The Vancouver Grizzlies’ time in this city was short, but anything but sweet.
After six lowly seasons, the franchise’s second owner Michael Heisley relocated the team to Memphis, Tenn., for the 2001-02 NBA season.
It’s a move many Vancouver basketball fans have yet to get over.
“Everyone who I spoke to was still filled with anger, bitterness, heartbreak,” said Vancouver filmmaker Kathleen Jayme.
The lingering anger is what inspired Jayme, a basketball super-fan herself, to create the film The Grizzlie Truth, a deeper look at what led to the demise of the Vancouver Grizzlies.
“As a filmmaker, when you see all of these emotions that are still lingering 20-plus years later, you know there’s something there,” Jayme told CTV News.
Jayme was just six years old when the team came to Vancouver in 1995.
“The Grizzlies came to town at that perfect moment when I was just starting to fall in love with the game,” she said.
The documentary is the fourth Jayme has made about Vancouver’s lone NBA Franchise.
Two were short-form, while in 2018 she released Finding Big Country, the story of the once-promising Grizzlies centre Bryant Reeves, whose career was cut short by numerous injuries.
The team’s attendance numbers started strong, with over 17,000 fans attending home games, on average, during their inaugural season.
However, after finishing dead last in their division in all but one season, attendance dropped to just over 13,000 per game by the 2000-01 season, the team’s last in Vancouver.
Over the years, many have placed blame for the team’s departure on poor coaching, management, and, of course, play.
However, there’s perhaps been no bigger villain than Steve Francis.
In 1999 NBA draft, the Grizzlies selected the highly touted guard out of the University of Maryland with the second overall pick.
A player seen as good enough to be a potential franchise saver, the American had no interest in playing in Canada, and was traded to the Houston Rockets that summer without ever playing a game for the Grizzlies.
This week, however, Francis has made his long-awaited return to the city for the premier of the film.
“You’ll get an opportunity to see who Steve Francis is, even 23 years later, and I guess some of the reasons why Steve Francis didn’t want to come to Vancouver,” said Francis.
“One of the things I’ve loved most about this process is getting to know Steve Francis as a friend,” said Jayme. “I’m excited for Vancouver to hear his story, and maybe this can be a healing experience for the city of Vancouver and for Steve Francis.”
The film, which premieres Saturday as part of the Vancouver International Film Festival, also features Shareef Abdur Rahim, Stu Jackson, Mike Bibby and Bryant “Big Country” Reeves.
Saturday’s screening sold out, but another one is planned for Oct. 5 at The Centre for Performing Arts.
Jayme is hopeful that another big turnout could help get Vancouver back on the NBA’s radar.
“This is history in the making,” she said. “This could be a great opportunity to show the NBA how much Vancouver loves the Grizzlies and how much we could support a team in the future.”
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