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Playoff failure (and Carter 's media altercations surrounding Marcus Camby ) led Grunwald to put back Butch Carter with Lenny Wilkens , who was a Hall-of-Fame coach and player with additional than 30 years of coaching knowledge. In addition, the Raptors team lastly found a true point protector, when Grunwald signed veteran playmaker Mark Jackson to a 4-year deal with the Raptors team. The season marked the growth of Alvin Williams as a clutch performer. He score three quarters of his points in the 4th quarter throughout regular season. Jackson was later traded to give additional minutes for Williams.
As Vince Carter familarised himself with the shooting guard position and played less time at small forward, Christie became expendable and was traded for forward Corliss Williamson . However, he was a disappointment and was traded during the season for defensive workhorse Jerome Williams . The loss of former star small forward Tracy McGrady was also a factor in the Williamson trade. Although McGrady and Carter showed impressive improvement at the same time, much of the media and fan attention was focused on Carter , who dunked more often and thus was more amusing to fans. Furthermore, McGrady's customary position is at small forward, the same place as Carter . Therefore, Raptors organization decided to trade McGrady to the Magic throughout the 2000 offseason for a first-round draft choose in a sign-and-trade deal.
As predict by analysts, the Toronto Raptors team clinched a playoff berth without much complexity. Toronto hit New York in the first round. Wilkens was accredited for having Williams protect shooting guard Allan Houston and Carter protect small forward Latrell Sprewell , the two main unpleasant threats of the Knicks. In adding, Charles Oakley 's remarks encouraged Vince to "play it like a man", and stable payment from Antonio Davis prevailed over the less-focused Knicks. The Raptors were also fortunate, as Larry Johnson was shut down by a career-ending wound and Marcus Camby was plagued by his family kidnap. These, however, were non-factors, as it was in abundance clear that the Raptors were very much superior to the overhyped, undertalented Knicks.
The next series next to the Philadelphia 76ers was a landmark of thrilling, entertaining play, and the best playoff presentation by the Raptors so far. The Sixers relied on Allen Iverson and Dikembe Mutombo for their own offensive and suspicious abilities, along with steady help from Aaron McKie and other teammates. Toronto 's was a great deal more balanced with Carter , Williams and Davis as long as much of the unpleasant game and Chris Childs and Jerome Williams providing the suspicious pressure. Philadelphia took full benefit of its mismatch at center whereas Toronto counteract with a fast-break offense with their shorter but earlier players. The series came down to the last 4 seconds of Game 7, when Vince Carter missed a vanish jumper, losing the series by 1 point.
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