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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  • AMax

    this has to be a joke..do they make a HOF for players who quit on teams?

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    I don’t think so. But that’s just me. I personally take both individual and team success into account when talking about whether someone should be in the HOF, and unless I’m mistaken, Carter has only played as far as the ECF. Once.

  • Joe

    This is why the NBA needs its own Hall of Fame….so guys like Mitch Richmond, Tom Chambers, and Vince Carter can be recognized for the great players they were/are. They weren’t/aren’t just the average player in the NBA, they all of significant achievements that need to be acknowleged…………….Leave the Basketball Hall of Fame to the once in a lifetime player, the greatest of the greats, like Larry Bird, Elgin Baylor, and Charles Barkley.

  • http://slamonline.com THE REAL RIGGS

    nah sorry VC, if you had stopped jacking three pointers just because you wanted to prove to whoever that you werent just a dunker then maybe your career wouldve been diff.

  • http://leetreble.tumlbr.com Lee Treble

    I made a case for Vince being in the HOF here —-> leetreble.tumblr.com

  • Overtime

    @ Joe, if anything Carter would make the basketball hall of fame over an NBA version

  • Coggie13

    Are you kidding, vc could smash the ball. But when it comes to getting the job done the man fell short. Don’t get me wrong he could play. In 5 years will we be asking if joe johnson will be h.o.f? On the court they won’t achieve a lot more than each other.

  • PapaBearATL

    He could’ve been but, nah. Some great highlights and a dunk contest does not make a Hall of Famer. If that was the case then Harold ‘Baby Jordan’ Miner should be a HOF contender.

  • burnt_chicken

    does commitment to the team count as a category of consideration? Because Vince is well lacking in that regard.

  • tavoris

    I think he should be in. Dude was largely responsible for carrying the league (popularity-wise) in the post-Jordan, pre-Lebron era.

  • tavoris

    papabearatl-Harold Miner didn’t have 1/20 the resume VC does. U can’t discount all he’s accomplished in college and professional basketball.

    If the induction committee was half as strict as the commenters up here, there would only be 20 people in the HOF.

  • http://www.boogiewillaims.com Boing Dynasty

    “He jumped OVER his head.”

  • http://www.slamonline.com/ niQ

    If he wins a championship somewhere it’ll be easier to fathom. But the only way he’d make it without one, is if he actually surpasses Larry Bird, Elgin Baylor and Charles Barkley on the All time scoring list.

  • http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/ Anthony

    I’d put Manu over VC any day of the week for a HOF spot. But that’s not the question, so no i dont think he deserved it, we all remember his dunks but what about his Playoffs performances ? I cant think of anything in particular. Maybe im being too harsh here but except for his dunks he’s not a special player.

  • Mike

    Some people are still so brainwashed from all the VC hate that the media has created over the years. The guy will end his career with 23,000+ points, 8 all-star games, been to two final fours, and was the leading scorer on the gold medal winning olympic team in 2000. The guy is a shoo-in.

  • add

    are you kidding me?! vc when he played on unc with jamison plus the great years he had single handedly carrying the raptors and his pretty good years with jkidd and the nets!

  • Charles

    Hahaha. The most fragile player in NBA history, no way!

  • http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/ Anthony

    Mike, i recognized all his accomplishments, the only thing that’s bugging me is his playoffs resume. But maybe it’s not needed for a HOF spot.

  • AT33

    He should be indicted into the HOF just because he jumped over a 7footer!

  • PapaBearATL

    If you can manage to be semi-relevant and stick around long enough in this league you reach that milestone, that doesn’t make you a hall of famer, he has a gold medal and… NCAA chips? NBA chips? He was an entertaining player to watch but just like his cousin, something is missing. Drive? Heart? Idk, there’s a reason he isn’t a ‘franchise’ player and it’s probably the same reason a lot of us don’t consider him a HOF player.

  • MikeC.

    Co-sign that the NBA needs its own HOF. For his international play and 2 Final Fours, Vince has a case for the Naismith HOF, but his NBA resume seems a little lacking.

  • g

    Its funny how guys talk about Vince Carter quitting on his teams but you don’t quit on your team and are considered lazy and end up scoring 20000+ it just doesn’t happen so bitter fans in toronto need to understand the fact that if toronto never got VC the team that they call theirs might not exist. First of all toronto was and still is considered a hockey city VC help create a fan base that now watches basketball so toronto fans need to appreciate what he did and be happy that their team didn’t turn out like vancouver

  • http://www.laumol.nl/weblog Laumol

    One dunk over one large Frenchman owes Mr. Carter one ticket to the Hall of Fame

  • Mike

    People have been saying the same stuff about Vince since he left Toronto, that he was a quitter, that he couldnt lead a team, that his legs/knees were shot, but here we are almost seven years after that trade and Vince is still putting up 19 ppg and will likely continue to do so for another 3-4 years. My whole point is, when its all said and done, there will be no way that they will be able to keep him out with the numbers he’ll have. Another way to look at it is if you took the name away from the numbers and said here is a guy with probably around 23-24 thousand points, 8 all-star games, and a gold medal. Do you not think about 99% of voters would vote that person in if they didnt know who’s numbers they were?

  • Vince5

    ehhhh, no. He never went to the NBA Finals and he only went once to the Semi-Finals (last year, when he became a role-player).

  • whatwhat

    DEFINITELY NOT….HE WAS NEVER A DOMINANT PLAYER AND WAS NEVER A FIRST TIME ALL PRO.

  • iheartcoffee

    Jordan, Magic, Bird, Wilt, Russell and Carter?!?!?
    Is this a joke?

  • Exile

    He has done well and has reached some pretty elite milestones, but if he makes it to the HOF, it should somewhere in his write-up state, “he could have been so much more.”

  • http://theurbangriot.com The Nupe

    Yes, he should be in. Simply put stats don’t lie. If Dennis Johnson is in, then how can you not put VC in? Not only will/does he have the stats, but as mentioned he’s an NBA dunking great and during his prime was a human highlight film that brought a lot of new fans to the game. I don’t buy-into championshipd being a real marker of ‘greatness’, because then I’d have to put in people like Robert Horry or John Salley (who both actually contributed to championship teams but neither have the Stats to justify a HOF bid). There are various levels of Hall of Famers, players like Magic, Oscar, Bird, Russel etc are in a special class by themselves as all time greats, but then you have players like VC who aren’t in the top .5% of all time, but certainly make it in the next level which is worthy. If the Hall was consistent that only the top .2% were in, then I’d be o.k. with excludeing VC, but it’s not that eilite.

  • http://google c_cantrell

    was always a second tier player.. i dont think there should be room in the hall for players like him.. he was exciting yeah and damn good but he just should not be considered hall of fame material.. the hall of fame is a place for players who dominated the game such as jordan, magic, bird, shaq, kareem, wilt, kobe, barkley, pippen, hakeem, robinson, duncan, and one day wade and lbj.. no one would dare place carters in name in the same sentence as these when speaking of greatness.. so no dude does not belong in the hall

  • Overtime

    I’ve got to agree with the comment about if the numbers were anonomous, he would get voted in (and it’d make a cool game to play).
    And I also cosign all comments questioning this ‘quitter’ label that VC has. If he had it with Toronto, Melo, Lebron, Bosh and mebe even Chris Paul should have it now. He didnt quit whatsoever in New Jersey after Jefferson and Kidd left, and played dam hard for Orlando too

  • monkeyball

    Definitely not a HOF. Scoring 20,000 shouldn’t be the standard. However, I would argue that Vince’s legendary dunk contest performance deserves to be remembered as one of the significant moments in the history of the NBA. In the same way that the HOF recognizes special teams, personalities, events, Vince’s contribution to the NBA as a show should be recognized.
    As a player, he should not get in.

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    VC belongs in Raptors Hall of Fame. VC does not deserve to be in HOF, because what did he contribute to the game or what did any of his teams do with him leading the TEAM. NOTHING, BOOK IT!!

  • Gman

    @G… i am from Tdot. And im not bitter. And we would never turn out like Vancouver. Any sport here will keep getting sales.
    In any case. If not HOF then Toronto needs to retire his number!!

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    Not only is Carter a Hall of Fame player, he is a first ballot Hall of Fame player.
    One of the most influential basketball players in NBA History.
    Nearly lived up to the “hype”.

  • al

    not if I were comparing a no name/i didn’t know the name, to a guy named Vince Carter

  • al

    NBA live Hal of fame, he is the first human to be like a video game, but only live up to the hype in the video game…

  • robb

    no way!

  • Anonymous

    A better question is: Now that Tao’s best days are behind him is HE a hall of famer. What about Steve Nash? Hypocrisy overflow in 5,4,3…

  • http://yahoo.com The Ambassador

    I agree with C_Cantrell. Vince Carter never dominated the game like Kobe and Lebron did. When I hear Kobe or Lebron I think of great players with great scoring,passing and defending ability. Then I think of there many highlights and GREAT playoffs performances Like Kobe against the Kings or Lebron against the Pistons when I think of Vince Carter I get some nice memories but then I think of when he didnt play in one ECF game to go attend someones graduation or something like that. he isnt a hall of famer because he also doesnt have the titles under his belt like a ring or defensive honors or other things that make a NBA player a Great player.

  • Anonymous

    Yao lol

  • http://yahoo.com The Ambassador

    Now there should be a article about T-MAC being a Hall of Famer.

  • Anonymous

    Yao phuck auto complete

  • http://www.redraidersports.com Nicolas Fleming

    @AMax…Yea, it is headed by Scottie Pippen

  • http://slamonline.com Hossy

    wince is a lock for the hall of shame

  • http://www.twitter.com/JoshElam JE

    his career isn’t over.

  • grogisgood

    Dominique Wilkins is in the HOF. Vince should be in

  • http://www.redraidersports.com Nicolas Fleming

    Ambassador…Well Vince and T-Mac are cousins. I think you can then tally the resumes as one and would that get Tracy Carter into the HOF? If a dunk contest alone can not, how about a dunk contest + 30 points in 12 seconds?

  • grogisgood

    @Ambassador.
    He didn’t miss the ECF game. He attended the graduation in the morning and then played in it and ALMOST win it at the buzzer with a jumper. He played really well in the series as well. Are you really going to blame a jumper on a grad ceremony?

  • yes.we.did.

    tmac gets in first

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