2016 NBA All-Star Game Must Serve As Recruiting Tool

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Next year’s NBA All-Star Game is scheduled to take place in Toronto and Wednesday, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) unveiled the official logo for the 2016 mid-season showcase, which features the CN Tower, the NBA logo and the Raptors’ black and red colour scheme.

The logo looks great and the other announcements that were made in conjunction with unveiling the logo – including a new Raptors training facility and eventually an NBA Developmental League team – thrust Toronto into the spotlight on the hardwood. During that week, the Raptors brass, MLSE and the City of Toronto has to put its best foot forward and turn the 2016 All-Star Game into a recruiting tool.

Over Toronto’s 20-year history in the NBA, the club has seen far more marquee free agents (or would-be free agents) leave town than relocate to “The Big Smoke,” as frigid temperatures, increased taxes and being stuck as the second fiddle in a hockey-mad city never seemed all that appealing to players looking for a place to sign. Despite the fact that Toronto boasts one of the largest metropolitan areas in The Association and one of the most diverse populations in the league, smaller markets with a larger share of the spotlight and fewer taxes have always won out.

In order for the Raptors to become legitimate contenders in the NBA, that has to change and there is no better time to shift that perception than when the best of the basketball world convene in the city next February.

Toronto is coming off back-to-back years where they established a franchise record in wins, but got bounced in the opening round of the NBA playoffs. They have a solid backcourt tandem in Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, a potential breakout candidate in the middle with Jonas Valanciunas and a respected general manager in Masai Ujiri, but there are elements the team is missing and that showed against Washington in the playoffs.

Some of that comes from not being able to attract top-flight talent or retain the few elite players the club has been able to draft over the years. Vince Carter demanded a trade. Chris Bosh took his talents to South Beach. Steve Nash picked Los Angeles over Canada’s lone NBA outpost.

Some of it comes from players not having a familiarity with the city; not understanding what a robust and passionate fan base there is in Toronto and how much there is to do around town. Yes, paying additional taxes to play in Canada is rough and compounded when the option of signing in Florida or Texas – two states without state tax – exists, but this is a team that is one ore two pieces away from being title contenders (especially coming out of the East) and if every there was a time for Drake to earn his Global Ambassador badge, it’s during All-Star Weekend next year.

This needs to be a weekend where the best of the city is on full display and the fans show up en masse to remind the all-stars that roll into town that this team gets a great deal of support despite sharing a building and column inches with the Maple Leafs.

If the 2016 All-Star Weekend can’t convince future free agents that Toronto is a place they should consider signing, the Raptors will remain stuck in the second tier of NBA teams.