NBA Please Answer 2007

Chapter 52 The Story of Toronto (Please recommend)

The Warriors are in a good mood after a big win over the Clippers at home, but the upcoming schedule is not easy. The Warriors are about to embark on a one-week away trip.

The opponent in the first stop is the Toronto Raptors.

Since joining the league in 1995, the young Toronto Raptors have endured a long wait.

As a new team in the NBA's overseas expansion, the Raptors were not as lucky as the Milwaukee Bucks at the beginning. They won the championship trophy in the third year of entering the league.

Quite the contrary, they didn't even make it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Raptors have finally made history along the way in the past 20 years, but no one tells about the hardships and difficulties they have experienced.

In 1995, the Raptors entered the league, and the Raptors at that time were in vain.They selected guard Damon Stoudemire from the University of Arizona with the seventh overall pick in the first round of the 1995 NBA Draft.

Damon Stoudemire is a natural backcourt engine, just like the "Little Flying Squirrel" tattoo on his arm, Stoudemire flies like a flying squirrel on the court, omnipotent.

In the rookie season, Stoudemire quickly showed his talent, won the title of Player of the Month twice, and he also maintained a good state throughout the season.

At the end of the season, Stoudemire handed over an All-Star level data of 19.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 9.3 assists per game. He was selected to the first team of the Rookie of the Year as he wished and won the title of "Rookie of the Year".

You must know that the opponents Stoudemire faced at the time were the famous No. [-] pick Joe Smith, the spring man Antonio Davis, the scoring maniac Jerry Stackhouse, and the talented high school student Kevin Garnett.

Although Stoudemire's personal data is very eye-catching, he can't bring victory to the young Raptors.

Throughout the 1995-96 season, the Raptors only achieved a record of 21 wins and 61 losses.However, defeating the powerful Chicago Bulls during the season still gave them a glimmer of hope for the future.

At the end of the season, the Raptors fired head coach Brandon Malone and signed Darrick Walker instead.At the same time, the poor record also brought the Raptors a second pick in the first round in 1996.

1996年的选秀被誉为是著名的“96黄金一代”。猛龙队在76人选择阿伦-艾弗森之后，选择了来自马萨诸塞大学的2米11天才护框手马库斯-坎比。

The experience of being in the "Milk Basket League" in his own backyard made Camby cherish basketball very much. At that time, his mother kept him away from the court in order to protect him from harm. He could only practice with a homemade basket in his backyard.

Camby's basic skills have thus become very poor, but his 2-meter wingspan and 29-meter height allow him to get whatever he wants inside.

In his rookie season, Camby built a high wall inside the Raptors, and averaged 14.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.

With the help of Camby, the Raptors' record has increased from 21 wins to 30 wins. They play the role of a strong team terminator.

Whether it is Jordan's Chicago Bulls, Olajuwon's Rockets, Tim Hardaway's Heat, or Karl Malone's Jazz, they have all been defeated by the Raptors.

But these brilliant resumes are not enough for the Raptors to enter the playoffs.

In the summer of 1997, the Raptors selected the talented high school swingman Tracy McGrady with the ninth overall pick in the first round of the draft.

From the current point of view, the Raptors lineup at that time could be called extremely luxurious. The backcourt trident Stoudemire, Doug Christie, and John Wallace averaged 50 points per game.

In addition, Chauncey Billups, who was regarded as a "parallel importer" at the time, was also sitting on the Raptors' bench, Marcus Camby, who was a god without injury, and McGrady, who was still young.

These three were all famous players later on.

In February 1998, the Raptors changed their blood. They sent away Damon Stoudemire and introduced Chauncey Billups.

But Billups' poor shooting percentage made him sent away again in the following summer, and the Raptors turned to introduce two experienced veterans, Charles Oakley and Kevin Willis.

Of course, the Raptors also completed a beautiful blockbuster transaction.They traded the No. 4 pick Antawn Jamison from the Golden State Warriors for Canadian trapezeman Vince Carter.

卡特在他生涯的第一个年头便展现出了强大的个人进攻能力。出战50场比赛，场均能够得到18.3分5.7篮板3助攻1.5封盖1.1抢断的全面数据。

In the end, Carter beat Paul Pierce and won the Rookie of the Year title without any suspense with 95.8% of the votes.

Although the Raptors failed to make the playoffs, the 46% winning percentage handed over in the shrinking season has set a record for the highest winning percentage since the establishment of the Raptors team.

Coincidentally, the two rising stars in the team, McGrady and Carter, were still distant cousins. The two became inseparable, and were even ridiculed by teammates as "siamese twins".The two stick together all the time on and off the court, whether they are singing together or eating grilled pork chops, they can be seen laughing and laughing together.

Not only in life, Carter and McGrady's performance on the court has also become more and more tacit, the Raptors coach Butch Carter will deliberately put these two on the court and let them play together.

However, the two occasionally score so indulgently that they forget the existence of their teammates.

McGrady and Carter also joined hands to participate in the 2000 dunk contest. It was in this year that the dunk contest was recorded in history by Carter.

That is, in this year with the Raptors, Carter and McGrady also began to grow continuously.

卡特在这一年成为了联盟中顶级的得分手，他的场均数据来到了25.7分5.8篮板3.9助攻1.3抢断1.1封盖。

And McGrady also bid farewell to the bench with an outstanding performance. He told the media that he should get more than 30 minutes of playing time. However, the Raptors still hope that he can continue to serve as the team's sixth man.

When the Raptors put McGrady, Carter and starting swingman Christie on the court, opponents can always rely on mismatches to score points.

Ultimately, McGrady left the Raptors for the Orlando Magic after his first playoff trip of his farewell career.

Carter and McGrady can only turn friends into enemies.

Years later, when Carter recalled his time with McGrady, he said:
"I remember the last time I saw him on the court, he was already in the Pistons jersey, he was standing across from me, and he didn't speak for a long time.

When the game was about to start, he said: 'Brother, the NBA doesn't belong to us anymore. '

I smiled, or it didn't belong long ago.But, at this moment, I really want to ask him,
Brother, if you don't go, can we be the next pair of Jordan and Pippen now?Even if you are Jordan and I am Pippen..."

　Thank you for your support, I hope everyone will vote for Jianhao, the new book really needs to be recommended~
　　


(End of this chapter)