Someday, fans of the Vancouver Grizzlies hope cocky point guard Steve Francis will regret the stance he took after the NBA's representative in British Columbia chose him with the No. 2 selection in the draft last year. But today, Grizz fans should forget the past and focus on a more important "someday," when the Grizzlies will have a winner like their expansion brethren in Toronto.

	Is Shareef Abdur-Rahim movie material? A move to Disneyland might set the stage.

In season No. 5, the Raptors and Grizzlies each ended up with franchise marks for wins, but 25 wins separated the teams, so there's really no comparison. The Raptors won 47 games and made the playoffs, the Grizz won 22 and finished last, 12 games out of sixth place. However, with players the Grizzlies got in the Francis trade and other high draft picks, they have managed to put a decent team together. Now it's time to add 10 wins to the new franchise record, starting with this season.

With that, we present Offseason Team Spotlight No. 28, the Vancouver Grizzlies. As always, we have our opinions, which are below, but we also appreciate yours. Click on the right side of this page to see what ESPN.com users were thinking.

Why the Grizz were 22-60: Looking at their starting personnel, you can definitely see the Grizzlies winning games, and you'd probably expect more wins. So was 1999-2000 a good season or a bad one? Probably both. In five years this team has won 15, 14, 19 and eight games (shortened season), so earning 22 big ones is nice. However, considering the small forward is an All-Star (a mere oversight last year, will be corrected) and the young backcourt is among the finest around, 22 might not be enough.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim is the team's star, a rare 20-point, 10-rebound stud (only five other players did 20-10 last year) who is only going to get better when he adds more facets to his game. The backcourt features 1998 top draft pick Mike Bibby, an emerging point guard who already scores and passes pretty well and former Arizona teammate Michael Dickerson, the main cog coming back to Vancouver in the Francis trade. Dickerson averaged 18.2 points and was the team's top 3-point threat.

The Grizz had a fourth player starting all 82 games, which is odd for a bad team that usually has personnel changes everywhere. It was another Rocket refugee, Othella Harrington (overall, Harrington, Dickerson, Antoine Carr, Brent Price and future draft picks arrived from Houston that fateful day; Tony Massenburg, Lee Mayberry, Makhtar Ndiaye, Rodrick Rhodes, Michael Smith and the rights to Francis left). Argue if you will about Othella's upside at power forward, but 13.2 points and 6.9 rebounds isn't bad, especially when nobody calls plays for you and three other teammates score more.

After that, though, you can see why this team still lost 60 times and fashioned losing streaks of 12, 11, seven, six and five games during the season. This team was capable of much better. It beat six playoff teams -- Portland and Sacramento at home, and Miami, Toronto, Utah and Milwaukee on the road -- and if you give them any semblance of a bench and some coaching stability maybe it will show.

The franchise's first player, rotund center Bryant Reeves, continued his disappointing regression, scoring a lame (for someone with his size and ability) 8.9 points and averaging 5.7 rebounds. Reeves was never Shaq, but he used to be able to provide 16 and eight on a nightly basis, hit more than half his shots and even block a few. Knee injuries have cost him games the past two seasons, and now, with Isaac Austin coming in an offseason trade, he might be running out of chances. Of course, we thought Austin had run out of chances last year, but that's another story. When you're tall (or a lefthanded-hitting catcher) there are always more chances.

So that's last year's starting lineup. Now get this. The bench consisted of Dennis Scott (.375 field goal percentage), who hasn't done any accurate sharpshooting since his Magic days, forward Grant Long (4.8 points, 5.6 rebs), who once upon a time endeared himself to Heat fans with his work ethic, Felipe Lopez, who might have peaked as a St. John's freshman, Obinna Ekezie, a Maryland bruiser who for some reason wasn't given a chance, and Carr, Price, Doug West, Joe Stephens, Cherokee Parks and Milt Palacio, whoever that is.

Every team needs a bench. Now you know why this team won 22 games.

	Current projected top 6
	PG	Mike Bibby
	SG	Michael Dickerson
	SF	Shareef Abdur-Rahim
	PF	Stromile Swift
	C	Bryant Reeves
	6th	Othella Harrington

Team MVP: How Abdur-Rahim missed out on the All-Star classic is a mystery. Yes, his scoring average was his lowest in three years, because he had teammates to help him score, but his overall play was better. His rebounds went from 7.5 to 10.1, his field goal percentage was up and his turnovers went down. This guy is the team's star player. Team LVP: Well, we could pick Stu Jackson or someone in the front office for completely ignoring the team's bench, but a shot must be taken at Big Country Reeves, who keeps getting worse and worse. Surprise! Dickerson and Harrington each figured to improve their games with increases in playing time, but this was significant. Dickerson went from 10.9 points to 18.2 in only six extra minutes of time, while Harrington got 10 extra minutes on average and went from 9.8 points to 13.1. Not a bad immediate return from the trade. Up and comer: The Grizz made Stromile Swift the No. 2 pick in the draft and plan to throw him right in there at power forward. Will he score a lot? Will he rebound a lot? Who knows. He's probably not going to get plays called for him, but he should make an immediate impact defensively, where this team is horrible. He will block shots right away.

What they need: The projected starting lineup is young and getting better. There are two capable big men coming off the bench in Austin and Harrington. Now just get someone in there to help the backcourt.

Welcome Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Damon Jones. Now, they aren't Vinnie Johnson or Michael Cooper, but both these guys can score. Abdul-Rauf, who sat out last season and played in Turkey the year before, was always able to put points on the board. Jones was a Maverick last season and showed signs of earning time with his aggressiveness and outside shot. The Grizzlies sent four players to Washington to get Austin, but Scott, Parks, Ekezie and Lopez weren't expected to play big roles anyway. Free agent signee Massenburg is back after playing in only 10 games with Houston. So, that's three big men and two guards ... not too shabby.

We realize it's not always about depth, that the people who play the most minutes had better perform. Other than center and a little caution when it comes to Swift, that shouldn't be a problem. Reeves and Austin, clearly, are key to the team's fortunes. While Swift should be a presence on defense, it would be a big help if the center could be relied upon to consistently rebound the ball and avoid foul trouble. Reeves was not good last season; Austin, now with team No. 7 in eight underachieving seasons, is 6-10 and does have the ability. A number of good NBA teams were trying to get him.

What the plan is: The plan is to let new coach Sidney Lowe, whose only other head coaching position was with the expansion Timberwolves, when both he and the team were very young, run things. Lowe has new people all around him. Chicago businessman Michael Heisley bought the team earlier this year for $160 million, and immediately hired Dick Versace as team president and Billy Knight as GM. Also, Chuck Daly is here to be a consultant. There's certainly experience running the team now.

Then the Grizz just want to go out and play and see if their new acquisitions work out. One starter is new, as is pretty much the entire bench. There certainly is plenty of inexperience on the court, no doubt, but nobody expects miracles (or a playoff run) this year. Just play hard and see what happens, and, the new management team hopes, this team will lure a big free agent or two in the coming years to go with all this young talent.

Direction heading: Up, up, up, but while a new franchise record for wins is pretty much a given (or better be), we don't expect the Lakers to have to scout Vancouver for that first-round playoff series. Say 30-32 wins.