You may know who Dallas Maverick’s star Luka Dončić is, but do you know his godfather was once a Toronto Raptor?
Before Arrival
Nestrović was selected 17th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1998 NBA draft. Known as “Rasho”, he played at the Center position. He remained with the Timberwolves for four years, but left to the San Antonio Spurs via free agency in 2003. Although the Timberwolves were offering him a similar contract worth $12 million more, Nesterović opted for the move for a shot at the NBA title, signing a six-year contract (see D Perko’s article). Spur’s coach Gregg Popovich at the time believed he would be the replacement for David Robinson. Rasho did win the NBA title with the 2004-2005 San Antonio Spurs.
On 21 June 2006, Nesterović, along with cash, was sent to the Toronto Raptors from the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Matt Bonner, Eric Williams, and a 2009 2nd round pick (Jack McClinton was later selected).
Since being drafted in 1998, on April 2, 2008, Rasho makes his first ever NBA regular season 3-pointer on a buzzer beater.
Rasho was a welcome addition to the Raptors that did not have a traditional center. He was instrumental in the playoffs
The Departure and arrival again
On 9 July 2008, Rasho was traded by the Toronto Raptors with Maceo Baston, T.J. Ford and Roy Hibbert to the Indiana Pacers for Nathan Jawai and Jermaine O’Neal.
After a year with the Indiana Pacers, 30 July 2009, Rasho signed as a free agent with the Toronto Raptors for one more year, his final year in the NBA. He left in 2010-11 for Olympiakos of the EuroLeague for one more year before retirement.
Side Story – From Luka’s godfather to father, and Vlade Divac
Nesterović, being a fellow Slovenian, became the godfather of Luka Dončić.
On an interesting side note regarding fathers, Luka’s biological father, Saša Dončić, is a Slovenian professional basketball coach and former player.
Questions arose when Serbian Vlade Divac, the former NBA player and current general manager of the Sacramento Kings, passed on Slovenian Luka with the second overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft. For a quick geography lesson, Serbia and Slovenia were both part of Yugoslavia before 1991 and both countries now are on friendly terms.
Last November, an article written by Peter Botte suggested that it was because Vlade Divac disliked Luka Dončić’s father that caused the Kings to draft Marvin Bagley III (Deandre Ayton went first to the Phoenix Suns) instead. Luka went on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award.
The Card: 1998 Sage – Autographs #A36
SA•GE Collectibles, Inc., a small independent card company, describes themselves as operating in the same manner like small, independent breweries and wineries where making quality and unique product are the company’s mission.
Tom Geideman and Robert Sadlak were at ScoreBoard, Inc. serving as Director of Marketing and Director of Operations respectively. After ScoreBoard, Inc went into bankruptcy, they borrowed the first two letters of their last names to incorporate SA•GE in June of 1998.
Tom Geideman is well-known in the card industry as being responsible for creating the iconic 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie Card. He was interviewed on the 2018 trading card documentary, Jack of all Trades.
The 1998 SA•GE collection contained cards of players after the NBA draft. The card front shows a close-up of Rasho’s face, while he is pictured in a jersey with the sponsor “Kinder” at the back. There are no licenses shown on the card. Kinder is the company that makes “Kinder Surprise eggs”, a product brand line of Italian confectionery multinational Ferrero SpA. It had become the new sponsor of Italian basketball team Virtus Bologna in 1996, and with Rasho joining in 1997 (the year before being drafted in the NBA), and won the EuroLeague title.
This card was serial numbered to 455/999 hand-written on the holographic sticker. The card back provides no statistics and/or extensive player biographies.
After Jones was born and his mother took him home from the hospital, his brother was watching Popeye on TV. When asked what name to name his baby brother, he said “Popeye.”
Before Arrival
Popeye Jones was selected by Houston in the second round (41st overall) of the 1992 NBA Draft. On 30 June 1993, the Houston Rockets traded his rights to the Dallas Mavericks for Eric Riley. Jones played one season in Europe before beginning his first of two stints with Dallas in 1993.
On 9 January 1996, in a game against the Indiana Pacers, Jones had 28 rebounds. As of this post, these 28 rebounds by Jones is still the record for most rebounds by a Maverick in a game.
Besides rebounding, Jones was also a film reviewer with Tony Dumas as a member of the Mavericks for Blockbuster Video.
As a Maverick, Popeye, along with Dallas teammate Tony Dumas, reviewed films related to basketball for Blockbuster Video.
On 23 July 1996, the Dallas Mavericks traded Jones, along with a 1997 1st round draft pick (John Thomas was later selected) to the Toronto Raptors for Jimmy King, a 1998 2nd round draft pick (Ansu Sesay was later selected) and a 1999 2nd round draft pick (Gordan Giriček was later selected). Toronto had the option to swap 1st round draft picks with Dallas in 1997 (a draft pick owned by Dallas that was originally owned by Minnesota) but did not do so.
Popeye Jones’ name origin is discussed when he joined the Toronto Raptors
Popeye still remembers defeating the Chicago Bulls on 8 December 1996 by a score of 97-89 as a fond memory during his time as a Toronto Raptor.
“I always tease him one of those regular-season losses I was on an expansion Toronto Raptors team, and we beat their butts. In Toronto and gave them one of their losses, but then we went to Chicago, and he had ice on his knees midway through the third [quarter] and they were up by 30 on us.”.
– Popeye Jones quoted in Basketball Society
The game that the Bulls were up by 30 that Jones referred to should be the 25 January 1997 game where the Raptors lost in Chicago 110-98.
The Departure
On 18 February 1998, Jones was traded, along with Kenny Anderson and Žan Tabak to the Boston Celtics for Chauncey Billups, Dee Brown, Roy Rogers, and John Thomas. Popeye would later go on to play for the Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards, returning to Dallas Mavericks, and finally the Golden State Warriors.
Retirement Career
After retirement, Jones first became an assistant coach for the New Jersey/ Brooklyn Nets from 2010-2013. He went on to become assistant coach of the Indiana Pacers .
Popeye has three sons, Justin, Seth and Kaleb, all of whom are professional players. Interestingly, all three became hockey, not basketball players. In particular, Seth Jones was an NHL All-Star in 2017 and 2019.
The Card: 1997-98 Skybox Premium – Autographics #NNO
The 1997-98 Skybox Premium Autographics sets were on card autographs inserted into 1997-98 SkyBox Premium (set of 250 cards) packs. These cards were considered rare, although no serial numbers were printed on the card. Unlike in the 1996-97 set, no numbers were assigned to these cards. There were a total of 117 cards in the Autographics set, with three players on the Toronto Raptors that year – Marcus Camby and Walt Williams.
Skybox itself was a NASDAQ traded company from 1993 to 1995. In 1995, the comic-empire Marvel Entertainment Group (now owned by the Walt Disney Company) purchased SkyBox for $150 million. Marvel merged SkyBox and Fleer as Fleer/SkyBox International. Regarding autographs, Marvel was considered to have a positive influence on Fleer/SkyBox, as the Skybox Premium Autographics autographed insert set covered many players. This insert set discontinued when Marvel sold Fleer/Skybox in 1999. To learn more about Fleer/Skybox, click here.
Resources:
L Buford. “Popeye Jones Reminisces on Raptors Beating Jordan’s Bulls in 1996.” Basketball Society, 16 April 2020. https://basketballsocietyonline.com/popeye-jones-beating-jordan-bulls-1996 (Note: this article refers to the 26 March 2006 win against the Chicago Bulls, however, that reference is incorrect since Popeye was still on the Dallas Mavericks at that time)
A short stint as a Raptor, Jackson later became an NBA coach, a victim of an extortion involving the FBI, and a Christian pastor attempting to heal Stephen Curry. He even appeared on a New York Knicks basketball card that included two murderers at court-side.
Before Arrival
Mark Jackson was selected 18th overall by the New York Knicks in the 1987 NBA draft. He would go on to play for the Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, and the Denver Nuggets (who traded Jackson back to the Pacers after just eight months), before arriving to Toronto.
On 11 August 2000, at age 35, Jackson signed with the Toronto Raptors as a free agent to afour-year, $14 million deal. He was brought in with the cap space that was freed up due to Tracy McGrady leaving Toronto to sign with the Orlando Magic.
On 8 December 2000 in a game against the Golden State Warriors, Jackson surpasses Isiah Thomas in the All-Time Assists Per Game while as a Raptor.
To this day, Jackson holds the highest assists per game than any other Raptors at 9.2. For perspective, other notable point guards in Raptors history were Damon Stoudamire at 8.8 APG, Jose Calderon at 7.2 APG, and Kyle Lowry at 7.1 APG. However, Jackson’s defense and foot-speed had become a concern and his time as a Raptor was short-lived.
The Departure
On 22 February 2001, a span of about six months, he was traded, along with Muggsy Bogues, to the New York Knicks for Chris Childs and a 2002 1st round draft pick, which later became Kareem Rush.
At the time of this trade, both the Raptors and Knicks were battling for playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks were the fourth seed in the East at 31-23 while the Raptors were the seventh seed at 28-27.
The trade was unpopular with some of the players, especially from Jackson’s friend and former teammate Antonio Davis at the time, who took his comments to the media.
”I think you try to see if the team is loyal to the player…you try to ask yourself, ‘If I sign with this team next year and we’re having problems are they going to jump the gun that quick and try to get rid of people?’ Those are things you ask yourself. As far as that particular trade is concerned, I can’t let it sway me one way or the other. But yeah, it’s in the back of my mind. They traded my friend. Obviously, it’s going to be a sour feeling in me.”
– Antonio Davis, quoted in the New York Times
Jackson himself also sounded displeased.
”They have to take credit for losing Tracy McGrady and losing Doug Christie…they want to take credit for the good moves. Well, take credit for the bad moves, too.”
– Mark Jackson on Raptors management
The Raptors would meet the Knicks that very same year in the first-round of the playoffs. The Raptors managed to come back from a 2-1 deficit to win the deciding game five on the Knicks’ home court.
Jackson would go on to play also for the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets before completing a successful NBA career. As of the date of this post, Jackson was 4th in NBA all-time assists with 10,334.
Retirement Career
After retirement, Mark Jackson appeared on television as an NBA broadcast commentator.
On 6 June 2011, Jackson was hired as head coach of the Golden State Warriors. After inheriting a team that had made the playoffs just once in the previous 17 years, Jackson’s team struggled to a 23–43 record. In the 2012–13 season, Jackson led the Warriors to a 47–35 record and a #6 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. The following season, the Warriors improved to 51–31, but lost in the first round of the playoffs.
Victim of Extortion
In 2012, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) filed a Criminal Complaint to the United States District Court. The FBI later confirmed that the victim in the case was referring to Mark Jackson. You can download the actual court document filed by the FBI below.
The facts of the case was that Alexis Adams and her associate, Marcus Shaw, allegedly attempted to extort up to US$200,000 from Mark Jackson so that private, nude, explicit photographs and “phone recordings” Jackson sent to Adams would not be made public.
Jackson, while working as a television analyst, met Adams in 2006, who was a dancer at a gentleman’s club in New York.
On 28 June 2012, Jackson issued the following public statement to the media:
“My family and I were the victims of an extortion scheme.
The scheme began on 3 April 2012, when the Warriors were in Memphis to play the Grizzlies. A man approached me at the team hotel with personal information which he threatened to sell to a tabloid. At the time, he demanded a substantial sum of money. Regrettably, I paid him. In retrospect, I understand that this was a terrible lapse in judgment and a course of action I would not recommend to anyone.
Following the encounter in Memphis – a little over two weeks later – the extortionist sent an e-mail and phoned my wife, Desiree, making threats and demanding additional money. At that point, I informed the Warriors about the situation and asked for their guidance. We immediately notified the FBI, which promptly began an investigation.
The personal information in the extortion scheme related to a woman that I, mistakenly, had an extra-marital relationship with six years ago – prior to joining the Warriors – when I was a TV sports analyst. I made my wife aware of the relationship at that time, apologized to her and we reconciled…
… At that time in my life, I was not pastoring. Three years ago, my wife and I established a ministry. With deepest regret, I want to apologize to my Church Family.
I was wrong. We must live Holy.”
– Mark Jackson
This may have been a shocking revelation to fans, as Jackson, even before becoming a Christian and a licensed minister, signed his cards with “God bless U” and was known as a holy man spreading his faith.
Christian Pastor
In 2009, Jackson and his wife pastor established the True Love Worship Center International in Reseda, California. The story does not end there, as Sports Illustrated had written about Jackson’s Church and their attempt to heal Stephen Curry’s injuries.
A part of the tradition at Jackson’s church was a spirited service including worshippers jogging along the walls of the congregation in praise. [Stephen] Curry, two days removed from his latest sprain, found himself taking laps with Jackson and the other members filled with the spirit. Then after Jackson’s sermon, his wife and co-pastor, Desiree, continued the worship with an impromptu sermon and benediction. She also called Curry to the altar.
They took off his shoes and socks, anointed his ankle with oil and prayed for healing. The parishioners lifted their voices in chants and amens, calling on God to bless one of His Christian ambassadors. Service at Jackson’s church was much more passionate and engaging than Curry was used to back in Charlotte. But he humbly accepted the blessing that was being offered and returned to his seat with a smile on his face.
“Where you going?” Desiree asked the star point guard in front of the congregation. Curry responded with his go-to look of bewilderment, a half smile and widened eyes. He thought he was supposed to return back among the flock when she was done.
“You don’t get a blessing from the Lord and just walk off!” she shouted. “Show us you believe in the power of God.”
It took Curry a second to understand what she meant. Then the old Bible stories rushed to his mind. Like when Jesus healed the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda, that man had to pick up his mat and walk. If he believed he was healed, he needed to show it.
So Curry started shimmying and hopping on his right foot, much to the delight of the congregation.
“I didn’t know what else to do,” Curry said.
– excerpts from M Thompson, Sports Illustrated citing “Golden: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry” by M Thompson II
On 6 May 2014, Jackson was removed as head coach of the Warriors, before the Warriors become a dynasty under head coach Steve Kerr.
The Card: 2000-01 Upper Deck Black Diamond – Gold #80
The 2000-01 Upper Deck Black Diamond – Gold set was a parallel set of 132 cards. The card was serial numbered, out of 250 or 500. This card is 327/500. Four players were in the set as Toronto Raptors that year – Vince Carter, Antonio Davis, Morris Peterson, and Mark Jackson.
As of the date of this post, Mark Jackson did not have an autographed or relic Toronto Raptors card issued by any trading card company.
Jackson’s autographs on cards can be easily distinguished because he would regularly write “God Bless”, or “God Bless U” along with his signature.
One of Jackson’s most popular cards was the 1990-91 NBA Hoops card #205 with the New York Knicks, showing the convicted Menendez brothers watching the game court-side. The full story is here.
From a Toronto Raptor to a Hong Kong Power Dragon, the story of Sharone Wright reminds us that our lives can change in any moment.
Before Arrival
Sharone Wright had great promise when he arrived in the league. He was selected 6th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1994 NBA draft. He appeared in 79 games and averaged 11.4 points and 6 rebounds per game in his rookie year and was named to the 1994-1995 NBA All-Rookie Second Team.
This NBA All-Rookie Second Team included three other players that would also later become Raptors:
Eric Montross, Boston Celtics
Jalen Rose, Denver Nuggets
Donyell Marshall (tie with Sharone Wright), Golden State Warriors
1995 Upper Deck All Rookie Team cards #161, #163, #164, and #165,
On 22 February 1996, Sharone Wright was traded to Toronto from the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Tony Massenburg, Ed Pinckney, and an option for Philadelphia to swap 1st round draft picks with Toronto in either 1996 or 1997. Instead, the 76ers received two Raptors 2nd round draft picks when they did not exercise the option:
the 76ers received the 1996 2nd round draft pick (Ryan Minor was later selected) because the 76ers did not swap first round picks with Raptors in 1996; and
the 76ers received the 1997 2nd round draft pick (James Collins was later selected) because they did not swap 1996 or 1997 first round picks with Raptors.
Sharone Wright made an immediate impact in his first season as a Raptor in 1995-1996, contributing to 16.5 PPG.
“… I got to say being on the early teams with the Raptors was the best time that I had because I was around guys that I kind of grew up in basketball with. Shawn Respert, Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby, Doug Christie, we were all really cool. We had been at Nike Camp in New Jersey together–we were all on a lot of select teams together–it just seemed like we all started on that team and we had grown up together. That was the best time of my career, being a part of that team. We were surrounded by John Long, Alvin Robertson and other guys like that who we learned from.”
– Sharone Wright responding to his greatest moment in the NBA in Slam!
Although his playing time was reduced after Marcus Camby was drafted, a highlight was the win against the Chicago Bulls. On 8 December 2006, he scored 17 points defeating the eventual NBA champions Chicago Bulls (69-13) by the score 97-89. The following clip was the post-game interview:
Interview with Sharone Wright at 1:15 after the Raptors defeated the Chicago Bulls
The Departure
In July 2007, while still a member of the Raptors, Wright’s NBA career was cut short by a car accident in Macon, Georgia. He suffered multiple injuries, including broken arms and collarbone. This sudden change of unfortunate events changed his life. He retired as a Toronto Raptor after an unsuccessful seven-game return late in the 1997-98 season.
You can read more about Wright in the Slam! article in the resources below.
Playing for “Hong Kong”
In 2002-2003, Sharone Wright (莱特) flew to Mainland China to play in the the Chinese Basketball Association for the Hong Kong Power Dragon (香港飛龍), wearing number 17 in the team’s one and only season. The “Hong Kong” team name was not accurate since the team was not based in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong at all. It was located north of Hong Kong’s border in Shenzhen, China. The Dragon’s home court was at Luohu District Stadium (深圳羅湖區體育館). According to Baidu, there were only two players from Hong Kong on the team, and the two players never played a single game.
Sharone Wright with the Hong Kong Power Dragon. Images courtesy of sports.sohu.com.
The two teams with the worst records in the 14-team (as it then was) CBA would go on to play in the relegation round by a best-of-five series, with the losing team being relegated. However, Hong Kong Power Dragon could not afford to even play the relegation round and was relegated directly. Therefore, the teams with the second and third worst records played the relegation round that year. Hong Kong Power Dragon eventually disbanded due to financial problems in less than a year after its establishment.
Team
W
L
PCT
GB
Home
Road
Hong Kong Power Dragons
1
25
.040
22
1–12
0–13
The team managed one win in their one and only season in 2002-2003.
One might wonder why a team in Shenzhen needed to use the “Hong Kong” name for their CBA team. The team was formed just before Shenzhen’s development took off. To put things in perspective, the grand opening of the Shenzhen Metro system happened on 28 December 2004, marking what was the beginning of exponential growth for the city. As of this post, the Shenzhen Metro system has 215 stations, whereas the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway system has 84.
In 2018, Shenzhen’s economy surpassed Hong Kong’s for the first time, reaching HK$2.87 trillion compared to Hong Kong’s HK$2.85 trillion in the same year. It is unlikely now that a Shenzhen team would use “Hong Kong” as a name that needed to ride the coattails of a neighbouring economy.
The Card: 1996-97 Skybox Premium – Autographics #95
The 1996-97 Skybox Premium Autographics sets were on card autographs inserted into 1996-97 SkyBox Premium (set of 281 cards) packs. These cards were considered rare, although no serial numbers were printed on the card. There were a total of 95 cards in the Autographics set, with four players on the Toronto Raptors that year – Marcus Camby, Damon Stoudamire, Zan Tabak, and Sharone Wright.
Skybox itself was a NASDAQ traded company from 1993 to 1995. In 1995, the comic-empire Marvel Entertainment Group (now owned by the Walt Disney Company) purchased SkyBox for $150 million. Marvel merged SkyBox and Fleer as Fleer/SkyBox International. Regarding autographs, Marvel was considered to have a positive influence on Fleer/SkyBox, as the Skybox Premium Autographics autographed insert set covered many players. This insert set discontinued when Marvel sold Fleer/Skybox in 1999. To learn more about Fleer/Skybox, click here.
Tony Massenburg was the definition of a “journeyman”, playing for 12 different NBA teams throughout his career, including the inaugural Raptors.
Before Arrival
Tony Massenburg began his NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs after being drafted 43rd overall in the second round of the 1990 NBA Draft. He then moved on to play with the Charlotte Hornets, Boston Celtics, and Golden State Warriors, before playing in Europe. From 1992 until 1994, Massenburg played for Pallacanestro Reggiana in Italy, then Unicaja Málaga, and Barcelona in Spain.
He returned to the NBA for the 1994-1995 NBA season with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Second round pick as the 43rd pick overall by the San Antonio Spurs in 1990
On 24 June 1995, Massenburg was drafted by the Toronto Raptors from the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA expansion draft.
Massenburg would have the same scoring average while with the Raptors (10.1 PPG) as Dee Brown. Coincidentally, both were drafted in the 1990 NBA draft (Brown was drafted in the first round, 19th overall).
His time with the Toronto Raptors was short-lived.
The Departure
On 22 February 1996, Massenburg was traded with Ed Pinckney to the Philadelphia 76ers for Sharone Wright. Philadelphia also had the option to swap 1st round draft picks with Toronto in either 1996 or 1997. If they did not use the option, they received the Raptors 2nd round draft picks:
the 76ers received the 1996 2nd round draft pick (Ryan Minor was later selected) because the 76ers did not swap first round picks with Raptors in 1996; and
the 76ers received the 1997 2nd round draft pick (James Collins was later selected) because they did not swap 1996 or 1997 first round picks with Raptors.
Massenburg had an extensive career and played in the NBA for 17 seasons (1990-2002), playing for twelve different teams. In chronological order, those teams were the San Antonio Spurs, Charlotte Hornets, Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, Vancouver Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, Utah Jazz, and the Sacramento Kings.
Being an author
After retirement, Massenburg became a sports broadcaster covering the Washington Wizards, and the author of Lessons from Lenny: The Journey Beyond a Shooting Star with former Toronto Raptor, Walt Williams.
Tony Massenburg would team up with Walt Williams, both former Raptors and University of Maryland alumni, to write a book on basketball player Len Bias
The Card: 1995-96 Ultra #179
The 1995-1996 Ultra set contained 350 cards of NBA players. These sets were separated into two series. Cards numbered 1-200 were from Series 1. Cards numbered 201-350 were from Series 2, which were issued at a later date, also came with a different design.
Series 1 was one of the first sets to feature Toronto Raptors players picked from the 1995 NBA expansion draft. It was released early so the only way to tell it was a Toronto Raptors card was the team name in the card front, and the team logo at the back.
Series 2, released later in the 1995-1996 NBA season, would have the updated roster and players in their Toronto jersey.
Therefore, this Series 1 card featured Massenburg in a Los Angeles Clippers uniform.
As of the date of this post, Massenburg did not have an autographed or relic Toronto Raptors card issued by any trading card company. He does have autographed cards issued by Skybox as a member of the Vancouver Grizzlies.
Fleer owned the Ultra brand. To learn more about Fleer, click here.
The 1991 NBA Slam Dunk champion’s most important win in Toronto may have been in court, not at the Air Canada Centre, but at Ontario’s Court of Appeal.
Before Arrival
DeCovanKadell “Dee” Brown began his NBA career with the Boston Celtics after being drafted 19th overall in the first round of the 1990 NBA Draft. Known as Dee Brown, he was popular for being the 1991 Slam Dunk champion. He spent seven and a half seasons with the Celtics, before he landed in Toronto.
On 13 February 1998, the Raptors first ever blockbuster six-player trade sent a disgruntled Damon Stoudamire, Carlos Rogers, and Walt Williams to the Portland Trail Blazers for Kenny Anderson, Gary Trent, Alvin Williams, two 1998 first-round picks and a 1998 second-round pick. Kenny Anderson refused to report to Toronto and was quickly traded away to Boston.
Dee Brown was part of this Boston trade. On trade deadline day 19 February 1998, the Raptors dealt Anderson, Zan Tabak and Popeye Jones to the Boston Celtics for the rookie point guard Chauncey Billups, Dee Brown, John Thomas, and Roy Rogers.
As reported after the trade happened, Doug Christie was less than thrilled to know that he was not traded away and was stuck with the Raptors. Butch Carter had to ask that Toronto fans not boo their own players.
Dee Brown is interviewed right after being traded to the Raptors
Dee Brown did not make a huge impact on the Raptors, but off the basketball court, he had to face the court of law.
The criminal trial and appeal
The facts are simple. On 1 November 1999 at around 12:55 a.m., a Toronto police officer engaged in general patrol duties on the Don Valley Parkway in Toronto, signalled Brown to pull over to the right shoulder of the road. The officer informed Brown that the speed limit was 90 kilometres an hour and that the respondent had been travelling “in excess” of that speed. According to the Canadian court records, the officer detected the odour of alcohol on Brown’s breath and suspected that he had alcohol in his body. Brown was on his way home from a Halloween party and said that he had consumed a couple of drinks. Brown produced a Florida driver’s licence on demand and told the officer that he played professional basketball for the Toronto Raptors. He failed the roadside screening test demanded by the officer who then arrested him for “driving over 80”.
“Driving over 80” in the province of Ontario means means that if you drive with more than 80 mg of alcohol in your 100 mL of blood, you count as driving under the influence of alcohol (“DUI“) and can face an impaired driving charge.
Brown was taken to the police station at 45 Strachan Avenue, which was the closest location where breath-testing equipment was set up. The subsequent breath analysis showed that the respondent’s blood-alcohol concentration was 140 mg of alcohol in 100 mL of blood.
Under Ontario law, this would fall within the definition of DUI. Brown was ultimately charged with driving over 80. He was convicted of DUI at first instance. This initial conviction would be the first battle before important appellate court battles for Brown.
Brown’s defense lawyers won his appeal. The summary conviction appeal judge, Trafford J., set aside Brown’s conviction based on his conclusion that the trial judge’s conduct of the trial gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias. Note that this was a procedural appeal in law, meaning the defense did not dispute that Brown did in fact commit DUI. The judge relied, inter alia (among other considerations) on the trial judge’s suggestion to Brown during sentencing that the accused apologise to the officer for the allegations against the officer for committing racial profiling against Brown.
The Crown prosecutor appealed to the Court of Appeal of Ontario. The court process had moved to 2003. Brown had since retired but flew back to Toronto to face the legal court one more time.
In Her Majesty the Queen v. Brown, there was only one issue raised at the ensuing trial: what was the reason for the officer stopping Brown on the Don Valley Parkway? Was it because the respondent was speeding and had twice crossed out of and back into the lane in which he was travelling, as testified to by the officer, or was it because he was a young black male driving an expensive car?
On 16 April 2003, the judges found for the latter. The Crown’s appeal was dismissed and Brown ‘s conviction was set aside. Brown may have won the most important court battle and it was not on an NBA court. For those interested in all the legal details detailing the explaining the legal reasoning behind a judge’s reasonable apprehension of bias, read the full judgement here.
Brown was not the only Raptor that had alcohol issues. Keon Clark was sentenced to prison for crimes related to his alcohol and drug abuse after his NBA career ended.
The Departure
Brown left via free agency in 2000 and on 3 August 2000, signed a contract with the Orlando Magic. He retired in 2002. He has been in NBA management and is now a Director of Player Programs of the Los Angeles Clippers since 2019-2020.
The Card: 1999-00 Topps Chrome #85
The 1999-2000 Topps Chrome set contained 257 cards of players. The Chrome brand was extremely popular when the basketball set began back in the 1996-1997 until 2008-2009. The chrome effect on the standard base cards elevates the look of the card with a shiny effect. The card back contains a complete NBA record and a short highlight.
Topps left producing NBA basketball cards when it lost its NBA license to the Italian group Panini S.p.A, which signed an exclusive trading card agreement with the NBA beginning the 2009-2010 season.
As of the date of this post, Dee Brown did not have an autographed or relic Toronto Raptors card issued by any trading card company.
As for the card itself, was using a photo featuring two “Browns” (no relations) on the card an Easter egg by Topps? The player on the left of Dee Brown was Charlotte Hornet’s #52, Chucky Brown. Brown had an extensive career and played in the NBA for 13 years (1989-2002). During that span, he played for twelve different teams, but never for the Raptors. Those teams were the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New Jersey Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors, and the Sacramento Kings. He won a championship with the Houston Rockets.
Even entering the Vince Carter era, the Raptors struggled to attract players from free agency, so they internationalised by bringing in “firsts” from different nationalities. Similar to Sean Marks being the first New Zealand NBA player two years prior, Garth Joesph followed by being the first Dominica NBA player. Dominica, not to be mistaken with the Dominican Republic, is a mountainous Caribbean island nation with natural hot springs and tropical rainforests.
On 2 October 2000, Joseph signed as a free agent with the Toronto Raptors at the US$316,969 minimum NBA salary.
Sources online stated that his full name was Garth McArthur “The Angel of Death” Fitzgerald Joseph, although it is a mystery why he had that nickname. At the time, people compared Joseph to Shaquille O’Neal.
Not many fans will remember Joseph as he only played two games for the Raptors. He may be most remembered as one of the pieces that brought Keon Clark to Toronto.
The Departure
On 12 January 2001, Toronto traded away Garth Joseph, along with Alek Radojevic, Kevin Willis, Toronto’s 2001 2nd round pick, and a traded player exception (TPE), to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Keon Clark, Tracy Murray and Mamadou N’Diaye.
Garth Joseph would go on to play two more games with the Denver Nuggets before being waived on 29 January 2001. He would later sign for the Sacramento Kings and Chicago Bulls in 2001 and 2003 respectively, but he did not end up playing an NBA game for them.
After retirement, Garth Joesph was inducted to the College of Saint Rose Hall of Fame, a private college located in Albany, New York.
Garth Joesph is inducted in the 2017 College of Saint Rose Hall of Fame.
As a side note, Toronto’s 2001 2nd round pick to Denver would later become Ousmane Cisse, a player that never appeared in the NBA due to injury issues. In 2003, Cisse signed with the Toronto Raptors but was released after a couple of days without ever playing with the team.
The Card: 2000-01 Fleer Futures #236
The 2000-2001 Fleer Futures set contained 250 cards of players and including 52 rookies. Players from the 2000 NBA draft, including Hidayet (Hedo) Turkoglu (201) was in part of the rookie set. Morris Peterson was the other rookie (225) in the set that was on the Toronto Raptors at the time. The card back included 2000 preseason statistics and also college statistics if you were a rookie.
The player on the right of Joseph is #24 Charlotte Hornets player Jamal Mashburn. This was the only basketball card produced for Garth Joseph (the other 2 being parallels of the same card – Gold and Black Gold).
Fleer owned the Futures brand. To learn more about Fleer, click here.
You may remember Haywoode Workman, not as a Toronto Raptors player, but as an NBA referee. He was there on the court for Kobe Bryant’s emotional last game officiating when the Los Angeles Lakers played host to the Utah Jazz on 13 April 2016.
Before Arrival
Workman was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2nd round (49th pick) in the 1989 NBA Draft. He played in Italy for a year but came back to play for the Indiana Pacers and then the Milwaukee Bucks. He was waived by Milwaukee on 7 February 2000.
On 9 February 2000, Workman was claimed off waivers by Toronto from Milwaukee. Looking at his stats, it eerily mirrors that of Chris Garner’s time as a Raptor (1.4 PPG, 0.6RPG, 1.2APG, 7.7MPG).
No one would blame you if you did not remember Workman as he only played 13 games. He never made an impact with the Raptors.
The Departure
On 14 September 2000, Workman was released by the Toronto Raptors. His career did not stop there however.
“Hey, you can’t stop anybody. You can’t go by anybody anymore, so why don’t you give me a hand refereeing this game?”
– Bob Delaney, an NBA referee from 1987 to 2011
Haywoode Workman, a Raptor to referee?
Bob Delaney met Workman in 2003 at a skills camp and got Workman into officiating. Workman was on the NBA referee roster in 2006–07 and 2007–08 as a preseason referee, while he was an NBA Development League official during the season. He was the third ex-NBA player to become an NBA referee, the first two being Bernie Fryer and Leon Wood.
According to The Post Game, former Raptor James Johnson also expressed interest in following Workman’s unique career path. “If you love the game like how we all do, you want to stay in the game as long as you can,” Johnson said. “I don’t think it’s weird; I think it’s a passion.“
The Card: 2000-01 Ultra – Gold Medallion #29G
The 2000-01 Ultra set contained 225 cards of players and including 28 rookies, carrying the NBA license.
This Gold Medallion card is a parallel of the base set. In case that was not enough, Fleer also released a Platinum Medallion parallel of the base set as well. What separates this parallel set from the base set is the card front’s background is set gold instead of just a photo and a “Gold Medallion Edition” printed on the front. The back remains the same with the exception a “G” following the card number. The set’s card back provides statistics and a short paragraph about the player.
This particular card did not include any career highlights, most likely because Workman was a true “Workman”, having already 7 NBA season experience before landing in Toronto. This was his final NBA released card, as he retired as a player after playing with Toronto.
Fleer owned the Ultra brand. To learn more about Fleer, click here.
Chris Garner’s story is about numbers. The card shows #00 being guarded by #8, Kobe Bryant. Although a short NBA career, Garner wore #00 before “Agent Zero” was even drafted.
On 2 October 1997 (one day shy of a year of signing free agent Donald Whiteside), Chris Garner was signed as a free agent with the Toronto Raptors at the US$242,000 minimum NBA salary.
Before Agent Zero (Gilbert Arenas) became Agent Zero when he was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 2001, Chris Garner wore the #0 jersey. Gilbert Arenas wore #0 to signify the number of minutes that experts predicted he would play in the NBA. Garner wore the #0 back in college at Memphis, but I have not yet found the exact reason for his choice.
He was the all-time leader in steals and second in assists at the University of Memphis, but it was not reflected in the NBA when he played for the Raptors.
The Departure
Garner was not signed following the 1997-1998 season. He returned to the NBA in 2000-2001 with the Golden State Warriors wearing #2 and not #00. This was also the year before Agent Zero was drafted by the very same team.
Garner was not the only Raptor that wore #00. The other player was Eric Montross from 2001 to 2002. Garner was later inducted into the University of Memphis Hall of Fame.
Chris Garner speaking as a University of Memphis Tiger Hall of Famer in 2007
The Card: 1997-98 Ultra – Gold Medallion #165G
The 1997-98 Ultra set contained 275 cards of players and including 47 rookies, carrying the NBA license.
This was Chris Garner’s rookie card. Rookie cards in this set would have a yellow banner stating “Rookie” on the card front. Players from the 1997 NBA draft, including Tim Duncan (131) was in part of the rookie set. Tracy McGrady was the other rookie (138) in the set that was from the Toronto Raptors.
This Gold Medallion card is a parallel of the base set. What separates this parallel set from the base set is the card front’s background is set to black and white to highlight the named player, and the player name is similar to a refractor instead of metallic green. The back remains the same with the exception of “Gold Medallion Edition” and a “G” following the card number. The set’s card back provides statistics and career highlights in bullet points.
You may have recognised Kobe Bryant wearing the #8 guarding Chris Garner on the card. Kobe wore #33 at Lower Marion High School. According to ESPN, Kobe chose #8 based on his Adidas camp number, 143. It adds up to eight, and was the number he wore in Italy when he was younger. Kobe changed to #24 in the 2006-07 season.
Fleer owned the Ultra brand. To learn more about Fleer, click here.
Not every story here ends in a fairy tale. Professional sports is a business, and the reality is that only a select few players can stay in the NBA. As for Donald Whiteside, he can be proud that he went straight from being a high school teacher in Chicago to a player for the Toronto Raptors.
On 3 October 1996, Whiteside signed as a free agent with the Toronto Raptors at the $220,000 minimum NBA salary. Whiteside’s life prior to arriving in the NBA was interesting. The Chicago Tribune wrote a feel-good story on Christmas day about Donald Whiteside here. He actually taught the history of Catholicism at his alma mater, Leo High School before signing with the Raptors.
“Donald’s a great guy to have on the bench…he’s a good person to be around, he’s a spiritual guy, and he kind of leads by example.”
– Toronto coach Darrell Walker
Glimpses of his talent is still on Youtube, but unfortunately, not every story is a fairy tale like that of Anthony Parker.
Donald Whiteside’s video featuring his second NBA game
The Departure
On 6 January 2007, just weeks after the Chicago Tribune article, Whiteside was waived having just played 27 games as a Raptor. He signed with the Atlanta Hawks in September but was waived in November, ending his NBA career.
The Card: 1996-97 Bowman’s Best #R16
The 1996-97 Bowman’s Best set contained 125 cards of players and including 25 rookies, denoted by the R in front of the number. Players from the 1996 NBA draft, including Kobe Bryant (R23) was in part of the rookie set. Marcus Camby was the other rookie (R4) in the set that was from the Toronto Raptors.
The base card contains the NBA license and shows Donald Whiteside playing in the Raptor’s jersey. There is a parallel refractor version where it would state “Refractor” under the R16 at the card back. The card back provides an interesting player biography in bullet points.
It appears that #10 on the card back is a card error since Donald Whiteside was playing in #12, as seen in the video above.
Bowman
Founded by Jacob Warren Bowman in 1927, the Bowman Gum Company first began as a Philadelphia-based manufacturer of bubble gum and trading cards in the period surrounding World War II. The other competitor at the time was Topps Chewing Gum. After a battle to sign players to exclusive contracts for their cards, Topps bought out Bowman in 1956 for $200,000.
Bowman’s Best is a division of Topps, and is made famous for its refractor cards. The “Best” line of cards is highly regarded for producing high quality rookie cards.
MoCC 