Toronto finally gets the first pick

I haven't really cared much about the NBA anymore, but Toronto getting the first pick in tonight's draft reminds me of a burr I still have with the NBA.

When the Toronto Raptors and the Vancouver Grizzlies entered the NBA, they were not allowed to get the first pick in the NBA draft for a few years. They were the only teams in professional sports denied this basic right to improve. Tonight was the first time any Canadian team ever had the first pick.

As for the theory that it was done because they were expansion teams, these two teams were the only two that ever had this restriction, and they are the only two Canadian franchises.

The NBA also did nothing to help the Grizzlies stay in Vancouver. The Grizzlies and Raptors struggled in part due to the inability to get the first pick. I don't know what David Stern (NBA commissioner) has against Canada. But it was disappointing that a league that prides itself on internationalism screwed Canada over in a big way.

And by the way, basketball was invented by a Canadian. Dr. James Naismith, known worldwide as the inventor of basketball, was born in 1861 near Almonte, Ontario.