OT: Will the NBA return to Vancouver?

[lawrence]

If Francisco pushes hard enough for one it can easily be done. He got the ravens back, and he sure as heck can get a NBA team back, via expansion or relocation of another team.

 

[Addison Rae]

Imagine comparing the NLL to the NBA

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

did anybody see the big country documentary?

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

also i bet a city that basically smells like weed in a lot of places a lot of the time would be attractive to a lot of nba players of any colour.

you also have to remember that players’ horizons are a lot wider now than in 1999, when steve francis wouldn’t come here. i mean, there was practically no internet back then. and vancouver’s rep is much bigger too, due to hollywood, the olympics, weed, etc.

 

[nucks88]

I hope not...Seattle deserves one..people who like the NBA can travel there...just like the NFL and MLB...

 

[ziploc]

I hope not...Seattle deserves one..people who like the NBA can travel there...just like the NFL and MLB...

Seattle should definitely get a team before Vancouver.

 

[xtra]

We can definitely support a team the question is wether or not we would ever get a chance to,

Not only the influx of Chinese and the diversification of the city would help support the team but the interest level in the raptors shows there is support here for a team

 

[Pure West]

Definitely not anytime soon. The cost of an NBA team is prohibitively expensive, well over 1 billion, and I'd shudder to think what the expansion fee would be if the NHL's is north of 600 million USD. Thats a lot of risk to take on for a sport that isn't really a part of the cultural fabric here. We had our chance, and for a number of reasons, most out of the fans control, it didn't work. Vancouver doesn't really add a huge untapped TV or fan interest market for the league, as the Raptors already have that covered. In most US markets, the game at least has more history, either participation-wise or with fan support for college and high school teams. The Toronto area is at least churning out NBA level talent, and even before the raptors, Southern Ontario was still where the best amateur basketball in Canada was being played. Yes, we have produced Steve Nash, by far the best Canadian player ever, but BC is not an amateur basketball hotbed, even by Canadian standards.

I don't think the city itself being 'undesirable' to NBA players plays into it at all. The city is different from the 90s. Its much more vibrant and urban than at least 5-10 other NBA cities, and tends to be among the favourite road destinations for NHL players on many surveys. Its more that there isn't really big upside for the league, let alone upside for an owner to put up the substantial price tag.

Seattle is the clear next place for the NBA. If the league is looking international, I would say Mexico City would be next if they're looking for that growth market, and perhaps even Montreal if they want to keep it in Canada. Montreal faces similar challenges to Vancouver, but at the very least is about 50% bigger itself and has a much larger French-Language TV market potential. The best case of a Vancouver expansion would be a small market team that has to compete for sports dollars with the much more entrenched NHL team, where the team has a currency disadvantage, in what isn't really a big sports town in the first place.

 

[Nucker101]

If they do eventually come back, they’re gonna need people similar to Leiweke and Ujiri. Those two guys played a massive part in turning the Raptors from a laughing stock into a legit NBA franchise

 

[CanuckleBerry]

did anybody see the big country documentary?

I caught it during VIFF, I quite enjoyed it.

For those that want to see it on the big screen and support local filmmakers, the Rio has one more screening coming up this Sunday. For those that just want to see it, here's the link on the Daily Hive YouTube Channel:



It's about 45 minutes. Set it up on your TV it's worth it. The film has a feel good way of embracing a really weird aspect of Vancouver sports history. We really should pay more attention to this. We had something and lost it, unfortunately for reasons largely beyond the control of fans.

 

[JianYang]

There has been talk and rumors over the years about Vancouver making an NBA come back. From Steve Nash investing into a team to numerous political parties promising a return.

Given that Vancouver has nearly doubled in size since the Grizz were in Van (it's roughly the same size as Cleveland, Sacramento and San Antonio and twice the size as Milwaukee and SLC) , the NBAs interest in the Chinese market, and the decreasing stigma of playing in Canada, I dont see why Vancouver couldn't be seriously considered.

The stigma might be decreased a little bit, but I still suspect that Vancouver would continue to be considered an nba Outpost, especially by the American players.

Some might ask then why Toronto doesn't face a similar stigma? Well I think there is a stigma there too, but it is lessened because it is still located close to alot of America's larger cities.

Vancouver had alot of disadvantages in their NBA tenure, but you just wonder what if the team got Steve Nash when he was buried under crazy depth in Phoenix? What if they were not banned from drafting 1st overall in their first few years in the league?(it cost them Tim Duncan) . What if they played slightly longer in Vancouver and drafted yao Ming, igniting the Chinese market in the city?

 

[Nucker101]

I love Kawhi and Masai








That is all




(DeRozan is overrated)

 

[northwestern comfort]

Also isn’t the NBA more international now? I don’t want to look up the number of international players through the years but I feel like there a more these years and they wouldn’t mind Vancouver. Plus more Canadians are making the league even if they are from the Toronto area.

 

[JianYang]

did anybody see the big country documentary?

I watched it.

What I would really love is to see a doc with many of the grizzlies who played here, what they thought of the city back then, and what they think of it now. Did it open their eyes? What bugged them about the city?

This documentary focused on country but it barely touched on what he thought of the city. I'd also like to hear from Bibby, Shareef, dickerson, massenberg, and anyone else who spent a few years in this market.

 

[LaVar]

(DeRozan is overrated)

in what world is he overrated? who overrates him?

 

[Nucker101]

in what world is he overrated? who overrates him?

Casual Raps fans. He's a mess defensively. He's the type of player who raises a team's floor with his high volume offense but he limits a team's potential with his usage and atrocious defense.

The Raps had a better net rating with him off of the floor last year. And I don't think he's a great leader, especially in the playoffs.

“If we had LeBron on our team, too, we would have won"

 

[Jyrki21]

This documentary focused on country but it barely touched on what he thought of the city. I'd also like to hear from Bibby, Shareef, dickerson, massenberg, and anyone else who spent a few years in this market.

Dickerson was immediately sensible about "going to another country!!!111!" because he came from the Seattle area and actually knew where he was going. I always really liked him in part because of that. Meanwhile, Mike Bibby, a guy from Arizona, was whining about how "far" one of the closer NBA cities was from home.

 

[kanuck87]

This documentary focused on country but it barely touched on what he thought of the city. I'd also like to hear from Bibby, Shareef, dickerson, massenberg, and anyone else who spent a few years in this market.

The documentary wasn't about the Grizzlies history or even about Big Country per se. It was more about one girl's obsession with the Grizzlies and about trying to live the basketball dream that she missed out on in College.

I find it hard to believe that it was hard to find Big Country when he was in his hometown the entire country and his property is blocked off with a gigantic shiny gate. He obviously wasn't hard to find.

 

[kanuck87]

Casual Raps fans. He's a mess defensively. He's the type of player who raises a team's floor with his high volume offense but he limits a team's potential with his usage and atrocious defense.

The Raps had a better net rating with him off of the floor last year. And I don't think he's a great leader, especially in the playoffs.

“If we had LeBron on our team, too, we would have won"

I don't think he's overrated. I'm not sure anyone believes that he's a top-10 talent and probably not even a top-15 talent. He is still a good player, however. You could do a lot worse than to have a guy like DeRozan.

 

[Jyrki21]

I find it hard to believe that it was hard to find Big Country when he was in his hometown the entire country and his property is blocked off with a gigantic shiny gate. He obviously wasn't hard to find.

I actually really liked the documentary, but that was the one weakness – it was a bit of a false premise. Big Country's whereabouts have been pretty publicly known since the Grizzlies moved (hell, I knew where he was), and she even "found out" from a publicly posted article. That said, I don't know how literally that aspect was meant to be taken – the people who she asks on the beach at the start are clearly pretty young and probably don't know who these guys were. One was even wearing Grizzlies' shorts without knowing.

 

[Nucker101]

I don't think he's overrated. I'm not sure anyone believes that he's a top-10 talent and probably not even a top-15 talent. He is still a good player, however. You could do a lot worse than to have a guy like DeRozan.

He’s around top 30-40 for me. Yet casuals were criticizing Masai for trading him for a top 5 player lol

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

I find it hard to believe that it was hard to find Big Country when he was in his hometown the entire country and his property is blocked off with a gigantic shiny gate. He obviously wasn't hard to find.

Not only that he's still involved with his former college team (his son plays for them) and is often in news stories about them.

 

[PunkRockLocke]

I'd so much rather have an MLB team

 

[Hit the post]

I'd so much rather have an MLB team

Nah, that league is like the NHL before the cap (teams with the $$$$'s have an big advantage - doesn't guaranteee a World Series win obviously but it does leave small market teams at a real disadvantage).

 

[PunkRockLocke]

Nah, that league is like the NHL before the cap (teams with the $$$$'s have an big advantage - doesn't guaranteee a World Series win obviously but it does leave small market teams at a real disadvantage).

I just much prefer the sport of baseball to basketball.

I'm realizing more and more that hockey and baseball are really the only sports I enjoy watching. Oh, and curling.