BURNABY, B.C. — Amir Johnson is considering renting a bike to ride by the big billboard that bears his likeness in downtown Vancouver.
“That’s dope,” he said of the huge advertisement he spotted from the team bus to practice.
Billboards of Johnson and Toronto teammate DeMar DeRozan and the Raptors’ “We The North” slogan dot downtown Vancouver roadsides. Commercials play on TV screens, and posters line bus shelters — advertisements for the team’s pre-season game Sunday at Rogers Arena, and part of the team’s ongoing efforts to make the Raptors truly Canada’s team.
“‘We the North,’ spreading it around,” said Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri. “We want to get to every part of the country, we think it’s big for us, we want to be Canada’s team, and I think it’s good momentum and good movement for us with the players.
“There’s a huge advantage to being the only team in the country, and this used to be an NBA city, great fans here, great support.”
The Raptors’ pre-season opener against the Sacramento Kings at the 18,630-seat Rogers Arena is expected to be a sellout — only 70 scattered single tickets remained Friday morning.
Ujiri said he gets a sense of growing support for the Raptors in Vancouver, home to the NBA’s Grizzlies from 1995-2001. Toronto’s thrilling playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets last spring — the team’s first post-season appearance in six seasons — didn’t hurt.
“I think the key thing is winning,” Ujiri said. “I’ve always said it, if you want the following, if you want to be on TV, if you want fans, your culture has to be great, and winning comes with that too.”
The Raptors traditionally hold camp outside Toronto — the past two seasons were in Halifax. It was in Ottawa the two seasons before that.
The team is practising at Fortius Sport & Health in Burnaby, B.C., a shiny almost-new facility that combines medical and training facilities for some of the country’s top athletes. While the Raptors practised Friday, Christine Sinclair, Diana Matheson and the rest of Canada’s women’s soccer team trained on the pitch out back.
The Raptors scouted the facility last winter, then coach Dwane Casey took a look at it a few weeks ago, and liked it so much, he doubled the team’s time there from two to four days.
One plus for the players: the building has dorm rooms, so they’re able to rest between practices.
After Friday’s practice, the players loaded onto two busses, one headed for a hospital to visit with sick children, the other to the Strathcona Community Centre — situated in one of the country’s poorest area codes — where DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and several other players put the kids in the centre’s basketball program through a spirited clinic.
“I’m loving Vancouver,” said Lowry, who helped cut the ribbon the new basketball court there. “I can’t wait to get in front of the fans and play. Very excited. I think my whole team is very excited.”
The presence of the Raptors in Vancouver has once again created talk about the return of an NBA team to the west coast city. The Grizzlies were moved to Memphis 13 years ago.
“I’ve always said that (Vancouver have an NBA franchise),” Casey said. “Vancouver and Seattle both, you’re preaching to the choir with that because I think it’s a great basketball city. So is Seattle (the SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008 and became the Thunder).
“Those two cities, I think the fans there are a second Toronto as far as their fans are concerned. Both cities are passionate about basketball, and I think we’ll see it Sunday once we play here.”
The Raptors will likely return to Vancouver for camp, as early as next season.
They’ll also make a stop in Montreal this pre-season. They play the New York Knicks on Oct. 24 there.
