The Grizzlies didn't fail as much as they got mismanaged and then swindled by an owner who said he wouldn't move the team
they were not really any more worse off than Toronto, their management team was terrible in drafting and free agents etc.
I think David Stern said in an interview a few years ago that the league messed up the Vancouver NBA franchise, found it
Quote:
"I wish we hadn't had the Vancouver experience," he said on the BS Report. "Great city, and we disappointed them and we disappointed ourselves."
The Grizzlies left Vancouver for Memphis after six awful seasons, none of which featured a playoff appearance. They made bad draft choices (Steve Francis, Bryant Reeves), bad coaching decision (Stu Jackson, Brian Winters) and compiled an astoundingly bad 101-359 record before leaving for Memphis.
So terrible was the NBA experience in Vancouver that Stern basically ruled out the possibility that the league would ever consider giving it another shot in B.C.'s biggest city.
"I don't think we can go back," he said. "I think that was a great city, and I think we just didn't take advantage of the opportunity."
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but no, the nba wouldn't go/work in calgary