Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

1998–99 Vancouver Grizzlies season

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Head coach
  
Brian Hill

Arena
  
General Motors Place

Playoff finish
  
DNQ

Owner(s)
  
John McCaw, Jr.

Record
  
8–42 (.160)

Place
  
Division: 7th (Midwest)Conference: 14th (Western)

The 1998–99 NBA season was the Grizzlies' fourth season in the National Basketball Association. During the offseason, the Grizzlies signed free agent Cherokee Parks. After playing in 19 games, Sam Mack was traded back to the Houston Rockets midway through the season. In a lockout shortened season cut to 50 games, top draft pick Mike Bibby had a solid rookie season averaging 13.2 points and 6.5 assists per game as he was named to the All-Rookie First Team. In addition, Shareef Abdur-Rahim continued to improve posting a career high of 23.0 points per game. However, a knee injury limited Bryant Reeves to just 25 games as the Grizzlies struggled again, returning to last place in the Midwest Division with a league worst record of 8–42. Following the season, Tony Massenburg was traded to the Houston Rockets.

Contents

Draft picks

The Grizzlies' first draft pick was Mike Bibby, which was the second overall pick in the draft.

Roster Notes

  • Forward J. R. Henderson holds Japanese and American dual citizenship. He was born in the United States but played for the Japanese national team.

    • Regular season

    Due to the 1998–99 NBA lockout, the NBA would see a shortened schedule for the 1998–99 season, as every team would play 50 games, compared to 82 in a normal season. The Grizzlies began the season with their best start in franchise history, as they had a 3-3 record in their first six games, the latest in a season that the club had a .500 record. Vancouver would fall into a bad streak, losing sixteen of their next seventeen games, which included a thirteen-game losing streak, to fall out of the playoff picture. Wins would be few and far between for the remainder of the season, as the Grizzlies ended the year with a record of 8-42, which represented a .160 winning percentage, the lowest in team history. Vancouver finished with the worst record in the league for the third time in four seasons.

    Highs

  • On February 16, 1999, Vancouver defeats the Los Angeles Clippers 93-89 in double overtime, to even their record to 3-3, the latest they had ever been .500 in a season. This would be their only road win of the season.
  • On February 23, 1999, Shareef Abdur-Rahim leads the Grizzlies with 28 points, as they stun the Los Angeles Lakers with a 93-83 victory, recording their first ever victory against the Lakers.

    • Lows

  • On February 21, 1999, the Grizzlies lose to their expansion cousins, the Toronto Raptors 102-87 in the first game played at the Raptors' new arena, the Air Canada Centre.
  • On March 16, 1999, Vancouver loses 87-85 to the Seattle SuperSonics, extending their losing streak to a season high thirteen games.

    • Player statistics

    .

    Awards and records

  • Mike Bibby, NBA All-Rookie Team First Team

    • Transactions

    The Grizzlies signed free agent Cherokee Parks, who spent the 1997–98 season with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Parks averaged 7.1 points in 79 games with Minnesota last season.

    The San Antonio Spurs and Grizzlies made a trade, with Vancouver sending Antonio Daniels to the Spurs for Felipe López and Carl Herrera. Lopez was the Spurs' first round draft pick in the 1998 NBA draft.

    References

    1998–99 Vancouver Grizzlies season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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