One more NBA team in Canada

[McSorleyStick]

Originally Posted by Morozov

The difference is one of those places is New York and the other is Montreal. There's a plethora of reasons why Basketball players would want to go to NY regardless of taxes.

Ny isa much bigger media market

It's also a basketball market


So, yeah

[Mathradio]

Originally Posted by McSorleyStick

Ny isa much bigger media market

It's also a basketball market


So, yeah

In every sport, there are those players who don't want to play in big markets for their sport, even though the cities are bigger media markets than larger markets for their sport. Hockey is perhaps one of the sports where that phenomenon is best known but basketball also has its share of players who don't want to play in big basketball markets.

But I'd say that the main reason as to why Toronto is a team where US-born UFAs (I don't know for non-US free agents) don't want to sign for is not so much that the city is unappealing, it's the team that doesn't exactly offer a winning environment.

[McSorleyStick]

Originally Posted by Mathradio

In every sport, there are those players who don't want to play in big markets for their sport, even though the cities are bigger media markets than larger markets for their sport. Hockey is perhaps one of the sports where that phenomenon is best known but basketball also has its share of players who don't want to play in big basketball markets.

But I'd say that the main reason as to why Toronto is a team where US-born UFAs (I don't know for non-US free agents) don't want to sign for is not so much that the city is unappealing, it's the team that doesn't exactly offer a winning environment.

I totally agree

[KassianB34ST]

Vancouver is a good sports city and deserves another shot at an NBA team. I would love to see an NBA team in Vancouver again.

[NHL Fanatic]

Americans are afraid of the snow lool, its unfortunate that players don't want to play for the Raptors, I don't think getting another NBA franchise in Canada is the answer. If the Raptors start winning again attendance will be up though.

[jaems]

I don't think it's just purely the location but also the management. They've drafted fairly poorly (Araujo over Iguodala, traded away the 2008 pick which could've gotten McGee or Hibbert or Ibaka, CV over Bynum) for the last several years and made trades that didn't pan out very well for their core.

There is certainly a bit of luck involved for the only time the team has gotten a number one pick was in an awful draft year. Bargnani isn't a great 1st pick but looking back, there weren't many memorable options in the 1st round besides Roy and Rondo.

The team also has never had many if any successful pro coaches. Triano? O'Neill? Carter? Aside from maybe one great season with Mitchell and having a HHOF coach in Lenny Wilkens I can't say that the team has impressed.

True, they haven't attracted the best free agent crop, but making shrewd trades and drafting well alongside great coaching (be it in the front office or on the bench) will offset that. And quite frankly we haven't much of that for a while. So I wouldn't fault any player who wouldn't want to be part of that because that has nothing to do with being small market but whether or not the team has a chance to succeed.