Evan Turner: "Take it out of Memphis and put the [Grizzlies] in Nashville."
Andre Iguodala: "Vancouver."
JJ Redick: "Kansas City."
JJ, Iggy and Turner discuss which city other than Seattle should have an NBA team 🏀🏙
(via @OldManAndThree)pic.twitter.com/5FbJesl6z2
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 21, 2023
Do you agree with them? Do you think Vancouver is one of the best or nicest cities in the world? Do you think the NBA would go for it or do you think Vegas and Seattle will be safer options? Do you think it’s important that Canada get a second franchise or do you think it doesn’t really matter? would love to hear everyone’s thoughts!
by cudimakesemsayohoh
34 Comments
Never should have left. Fuck Steve Francis and fuck Michael Heisley.
seattle is definitely safer with the proximity to vancouver drawing in tickets as well. but there will definitely be people that will show up in vancouver.
RED DICK
Canada got 2 franchises in 1995. Vancouver already had an NBA team. However, it seemed like basketball wasn’t one of the priorities of that city; so the franchise ended up moving to Memphis. And that was a shame to all Vancouver’s citizens, because in that year (2001) that was when the Grizzlies started to receive great players and to go and fight in the play-off. Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, Ja Morant… that was what Vancouver ended up missing. If only they had waited a bit more…
Vancouver would definitely be able to support a team now, but I don’t think it’s a priority at this point and would be known as “nice to visit but different story to play there for 41 games”. It is crazy to see how popular the Vancouver Grizzlies and their merchandise are 20 years later after they left.
Shareef
Abdur
Rahim
I mean they kept giving Charlotte one, so why not. Steve Francis can eat it, Vancouver’s a nice town.
10000% could support a team. Canada is way different now. Team would thrive in Vancouver.
Vancouver is a beautiful city. Montreal as well. Canada could support a second team but they’re behind on the totem pole for now. Maybe in a decade. I think realistically that’s when we may end up with more than 32 teams but not for a while.
Every time Evan talks I’m caught off guard by his voice sounding like that even though I should be used to it by now.
Why? They had their chance, they blew it. It’s a no from me, same for Seattle
Is there anything to the “planes that are twice as fast are coming” thing they’re both convinced about? lol
They’re right that it was too early for Vancouver and an expansion would be WAY better received now after LeBron, with the NBA having an awesome media presence, with basketball becoming more globally relevant and Canada getting good, with the Raptors having a championship!, with Vancouver being a certified HCOL luxury real estate hotspot … but they accidentally left out that the NBA deliberately fucked Vancouver’s ability to build up a roster when they made that expansion in the first place.
EDIT: I was unfamiliar with the 2nd overall pick (Steve Francis, who would be a 3-time all-star not long after) refusing to play for Vancouver in 1999, imagine that today.
Yes because nba players love playing in Toronto I’m sure they’d love playing in Vancouver even more. Different country, longest travel times and the most expensive city. Tough.
The main problem with franchises outside US is that it’s more profitable for NBA to have US-based teams because it gives them another US NBA market to drive US TV ratings. This is why you don’t see much of Toronto on ESPN, because half of the audience is in Canada Toronto nationally televised games have the lowers US TV ratings.
Sadly, NBA (and other major sports leagues) are driven by TV revenue, which is much lower outside US. Revenue model was different in the 90’s, it was more attendance driven.
There are a number of cities that should be above Vancouver on a list of possible locations. Seattle, Las Vegas, and Kansas City should be well above them.
Personally I’d like to see 4 new franchises, I think there’s enough talent in the nba to support it. I’d want Seattle, Vegas, Kansas City and Vancouver.
Imo Montreal is a better basketball city than Vancouver, but less money so 🤷‍♂️
would love it but don’t see the NBA giving Seattle a team and Vancouver in the same timeframe. and Seattle will get one first, so it’s gonna be awhile.
I think in general Canda is producing enough NBA talent to justify giving them a second team.
Whether they get it or not is a different story, I would imagine Seattle and Vegas are ahead of them in the new NBA team sweepstakes
Can NBA players afford homes in Vancouver though
Everyone knows it’s a great city. Whether the NBA should go back there is more about the fanbase and the financials, I think.
I need a Vancouver vs Seattle rivalry injected into my veins so bad
Check out the documentary “the grizzlies truth”. The Creator investigates the reasons that caused the grizzlies to move
Seattle deserves the team and Seattle is right next to Vancouver. It makes way more sense to put the other team in Vegas, which is a new market (it’s about 6 hours from both SLC and LA, the two closest markets with teams).
While Vancouver probably would do a better job of supporting them this time, they already had an opportunity so they shouldn’t get to jump the line. Plus, the NBA has already basically set themselves on Seattle and Vegas.
Now, could the NBA someday go to 34 teams and put a team in Vancouver and a team in Mexico City? Maybe, 32 works better for scheduling, but it deserves to be on the list at least.
The cities that lost teams because the owner was a jerk despite fans supporting them like the Sonics, Hornets, Browns, Colts, Oilers, etc. are the ones that deserve to get another team. The ones like the Vancouver Grizzlies or Montreal Expos where fans couldn’t be bothered to show up are the ones that shouldn’t get to jump the line, they should have to wait their turn until other more deserving markets have had a chance.
Vancouver is an insanely awesome city.
I wouldn’t mind the grizz go from Memphis to Nashville then I would be able to actually go to a game lmao Memphis is a 5 and a half hour drive from the part of Tennessee I live in it’s quicker for me to drive to Atlanta.
Tons of money in Vancouver and a lot of it in the Asian community where there is a love of basketball. No question they could find the support which was lacking the first time.
That said they aren’t getting a team before Seattle where they deserve a team and there’s a rich NBA history. And Vegas has Bron behind it so they’re also ahead.
NBA stars already avoid most American markets like the plague if they can help it. Toronto struggles to get big free agents to come there and they’re the richest and most American-like city Canada has. I can’t imagine Vancouver working very well this time around either (remember Steve Francis?)
I think Vancouver is an amazing city, and I think the Memphis Grizzlies are missing out on a great market and unique marketing strategy.
Whenever I visit Vancouver, I am always dumbfounded that I see more Grizzlies stuff than I do Canucks merch.
If Memphis just held pre-season games in Vancouver and had one home game a month there, I think their merchandise sales would go through the rough.
I think the Thunder have been missing out on a similar approach with the Sonics. I mean, imagine if they played pre-season there and had one home game a month in Seattle? That’d be huge. You’d still have Supersonics merch selling like hot cakes, and they had a great color combo there.
Vegas would be curious. The thing is, you’d have a lot of out-of-towners in for games, and they’d likely not be rooting for the Vegas team, and the hometown crowd… they have less than 700,000 people. They are comparable to Detroit.
But Seattle, Vancouver, and Vegas are comparable in terms of size, but I feel like the great Vancouver area plays a big factor… they got a lot of large communities around there that put them over 2 million. Great Seattle, though, has like 4 million. That is huge.
“The West Indies have Americanized Canada” lmao
Iguodala gets credit for being a bright guy, but then he says shit like this and you realize it’s a front, lol.
While Vancouver would be an amazing city to have an NBA team (hot take but I think better than Toronto for revenue), they’ll likely add 2 more to even it out at 32 teams and I think Seattle and Vegas just make way more sense from a business perspective.
It’s too bad though, I think there are at least 5-10 existing NBA teams that Vancouver would do much better than, commercially.
Would love to see it. Even more so Montreal, but I know it would tank in 2-3 years and relocate just on the language politics alone.
Bring back the Grizzlies you cowards
Lived in Vancouver most my life, and it’s just a bad sports town. Just my opinion