Toronto’s Vince Carter Moment
Does there come a time where we should forgive our sports villains and turn them into our heroes again?
The Toronto vs. Vince Carter moment seems so far away now. Since then, LeBron James’ jersey was shish-kababed on national television for all to see, Kevin Durant made an enemy of the entire state of Oklahoma (and probably friends of anyone in Seattle) and someone named Chad booed Paul George while wearing a Paul George jersey. This moment seems very far away.
Looking back on it now, I don’t know if I would have booed Vince Carter. I didn’t dislike him for leaving. There was no built up vitriol for the player who truly brought basketball to Canada before abandoning it’s only remaining team. In truth, Raptors teams have a history of being monumentally mismanaged, in part due to management inadequacies (The Rafael Araujo draft is still responsible for depression in many Raps fans), in part due to U.S. born players not being overly enthusiastic to ply their trade on the icy frontiers of planet Hoth.
The one thing I did have a problem with was Carter forcing his way out the way he did. The same story can be seen with Paul George this season. A player tells a team that this isn’t going to work and then the team scrambles to find a reasonable solution for the dilemma. The problem is, once the divorce is public, leverage is gone. Sure, you still hold value equivalent to the skill-level of the dissatisfied party, but your leverage is low. Vince Carter effectively handicapped the franchise he helped put on the map. Of course, the whole thing is more complicated than that. Sorting through the Carter-Franchise interactions from this time is like reading a convoluted spy novel, but luckily, that appears to be behind us.
At age 40, Vincent Lamar Carter appears to be eternal. Yesterday, I had to chase after a bus for about half a block and felt like I had 3 cumulative asthma attacks. I’m 28. Vince Carter is still doing this at 40:
His is an interesting and rare story of how a player, once a star, is willing to reinvent himself to stay relevant in the league and it is unique in so many ways. Think of how some players aged, from role players to NBA Superstars. Andre Miller, PhD, the eternal professor of the NBA. He played into old age, but that had nothing to do with his adjustment. He never possessed the explosive athleticism so he just played his brand of YMCA basketball. Kobe Bryant on the other hand? He refused to take on a smaller role, to face down old age and went out in a John Wick blaze of glory. Watching his last game vs. the Jazz felt a lot like taking Old Yeller for one last run in the park before sending him to a farm where he can run free and play with all the other scoring shooting guards of the by-gone era.
Vince was an athletic marvel. He almost made an entire Dunk Contest obsolete, because let’s face it, no one can ever live up to this. He cleared a human being in a single leap as if it was stepping over a curb and made Kevin Garnett’s heart temperature rise above absolute zero for a brief moment in time. He gave us the first iconic Playoff moment in Toronto basketball history. Now he’s a better three-point shooter than he ever was and a much smarter basketball player. As he athleticism waned (mind you, he still has a vertical of close to 38’ while I can’t even walk two stairs at a time without pulling a quad), Vince became smart. Like Jason Kidd becoming a decent three-point shooter for the collection of spare parts Mavs that beat the Heatles in the Finals.
And as Vince reinvented himself in the League so did Toronto revisit the hate. We’ve come a long way from the ocean of boos we showered his return and went back to appreciating him again.
Sure, it helped that our management had one of the worst drafts in history, twice. It helped that Bargnani was Bargnani. It helped the Chris Bosh left for the Heatles. And it surely helps that the current iteration of the Toronto Raptors is the best we have ever been, despite my frequent (and accurate) criticisms. OKC will not forgive Durant until they’re able to compete for the title again. Cleveland only forgave LeBron when he came back and by the Grace of God Almighty (so himself) gave the city of Cleveland a championship, which I imagine felt a lot like getting water after wandering through the desert for five days straight. We’re ready to let Vince Carter back in. We’re even talking about retiring his jersey.
I happened to witness the Vince Carter story come full circle on Sunday. With just about five seconds left in the Raptors win over the Kings, Carter intentionally fouled DeMar DeRozan and got subbed out of the game to a standing ovation. His narrative has come full-circle. From the unlikely hero, to villain to a wise old sage who teaches a city that it’s okay to love those who hurt you. He may be the most true Joseph Campbell hero since Luke Skywalker (I also saw Star Wars that night so I will argue this to the death now).
Were we right to hate? I don’t know. Probably. Vince showed us that the Raptors can be successful and then took it all away because they couldn’t be successful enough (coincidentally this Raptors team ceiling is still Conference Finals at best). He brought basketball to Canada before taking it away. But is it all on him?
Toronto sports lore is full of finicky fans. I haven’t seen a single Leafs jersey in this city for five years, but now that they’re playing well it’s like a parade. No one cared about the TFC up until maybe three years ago. Raptors attendance was among the league’s lowest during the Colangelo years. Toronto fans are fairly fairweather and I will openly admit to it that I’m a Lakers fan first (I’ve lived in 3 different countries and grew up on Showtime Lakers). So is it fair to blame Vince Carter for quitting on the Raptors after so many of us did for a period of time too? Probably not.
He may not be the best talent of his generation, he may not even be the best player we’ve ever had on the Raptors anymore, but he did something I’ve seen no one else to do. He put an entire country on the NBA map. More importantly, he did it when our hope was waning, when Vancouver lost a franchise and the Raptors were the lone Northern stalwart. He brought hope and excitement to a city the sports heart of which can be as cold as it’s weather. And he gave us the 2000 Slam Dunk contest.
Most importantly, Vince Carter was basketball in Canada. Before Nash, before Joseph, before Thompson, before Wiggins. It was Vince, and Vince wasn’t even Canadian.
I hope that #15 hangs from the rafters of the ACC (I refuse to call it the Scotiabank Arena) one day, where it belongs.
