An Open Letter To Vince Carter
by Sebastian Pruiti
Jun 26, 2009 2009 Offseason, Open Letter, Sad, Sucks, Trades, Vince Carter
Dear Vince,
I know that you were only with the Nets for 4 fulls seasons (It seems like so much longer doesn’t it), and this might be silly to do for a guy that has been here for 4 years, but you deserve it. I remember when I found out the Nets had traded for you, I was happy because we got you for basically nothing, but I wasn’t ecstatic. I saw how things went down with you and Toronto. The accusations of not playing hard, the injuries, the selfishness, and the failures in the clutch.
However, once you landed in New Jersey, you put all of my concerns at ease. Not playing hard? I haven’t seen you take a play off your entire Nets’ career. The injuries? I thought we were getting a broken down star when you came, but you only missed missed 11 games in your four years here. The selfishness? Despite being paired with two other “stars” you didn’t butt-heads with either, and in the end, you were the last one standing. Heck, when Lawrence Frank decided to go to the dribble drive offense to showcase Devin Harris more, you didn’t make a peep. You just played the best basketball of his career. The failures in the clutch? I couldn’t be more comfortable having anyone else taking the shot at the end. Just look at that game against Toronto this year.
The thing that impressed me the most about you this past season was how you were a professional through everything. Playing hard even though we were out of (realistically rather than mathematically) playoff contention, through the trade rumors, and through the shift in offensive philosophy. It’s going to be strange not seeing you do your pull-up on the net before the games. It is going to be strange not seeing all of the Vince Carter jerseys walking the tunnel to and in the stadium. Most of all, it is going to be strange not hearing our PA Announcer screaming “VC3″ after a big three-point bucket.
I want to personally wish you luck next year in Orlando. You are now going to play on your first “championship contending team,” plus you will be playing in your hometown. I kind of want to think that Rod Thorn purposely sent you to Orlando as one last “thank you” gesture, because I know how much he enjoyed having you on the team both on and off the court. When you went back to Toronto for the first time, you were greeted with a chorus of boos. I doubt that will happen when you will come back to Jersey, I know for a fact that you will be cheered when your name is announced. I know it seems a little corny to write you this open letter when you were only a part of this team for 4 years, but the way you represented the Nets, you deserved it.
Much respect,
Fans of the New Jersey Nets
P.S.
Please don’t drop 40 when you come back to the IZod center. Take it easy on us.
June 26th, 2009 at 2:24 PM
Very touching letter man. As you know I am a VC fan first, so it’ll be Orlando from here on out.
Great site Man, good luck and hopefully when VC comes back to NJ, he’ll finally recieve a standing ovation from a past team. haha
IF I may, If you could spread this info about the real VC. This is from Mad Balla 15, one of the biggest VC fans I know.
———-
I think it’s time for someone to clear up the misconceptions about Vince Carter once and for all. After he was traded today I spent a lot of time reading people’s thoughts about Vince on many different boards including the general board and of course the Orlando board. I saw that there’s so many misconceptions about him floating around still and I think now that he’s back in the limelight it’s time to clear up these misconceptions.
First, lets start off with the worst misconception and that is the “Vince is injury prone” misconception. In the last 5 years Vince has played 77, 79, 82, 76 and 80 games. So in the past 5 years he’s missed a total of 15 games. In those 15 games, I believe 3 of them were because the coach sat him out to rest him for the playoffs or because the season was pretty much over. So that means he’s only missed 12 games due to actual injury. Therefore in the past 5 years he has played in more regular season games than Kobe, Wade, Joe Johnson, Ray Allen, Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce, Manu Ginobili and many other all-star calibre SG’s/players.
Next misconception we have is the “Vince is only a scorer.” Since Vince has gone to NJ he has become one of the most complete SG’s in the league. He’s averaged basically over 21 PPG / 5 RPG / 5 APG in year he’s been in NJ. Last season when he averaged over 20/5/5 he was one of only THREE players in the league to do that. The other 2 players who did it were LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. The only other player who is usually in the 20/5/5+ company is Dwyane Wade. So as you can see that’s an elite company of players that average 20/5/5+ that Vince is apart of. Vince is also one of the most underrated passer’s in the league. He’ll find an open shooter every time down the floor. It’s no surprise why players like Bobby Simmons and Keyon Dooling shot career high’s in 3 pt % this year playing with Vince. All they had to do was sit in the corner waiting for him to pass it and hit open shots. I said during the playoffs that if the Magic had Vince he would make Dwight into a true superstar because the Magic run the same offense as the Nets. The offense I’m talking about is the screen and roll with the ball handler at the top of the 3 point line and the big man rolling to the basket. I said it during a Magic playoff game that the difference between how Vince runs it and how Hedo runs it is Vince always makes sure that the big man is the first option from the screen and roll. Whereas Hedo would always look away from Dwight and jack up a 3 or pass it to another 3 point shooter. Vince made a living with Nenad Krstic, Mikki Moore and Brook Lopez last year using this screen and roll offense. He always found them for an open dunk or an open jumper and if he didn’t he would make the proper play for himself or another teammate. Mark my words, Vince is going to turn Dwight into a true superstar player this season.
Next misconception, “Vince’s is old and lost his athleticism, he’s not that good anymore.” Well beside the fact that he’s only one of a few players in the league that consistently averages 20/5/5+, he’s still a top 5 SG in the league. The only SG’s over him right now are Kobe, Wade, Roy and Johnson. Secondly, while a lot of people say he’s old and lost his athleticism, sure he’s lost a lot of it compared to when he was young but he’s still one of the most athletic players in the league. Just watch these videos from this past year and tell me this guy still isn’t athletic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTI-z0j9J-g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2PUXGwNvGM
Next misconception, “Vince can only dunk.” Well seeing as how some people are still living in 2000 and not 2009, I’ll let the cat out of the bag; Vince is one of the best shooters in the league. Vince is a career 38% 3 pt shooter and has shot over 40% from 3 in 3 seasons in his career. The only other all-star SG’s in the league right now who have shot over 40% from 3 in 3 or more seasons in their career are: Ray Allen. Only Ray Allen, who’s made a career from his shooting is the only other all-star SG that has shot over 40% from 3 in 3 or more seasons in their career. Vince also has unlimited range, here’s a few clips of his range:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzbgakGB7ZQ (made 5 according to video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzM11_oN0ts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MGkufgRZvM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI-_3TzheJA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsHTlYQU1Lc
Next misconception, “Vince is a loser and is not a leader.” So first of all, Vince is a loser. The thing with Vince is he’s never played on a great team before and now he’s finally going to get that chance. When he played on Toronto he was surrounded by a good core of veterans but he was the only scorer on that team. He took that team who’s second leading scorer was Antonio Davis to 1 shot from the ECF against the #1 seeded 76ers. Some will say he played with great teams in NJ but that’s false. He played with good teams, not great teams. When he first got to NJ he (along with Kidd) carried a team consisting of players like Jason Collins, a rookie Krstic, Brian Scalabrine, Billy Thomas, Ron Mercer, Jabari Smith, Jacque Vaughan, Zoran Planinic, Travis Best and Rodney Buford to the playoffs. Just think about that for a second, the amount of players from that team that are still in the NBA can be counted on 1 hand. Either way, Vince played with good NJ teams, not great NJ teams. He has never lost with HCA in the playoffs but has beat 2 teams without HCA. Every team he’s lost to in the playoffs has either made it to the ECF (Miami Heat), Finals (76ers, Cavs) or won the NBA championship (Miami Heat) so he’s always lost to the better team.
As far as his leadership is concerned, he has become an amazing leader for young players. This season the Nets were supposed to be the worst team in the league but instead Vince brought a positive attitude from the beginning of the summer before the season to the end of the season. When the rookies and the team were playing in the Summer league in Orlando, he invited the whole team over to his house to get to know them and make their transition to the NBA easier. After the Jason Kidd trade he became the leader of the Nets and very good leader who has helped the young players on that team and really helped Devin Harris. This is what Thorn said about him, “His leadership was the best it’s been since he’s been here,” Thorn said. “He always took a backseat to Jason when it came to those kinds of things. I think he considered it Jason’s team, which it was. But his leadership qualities really came to the (forefront). I can’t say enough about him. I think he played absolutely great from the time of the trade (on).”
Last misconception, “Vince is a bad defender.” Vince is actually a very adequate defender. At times he may seem bad but that’s because he has had to carry the offensive load on pretty much every team he’s been on since his career started. He’s never been fortunate enough to play with a team of great offensive players so that he could spend more energy on D. Now that he’s going to be playing on a great offensive team he’ll be able to spend more energy on D and people will be able to see he’s a much better defender than given credit for. When Vince tries on defense which he will be doing much more now that he’s going to be very motivated he is a very good defender. Vince and Kobe don’t like each other very much so when Vince plays against Kobe he D’s him up as well as anyone in the league. Since Carter has been in NJ and played against the Lakers these are the nights Kobe has had:
14-36 = .389%
9-24 = .375%
8-24 = .333%
4-13 = .308%
7-21 = .333%
3-13 = .231%
5-17 = .294%
5-19 = .263%
55- 167 = .329%
So as you can see when Vince wants to D up he can be a pretty good defender. Anyways this has been a pretty long post and I hope people read it over and hopefully the misconceptions attached to Vince will go away. Go ahead and critisize Vince if he doesn’t succeed with the Magic because this is the first time he’s had a great team but I think it’s time to get over these misconceptions about him from the past.
June 26th, 2009 at 4:44 PM
well done, couldn’t agree more
June 26th, 2009 at 5:45 PM
Great job man I’m glad you wrote this. Is there a way we know Vince is going to read this? I think he deserves as much to know he was really loved in NJ.
It’s been tough to be a Nets fan the past two years losing in succession, Kidd, RJ and now Vince. The 3 faces of our franchise. It is now a total shift and a focus somewhere else.
But I was legit saddened when I heard of the Vince news yesterady and am looking forward to his return to NJ.
June 27th, 2009 at 12:01 AM
I said before, Vince won me over. I was there for his first game at Continental and boo’d my lungs out. But he’s a great teammate, a great off-court person, and played hard when he needed to. You can’t say he never took plays/games off though because its just not true. Otherwise, I’m glad he’s going home and wish him the best
June 27th, 2009 at 6:18 AM
Well said.
I’m sad to see him go, but it’s the best thing for the franchise.
June 27th, 2009 at 7:04 PM
Thanks for the compliments everyone. I could have made this longer, but I controlled myself, lol. Great post Rimsanity. Sorry we are going to lose you as a reader, stop by and visit once in a while. @mark v – thanks, it means a lot. @Dif – Yeah, I don’t know how many games I will be at next year (grad school and all), but one will definitely be the VC game. @Jules – agreed. @Kailin – I totally agree. We got a bunch of young studs now (most of who already have been productive in the league), and we are going to have a ton of cap space.
June 27th, 2009 at 8:54 PM
[...] Nets Are Scorching: "The thing that impressed me the most about you [Vince] this past season was how you were a professional through everything. Playing hard even though we were out of (realistically rather than mathematically) playoff contention, through the trade rumors, and through the shift in offensive philosophy. It’s going to be strange not seeing you do your pull-up on the net before the games. It is going to be strange not seeing all of the Vince Carter jerseys walking the tunnel to and in the stadium. Most of all, it is going to be strange not hearing our PA Announcer screaming ‘VC3′ after a big three-point bucket." [...]
June 28th, 2009 at 7:55 AM
Very good post. I always made sure I travelled to Jersey a couple times a year (from LI) if for no other reason than to see VC in the flesh. I too will miss hearing “did you see Veee Ceeeeee” after a highlight reel play.
When I learned of the trade, I posted that I had no more reason to travel to Jersey; but that’s not entirely true. I will definitely be in the house (God willing) when the Magic and VC come to town.
Oh yea, Rimsanity’s post needs its own blog! Great stuff and accurate.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:02 AM
[...] Nets Are Scorching » Blog Archive » An Open Letter To Vince Carter [...]