Who is the greatest commentator in Toronto Raptors history?

Play-by-play commentary is crucial to the sports-watching experience. The Toronto Raptors have had a few good commentators over the years. Who is the greatest of all time?

When you watch the Toronto Raptors, at a pub or in the comfort of your home, you are focusing on the players playing the game. You watch expecting to be entertained by outstanding performances— you want to see something you haven’t seen before (or at least not recently).

What about the role of play-by-play commentary? Unless you are at Scotiabank Arena or watching the game somewhere at a distance with the sound muted, the broadcasters covering the event are essential to your viewing experience.

Uninspired performances can leave you feeling flat. Good commentary, however, can elevate a basketball game, engaging the audience by not only narrating the action as it happens but making you feel the mood and drama.

So just like we do with players that play(ed) for the Toronto Raptors, it is only fitting that we rank the team’s best commentators.

For the purposes of this ranking, we are only going to focus on broadcasters with the longest tenure who’ve called Toronto Raptors games on television. The main guys. That leaves Paul Romanuk, Dan Shulman, Rod Black, Sherman Hamilton and John Saunders as honourable mentions.

So which commentator is the greatest of all time? Let’s rank the candidates, past and present, to see who reigns supreme.