Air Canada, Half Man Half Amazing, Vinsanity, quitter, traitor. There are a handful of descriptions affixed to Vince Carter.
You can officially add the hall of fame tag, the one that will resonate for as long as there’s a pickup game being staged at any gym, whenever a ball gets tossed at any outdoor court, including the one at Dixon Park that bears his name, or when the initials VC are mentioned.
Immortality arrived when this year’s class, comprising 13 players, coaches, contributors and executives, were formally enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday with the official ceremony held in Springfield, Mass.
The game of basketball cannot be recounted or even debated had it not been for Dr. James Naismith, the pioneering Canadian from Almonte, Ont.
It would be foolish to mention Carter in the same sentence as Naismith, but it would be also reckless not to mention Carter when it comes to influence.
People, and there are many, will argue with the Raptors announcing they will raise Carter’s No. 15 jersey to the rafters at Scotiabank Arena during halftime of a Nov. 2 tip against the Sacramento Kings, becoming the first player to be honoured.
Carter was undeniably the franchise’s first star whose stirring slam dunk win during all-star weekend in 2000 vaulted him into the status of superstar.
For those with short memories or for those who prefer not to remember, there was a time when many in the game wondered whether Carter or Kobe Bryant were better.
The late Bryant will forever be remembered among the game’s greatest players.
Carter won’t, but his impact on the game in Canada cannot be dismissed.
His resume in the NBA fully merits the hall distinction, though it must also be mentioned Carter never appeared in any NBA final or even came close to being part of a championship-contending team.
At the same time, he never chased a title.
His career arc is quite unique, beginning in Toronto where Carter was able to shine surrounded by veterans who knew the NBA and who kept Carter accountable.
Things turned for the worse, in part due to ownership’s coddling of Carter, and in part due to his immaturity and sense of entitlement.
The marriage ended quite ugly as Carter was dealt to the New Jersey Nets, who first announced they would retire his jersey well before the Raptors decided to make the move.
It was upper management that decided to hire Rob Babcock, a virtual unknown.
The GM was in over his head and the deal with the Nets sent the Raptors back for years.
Carter wanted Julius Erving to serve as GM, but by then the relationship between star player and ownership was beyond repair.
The date that will forever remain in Raptors history, for all the wrong reasons, is Dec. 17, 2004, when Nets president Rod Thorn pulled off the great hoops heist that would alter two franchises.
In basketball, an orange jacket, emblematic of hoop immortality, is presented to the recipient, a task
fittingly executed by Dr. J.
It took the 2019 championship run by the Raptors to rid the lingering stain caused by Carter’s departure and the surrounding nonsense, which included his ill-fated interview with John Thompson, a sit down where Carter admitted he did not push himself in Toronto.
In other words, he quit on the team.
When he was supposed to be rehabbing an injured knee, Carter was seen on stage at a Nelly concert.
Make no mistake, there will be some harbouring ill will for Carter next month, but it won’t even come close to the vitriol Carter experienced when he made his first appearance in Toronto with the Nets.
For now, no one can ever take away his inclusion in basketball’s hall of fame.
An eight-time all-star and two-time member of the all-NBA team, Carter is one of 25 players who have scored at least 25,000 points in the association.
An Olympic champion, his dunk over Frederic Weis became known as the Dunk of Death.
It is true Carter did not fully reach his potential in Toronto, but he also put the franchise on the map following a horrendous third season that saw franchise-altering moves at all levels.
When he came into the league, the NBA was in the midst of a lockout.
Even in the shortened 50-game 1998 season, it was hard to overlook Carter’s peerless athleticism, his ability to shoot, rebound, pass and when asked run an offence.
He was the first player in Raptors history to score 50 points in a single game, the first and only to pour in 50 in a playoff game when he and Allen Iverson had that epic duel in the Eastern semifinals, the one known for Carter’s missed shot at the buzzer hours after he attended his university graduation at North Carolina.
When Vinsanity was running wild, he was single-handedly responsible for selling out a charity game
bereft of star players with scalpers hawking tickets outside the venue once known as Air Canada Centre.
People must look at the totality of Carter’s career, which spanned four decades.
He didn’t have to carry the Nets like Carter was asked to do in Toronto, but then again Carter had Jason Kidd in New Jersey, who had led the club to back-to-back NBA final appearances before running into the likes of Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal and then Tim Duncan.
When Carter went off for his regular-season 50, it came against the Kidd-led Phoenix Suns when NBC featured Toronto on its marquee tip.
With the Nets, Carter averaged 27.5 points when he first ran shotgun with Kidd, a total that remains the highest in club NBA history.
Remember, Dr. J played for the Nets in the ABA.
During his time in the swamps, Carter missed 11 games and would make four post-season appearances.
Now 47 years old, a much younger Carter would visit the Meadowlands and see his sporting idol’s number hanging from the rafters.
From a basketball perspective, Carter’s game was more in line with another dominant dunker in Dominique Wilkins.
His connection to North Carolina also draws comparison, athletically that is, to Michael Jordan, who first donned the No. 9 Olympic jersey before Carter.
It was his Airness who contacted Charles Oakley when the Raptors drafted Carter.
Oakley protected Jordan in Chicago and was asked by Jordan to provide that necessary toughness for Carter.
Carter’s journey began in Toronto and it rightfully culminates with Sunday’s enshrinement.
Half Man Half Amazing, Hall of Famer, it’s been one helluva journey for someone whose checked luggage was lost by an air carrier when Carter visited Toronto for his pre-draft meeting and workout following a date in Denver with the Nuggets.
With a pandemic about to suspend operations in the NBA following Rudy Gobert’s positive test, Carter checked into the game with 19 seconds left, home fans in Atlanta rising to their feet fully aware of the moment.
Six seconds later, Carter stepped into a 26-footer, nothing but net, career over before joining the ranks of basketball’s immortals Sunday.