Top 50: Vince Carter, no. 25
The definitive ranking of the NBA’s best players.
by Adam Fleischer
Vince Carter plays with no heart.
Seriously, it’s true. You think
so, don’t you?
You hear it a lot. You might believe it, and you’ve probably said it. In the very least, the thought has crossed your mind during the man’s twelve NBA seasons. And who can blame you. We’ve been fed such a theory so often that it’s become widely accepted.
But it’s not true. Really, it’s not.
What’s true is that we just wanted a reason to justify why Vince let us down. Because that’s what he did. Let us down. Fall short of our hopes. Fail to meet the goals we set for him. Whatever you wanna call it.
He came out of North Carolina with boatloads of potential, poised to be one of the game’s next megastars. So we opened out hearts to him. His hops took him beyond the Milky Way—where our expectations similarly soared—and his smile won over channel surfers across the country otherwise disenchanted with the sport. And the Jordan comparisons—in the wake of MJ’s retirement and at the height of the search for an Air Apparent—only served to further illuminate his growing star.
At first, we were anything but disappointed. Nah, matter of fact, VC gave us what we asked for and then some. Rookie of the Year in the shortened lockout season. All-Star, Third Team All-NBA and the architect of the greatest Slam Dunk Contest performance of my lifetime (and probably ever) the next year. Plus, he took Toronto to their first playoff appearance in franchise history. Year three, more of the same. Forty-seven wins for the Raps. Top five in the L in scoring for Vince. It was his time.
Simultaneously as we were taking him for granted, he was being taken away from us in his mid-twenties like he was a rap legend or some shit. But Vince didn’t get capped (although when he put one on for graduation he heard the hate ring out. Hey, let’s criticize one of the few guys in the League that values education and actually finishes his degree! That’s a great message for kids! Basketball over books!). Instead of some quick bullets, though, he was taken away slowly, injury by injury, loss by loss, season by season.
The final days in Toronto weren’t pretty and there’s no two ways about that. But Vince made the Raptors relevant. You didn’t watch them on national TV before, and haven’t since. Those few years of playoff runs were Vince at his most awe inducing and us at our most willing to consume his game, his style, his persona.
His final year(s) above the border truly turned many people off. But New Jersey was supposed to be a new beginning, another shot at doing what we knew he could. In some ways, it was. Teaming with Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson, he helped lead them to a playoff birth his first year in New Jersey and an Atlantic Division title during his first full year in 2005-06.
The years that followed were more of the same: the Nets as an above average team, but never one surfacing as a true threat for a title. Maybe it was because Vince wasn’t able to bring them to that elite status, even when he had legitimate talent around him. It’s also possible that the talent was never elite enough to claim that status. It’s most likely some combination of the two.
Yet, his play has been a constant during that time. Not looking anything like we had once hoped it would, but still, in many ways, performing like we had always imagined. He usually scores in the mid-twenties. He rebounds and dishes out assists at a better rate than he did in T Dot. He logs serious minutes and hits it respectably from the stripe and the field.
The hate, animosity, and relative irrelevancy of the Nets have each helped to often mask this. No longer.
As he prepares to suit up for the Eastern Conference Champs and an actual contender in Orlando, there’s a chance for another life. A third one, a second one, a fifth one. I don’t know. But there’s another shot for us to accept him and for him to give us the right to.
Stan Van Gundy has already admitted that the ball will be in Vince’s hands down the stretch, and that’s something to look forward to. The question isn’t whether or not he’s still got it. Cause he does. It’s not even to what level he’s still got it. The question is how often he’ll show us. What will happen when he’s faced with his first meaningful playoff game in nearly a decade?
I’ll bet that heart’s still got some pitter-patter left in it.
Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ‘09-10 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Jake Appleman, Brett Ballantini, Russ Bengtson, Toney Blare, Shannon Booher, Myles Brown, Franklyn Calle, Gregory Dole, Emry DowningHall, Jonathan Evans, Adam Fleischer, Jeff Fox, Sherman Johnson, Aaron Kaplowitz, John Krolik, Holly MacKenzie, Ryne Nelson, Chris O’Leary, Ben Osborne, Alan Paul, Susan Price, Sam Rubenstein, Khalid Salaam, Kye Stephenson, Adam Sweeney, Vincent Thomas, Tzvi Twersky, Justin Walsh, Joey Whelan, Eric Woodyard, and Nima Zarrabi.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.
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i’m pretty sure about it!!!!!!!!!!
What planet you been on during the 2008 playoffs? I think 25th is ok for vince this coming season. Boy will be on national tv 20 or so times this season. He puts up 18 5 5 with 55 win minimun and the 25th ranking is earned.
I do think he’ll play the best we’ve seen him play since Toronto though, because he DOES have a good team. But don’t give me that bull about how he’s always had heart, because that’s obviously not the case.
First of all, Devin Harris led the Nets in scoring last year, so while Vince was the leader, he was not the “clear cut” “alpha male”. Second, since when is .437%fg such a terrible number for a sg who has as high a usage rate as Carter??? JJ is a top SG, is the top dog on his team, and will be ranked ahead of Vince. His fg% last year? .437. How about Kevin Martin? .417. KObe shot 45% last year. Not exaclty a huge difference between 45 and 43.7 if you ask me. Only Roy and Wade stand way out ahead with 48 and 49 % respectively. Third, could you explain why Vince’s assists would go DOWN after joining the sharp-shooting Magic, with Howard in the middle??
It just didn’t happen. His answer in the TNT interview with John Thopmson, he was commenting that he could have trained harder in the offseason.
From the New York Times:
“John Thompson, the current TNT analyst and the former Georgetown basketball coach who conducted the interview, said he felt people misinterpreted Carter’s words. ”That boy never said to me, ‘Coach, I just laid down and quit,’ ” Thompson said in a telephone interview last week. ”I was embarrassed and felt awful about it for his sake, because I knew what he was communicating to me. I think he was more expressing a desire of wanting to do better, as we all do.”
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE2D6153FF930A15757C0A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Now, T-Mac on the other hand, came straight out and said to Sports Illustrated, “Some nights I did slack off — and I knew that was a terrible thing to do — and I still was slacking off,” and “I’m not going to sit here and say I played my hardest every night.”
Not to go on and on, but, whiteman, he NEVER openly admitted to dogging it in his last 20 games as a Rap.
It just didn’t happen. His answer in the TNT interview with John Thopmson, he was commenting that he could have trained harder in the offseason.
From the New York Times:
“John Thompson, the current TNT analyst and the former Georgetown basketball coach who conducted the interview, said he felt people misinterpreted Carter’s words. ”That boy never said to me, ‘Coach, I just laid down and quit,’ ” Thompson said in a telephone interview last week. ”I was embarrassed and felt awful about it for his sake, because I knew what he was communicating to me. I think he was more expressing a desire of wanting to do better, as we all do.”
Now, T-Mac on the other hand, came straight out and said to Sports Illustrated, “Some nights I did slack off — and I knew that was a terrible thing to do — and I still was slacking off,” and “I’m not going to sit here and say I played my hardest every night.”
Lebron James
Dwayne Wade
Dwight Howard
Kevin Garnett
Carmelo Anthony
Deron Williams
Chris Bosh
Tim Duncan
Paul Pierce
Dirk Nowitzki
Chris Paul
Brandon Roy
Kevin Durant
Derrick Rose
Chauncey Billups
Amare Stoudemire
Danny Granger
Steve Nash
Al Jefferson
Tony Parker
Pau Gasol
Joe Johnson
Devin Harris
Where in the world do you get the idea he is going to be the 4th option in Orlando??? These quotes from the other day don’t exactly suggest that:
SVG: “I don’t want him stepping on the court thinking about fitting in. He can fit in, in the locker room. We didn’t bring him here to be a guy who is just moving the ball. We want him attacking. I want the guy who has been so good all these years. I want all his greatness.”
VC: “Yes, he (Van Gundy) has told me, he wants the guy who beat him in the past, the guy who scored 42 on him.”
ohh and everyone in T-dot stop booing him it makes us look stupid….lets move on
Big-ups to The Cuse, B-Lo, all of the NY, mad love to Brick City and props to BK.
Can’t take away from the guy’s talents. He’s definitely pound for pound one of the best players in our generation, but he admittedly slacked off…
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