The Toronto Raptors are a professional basketball team established in 1995 and based in Toronto, Ontario. The team colors are Red, Black, White and Silver.
When the Toronto was founded along with Vancouver Grizzlies it was a part of the NBA expansion in Canada. Grizzlies shifted to Memphis in 2001 and Toronto was the sole Canadian team in the NBA. In the initial years, the team struggled. In 1998, after the trade of Vince Carter, the team reached the NBA playoffs from 2000 to 2002. Carter played an important role in leading the team to the Eastern Conference semi-finals. During the next two seasons, the team did not make expected progress and Carter was traded and Chris Bosh was brought in. Bryan Colangelo was made the General Manager for the 2006-07 season and the team reached the first playoff berth in five years and won their first division title. In 2019, the team won its first and only NBA title.
| Country |
United States
|
| City | Toronto, Ontario |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Ground | Scotiabank Arena |
| Coach | Nick Nurse |
| Website | nba.com |
In the 1995-96 season, the team played the first official NBA game. In the history of Raptors, Alvin Robertson scored the first NBA points. The team won by a score of 94-79 over the New Jersey nets. Stoudamire won the 1995-96 Rookie of the year award with figures of 19 ppg and 9.3 apg. In the 1996-97 season, the team enhanced the win record by nine games.
Prior to the 2007-08 season, Toronto tried to produce the same form as the earlier season. The team included Giorgos Printezis, Carlos Delfino, Jamario Moon, Maceo Baston and Jason Kapono. As compared to the previous season, there were six less wins for Toronto. The Toronto ceded the division title to Boston. They were the sixth seed qualifiers for the 2008 NBA playoffs. Here, they had to face Orlando magic, but they were eliminated in five games. The 2007-08 season was a huge disappointment. During the playoffs, it was noticed that rebounding, defense and absence of a swingman were the shortcomings in the game. So, there was a news that some gross changes would be made to the list.
The Raptors were crowned NBA champions in 2019 coached by Nick Nurse and led on field by Kawhi Leonard, beating the Golden State Warriors 4-2 in the NBA Finals.
From 1995 to 1999, the home arena was at SkyDome. There were occasional games from 1995 to 1999, when the home arena was either Maple Leaf Gardens and Copps Coliseum. From 1999 onwards, the home arena is at Air Canada Center.
Some players worth mention are Alvin Williams, Damon Stoudamire, Jalen Rose, Morris Peterson, Tracy McGrady, Antonio Davis, Doug Christie, Vince Carter, Pascal Siakam, Kyle Lowry and Leonard.
Major achievements
- 1 NBA Championship title (2019)
- 1 Conference title (2019)
- 7 Division titles (2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020)
