Toronto Love

[albertan_10]

Does anyone else feel that the love that these young gunz have for the city will start keeping people around? I mean obviously people can get traded like Jack but DeRozan, Weems and Johnson love this place. If they can show the other new guys why they love it, could we finally get over this hump of being able to keep stars up here?

[GameBreaker]

Good point. It'd be worth a try. But I still feel winning games is key. Maybe playoffs too.

[Rg1990]

It doesn't seem any of the players truly love this city. American players who play here seem to knitpick (sp ?) pointless shit like bosh who complained there was no NBA tv when I just saw a commercial for it a few days ago. Its been said many times no one wants to come here , not because it's a bad city but because it's in Canada. The team isn't a contender so that doesn't help. Face it American ignorance of a different nation prevails. Bayless wants to play here because it's a better environment for him. Portland got Andre Miller and NO of course has Paul. Peja likes it because I can bank on the fact that Toronto is more mixed than New Orleans. Who knows? Demar and Sonny spent some time here during the summer so I guess they don't mind.

[RaptorDan]

What they need is to settle down with some our sweet Canadian lassies (or lads. Who am I to judge?). All of the young gunz are single and I'm sure there is a fair chance that they will hook up with some super hot women from TO. If any of them get married, then there will be plenty of TO love. Just look at the Red Rocket. He loves TO.

The opposite is Antonio Davis and Doug Christie. They both had succubus for wives who hated things Canadian like the metric system and our national anthem.

BTW, does anyone know of a raptor player besides Matt Bonner who met and married a women from Toronto.

[bayanmn]

Isn't Charlie V kind of in the same boat? I know he has a daughter who lives in Toronto. I tihnk he may have had a kid with a Canadian ex-girlfriend or something like that.

[RaptorDan]

Right, I forgot about Charlie V. I guess he kind of proves my argument wrong. He knocked up a Canadian women and then showed so much love that he had to beat her.

[KakashiPrince]

Grant Hill have a Canadian wife...even though he isn't a ex-raptor?

[pillowmint]

Grant Hill have a Canadian wife...even though he isn't a ex-raptor?

Don't forget Grunwald became a Canadian for his wife. Swirsk also became a CDN, but look how that ended

[Apollo]

Does anyone else feel that the love that these young gunz have for the city will start keeping people around? I mean obviously people can get traded like Jack but DeRozan, Weems and Johnson love this place. If they can show the other new guys why they love it, could we finally get over this hump of being able to keep stars up here?

They most definitely have the right attitude but the problem is not just keeping guys in Toronto but getting guys in Toronto while not overpaying. They may be able to fix up the in house issues but the league-wide misconception probably cannot be broken until Stern delivers on his lofty statement about expansion to Europe. With a European division players chances of landing on a foreign team suddenly rise exponentially and suddenly Toronto doesn't seem like a bad destination for the ignorant(the enlightened already know it's great ). Just a theory.

[Bendit]

It doesn't seem any of the players truly love this city. American players who play here seem to knitpick (sp ?) pointless shit like bosh who complained there was no NBA tv when I just saw a commercial for it a few days ago. Its been said many times no one wants to come here , not because it's a bad city but because it's in Canada. The team isn't a contender so that doesn't help. Face it American ignorance of a different nation prevails. Bayless wants to play here because it's a better environment for him. Portland got Andre Miller and NO of course has Paul. Peja likes it because I can bank on the fact that Toronto is more mixed than New Orleans. Who knows? Demar and Sonny spent some time here during the summer so I guess they don't mind.

RE Bosh's tv complaint (and I am not a CB apologist)...it was the building/condo he lived in which didnt have the cable service supplying those channels. That is also a lameass excuse because with the cash he was pulling in he could have had a dish mounted and got a feed if it was that effing important to him. One of the other big complaints is the customs/immigration thing they have to go thru each time they cross the border if they played for the Raps as opposed to the twice they need to do playing for a US team. I am sure its not totally pleasant doing it sometimes at 2-3 in the morning when they are probably sleepwalking and possibly after a tough loss.

[ibreak4coffee]

Raptors fans are far too sensitive about whether or not players love Toronto. Everyone can preach how ignorant American players are for not wanting to play here, but frankly guys will go where the max contracts are. And lets face it - this franchise has never put together a consistent winning team over its first 15 years. Produce a contender and this discussion becomes a moot point.

[blackjitsu]

Butch Carter is still up here. He's married to a Canadian

[Keefe_C]

I really don't think is much about the city... it's just that the team had never built a strong enough team to contend and they don't seem to be interested in paying their players that much to make it happen anyway....
the new CBA might benefit the team as it helps the owners to generate more revenue, by paying the players less.
i'm pretty sure any player wouldn't mind coming to Toronto if we are a contending team, you think Denver and San Antonio actually has a better market than Toronto? if the team gets more wins, they will get more national TV coverage, period, just look at OKC.

[Red and White]

In the end, Toronto is an amazing city. I dont care who you are, north american, european, south american, african, asian, aussie, etc. Toronto is a real great place to be. People need to get it in their heads, players dont want to play her (if that is even true) not because of the city or people, but the actual team. The players on the team, and the future, have a bigger affect in locking up stars. We are being a tad paranoid no? Its this weird canuck thing where we think that other people dont like us. Relax.

Our time will come. What matters is that we build up our team. To quote waynes world (which stars a canadian) "If you book them, they will come." Once we grow as a franchise, and have a good enough team, players that will want to come here.

RAW