For a very long time Toronto was just a lousy sports town, and when this decade began things were bad, heading to worse, as things often do. The Raptors had never won a best-of-seven series, hadn’t made the playoffs since 2008, and Hedo Turkoglu was a Raptor. And the Buffalo Bills had just played another Toronto game that nobody enjoyed, even after Jays season-ticket holders got free seats, on their way to killing the NFL-in-Toronto dream. On July 1, the Leafs traded Phil Kessel to the Pittsburgh Penguins, because they figured his laissez-faire style wouldn’t last one practice with new coach Mike Babcock, and the rebuilding pain. The Raptors traded DeRozan and fired longtime coach Dwane Casey, and went for it.

Source: thestar December 30, 2019 16:52 UTC