Toronto Raptors: Top 5 seasons in franchise history

The Toronto Raptors’ history is preceded by the Toronto Huskies, who represented Toronto way back in 1946. That season would be the Huskies only season and was no more successful than the Raptors’ inaugural season. The Huskies would win just 22 games out of a 60 game schedule in what then was the BAA, now the NBA, and would fold as a franchise by 1947.

The Raptors began life in the NBA in a similar fashion, winning just 21 games in 1995. The 1997-98 season would be the absolute worst seasons for the Toronto Raptors as they would only win 16 games that season. Contributing to the poor play was a mass exodus of front staff, coaches, and player demands to be traded.

Head coach Darrell Walker quit on the team, and many players either drafted like  Damon Stoudamire or acquired in free agency by Thomas were unwilling to stay in Toronto. It was a tumultuous time no one in Toronto wants to revisit anytime soon.

The past seven seasons have been great for the Toronto franchise, however, as they have consistently made it to the postseason, proving once and for all that a team in Toronto can be a viable contender year in and year out. The Raptors have rewritten the franchise’s history books over the last few years.

Here is a look at the five best seasons the Toronto franchise has had to date.

These are the best five seasons in Toronto Raptors history

Toronto Raptors All-Time best season No. 5: 2000-01

It would be easy to select any of the past seven Raptors seasons as their best, seeing how five of them resulted in 50 plus regular-season wins. All seven resulted in playoff appearances. However, the 2000-01 Toronto edition was the first time Raptors nation tasted any playoff success.

The second consecutive season ended with playoff action in Toronto, and the Raptors knocked off the New York Knicks in a 5 game first-round playoff series. But before the playoffs began, the Raptors qualified for the playoffs on the strength of a 47-35 record, two wins better than the previous season.

2000/01 was the first season the Raptors were coached by former NBA star Lenny Wilkins, who owns 1,332 wins as a coach and sits third all-time behind Gregg Popovich and Don Nelson in the most wins category by head coaches.

There was also turnover on the roster. In January 2001, they acquired Keon Clark, a long lanky, energetic and athletic power forward, from Dallas for Kevin Willis, Garth Joseph,  Alex Radojevic, and a second-round draft pick. Two other deals occurred in February when the Raptors acquired point guard Chris Childs for Muggsy Bogues and Mark Jackson before adding Jerome Williams.

The Raptors would go 17-9 after the February trade deadline deals, eventually knocking off the New York Knicks in the playoffs. The season wasn’t done because during the height of “Vinsanity,” the third year Raptor, Vince Carter, had an epic showdown with another NBA great, Allen Iverson, in the second round of the playoffs.

Against Iverson’s Philadelphia 76ers, Carter would score 35 points in game one, 50 in game three, and 39 in-game six. In the seventh and deciding game, Carter could muster only 20 points in a losing effort, and the Raptors would have to wait 15 years before getting another chance to advance to the Eastern Conference Final.