The 1998âÂÂ99 Vancouver Grizzlies season was the fourth season for the Vancouver Grizzlies in the National Basketball Association. Due to a lockout, the regular season began on February 5, 1999, and was cut from 82 games to 50. The Grizzlies received the second overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft, and selected point guard Mike Bibby from the University of Arizona, and acquired rookie shooting guard, and first-round draft pick Felipe López from the San Antonio Spurs. During the off-season, the team signed free agents Cherokee Parks, and second-year guard DeJuan Wheat.
With the addition of Bibby, López and Parks, the Grizzlies had a 4âÂÂ6 record in their first ten games of the regular season, but then struggled posting a 13-game losing streak between February and March afterwards, as Bryant Reeves only played just 25 games due to weight problems and a knee injury. At mid-season, the team traded three-point specialist Sam Mack back to his former team, the Houston Rockets in exchange for second-year guard Rodrick Rhodes; the team also signed Terry Dehere, who was previously released by the Sacramento Kings. The Grizzlies lost their final seven games of the season, returning to last place in the Midwest Division with a league-worst 8âÂÂ42 record. The Grizzlies' 8 wins marked the lowest amount of victories by a team in a season since the league's inception as the NBA; the 6 wins by the Providence Steamrollers in the 1947âÂÂ48 season occurred back when the league was named the Basketball Association of America. The 2011âÂÂ12 Charlotte Bobcats later on broke the Grizzlies' record by posting 7 wins in its own lockout-shortened season (66 games), and subsequently held the worst record in NBA history ever since.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim averaged 23.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game, while Bibby averaged 13.2 points, 6.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. In addition, Tony Massenburg provided the team with 11.2 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, while Reeves provided with 10.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, López contributed 9.3 points per game, and Parks averaged 5.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Off the bench, Doug West contributed 5.8 points per game, but only played just 14 games due to injury, while Michael Smith averaged 4.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, Wheat provided with 4.5 points and 2.2 assists per game, and Pete Chilcutt contributed 3.6 points per game.
The Grizzlies finished 16th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 417,966 at General Motors Place during the regular season. Following the season, Massenburg was traded to the Houston Rockets, while Smith, Rhodes, and Lee Mayberry were all traded to the Orlando Magic, who then released all three players to free agency, as Smith signed as a free agent with the Washington Wizards, and Dehere, Wheat and Chilcutt were all released.
The Grizzlies' first draft pick was Mike Bibby, which was the second overall pick in the draft.
Due to the 1998âÂÂ99 NBA lockout, the NBA would see a shortened schedule for the 1998âÂÂ99 season, as every team would play 50 games, compared to 82 in a normal season. The Grizzlies began the season with their best start in franchise history, as they had a 3âÂÂ3 record in their first six games, the latest in a season that the club had a .500 record. Vancouver would fall into a bad streak soon afterward, though, losing sixteen of their next seventeen games, which included a thirteen-game losing streak, to fall out of the playoff picture entirely in a fast pace. Wins would be few and far between for the remainder of the season, as the Grizzlies ended the year with a record of 8âÂÂ42, which represented a .160 winning percentage, their lowest in team history. Vancouver finished with the worst record in the league for the third time in four seasons.
At the time, the Grizzlies finished with the second-lowest win total for a season in NBA history behind the Providence Steamrollers winning only six games during the 1947âÂÂ48 BAA season. Since then, only the 2011âÂÂ12 Charlotte Bobcats have provided a worst win total (and worst overall record in NBA history) for a season (which coincidentally also occurred during a lockout-shortened season) than this season's Vancouver Grizzlies team.
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The Grizzlies signed free agent Cherokee Parks, who spent the 1997âÂÂ98 season with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Parks averaged 7.1 points in 79 games with Minnesota last season.
The San Antonio Spurs and Grizzlies made a trade, with Vancouver sending Antonio Daniels to the Spurs for Felipe López and Carl Herrera. Lopez was the Spurs' first round draft pick in the 1998 NBA draft.