The truth is The Vancouver Grizzlies were terrible and the reason they left town was financial, but not because of the exchange rate, but because there was no support.
I'm a 50 year old man and former Sonics STH (Season Ticket Holder). I am going to tell you the story I lived through and assure you this movie did not tap into the details as the filmmaker was a near toddler and her father most likely had no United States NBA experience.
I was in my early 20's when the Griz entered the NBA, and Vancouver has always been my favorite city in North America, so Grizzly games were am amazing treat. For most of their tenure, the exchange rate was bananas! A US dollar was worth $1.40 Canadian, Grizzly tickets were also less, The cheapest courtside seat at Key Arena was $450, and chances are, you'd never get access to it, because single seats weren't available based on the Sonics being only second to Chicago in popularity. We sat courtside at, at least 2 Grizzly games a year and the tickets were about $135 US. We saw 4-5 games in Vancouver per year and it was rare GM place was ever more than half full. They used to scroll the rules of the game on the big screen for about 20 minutes prior to tipoff. No doubt there was Canadian pride, but almost no one had any idea what the game was and how it was played. There were people that would just stand and wave Canadian flags just to be seen on TV.
I honestly don't even remember if I was at a game the Griz won, but it was more about other teams like Chicago, LA, Detroit and San Antonio. Ironically, the one Bulls game we saw, Jordan didn't make the trip, but we did sit courtside behind the Lakers bench and I had a conversation with both Van Excel and O'Neal.
I don't know what the Griz issues were. Big Country, never produced and Shareef played his heart out, but it's not 1 on 5. In my opinion, the most effective player in Griz history was Mike Bibby. He was the only Griz to put up post Griz All-Star numbers.
Now, I can tell you, like the Documentary claimed, it was always a show. We sat near Lynda Carter one game, she was filming something in town and another game I thought TV's Webster was in front of me, until Shawn Kemp came off the floor to hug him and it was MC Hammer. The games were a true celebrity trap. It was also easy to hang with players post-game at Richards on Richards and Level 5.
You knew the Griz would lose and you knew the visiting team was going to empty their bench. It wasn't uncommon to see star players sit in the second quarter, and never play again.
This is when I knew the team was finished. I was in town for a game and in a 7-11. There was a sign in the window that said, "Buy a Slurpee, get a free Grizzly ticket. I'm guessing at that time, the cheapest ticket was $10, but still a Slurpee was maybe $1.50. They were desperate to fill seats, but at the end of the day, most people don't supports losers and in general, I just always got the impression the city wasn't interested in basketball. I met a lot of cool people at games, people asking questions about players, rules and fouls, but it was seriously a social activity for locals, most didn't care about the game. And most didn't stay for the whole event.
The movie addresses Steve Francis. I'm glad she got time with him, but again living through it. My opinion was simple, he was a brat and who wants a brat on their team. The city is better off not having him, but I feel bad they wasted a draft pick.
This movie asked a question the film maker couldn't answer because she didn't love through it as an adult. The team left because of all of the above. Poor management, poor ownership, poor players, poor coaching and poor attendance.
I'd love to see the city get another franchise, but I don't think they have the support. Seattle put up a stellar effort as well as millions of dollars and we don't have as much as a gift shop. This was a fans film, but since it was done through the eyes of a child, it comes of childish, just like her previous work. I'm fairly confident she is the only one to search for Big Country.
