Memphis Grizzlies

The Memphis Grizzlies is a professional basketball team playing under the National Basketball Association (NBA). This team is a section of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference. In 1995 this team was founded along with the Toronto Raptors in Vancouver, British Columbia due to the expansion of the NBA in Canada. In 2001 the team moved to Memphis. The current owner of the team is Michael Heisley and Marc Iavaroni is the head coach. Navy Blue, Light Blue, Smoke Blue, White and Golden Yellow are the official colors on the Jersey of the team.

The Grizzlies and the Toronto Raptors were the first team to play in Canada since the 1946-47 Toronto Huskies. The Vancouver Mounties was the initial name chosen for the Grizzlies but there were objections from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and hence a new name had to be searched for. Then the name “Grizzlies” was selected in memory of the longtime cultural symbol of Canada the Grizzly Bear. In 1997 Antonio Daniels was drafted in the Grizzlies. However the team was ranked in the last place. In the 1998-99 season Mike Bibby the guard was drafted and still the team attained the last rank. Thereafter there was a lockout-shortened season in which the team won just eight games. During the 1999 NBA draft, Steve Francis was selected by the Grizzlies but Francis cited some reasons in public why he was reluctant to join the team. In Vancouver Francis was largely criticized and further traded in a 3 team 11 player deal to the Houston Rockets. In 2000-01 season the home attendance of the fans was very low than expected and this was a big blow to the Grizzlies team members. However when it was largely conceived that the team would be relocated prior to the next season the support of the fans increased considerably. In the 2001-02 season the Grizzlies played for the first time in Memphis. In this season Gasol won the NBA rookie of the year. During the 2003-04 season, Hubie Brown was hired as a coach for the team. In the next season for the first time in team history the Grizzlies reached the NBA playoffs and the NBA Coach of the Year award went to Brown. The team was ranked sixth in the Western Conference and this was a tremendous alteration from being a very bad team in the NBA. The FedExForum is where the Grizzlies play all their home games. It has a maximum capacity of 18,119. No player as yet from the Memphis Grizzlies has made it to the Hall of Famers. In the 2007-08 season the Grizzlies won only 22 games in the entire season and was placed at the bottom of the regular table.

Major achievements

Qualified for the playoffs in 2004, 2005 and 2006.