OT Forgotten franchise: The demise of the Vancouver Grizzlies

Great read!

 

Grizzles makes a lot more sense in Vancouver than it does in Memphis. It's like the Utah Jazz. We need to do some kind of name trading. Trade the Jazz to New Oreleans, the Jazz can take on the Grizzly name, and memphis can get the name Kings from Sacramento. The Pelicans nickname can be destroyed, and Sacremento can become the (anyone from Sacremento want to give them a new name?)

Lakers should go back to Minnesota and LA can become the la smog.

 

Irrelevants?
Bankrupt Staters?
Pie in the Facers?
Cow Pie'ers?
Man, it's hot here!er?
Armpit of the NBA'ers?
Wish we still had Vlade'ers?
Only place left in CA with reasonable home prices because no one wants to live there'ers?

 

Too easy. The Sacramento Mentals.

 

No, it was premature. Anyone who spent time in Vancouver in the '90s knows how little interest there was in basketball. If the league had waited 15-20 years before expanding there, it might have worked. Stern put the cart before the horse.

Now, a fair question would be, would the recent growth in popularity have happened on the same timeline without the Grizzlies having been there when they were?

 

Mentos should be their official sponsor

 

If Steve Francis didn't refuse to play there after being drafted, I think they might have had a chance. They needed a marketable star and he would have given them that in 99.

 

They don't have the fanbase to support an NBA team...would be better to have a D league affiliate in Vancouver

 

I wonder when Seattle is going to get a team.

 

I think the Thunder are cursed lol!

 

Speaking of Sacramento, I didn't see this in the national news. Though this seems pretty damn bad. Worse than incidents that did make the national news.

http://www.latimes.com/local/califo...-police-shooting-20161001-snap-htmlstory.html

 

I'm suprised we don't play there for preseason games and market there harder. It's a huge market that's only 5 hrs or so away. We could really expand our brand in an international market that Vancouver is

 

It took Vince Carter to make basketball work in Toronto, the Grizz never had a marketable star like that. Canucks regularly sellout their stadium, so it's not the size of the market. There was no patience in the league to let things work.

 

No marketable star? What about Big Country?

 

Yeah it would be great if Vancouver got an NBA team.

But how sticking an NHL team in Seattle or Portland first. Stop sticking them where lizards go sun themselves.

 

Bullshit. They fully connected with the community, which loved them and was learning the sport of basketball.

In a surprise to Vancouver and the whole NBA, Stern offered Vancouver a team in his quest to open international teams (notice how all that talk died with Stern's departure?). The new Vancouver owners whom he found complied with his demands to sell enough season tickets and get 41 nights from General Motors Place, which already had an NHL team. The neophyte owners asked, who do you recommend as our General Manager? Stern looked at his best earnest young secretary, who took orders well, couldn't manage anything, and had failed as Knicks coach, and answered...

I had no idea. This was done in secret. I and others in Bellingham would have been there a few times. Thanks, Stuie.

 

I wanted the Grizz to stay in Vancouver...someone still thinks New Orleans and Tennessee are in the west....they must have history books printed in 1700...I
can' t believe jlprk isn't lobbying for the Stampede to reinvent themselves just outside Bellingham....that's a dream come true!

 

I disagree one million percent. Given how truly awful and unwatchable that team was, the people of Vancouver gave them much more support than they deserved. For the first four years, they were between 15th - and 20th in average home attendance, usually hovering right around, or just below league average, and MUCH higher than several teams with much better records. It wasn't until the 5th season, when word started to spread the team was moving, that attendance dropped below 2oth in the league.

For example, look at their second season attendance figures, compared to their won-loss record and a few of the teams that drew fewer fans in spite of having much better records.

1996-97: League Average Attendance = 685,905 = 16,729 per game

Vancouver Grizzlies:
Won-Loss Record = 14-68
Attendance = 683,442 = 16,669
Rank = 17

Houston Rockets:
Won-Loss Record = 57-25
Attendance = 667,685 = 16,285
Rank = 19

Golden State Warriors:
Won-Loss Record = 30-52
Attendance = 621,844 = 15,166
Rank = 23

Miami Heat:
Won-Loss Record = 61-21
Attendance = 667,685 = 15,004
Rank = 25

Atlanta Hawks:
Won-Loss Record = 56-26
Attendance = 549,414 = 13,400
Rank = 27

Denver Nuggets:
Won-Loss Record = 21-61
Attendance = 340,486 = 8,305
Rank = 28

Los Angeles Clippers:
Won-Loss Record = 36-46
Attendance = 232,895 = 5,680
Rank = 29

The Grizzlies, in spite of having the worst record in the league for the 2nd year in a row, drew bigger crowds than the 3rd seed (Houston) in the West and the 2nd (Miami) and 4th seeds (Atlanta) in the East. They drew over twice as many fans as the Denver Nuggets and nearly 3x as many fans as the Los Angeles Clippers - who actually made the playoffs that year!

I included the Warriors in this list to make a point. You ALWAYS hear what GREAT fans the Warriors have, and how they have always stuck by their team win or lose. Bullshit. Every year the Grizzlies were in Vancouver they drew bigger crowds than the Warriors, in spite of usually having a worse record.

Even after attendance nose dived the last two seasons with rumors of the team moving, they still drew more fans their final two years in Vancouver than they did their first two years in Memphis.

The entire time the Grizzlies were in Vancouver, they were constantly out drawing teams like Atlanta, Miami, Houston and Indiana, teams that actually had great records and were constantly in the playoffs. And, of course, they also constantly out drew other bad teams like the Clippers, Nuggets and Warriors. They had the league's worst combined record over those six seasons they were in Vancouver, yet managed to hover right around, or slightly below, league average attendance figures. Yet, you never heard rumors Atlanta, Miami, Indiana, Houston, Denver, Golden State or even the Clippers moving. That team, that city, and those fans deserved more of a chance.

I think the disparity in taxation had a lot more do to with the demise of that team than the perceived lack of fan support. I've felt for years the NBA salaries should be tax protected, or normalized in some way, to eliminate lower (or no) local tax rates that favor cities like Houston and Miami. Large markets like LA and New York already have an unfair advantage due to larger endorsement potential. Players should not be further penalized by playing in a city with higher state income tax. I'm surprised this hasn't found it's way into the CBA at some point. I think the majority of the owners would favor it as it seems like there are only a handful of teams that are actual players for the best free agents every summer. Level the playing field so players are not financially penalized by choosing one location over another would seem to benefit a lot more teams than it would hurt.

BNM