NBA History: 5 best Toronto Raptors players since 2000

The Toronto Raptors have been in existence since 1995, along with their then expansion NBA franchise cousin, the Vancouver Grizzlies (now Memphis). Toronto has had an intriguing 24-year history. Some of that history has been great, some good and some bad.

There was the 2001 second round of the playoffs between the Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers'. In that playoff matchup, Vince Carter and Allen Iverson put on a clinic of clutch basketball in a seven-game series won by Philadelphia.

The last five seasons with the team led by Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan have been an incredible stretch of basketball for Raptors fans. There have also been moments when the team drafted utterly forgettable players like center Rafael Araujo.

The Raptors have also had some great players that the fanbase will never ever forget. Here is a look at the five best Raptors in the last 19 years of their history.

#1 Vince Carter

Vince Carter's #15 jerseys are still seen around the city of Toronto quite frequently. His rise to stardom also coincided with the Toronto Raptors first three-year playoff run from 2000-2002.

Toronto had always been seen as a hockey town and Vince Carter was Toronto’s first basketball superstar. He was given three unique nicknames. 'Vinsanity, half-man half-amazing, and Air Canada'. They were all related to the fact that Carter had an tremendous leaping ability and used it often to make incredible shots or punish rims around the NBA with exciting dunks.

Carter spent six and a half seasons in Toronto but not all of it pleased the fans. However, a 2017 documentary film known as the Carter Effect details just how much of a positive effect #15 had on the development of basketball in Toronto and Canada.

Carter was traded to the New Jersey Nets in 2004 but still ranks third overall in Raptors history with 9,420 points. Carter is also fifth in Raptors history in steals with 534 steals and fifth in three-pointers made in a Raptors uniform with 554.

Now in his 21st season playing for the Atlanta Hawks, Carter may be close to retirement at the end of this 2018-19 season.

#2 Kyle Lowry

After trading for Kawhi Leonard in the summer of 2018, the Toronto Raptors have further placed all their eggs in one basket, banking on all or nothing in the 2019 NBA playoffs, by trading for Marc Gasol at the trade deadline last month.

A huge part of those moves is 32-year-old point guard Kyle Lowry. He has been the engine and the the heart of the Toronto Raptors in the last five seasons.

When Kyle Lowry is dominant, the Toronto Raptors have usually benefited in the win column. He is often taking charges in the defensive end of the court, directing his teammates like a player-coach and playing with intensity.

However, at 32, he is not a spring chicken and back ailments have cost him games this season. It is clear Raptors management are giving him all the help he needs to push this franchise into a level of success it has never before reached before his time is up.

The end game is a hopeful berth in the NBA Finals in 2019. Since arriving in Toronto via trade from Houston in 2012, Lowry has become perhaps the Raptors best point guard ever.

Lowry is fourth all-time in scoring as a Raptor with 8,527 points, he is second with 3,449 assists, first in steals with 733, and first in three-pointers made with 1,204. Under his leadership on the court, 2019 will be Toronto ’s sixth consecutive year in the playoffs.

#3 DeMar DeRozan

DeMar DeRozan is a current member of the San Antonio Spurs. The shooting guard was initially drafted by the Toronto Raptors in 2009.

DeRozan has carved out a 10 year NBA career so far. In those 10 years, he has appeared in four all-star games as a Raptor. Generally speaking, he has gotten better every year either in scoring or improving other aspects of his game.

Along with Kyle Lowry, DeRozan led the Toronto Raptors in their longest and most sustained stretch of playoff appearances between 2014 and 2018 (five years) and it will continue this year without him.

If Lowry was the heart of the team, then DeRozan was a scoring machine. In clutch situations, it was always DeRozan or Lowry making the big shots. DeRozan had five consecutive seasons scoring 20 or more points a game in his nine seasons in Toronto. As a Raptors' player, he averaged 27.3ppg in 2017.

He is the all-time leader for now in minutes played 22,986, points scored in 13,296, games played 675, and free throws made with 3,539 during his time in Toronto.

#4 Chris Bosh

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Chris Bosh was drafted in 2003 and he was the next Raptors superstar to lead the team into the playoffs after Vince Carter. Bosh, like Carter, broke the hearts of Toronto Raptors fans, when in the summer of 2010, he decided to leave for Miami where he won two NBA Championships with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.

However, before he did that he led Toronto admirably for six of the seven seasons he was there. He also helped return the Raptors to the playoffs in 2007 and 2008 for the first time since the 2002 playoffs.

Bosh’s career was cut short by blood clots but he had a 13-year career averaging 19.2ppg and 8.5rpg. His last season in Toronto was perhaps his best as he averaged a double-double at 24ppg and 10.8rpg. He appeared in 11 all-star games, five of them in a Raptors’ uniform.

Drafted initially as a power forward, Bosh often played center for Toronto and is second all-time in points with 10,275, first in rebounds with 4,776, first in blocked shots with 600, second inn minutes played with 18,815 and second in free throws made with 2,997 during his time as a Toronto Raptors basketball player.

#5 Jonas Valanciunas

The Toronto Raptors 24-year history has been plagued by never really finding a center they could rely upon. They had some decent options at the pivot from Oliver Miller, Marcus Camby, Antonio Davis, and Andrea Bargnani.

However, there was always a flaw like, they not being in shape, injury prone, didn’t want to be in Toronto or inconsistent. The trouble at the pivot spot has not ended as current Raptors' management decided to trade Valanciunas last month for 33-year-old Marc Gasol.

Jonas Valanciunas was drafted by the Raptors in 2011. The 7-footer spent a year after he was drafted in Europe before making his way to the Raptors in 2012. While Raptors management may not have been sold on the big man’s talent, he is an absolute fan favorite in Toronto.

He has averaged 11.8ppg and 8.4rpg as a Raptor. He has always shown double-double potential but Raptors management has constantly cited concerns about his footwork, speed, and defense. It has meant in recent seasons Valanciunas was not used in the fourth quarter of games, and this season before the trade he was coming off the bench behind Serge Ibaka.

Through it all, Valanciunas has done what the team asked and never complained. What cements him as one of Toronto’s best basketball players since 2000 is the fact that his talents combined with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan to form the nucleus of the Raptors team that has perennially made the playoffs from 2014 until his trade in February 2019.

At times, over the last five playoff seasons, Valanciunas was arguably the Raptors best playoff performer when healthy.

At the time of his departure for Memphis this season, Valanciunas is seventh all-time in Raptors player in scoring with 5,524, second in rebounds with 3,961, and third in blocked shots with 479.