Following the success of the Raptors a Facebook Friend Marko Orlic in his words “was going through old Raptors rosters after our championship win, and man…it was a trip. Remember all these legends?”

Master P
Milt Palacio
Mamadou N’Diaye
Kevin Willis
Haywoode Workman
Walt Williams
Jake Voskuhl
Gary Trent
John Wallace
Sebastian Telfair
John Thomas
Steve Novak
Žan Tabak
Jannero Pargo
Mickaël Piétrus
Aleksandar Radojevi?
Shawn Respert
Carlos Rogers
Reggie Slater
Pape Sow
Yogi Stewart
Greg Stiemsma
Sonny Weems
Jared Sullinger
Eric Montross
Oliver Miller
Jelani McCoy
Lamond Murray
Jamario Moon
Jérôme Moïso
Roger Mason
Tony Massenburg
Sean Marks
Pops Mensah-Bonsu
Tracy Murray
Popeye Jones
Tyler Hansbrough
Jarret Jack
Mike James
Linas Kleiza
Voshon Lenard
John Lucas III
Carlos Arroyo
Maceo Baston
Mengke Bateer
Lonny Baxter
Michael Bradley
Primož Brezec
Hubert Davis
Dee Brown
Dwight Buycks
Leandro Barbosa
Juan Dixon
Quincy Douby
Rafael Araújo
Robert Archibald
Kornel David

Wow! He missed 2 of the Fab Five: Jalen Rose and Jimmy King! (Timeout we never did get Chris Webber on the Raptors yeah? Or Juwan Howard. Ray Jackson the last of the Five was never drafted to the NBA (ouch!) so that means Toronto scored half of them.)

When the Raptors first started the NBA were terrible…I mean Master P was in the league.

There were a lot of baaaaad players as his list confirms. This is less about the evolution of the Raptors history and more about how the NBA has flourished.

Now with international development; all kinds of leagues and opportunities the bulk of the NBA’s players are really strong and really good. Teams still struggle because fit isn’t right; tanking though lessened is still an attractive option (trust the process, come on really?).

However, happily, this means competition is increasing; it’s getting harder which is amazing and inspiring. Every game should be an epic battle; a struggle and a conquest. Especially as we get into the NBA Playoffs.

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Also published on Medium.