“Isiah fell in love with him,” said Glen Grunwald, who was Thomas’s top assistant with the Raptors when they drafted McGrady ninth in 1997, and he was the general manager for the Raptors when McGrady left for Orlando in 2000. “Isiah had this theory at the time that maybe it could be a bit like where we’re at right now, what the Raptors are doing (with Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam), he had the ‘Raptor four’ — a long, 6-8, 6-9 forward who had multiple skills, could switch out, guard all sorts of positions, play all over the floor, be a playmaker, be a shot-maker. They weren’t easy to find. “Isiah was just excited by his potential. It turned out that he was right.”
Tag: Glen Grunwald
If the choice to award the Cup in …
If the choice to award the Cup in exhibition games strikes you as strange, consider that the teams, in conjunction with NBA Canada, used it as an opportunity to host the events around the country. The five Naismith Cup matches held between 1995 and 2000 (the 1998 game was cancelled due to the lockout) were played in Winnipeg, Calgary, Halifax, Edmonton, and Ottawa. That’s a tradition the Raptors do their best to continue to this day, holding recent training camps in Victoria or Quebec City, and exhibition games in Montreal, Vancouver, and London. (They still owe St. John’s a game, as former Raptors general manager and current CEO of Canada Basketball Glen Grunwald is quick to remind us.) The touring Naismith Cup games were well-attended, ranging from 8,190 to 15,104 fans in attendance.
Let’s be clear — that is all on the …
Let’s be clear — that is all on the Raptors, from Larry Tanenbaum to Peddie to former general manager Glen Grunwald. Still, Carter did have legitimate power. Even if he could not swing ownership and management in the directions he wanted, such as the hiring of his childhood idol, Julius Erving as GM instead of Rob Babcock, he still had a voice. And, most of all, his game. “(Babcock) thinks (Carter’s) not part of going forward with Bosh. (Carter) is injured. He’s not engaged,” said Peddie, who has repeatedly taken the blame for the hiring of the late Babcock. “The general manager thinks he can do better, puts together that trade. I honestly believe, and I don’t know this with certainty, that Vince wanted out as well.”
Glen Grunwald, the CEO of Canada …
Glen Grunwald, the CEO of Canada Basketball, began to wonder then about the fate of a season that had held so much promise. “It’s been like a cascade, right? You heard about the virus in China and you start thinking about the pandemic movies that you’ve seen in the past, and you think. ‘That’s not going to happen,’ and then it just keeps rolling downhill and keeps getting bigger and bigger,” Grunwald said Tuesday.
Among Canada Basketball’s highlights …
Among Canada Basketball’s highlights for 2020 was the opportunity to play host to a men’s last-chance qualifying tournament in June in Victoria. Coached by Nurse, the Canadian team was expected to feature a who’s who of NBA players. “FIBA is fully intent on running it here in Canada in Victoria [next summer],” Grunwald said, adding Victoria’s organizing committee is also on board for the postponed event. “I think it’s a good outcome of a bad situation,” he said. “There’s obviously a lot of details to be worked out, but I think it’s very positive for our men’s program.”
“I know FIBA want NBA players to be …
“I know FIBA want NBA players to be able to participate in the Olympics, and I know the Olympics want the NBA, the best athletes, to be participating as well,” Grunwald said. “So I’m sure they’re going to try and work the schedule around where NBA players will be available. But again, all the details need to be worked out.”