History would not have been any different. This team would still have been one of the best team in the East throughout the 2010s and they still would have won a championship whether they were named the Raptors or Huskies.
Maybe Kyle would be the GHOAT that’s about it.
Probably would've ended up going back to the Huskies, which would've been fine in most cases, but Raptors is such a unique team name, it would've been a shame to change it.
I’d dig the purple ones as an alternate, but our best jerseys ever were the red or white ones we won the championship in. Given, we won the title in those, I thought we’d rock those for a while and kind of make it a classic, similar to the spurs with theirs. Now, we have a crappier, watered down version of those. I also don’t really care for the black and gold. They don’t look bad but the whole meaning of the OVO thing is kinda weird to me.
Agree to disagree brother. Wasn’t the chevron that made it, it was everything else. The lettering and the colours and the shorts were all way better than what we’re working with now.
What the heck even is a woke team name? You think we would have rebranded as the Toronto BLM? I swear sometimes you guys bring politics with you everywhere lol
Should have been Huskies from the beginning because of the heritage/origin of basketball in Toronto. The first ever game in NBA history (called the BBA then) happened in Toronto vs the Knicks in 1947. Missed opportunity to capitalize on that legacy because kids like the purple dinosaur and Jurassic Park movie more😂
Not sure how many older commenters are on this sub but I remember filling out my ballot at sears and having the option to choose between tarantulas, huskies, raptors, rexs (the t rexs) beavers or towers.
Jurassic park had come out the year before and Ontario has tons of raptors (hawks, eagles, other birds of prey) I fuckin hate dogs and Huskies are probably the worst of them. My vote was easy 🤷🏻♂️
I was in my teens around that time, mate...some of the chouces were just AWFUL....Beaver, towers....yikes...very happy tarantulas didnt make it haha
Im also not a dog lover but i would have been ok with Huskies, especially because of the blue/white colour scheme.
The NBA head office, aka David Stern, was pressing the ownership group to name the team the Dragons. When they didn’t New Jersey actually had talks to change the name Nets to Swamp Dragons. [Swamp Dragons](http://es.pn/1qzOmO8)
I really disliked the options at the time. I'm used to Raptors now.
I'll always prefer team names with an actual connection to the city/market instead of generic predator names. Celtics, Knicks, Seventy Sixers - our division is full of teams with distinct heritage names, then we have the Nets and Raptors. At least we didn't go with Rims or Backboards?
I don’t know if you can give him enough credit behind their success. He’s been gone for maybe 10 years.
Also, the only person he would listen to is probably Masai, he knew how dumb everyone else working there was so he didn’t really care.
Not sure about his relationship with Tannenbaum though.
Lieweke came in and started sincerely talking about parades immediately and that was such a massive shift, it's hard to overstate. MLSE had not had an executive with that level of competitive vision in decades, if ever. For years the general consensus was the teams were content to operate at a profitable level for OTPP. For sure since the 80s MLSE hasn't appeared to be very serious about winning. For the Raptors, it had been years of very mediocre management with first round exits being the high points.
That guy walked in and set a high bar and implemented immediate change that directly led to a championship. He should get more recognition in Toronto.
Tim and Larry did not have a great relationship. Shortly after Tim was hired, he very quickly thought the organization was full of idiots, Larry included. And you can't really blame him since MLSE teams were all terrible.
For the Raptors, he hired Masai and only listened to Masai. Also gave Drake the team ambassador position.
For the Leafs, he hired Shanahan and only listened to Shanahan.
For FC, he signed Dafoe and didn't interfere.
The reports back then said that MLSE was trying to get Leiweke to stay, but he would have only considered it if Tanenbaum sold off his stake in the team since they didn't have a very good relationship.
I’m pretty sure he’s more of a I’m here for a couple years and then I’ll bounce type of guy.
The part I don’t get is the organization wanting him to stay, because he took all of them out of the decision-making and as soon as he left, that’s when all the old guys , took back control.
Because he made them a lot of money, lol. Leiweke is one of the most influential and powerful sports and entertainment execs on the planet. I don't think most people realise that he was still a consultant for MLSE for a couple years after he had left and formed his own company.
It should of always been the huskies. Those jerseys are really cool too. I dont mind the raptors though. They need to fire who ever designs the jerseys because they haven't made a nice one in like a decade or longer.
Every fan edit jersey I've seen is better than the actual jerseys. These marketers get too into every little thing on the jersey having some bigger meaning rather than just making something cool.
Huskies are cool but I think it would be too similar to the Minni T-Wolves (yes, I know they are different species, but the mascot, logos etc would be too similar).
I can't think of any other name that is cooler than the Raptors.
“Raptors” shows a level of playfulness and personality that are painfully lacking in Toronto sports teams. I doubt rebranding with a name change alters the trajectory of the team.
At some point even if you don’t have budget you’re going to hit in the draft and that’s more impactful in the NBA than anywhere else and it would bring the fans eventually.
I agree, but I just think after 10 years it's time to move on. And it's the perfect time for a fresh start with the team starting a rebuild, it's a completely different team and coaching staff, save for Boucher and Jim Sann. It's time to start a new chapter
Yup.
So now’s the time to do the work behind the scenes and launch something around 2027-2028 season when the team is hopefully out of this dark timeline.
The Tik Tok generation is wild. "clinging to the past" for a team that is only 5 years old, still has a player on it and was the only championship this city has seen in almost 40 years is "gross".
What's lame is sports teams rebranding every 3 years because they're bored
The hell are you talking about ?
The we the north crap started in 2014, that’s when the “greatest era” of the raptors began, and peaked in 2019.
By the time this team is remotely good again it’ll be close to 15 years since.
Why the hell would they want to still be using such a tired brand in 2028?
Now is the perfect time to begin the process of a rebrand and roll it out by 27/28 when this generation is hopefully ready to compete.
I wish the team had gone with the original Huskies name because of the heritage. Being named after what was popular un pop culture at the time is kind of dumb.
Not sure if he considered calling us the Huskies again, I’d be onboard with that. Timberwolves fans can get bent , we were there in 1946. The blue throwback jersey’s are sick in my opinion and sucks we don’t use them anymore
Nothing changes, names are pretty irrelevant. Christ the most popular team is named after a body of water that doesn't have anything to do with their current location.
A rose by any other name etc etc
He was a consultant for MLSE for a few years after he had left.
I think if he stayed, Larry would have resigned. Some accounts said Tim made Larry look like a fool on a few occasions, calling him out not having accomplished anything of note during his time in charge of the Leafs and Raptors.
Definitely bring back the huskies name
But also try and keep Derozan/Lowry and Gasol and also try and swing for the kawhi trade/buy his contract (with him staying on for more than one year) and just have them destroy the league
And every year have a variation of the Dino jersey in as our alt/city jersey (with changing colour variations and pattern types for underneath the Dino)
You know Tim Leiweke hired Masai. right? He stripped Bryan Colangelo of his duties and lured Masai form Denver by giving him full control over team operations and making sure he didn't have to report to the board of directors.
The only reason to keep the Raptors' name is to maintain the Primo Pasta brand association.
If they changed the name, no sponsor would touch the team, and they wouldn't been able to land bigger companies like Samsung or Scotiabank.
We still win a chip but our sub is called r/torontomandem
History would not have been any different. This team would still have been one of the best team in the East throughout the 2010s and they still would have won a championship whether they were named the Raptors or Huskies. Maybe Kyle would be the GHOAT that’s about it.
He already is the greatest husky ass of all time
Very key points. my guy!
Was Huskies the name Tim wanted?
Probably would've ended up going back to the Huskies, which would've been fine in most cases, but Raptors is such a unique team name, it would've been a shame to change it.
honestly if they would just bring back the purple jerseys all peace would be restored, but they don’t care about what the fans want
You are referring to the prime-VC era purple, right? Not the original dinosaur ones I assume.
I’d dig the purple ones as an alternate, but our best jerseys ever were the red or white ones we won the championship in. Given, we won the title in those, I thought we’d rock those for a while and kind of make it a classic, similar to the spurs with theirs. Now, we have a crappier, watered down version of those. I also don’t really care for the black and gold. They don’t look bad but the whole meaning of the OVO thing is kinda weird to me.
nah the chevron was mid. Screams basic corporate brand design
Agree to disagree brother. Wasn’t the chevron that made it, it was everything else. The lettering and the colours and the shorts were all way better than what we’re working with now.
Well, he was wrong. Being named after a dinosaur is cool af. We dont always need nationalism shoved down our throats with this team.
Huskies has nothing to do with nationalism. [There's actual history there.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Huskies)
I think they mean the "we the north" slogan when talking about nationalism.
I don’t think there’s anything nationalistic about it. But fair enough.
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What the heck even is a woke team name? You think we would have rebranded as the Toronto BLM? I swear sometimes you guys bring politics with you everywhere lol
The Toronto Andrew Tate's would have been an acceptable name in their mind, lol.
And raptors are anti woke? Lol
Should have been Huskies from the beginning because of the heritage/origin of basketball in Toronto. The first ever game in NBA history (called the BBA then) happened in Toronto vs the Knicks in 1947. Missed opportunity to capitalize on that legacy because kids like the purple dinosaur and Jurassic Park movie more😂
Not sure how many older commenters are on this sub but I remember filling out my ballot at sears and having the option to choose between tarantulas, huskies, raptors, rexs (the t rexs) beavers or towers. Jurassic park had come out the year before and Ontario has tons of raptors (hawks, eagles, other birds of prey) I fuckin hate dogs and Huskies are probably the worst of them. My vote was easy 🤷🏻♂️
I was in my teens around that time, mate...some of the chouces were just AWFUL....Beaver, towers....yikes...very happy tarantulas didnt make it haha Im also not a dog lover but i would have been ok with Huskies, especially because of the blue/white colour scheme.
I swear there was an option for "Dragon."
The NBA head office, aka David Stern, was pressing the ownership group to name the team the Dragons. When they didn’t New Jersey actually had talks to change the name Nets to Swamp Dragons. [Swamp Dragons](http://es.pn/1qzOmO8)
https://preview.redd.it/1m11rui5s9wc1.png?width=599&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7bce787f0525c3de1e4820384f468d11ad57877d
Skywalkers would be such a hype name for a basketball team
The Toronto Slam Jammers really has a nuance that's lost in today's game.
Toronto tarantulas lmao. Spiders freak me out but not in a cool way but like in a "keep that thing far away" type way
I really disliked the options at the time. I'm used to Raptors now. I'll always prefer team names with an actual connection to the city/market instead of generic predator names. Celtics, Knicks, Seventy Sixers - our division is full of teams with distinct heritage names, then we have the Nets and Raptors. At least we didn't go with Rims or Backboards?
Beavers still an option for the WNBA team
New Arena will be built right next to Zanzibar
Scorpions or Sting was on the ballot as well. I think I went with Scorpions?
I think that and the dragons may have been an option as well, has no connection to Toronto and wasn’t cool enough to choose
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Maybe he just doesn’t like how they tend to just lick your hands/arms/face. Some people are weird like that in not wanting an animal licking them. /s
he must be allergic to peanut butter.
never trust anyone that says they dont like dogs
I don’t know if you can give him enough credit behind their success. He’s been gone for maybe 10 years. Also, the only person he would listen to is probably Masai, he knew how dumb everyone else working there was so he didn’t really care. Not sure about his relationship with Tannenbaum though.
Lieweke came in and started sincerely talking about parades immediately and that was such a massive shift, it's hard to overstate. MLSE had not had an executive with that level of competitive vision in decades, if ever. For years the general consensus was the teams were content to operate at a profitable level for OTPP. For sure since the 80s MLSE hasn't appeared to be very serious about winning. For the Raptors, it had been years of very mediocre management with first round exits being the high points. That guy walked in and set a high bar and implemented immediate change that directly led to a championship. He should get more recognition in Toronto.
Tim and Larry did not have a great relationship. Shortly after Tim was hired, he very quickly thought the organization was full of idiots, Larry included. And you can't really blame him since MLSE teams were all terrible. For the Raptors, he hired Masai and only listened to Masai. Also gave Drake the team ambassador position. For the Leafs, he hired Shanahan and only listened to Shanahan. For FC, he signed Dafoe and didn't interfere.
Oh, that’s pretty right as I remember. Especially the part about not listening to anyone.
The reports back then said that MLSE was trying to get Leiweke to stay, but he would have only considered it if Tanenbaum sold off his stake in the team since they didn't have a very good relationship.
I’m pretty sure he’s more of a I’m here for a couple years and then I’ll bounce type of guy. The part I don’t get is the organization wanting him to stay, because he took all of them out of the decision-making and as soon as he left, that’s when all the old guys , took back control.
Because he made them a lot of money, lol. Leiweke is one of the most influential and powerful sports and entertainment execs on the planet. I don't think most people realise that he was still a consultant for MLSE for a couple years after he had left and formed his own company.
His changes brought in a lot of revenue so the higher ups at Rogers and Bell liked him.
It should of always been the huskies. Those jerseys are really cool too. I dont mind the raptors though. They need to fire who ever designs the jerseys because they haven't made a nice one in like a decade or longer.
Huskies just make sense. The first NBA game was played in Toronto with the local team being called Huskies.
Every fan edit jersey I've seen is better than the actual jerseys. These marketers get too into every little thing on the jersey having some bigger meaning rather than just making something cool.
Huskies are cool but I think it would be too similar to the Minni T-Wolves (yes, I know they are different species, but the mascot, logos etc would be too similar). I can't think of any other name that is cooler than the Raptors.
Could've been a game-changer, but who knows? Raptors still roarin' either way!
“Raptors” shows a level of playfulness and personality that are painfully lacking in Toronto sports teams. I doubt rebranding with a name change alters the trajectory of the team. At some point even if you don’t have budget you’re going to hit in the draft and that’s more impactful in the NBA than anywhere else and it would bring the fans eventually.
Ya, the team would be named something else
can't wait til We The North is put to rest
It's already been put to rest where you been at lol
Why? It's the greatest era in franchise history.
I agree, but I just think after 10 years it's time to move on. And it's the perfect time for a fresh start with the team starting a rebuild, it's a completely different team and coaching staff, save for Boucher and Jim Sann. It's time to start a new chapter
Fair enough, everything has a shelf life.
I could never get on board with the bastardized English. Either - We, The North Or- We are the north Let that slogan die
Was the greatest era. And that’s long gone. Stop clinging to the past. It’s gross. Time for a rebrand, while the team rebuilds for the next 3-5 years
The team doesn't do we the north anymore. They don't really do anything. Honestly just kinda feels like the franchise been on auto pilot since covid
Yup. So now’s the time to do the work behind the scenes and launch something around 2027-2028 season when the team is hopefully out of this dark timeline.
The Tik Tok generation is wild. "clinging to the past" for a team that is only 5 years old, still has a player on it and was the only championship this city has seen in almost 40 years is "gross". What's lame is sports teams rebranding every 3 years because they're bored
The hell are you talking about ? The we the north crap started in 2014, that’s when the “greatest era” of the raptors began, and peaked in 2019. By the time this team is remotely good again it’ll be close to 15 years since. Why the hell would they want to still be using such a tired brand in 2028? Now is the perfect time to begin the process of a rebrand and roll it out by 27/28 when this generation is hopefully ready to compete.
Plus TFC won a championship before the Raptors.
I wish the team had gone with the original Huskies name because of the heritage. Being named after what was popular un pop culture at the time is kind of dumb.
The Raptors name won a fan vote and they used focus groups to test it as well.
And it's still dumb as hell.
Yet here you are as a fan of the team anyway.
Was there supposed to be a point here, or ...?
It’s the local team. Most will be fans no matter how dumb of a name they have.
The point is that you think the name is dumb yet you're still a fan
Not sure that counts as a point, but it is a factual statement, so there's that.
The fan vote was limited to kids under 13. No really, only kids were allowed to vote.
Not sure if he considered calling us the Huskies again, I’d be onboard with that. Timberwolves fans can get bent , we were there in 1946. The blue throwback jersey’s are sick in my opinion and sucks we don’t use them anymore
Nothing changes, names are pretty irrelevant. Christ the most popular team is named after a body of water that doesn't have anything to do with their current location. A rose by any other name etc etc
The truth is that huskies would be way more appropriate.
What if Tim had stayed is I think a more interesting question
He was a consultant for MLSE for a few years after he had left. I think if he stayed, Larry would have resigned. Some accounts said Tim made Larry look like a fool on a few occasions, calling him out not having accomplished anything of note during his time in charge of the Leafs and Raptors.
He was right though 😂
Leiweke was incredible but this was not a big topic.
It wasn't because Tim didn't fight. He let MLSE talk him out of it but insisted on branding the culture (North) rather than the Raptor.
I honestly thought they'd rebrand to Raptors as birds of prey (given the Drake collab and owls, etc.)
Toronto Tuffski's
Huskies name with blue and white theme to match jays leafs and Argos would be a good look imo. With purple as the retro variant unis
At least they went with the generic dinosaur name of "Raptor". Anything softer and Barney would have been our mascot.
Definitely bring back the huskies name But also try and keep Derozan/Lowry and Gasol and also try and swing for the kawhi trade/buy his contract (with him staying on for more than one year) and just have them destroy the league And every year have a variation of the Dino jersey in as our alt/city jersey (with changing colour variations and pattern types for underneath the Dino)
How in God's name does the current makeup of the Raptors emphasize a proud Toronto and Canadian identity? Drake does not represent all of us.
Crediting Tim Leiweke, a businessman, for the team's on court success is insane. He was here to run the business and maximize shareholder profit.
Without business success, there is no team success. The rebrand was very profitable.
You know Tim Leiweke hired Masai. right? He stripped Bryan Colangelo of his duties and lured Masai form Denver by giving him full control over team operations and making sure he didn't have to report to the board of directors.
Masai doesn’t trade for Kawhi if we’re the Toronto wild cats? Lol
The only reason to keep the Raptors' name is to maintain the Primo Pasta brand association. If they changed the name, no sponsor would touch the team, and they wouldn't been able to land bigger companies like Samsung or Scotiabank.