The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Raptors are the only Canadian-based NBA team.[1] The team joined the NBA in 1995 as an expansion team with the Vancouver Grizzlies (which relocated to Memphis, Tennessee in 2001).[2] The Raptors first played their home games at the SkyDome (now known as the Rogers Centre), before moving to Scotiabank Arena (formerly the Air Canada Centre) in 1999, where they have played since. The Raptors are owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and Bobby Webster is their general manager.[3][4]
There have been ten head coaches for the Raptors franchise. The franchise's first head coach was Brendan Malone, who coached for one season. Dwane Casey is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached (397) and the most regular-season game wins (210). Casey is the franchise's all-time leader for the most playoff games coached (51), as well as the most playoff-game wins (21).
Lenny Wilkens is the only Raptors coaches to have been elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach.
Sam Mitchell, Dwane Casey and Nick Nurse are the only Raptors coaches to have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award, having won it in the 2006–07 season, 2017–18 season, and 2019-20 season respectively.[5][6]
Butch Carter, Kevin O'Neill, and Jay Triano have spent their entire NBA head coaching careers with the Raptors. Triano was the interim head coach of the Raptors since Mitchell was fired.[7][8] Triano is the first Canadian head coach in NBA history.[9]
Nick Nurse is the only Raptors coach to have won an NBA Championship with the team (2018–19 NBA season) and holds the franchise's highest winning percentage in the regular season (.707) and playoffs (.667).
- ^ "Teams". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
- ^ "Grizzlies History". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
- ^ "Laying the Groundwork for the NBA in Toronto". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
- ^ "Management". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
coywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ release, Official. "Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey named NBCA Coach of the Year". NBA.com. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
- ^ "Toronto Raptors Coach Register". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved July 20, 2008.
- ^ "Mitchell Relieved Of Duties, Jay Triano Takes Over On Interim Basis". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. December 3, 2008. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
- ^ "Struggling Raptors fire Mitchell just 17 games into season". ESPN.com. ESPN Internet Ventures. December 4, 2008. Retrieved December 22, 2008.