.

Some of the greatest rivals of this team have been the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacer. The Philadelphia 76ers has also been a threat to the team. The team has featured some of the famous players like Antonio Davis who was procured in exchange of Jonathan Bender and Vince carter. Others include Christie, Dell Curry, Williams, and Bogus Muggsy who played guard. In 2000, there was a great slum dunk contest that was prepared in Toronto and it attracted many basketball fans. The players, including some of the team managed to showcase spectacular talent. IN that season, the raptors managed to close the season with a record 45 – 37 and they ranked third in the Central Division.

They got Lenny Wilkens who was in the hall of fame in 2001 to coach the team after Vince carter resigned. The team has been giving their players long-term contracts so that they can groom a team for the future and these are characteristic with players like Alvin and Jerome Williams and Hakeem Olajuwon and Antonio Davis. The most memorable loss was the game that was played against the Detroit pistons where the Raptors organized a strong defense and they lost 83 – 65. A tough test was characterized by Ben Wallace’s Amazing play with 19 points on his score sheet having collected 20 rebounds and blocked thrice. Other memorable moments are a time when they were playing with the pistons and they were 3 points down and then the player, Chris Child’s managed to ran to the offensive with 10 seconds remaining and he shot a 3 pointer but lost it and he could have passed the ball to Curry who was open. They also played a disappointing play off and most of the players left the team.

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