Vince Carter: What Went Wrong?

Let's be completely honest!  In terms of pure athletic ability, there is no difference between Vince and Kobe.  First and foremost, there are only a handful of players who don their first name as their calling card (Kobe, Shaq, "Magic", Sir Charles, Larry, Michael), and live up to that hype.

Vince came into the league with a fire in his bones.  In his first season he only had 18.3 PPG (points per game), but that quickly escalated to 21.9-26.1-24.3 from '99-'02.  He was a force to be reckoned with, slashing to the bucket with reckless abandon, pulling up for tough fade away jumpers (more about those later), and those dunks, oh those dunks!

In 2000, we all witnessed the best Slam Dunk Contest ever, simply because of VC's aerial assault.  That 6 foot 6, 220lb kid from Daytona Beach, Florida, put on a show for the ages!  Whether it was Carter's reverse 360 windmill, his famous elbow in the rim throw down, or his unbelievable between the legs cram (from cousin Tracy McGrady), there was absolutely no need for seats at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA.

Maybe Vince's most famous dunk was his leapfrog over France's 7 foot 2, Frederic Weis.  This was one that seemed to be even unattainable for Vince, but he threw that ball down just as if Weis hadn't been standing there.

As a Raptors fan, I can remember those playoff appearances in 2000 and 2008, but more memorable are the playoff runs in 2001 (beating NYK, losing to Philly in 7 games) and 2002 (pushing Detroit to the full 5 games).  Specifically that 2001 run was full of a Vince who played the game the right way.

Then Vince was traded to the New Jersey Nets and proceeded to knock out his old team in 6 games in 2007.  But something happened before that trade, Vince Carter decided to start settling for fade away jump shots about as frequently as lights changing from green to red on Toronto's Queen Street!  There were signs of this before the Raps dealt Carter in 2004.  I think that after the heartbreaking loss to the 76ers in 2001 (which happened at the hands of Vince firing away a fade away jumper from the corner), Vince began a steady decline into mediocracy.  It came down to attitude, from a reckless mentality that VC once possessed and then that slowly "fading" away.  This is so frustrating to dwell on given what I said at the outset of this article: Vince had as much raw athletic ability as anyone in the league!

Alas, Vince has bounced around from team to team (4 after the Raps) and is in the twilight of his career vying for a championship with the Dallas Mavericks.  VC is 35 years of age and the clock is ticking away as he looks for that elusive ring.  Vince, you were the main reason that I became and have stayed a Raptors fan, but I will always wonder what your basketball legacy could have been...?