NBA Expansion in Montreal: Five Reasons Why Canada Deserves a Second NBA Team

With the recent NBA weekend series in London and rumors that the NBA is looking to become more globalized I find myself unable to resist discussing the reasons why the NBA should direct its Globalization attempts toward Canada and the beautiful city of Montreal rather than Europe. 

I think Montreal is a viable city for an NBA team and I will now present five reason why Montreal needs/deserves an NBA team.

Let’s get started!

1: Population

With 3,859,318 people living in Montreal, not including the many people living in surrounding areas that would be close enough to drive to games, Montreal certainly has enough people to merit the acquisition of an NBA franchise.

With the current population Montreal would rank fourth in the league trailing only New York, Los Angeles and Toronto. 

With this many people they would certainly rake in a boat load of new fans for the NBA I guarantee that the passionate Montreal fans will stand behind their team from the get go.

Speaking of fan support…

2: They will have the support of the fans

In October 2010 an astounding 22,114 fans jam packed the Bell Centre in Montreal to see the Toronto Raptors play their final Pre-season game of the year.  That’s right 22.114 people came out in Montreal to see an NBA pre-season game!!

To help you understand how monumental of an achievement this is let me put it into perspective… The Chicago bulls are currently averaging the highest attendance in the league, and why not right? They are one heck of a storied franchise and they are an elite team in the East. 

So how many fans are they averaging per home game this season…21,613 people.

What does this mean? It means the Toronto Raptors were able to surpass the team with the highest regular season attendance in the league this season while playing…

 1. A pre-season game and

2. In another city to boot, which technically made them the road team.

What can this tell us about the future of NBA basketball in Montreal?  Well at the very least, it tells us that there is some pretty big potential for NBA success in Montreal.

This incredible display of support for Canada’s basketball team is a perfect testament to the passion of Montreal sports fans as well as Canadian sports fans as a whole.

An NBA team in Montreal would never overcome hockey as the dominant sport in the city yet I would argue that given time to grow and develop it would certainly become very popular in Montreal and it would be able to draw a huge crowd like the best of them!

3: The Montreal Expos

Before you have a chance to make any wise cracks about the Expos being relocated I would like to point out that the Expos did not fail in Montreal because of a lack of fan support.  Baseball has historically been very popular throughout the province of Quebec and the fans and the support was certainly there. 

The fans loved their MLB team, however, as is the case with any sports fan base they were only capable of enduring so much, and understandably so.

There are two main reasons why things did not work out for the Expos in Montreal:

1. Management was unwilling to dish out the money that was necessary in order to keep big name free agents from leaving.

2. The 1994 MLB Strike: The Expos were tops in the MLB and they were poised to win the World Series, however, this was not meant to be as the season was cut short due to the strike and they lost most of their star players in the off-season.

The strike was essentially the deal breaker in Montreal.  Management and the players were unable to recover from the heart break that was the 1994 MLB season and as result their stock fell immensely leading to their deportation to Washington.

That being said, I truly believe this will not be the case if an NBA team was to come to Montreal…

Montreal is a big market city and the NBA is a big market game.  With an arena already in place all they need to do is find the right people to manage the team and then with a little help from Molson this project could pay off huge for Canadian basketball as well as for the NBA.

4: Globalization of the NBA

If the NBA wants to become more globalized then they need not look overseas to London, they simply have to look north of the border and bring a team to Montreal.

Montreal is a very likable place and can almost always be found on lists of the world’s most livable cities.  It is often referred to as Canada’s cultural capital and I think many NBA players English or French will fall in love with the city for its unique and multicultural atmosphere, its buzzing downtown area and shopping district as well as its happening night life.

I do not understand why the NBA would be willing to expand to London; a city that does not even have a Euro league team and would pose huge problems in regards to scheduling, yet they have no interest in bringing a team to Montreal.

If the NBA truly wants to expand then I think they should look to Canada first and not the European Union.  That being said, Montreal is clearly the best choice.

5: We invented the damn game

Way to milk us for all we’re worth and then kick us while we’re down NBA.

Basketball is a Canadian invention and that being said I think we deserve to have more than one team in the NBA, especially when we have quite a few cities that offer much more stability and potential than many of the current US cities with NBA teams.

James Naismith was born in Toronto (Okay they have their team) and he studied physical education in Montreal (alright so now give Montreal the team they deserve).

Make Naismith proud and bring a team to Montreal!

Conclusion:

In the Domain of baseball and basketball Canada is currently batting 500 when it comes to professional sports teams. 

Things may have ended on a sour note with the Montreal Expos and the Vancouver Grizzlies, however, at the same time the Toronto Raptors and the Toronto Blue Jays have fared quite well.

Add in the fact that Canada also has many other professional sports teams that are doing quite well for themselves including: 6 NHL teams, one MLS team and the Canadian Football League and I would say Canada is doing just fine in the when it comes to professional sports teams.

That being said, I think it is about time we throw our hat back into the mix and push to bring an NBA team to Montreal which could be the start of a big professional sports movement in this country. 

Other big cities like Calgary Ottawa, Quebec are just waiting to join the party and I say the sooner the better so let’s get the ball rolling and bring an NBA team to Montreal.

Thanks for reading and if you agree with me make sure you comment and let me know!

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Los Angeles Lakers: Win Now or Win Later?

The Los Angeles Lakers are on top at the moment; however, the signs of aging are beginning to rear their ugly face.  Derek Fisher is 36, Kobe Bryant is 32, Ron Artest and Lamar Odom are both 31, and Pau Gasol and Matt Barnes are 30.
Age has not become a real problem yet, but in the next couple years, it will.

Being such a strong team the Lakers are unable to use the draft to re load on potential filled youngsters that facilitate the continued success of a team when the starters leave or retire; instead they are forced to acquire these prospects via trade or free agency and unless they accomplish this over the off-season and throughout the next couple seasons they may be faced with a dive down the standings.


The average player age on the Lakers is currently 29.5 years and Andrew Bynum (23), Shannon Brown (25), Derrick Caracter (22), and Devin Ebanks (21) are the only players on the current roster under 30 years of age.




Andrew Bynum (provided he can stay healthy) and Shannon Brown if he stays in LA certainly have bright futures however once the starting lineup is done and gone are these really the two guys that the Lakers want to build their team around?  A duo of Bynum and Brown is not even tops in Los Angeles let alone the NBA.




Also, with Andrew Bynum’s history of injuries and Shannon Brown possibly entering free agency this off-season and leaving LA to sign with a team where he could be a starter I am convinced that there is much that Lakers management needs to accomplish in order to ensure a brighter future for the team.


 The counter argument to this is that even once Phil Jackson is gone the Lakers will remain contenders for another two to three seasons by keeping mostly the same roster and making minor tweaks as they did last off-season.  Then, once Kobe and company retire they need only dip into the free agent pool and pull out a star caliber free agent, say Chris Paul or Dwight next year…Right?
Well, often times we give the Lakers management far too much credit when it comes to being able to land the big name free agents and as a result we do not fully understand the situation at hand. 
Yes I would argue that the Lakers will make a big push for Chris Paul, Dwight Howard and Deron Williams next year however what happens if they cannot sign a single one of them?




The Lakers do not have the best track record when it comes to signing free agents and if you look at the last couple of years many of their big name acquisitions have come via trade, notably Pau Gasol.
In addition, with a new collective bargaining agreement on its way it will be far more difficult to form a super team like Miami and Boston and instead the Lakers will need to build a deep talented roster filled with young players that are two or three years away from becoming solid NBA players.  This is crucial since if the Lakers continue with what they have now there will be nothing for them to fall back on, should they underperform in free agency.




Conclusion: Win now or win later?  




If Lakers’ management starts planning ahead now and works to come up with a long term strategy that will allow them to shave a couple years off their age all while continuing their winning ways, the Lakers will be able to win both now and later and ultimately they will succeed in making a smooth transition into the post Kobe era which means they will remain contenders even after Kobe and company hang up their shoes for good.   


By: Justin Bonin

Ron Artest: Would He Be A Good Fit For The Toronto Raptors?

There have been quite a few trade rumors surrounding Ron Artest lately, and although Ron has made it clear that he does not want to leave LA (and really who could blame him) there are still some other options out there. 

Firstly I want to make it clear that I have not heard of any rumors about Ron Artest coming to Toronto, and honestly, I’d say there’s about a two percent chance of him ending up with the Raptors.  Nonetheless, I thought since Toronto’s most glaring weakness is at the SF position, it might be interesting to discuss the reasons why I do and do not think Ron Artest would be a good fit for the Raptors.  In addition, this allows us to obtain a better idea of what qualities we do need and would like to have in our “Small Forward of the Future”. 

Offense:

Ron Artest has been around the league for some time, as a matter of fact, he is now in his eleventh season.  That being said, we can come to the reasonable conclusion that he knows what he’s doing and could certainly be a good veteran presence and possible leader for this young Toronto team.  I think he was a great leader when he played for the Rockets, (once Tracy McGrady went down due to injury) especially in the playoffs. 

For example, take a look at their series against the Lakers; he wasn’t amazing statistically and even though he did let his emotions get the best of him on a couple of occasions, I could really see the fire in his eyes as he went head to head with Kobe Bryant.  Apparently Kobe and Phil Jackson saw this fire as well, and as a result Ron Artest was in Lakers uniform the following season. 

           

Since joining the Lakers, Artest has begun his slow digression as the result of not only age but also the fact that he had a smaller role on the team which I think has caused a bit of rust.  The Lakers acquired Artest primarily for his defence and on offense he was the third or fourth option behind Kobe, Pau, and Bynum/Odom (depending on the night) as he struggled to comprehend the concept that is Phil Jackson’s triangle offense. 

In the 2009/2010 season Artest only attempted 740 Field Goal, compared to his 1,037 attempts the year before with the Rockets.  However, playing with the Raptors he would generally be our second or third option on offense behind Bargnani and DeRozan.  He would certainly play a much more central role with the Raptors on offense and as a result, I think he would be able to regain some of his youth and play more like he did with the Rockets for a good two to three seasons.

Defence:

Now that we are finished with offense, I would like to turn your attention to the other side of the ball, defence.  Defence has certainly been the Achilles heel of the Raptors for a very long time.  However, Artest would be able to step in and immediately solve that problem for us.  When he is motivated, Artest is still one of the best defenders in the league today, furthermore, he fills our void at the SF position and would be able to shut down star small forwards and some of the less speedy shooting guards in the Eastern conference and prevent them from torching us on offense.

At first glance, what you see when you look at Ron Artest is;

A.  A savvy veteran who has overall experience as well as playoff experience,

B.  A top notch defender who is able to shut down star SF’s in the east such as Paul Pierce and LeBron James and

C.  An adequate scorer who could step up any night when Bargnani and DeRozan are struggling and lead the offensive charge.

So that’s good right? He offers three things that would go a long way in improving this Raptors team, let’s make a trade right now… Not so fast!

Yes Artest is a smart veteran who offers a lot to this young Toronto team, however, he is not always the best role model for younger players.  Yes I know the brawl at the palace is something that will always taint the way we look at Ron Artest but that was more than half a decade ago; can’t we just move on already?  I guess not, because this comes up just about every single time there is a discussion about a Ron Artest trade. 

That being said, the question now becomes how would his personality most likely influence the chemistry and attitude of this Toronto team?  The Raptors already have great chemistry and I would hate to see Artest come in and ruin that, but then there is also the possibility that he could bring some big energy to this team on defence.  Essentially, I am torn in this regard as would be any team considering acquiring Artest, so what about the other qualities I mentioned earlier?

           

How would Artest be able to contribute to the Toronto offense?

Well he is a bit limited by his age which could impact our ability to play up tempo basketball and capitalize on fast breaks.  This has become a specialty for this team due to our many athletic players who can get up the court in no time at all.  In this regard, Ron Artest could hurt the team a bit and may also result in him having to sit out a couple extra minutes here and there in exchange for a younger quicker player who can get up and down the court faster, however I don’t think this would really be too much of a problem. 

Furthermore, I think Artest would be able to make up for his lack of speed with his three-point shooting.  Having him on this team would help spread out the defence, which in turn would open up more scoring lanes that allow guys like DeRozan, Bayless and Barbosa more opportunities to drive to the basket. 

In addition, Artest was also pretty clutch on offense in the playoffs last year.  This would help us late in the fourth quarter, which is a big need for us considering how Toronto has notoriously had problems scoring in the fourth quarter.

Wrap it up:

The bottom line is having Ron Artest on this Raptors teams would be a good thing in the short term especially if we ready to win now, however this is not the case.  Artest only has about two or three more quality years left in him, which means right around the time when Toronto should begin reaping the benefits of our current “Re-tooling” process he will no longer be around.  This is a big problem because first of all the extra playing time we give him would take away from the opportunities for our younger guys to play and gain valuable experience and on top of that, unless we acquire another young SF that will follow in his footsteps for the next couple seasons there will be no one to take over for him once he is gone and then we will essentially be back at square one. 

Therefore, I conclude that Ron Artest is a great fit for a team that is ready to contend now, and only needs a SF to really be a top team, such as the Orlando Magic, however for a team like the Raptors who are looking to build a core of young talented players he is not the best choice, however a younger version of Ron Artest may be exactly what we need! 

If we could get our hands on a younger version of Ron Artest with….

1. His grit and defensive prowess, which would greatly improve our defence at the three sport as well as overall team defence.

2. His adequate offensive game, which gives us someone who could step up on days when our better players are struggling and carry some of the offensive load.

3. His three-point shooting ability, which would help spread the floor and result in more open lanes for guys like DeRozan, Bargnani, Bayless, Barbosa, etc… who are at their best when they are driving to the basket and drawing fouls.  

We would certainly be in good hands!

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to comment!