Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 at 9:30 am  |  78 responses

Is Vince Carter a Hall of Famer?

Since VC joined the 20,000 career points club earlier this week, it’s a question on many hoop fans’ minds. The Orlando Sentinel believes that Carter should be a shoo-in: “According to ArizonaCentral.com, of the 36 previous players who have reached the 20,000-point milestone, only 10 are not in the Hall of Fame and eight of those are either active or not eligible for induction yet. Only Mitch Richmond (20,497) and Tom Chambers (20,049), the next two ahead of Carter (20,020), are eligible and have not been inducted. Personally, I think Carter will end his career as a Hall-of-Famer. If he plays a couple of more years, he could surpass guys like Larry Bird, Elgin Baylor and Charle Barkley on the all-time scoring list. Couple that with the fact that he is generally considered to be the most prolific dunker in the history of the game, and I think that puts him over the top even if he never wins a championship. And also remember that the Basketball Hall of Fame takes into consideration a player’s entire body of work — pro and college. Even though Carter never won a national title in college, he did lead North Carolina to two Final Fours and was one of the most notable college basketball players of his era. For this reason, I would vote Vince Carter into the Hall of Fame.”

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  • http://www.need4sheed.com Tarzan Cooper

    Hes in. The person who said if you just look at his resume without knowing the name, he would be in, is correct. And vince isnt done, a few more years.

  • youngmuggsy

    Good player in college, Olympic gold medalist and one of the best players of his generation in the NBA. Definite HOFer.

  • http://www.storyActive.com Marten Go

    Most definitely he is. Vince winning the dunk contest is constantly uttered and thrown about as if it was on the level of Isaiah Rider or a Gerald Green type.

    People tend to overlook or blatantly undermine, in my opinion, what Vince did that night in Oakland. It was a tour de force. NBA ballers on the sidelines were reverted to giddy children, in awe of what they were watching as were the millions glued to the tube.

    Still to this day, the NBA is trying to find a successor to that historic night, but haven’t come close because a performance of that caliber (innovative, creative, inspirational) comes once in a lifetime and can never be duplicated.

    For a player to be hated so much, as if he had murdered a family member of yours is really unfathomable.
    So the logical reason for this, to me is that: these haters once loved Vince Carter.

    Hatred protects us from having to feel the pain of loss.

  • thegfunk

    If not in the Naismith hall of fame then Half-man Half-amazing will forever be in the slam hall of fame.

  • http://slamonline.com tealish

    Wow, some detractors here have mentioned a few legit points, but people are saying Vince has always been second-tier? Get out of here with that nonsense. You guys forget fast. Dude was legit. One unnecessarily honest interview and the subsequent media/public cruxification changed all your minds.
    HOF is a close call. I’m beginning to see both sides of it. Either way wouldn’t bother me.

  • http://yahoo.com The Ambassador

    @groisgood my bad but I still dont think Vince Carter should be in the Hall of Fame.

  • http://slamonline.com tealish

    Overall, I’d say he’s slightly ahead of Tmac in the HOF resume too.

  • reald1

    PEOPLE ON DA STATES DON’T REALLY NO OR APPRECIATE HIS RESUME OF WORK. HE CHANGED DA GAME UP. PEOPLE CAN POINT UP HIS INJURIES BUT HE BASICALLY HELD HIS HEAD UP AND CAME BACK FROM THEM. HIS OFFENSSIVE ABLILITY AND TALENT WAS ABLE TO TRANSLATE ON THE COURT. IF PEOPLE WANT TO LOOK AT HIS STATS HIS NUMBERS DON’T LIE. BUT THERE IS SO MUCH DAT GOES UNSEEN FROM WHAT HE DID FOR TORONTO. ALSO FOR THE REBIRTH HE HAD IN JERSEY.

  • http://Egotastic.com Michael

    No.

    He’s made two all NBa teams in his entire career. The last one coming in 2001. Penny hardaway and Grant Hill made more than that.

  • reald1

    @Iheartcoffe: THERE’S MORE PEOPLE IN DA HALL OF FAME THEN:Jordan, Magic, Bird, Wilt, Russell IN CASE U DIDN’T KNOW

  • JUMPMAN

    YOU HONESTLY HAVE TO WATCH HIM BALL FOR THE MAJORITY OF HIS CAREER, AND KNOW HOW HE CHANGED DA GAME, DA AWARDS DON’T SAY ANYTHING FOR A PLAYER WHO WAS OVERLOOKED NORTH OF THE BORDER

  • underdog

    Well, he sure is in the dunkers HoF.

  • Clownfish31

    @AMax: you’re right. Carter doesn’t deserve to be HOF because he quit on the Raptors. Just like LeBron will never be a HOF because he quit on the Cavs and Melo will never be a HOF because he is quitting on the Nuggets. You gotta love ridiculous generalizations on the Internet.

  • horsey

    if Dennis Rodman isn’t in the Fall of Fame for being one of the most polarizing figures of the 90′s AND the greatest rebounder in the modern era (AND 5 time champion AND a guy who lead the league in rebounds for 7 straight years), Vince Carter shouldn’t go just because he still takes 1000 jumpers a season. the NBA should find out what it really wants from its players to be in the Hall and stick to it. i guess Vince did sell more jerseys…

  • Yesse

    He might get there someday, but i doubt he gets there immeadetly after the year limit goes by after he retires. He has not got a championship, not even an MVP so i doubt he is gonna walk into the hall of fame just like that.

  • MikeC.

    The HOF should have a tiered system. Guys like Jordan, Bird, Magic, Russel, etc would be top-tier guys. They won championships, were all-stars numerous times and changed the game. Level 2 guys would be great winners like Pippen, McHale, etc. Winners, all-stars, but not “the guy”. Level 3 could be for guys like Vince who impacted the game but didn’t win much on the pro level, or guys like Horry who won piles of rings but didn’t pile up stats.

  • http://bedotwater.bandcamp.com BE.water

    Vince Carter will be HOF.

    my argument needs to go no further.

  • http://yahoo.com The Ambassador

    @horesy your right I would 100x prefer Dennis Rodman that Vince Carter.

  • rashado

    NO

  • monkeyball

    @MikeC: Great idea. It was a great idea three years ago when Bill Simmons wrote about it…

    @BE.water: What argument?

  • Justin

    He will make it, and as grogisgood stated, if Dominique Wilkins is in then so should Vince. This whole thing of “how many chips did they win?” is so ridiculous. How many championships did Karl Malone, John Stockton, Dominique, Patrick Ewing, and Charles Barkley win? I believe that’s a big goose egg. And all those players played on much better teams than Vince ever did. Hell, if we’re going to use the championship debate let’s put in Robert Horry and Steve Kerr for their multiple championships. Ron Harper has to be in for all of his as well. Bottom line is, dude put up numbers and he’s going to put up decent numbers for the next few years. Maybe not first year but second for sure. And yes, DENNIS RODMAN TO THE HOF!

  • ClydeSays

    Being a key player (starter or 6th man) will definitely get you into the HoF (Rodman, DJ). Being a great player for many, many years will also get you in (Stockton, Malone).

    Being a bit player on Championship teams, big baskets or not, shouldn’t get you in (Kerr, Horry).

    Being the featured scorers on typically mediocre, losing or lottery teams doesn’t seem like it should be a lock for a HoF spot. I guess time will tell…

  • Timmy P

    its not a if its when and yeah he might quit on a team but if play for toronto i would too and plus lebron quit on his team i meqan almost everybody do its so they can have a better chance of um idk kno the word oh yea winning

  • Timmy P

    and plus Karl Malone aint never won a championship so why can he get in but VC cant???

  • http://nba-point-forward.si.com/ datkid

    Vince should be in the HOF…I mean come on Dominique’s in there. Vince was amazing back in the day, he was right up there with t-mac , A.I. and kobe… and yeah that was a while ago but still. also rodman should be in there too.

  • fitaboi

    is Steve nash has a ring???? VC should be in the HOF… but those two will and should be in the HOF!!! all vc haters always compare vince to jordan/kobe!!! he’s not kobe nor jordan he’s vince!!! w/o him NBA is soooo boring during post-jordan!!!

  • RG

    @ Overtime. Thank you for correcting Joe. If the NBA had its own Hall of Fame, VC would have LESS of a chance of being inducted (somewhere Bill Simmons is dying laughing at the very notion). Naismith will consider his college contributions at UNC, which will only help him. And VC’s NBA career is certainly no reason for the NBA to create its own Hall of Fame (there may be an argument in favor of a separate Hall, but VC’s NBA tenure is not it).

  • Danny

    Carter is undoubtedly a hall of famer. Some of you guys are saying that he never had any good playoff games? How about the ENTIRE Raptors/6ers playoff series in 2001. Carter and Iverson threw 35 point performances back and fourth at each other until game 7, where yes, Carter did miss the game winner, but that doesn’t take away the fact that he was a STUD in that series. Along with being the best dunker in the history of the game, he took the Raptors, who were not even considered an NBA team at the time, to their first playoff birth in the history of the franchise, and then a year later won their first playoff series. 20,000+ points, best dunker ever, gold medalist, and MANY clutch shots throughout his illustrious career make him a no doubter. Some of you people only know the Vince since 2009, where his ppg has dropped drastically. The man has still averaged 21 poitns a game in his career and is an 8-time all star (Three times leading the entire NBA in votes)…HOF

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