1997–98 Toronto Raptors season

1997–98 Toronto Raptors season
1997–98 Toronto Raptors season
Head coach	Darrell Walker (resigned); Butch Carter (interim);
General manager	Isiah Thomas (through November 20, 1997); Glen Grunwald (after November 20, 1997);
Owner	Allan Slaight
Arena	SkyDome; Maple Leaf Gardens;
Results
Record	16–66 (.195)
Place	Division: 8th (Central); Conference: 15th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
	Stats at Basketball Reference
Local media
Television	TSN; The Score; CKVR;
Radio	CFRB
< 1996–97	1998–99 >

The 1997–98 Toronto Raptors season was the third season for the Toronto Raptors in the National Basketball Association.^[1] The Raptors received the ninth overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft, and selected small forward, and high school basketball star Tracy McGrady,^[2]^[3]^[4] and acquired second-year forward John Wallace from the New York Knicks in a three-team trade during the off-season.^[5]^[6]^[7] In November, Isiah Thomas resigned as General Manager, and later took up a job as a color analyst for the NBA on NBC.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Head coach

Darrell Walker (resigned)
Butch Carter (interim)

General manager

Isiah Thomas (through November 20, 1997)
Glen Grunwald (after November 20, 1997)

OwnerAllan Slaight

Arena

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With the addition of McGrady and Wallace, the Raptors got off to a 1–2 start to the regular season, but then struggled posting a 17-game losing streak afterwards, leading to a dreadful 1–19 start to the season. The team improved in January with a 6–8 record, including a four-game winning streak, and later on held an 11–36 record at the All-Star break.^[11] At mid-season, the team traded Damon Stoudamire, Walt Williams, and Carlos Rogers to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Kenny Anderson, Gary Trent and rookie point guard Alvin Williams, as head coach Darrell Walker resigned after 49 games;^[12]^[13]^[14] however, Anderson refused to play for the Raptors, and was then dealt along with Popeye Jones, and Žan Tabak to the Boston Celtics in exchange for rookie point guard, and top draft pick Chauncey Billups and Dee Brown.^[15]^[16]^[17] Before the trades, Stoudamire averaged 19.4 points, 8.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game in 49 games, while Walt Williams provided the team with 12.4 points and 1.4 steals per game in 28 games, and Jones contributed 8.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in 14 games.^[18]

The team also released Shawn Respert to free agency, as he later on signed as a free agent with the Dallas Mavericks.^[19] Under interim coach Butch Carter, the Raptors continued to struggle posting a 5–28 record for the remainder of the season, which included a 13-game losing streak between March and April, and losing 16 of their final 17 games. The Raptors finished in last place in the Central Division with a franchise worst record of 16–66;^[20] this was also the first, and only season in which the Raptors finished with a worse record than their Canadian rival, the Vancouver Grizzlies, who finished with a 19–63 record.

Doug Christie averaged 16.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.4 steals per game, and led the Raptors with 100 three-point field goals, while Wallace averaged 14.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game, and second-year star Marcus Camby provided the team with 12.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and led the league with 3.7 blocks per game. In addition, Trent provided with 12.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game in 13 games after the trade, while Brown contributed 12.2 points, 3.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game in 31 games, and Billups averaged 11.3 points and 3.3 assists per game in 31 games, but only shot .349 in field-goal percentage. Meanwhile, Reggie Slater contributed 8.0 points and 3.9 rebounds per game, while McGrady provided with 7.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game off the bench, and Oliver Miller averaged 6.3 points and rebounds per game each.^[18]

During the NBA All-Star weekend at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, McGrady was selected for the NBA Rookie Game, as a member of the Eastern Conference Rookie team; before the mid-season trade, Billups also participated in the Rookie Game as a member of the Eastern Conference, while playing for the Celtics.^[21]^[22] Wallace finished tied in eighth place in Most Improved Player voting.^[23]

The Raptors finished 16th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 674,685 at the SkyDome during the regular season;^[18]^[24] this was also the team's final full season in which they played their home games at the SkyDome. Following the season, Camby was traded to the New York Knicks after two seasons with the Raptors,^[25]^[26]^[27] while Billups was traded to the Denver Nuggets,^[28]^[29]^[30] Trent signed as a free agent with the Dallas Mavericks,^[31]^[32]^[33] and Miller was released to free agency. Meanwhile, Sharone Wright, who only played just seven games this season due to an off-season car accident, retired after four seasons in the NBA.^[34]^[35]^[36]

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Central Division v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Chicago Bulls	62	20	.756	–	37–4	25–16	21–7
x-Indiana Pacers	58	24	.707	4	32–9	26–15	19–9
x-Charlotte Hornets	51	31	.622	11	32–9	19–22	16–12
x-Atlanta Hawks	50	32	.610	12	29–12	21–20	19–9
x-Cleveland Cavaliers	47	35	.573	15	27–14	20–21	14–14
Detroit Pistons	37	45	.451	25	25–16	12–29	12–16
Milwaukee Bucks	36	46	.439	26	21–20	15–26	9–19
Toronto Raptors	16	66	.195	46	9–32	7–34	2–26

#	Eastern Conference v t e
#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	c-Chicago Bulls	62	20	.756	–
2	y-Miami Heat	55	27	.671	7
3	x-Indiana Pacers	58	24	.707	4
4	x-Charlotte Hornets	51	31	.622	11
5	x-Atlanta Hawks	50	32	.610	12
6	x-Cleveland Cavaliers	47	35	.573	15
7	x-New York Knicks	43	39	.524	19
8	x-New Jersey Nets	43	39	.524	19

9	Washington Wizards	42	40	.512	20
10	Orlando Magic	41	41	.500	21
11	Detroit Pistons	37	45	.451	25
12	Boston Celtics	36	46	.439	26
13	Milwaukee Bucks	36	46	.439	26
14	Philadelphia 76ers	31	51	.378	31
15	Toronto Raptors	16	66	.195	46

Player	POS	GP	GS	MP	REB	AST	STL	BLK	PTS	MPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
John Wallace	SF	82	36	2,361	373	110	62	101	1,147	28.8	4.5	1.3	.8	1.2	14.0
Doug Christie	SG	78	78	2,939	404	282	190	57	1,287	37.7	5.2	3.6	2.4	.7	16.5
Reggie Slater	PF	78	28	1,662	305	74	45	30	625	21.3	3.9	.9	.6	.4	8.0
Oliver Miller	C	64	53	1,628	400	196	58	72	401	25.4	6.3	3.1	.9	1.1	6.3
Tracy McGrady	SF	64	17	1,179	269	98	49	61	451	18.4	4.2	1.5	.8	1.0	7.0
Marcus Camby	C	63	58	2,002	466	111	68	230	765	31.8	7.4	1.8	1.1	3.7	12.1
Damon Stoudamire^†	PG	49	49	2,033	217	399	80	5	952	41.5	4.4	8.1	1.6	.1	19.4
Shawn Respert^†	SG	47	4	696	73	44	29	1	257	14.8	1.6	.9	.6	.0	5.5
Žan Tabak^†	C	39	29	752	154	36	15	27	248	19.3	3.9	.9	.4	.7	6.4
Chris Garner	PG	38	0	293	24	45	21	4	53	7.7	.6	1.2	.6	.1	1.4
Dee Brown^†	SG	31	2	908	90	101	38	17	378	29.3	2.9	3.3	1.2	.5	12.2
Chauncey Billups^†	PG	29	26	920	77	97	30	2	328	31.7	2.7	3.3	1.0	.1	11.3
Walt Williams^†	SF	28	16	876	118	69	40	23	348	31.3	4.2	2.5	1.4	.8	12.4
John Thomas^†	PF	21	0	167	36	4	3	3	43	8.0	1.7	.2	.1	.1	2.0
Carlos Rogers^†	PF	18	0	351	65	16	9	8	108	19.5	3.6	.9	.5	.4	6.0
Popeye Jones	PF	14	4	352	102	18	10	3	120	25.1	7.3	1.3	.7	.2	8.6
Gary Trent^†	PF	13	7	355	104	14	8	8	159	27.3	8.0	1.1	.6	.6	12.2
Alvin Williams^†	SG	13	3	207	21	20	8	1	41	15.9	1.6	1.5	.6	.1	3.2
Sharone Wright	C	7	0	44	9	4	0	0	16	6.3	1.3	.6	.0	.0	2.3
Lloyd Daniels	SG	6	0	82	7	4	3	2	34	13.7	1.2	.7	.5	.3	5.7
Roy Rogers^†	PF	6	0	69	12	1	1	4	13	11.5	2.0	.2	.2	.7	2.2
Tim Kempton^†	PF	5	0	32	5	2	1	2	4	6.4	1.0	.4	.2	.4	.8
Ed Stokes	C	4	0	17	4	1	1	2	3	4.3	1.0	.3	.3	.5	.8
Bob McCann	SF	1	0	5	1	0	0	0	0	5.0	1.0	.0	.0	.0	.0

1997–98 Toronto Raptors season

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Highs

Lows

Season standings

Game log

Player statistics

Ragular season

References

External links

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