The History of the Toronto Raptors

With the addition of Carter to the Toronto Raptors roster, the team saw the playoffs for 3 years in a row (2000-2002). But when they failed to make progress in 2004, Vince Carter was traded to the New Jersey Nets. After Carter left, the Toronto Raptors continued to struggle even with new leader Chris Bosh.

The team had strong desire to turn things around. Chris Bosh was given a three year contract extension, and with the newly appointed Bryan Colangelo as President and GM, the 1st overall draft selection of Andrea Bargnani, along with big changes to the '06-'07 roster the Toronto Raptors were able to capture the Atlantic Division title with 47 wins. They hoped to reproduce this success in the '07-'08 season, but were plagued with injuries to Garbajosa, Bosh, and Ford, and Andrea Bargnani's performance was seemingly inconsistent. This once again resulted in some well-needed roster changes.

For the 2008-2009 season, the Toronto Raptors traded T.J Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, Maceo Baston, and Roy Hibbert for six-time All-Star Jermaine O'Neal. With Bargnani constantly improving, it was hoped that O'Neal would provide a boost to Toronto's frontcourt; but the team was still too inconsistent. Head coach Mitchell was fired and replaced by assistant Jay Triano. Despite these changes the team failed to make the playoffs that year, once again resulting in a necessary revamp of the Raptors roster. For the 2009-10 season the team traded Kapono for veteran forward Reggie Evans, and drafted DeMar DeRozan with the 9th pick, but were still unable to secure a playoff spot. The following year, Chris Bosh chose to follow the pack of "elite" free agents signing with the Miami Heat, and the Raptors went on to secure only 22 wins in the regular season.

On June 21, 2011 the Toronto Raptors officially hired new head coach Dwane Casey, who was the previous assistant coach with Dallas. With the season shortened by the 2011 NBA lockout, the Toronto Raptors will look to their young star players to take advantage of the condensed schedule and those back-to-back games. With a new defensive focus, Dwane Casey hopes to inspire the team to perform defensively as a whole, while continuing to capitalize on offensive opportunities. With the season now underway, the Toronto Raptors could be a team to look out for.

There have been quite a few high profile games played by Toronto Raptors in the year 2011. One of them is with Minnesota Timberwolves, to be played on January 6, 2012. Toronto Raptors has become a revelation in NBA, so much that there is a surge in sale of Toronto Raptors tickets online.

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