Toronto Raptors who are still playing Alumni thread ....

[planetmars]

It's too bad prime Lowry never played with Bosh. That duo would have done some damage.

[guyroch]

Watching Paul Pearce playing horse and he is the same age as Vince . It must impress everyone even more the level of game Vince was able to maintain .

[G__Deane]

Watching Paul Pearce playing horse and he is the same age as Vince . It must impress everyone even more the level of game Vince was able to maintain .

What level of game?

Media likes to romanticize his longevity but the reality is, Vince was dropping just 5-8 PPG over 16-25 minutes (not insignificant minutes) over the last 6 seasons. He bumped around and hung on and collected pay cheques.

Hadn't had great stats in 10 years.

7 team career.

Won nothing....but a dunk contest.

Hot take? Top 10 over rated player of all time.

[Maury]

What level of game?

Media likes to romanticize his longevity but the reality is, Vince was dropping just 5-8 PPG over 16-25 minutes (not insignificant minutes) over the last 6 seasons. He bumped around and hung on and collected pay cheques.

Hadn't had great stats in 10 years.

7 team career.

Won nothing....but a dunk contest.

Hot take? Top 10 over rated player of all time.

The fact that you can't stop thinking about him proves how good he was.

[G__Deane]

The fact that you can't stop thinking about him proves how good he was.

He only even crosses my mind when someone tries to foist some fake nostalgia memories on fans
Can't stop thinking about him LOL

[HogieTime]

https://youtu.be/lPHSr2keNBY

Pretty interesting video about Carter. Kind of makes you hate him again during the video lol

[G__Deane]

https://youtu.be/lPHSr2keNBY

Pretty interesting video about Carter. Kind of makes you hate him again during the video lol

"Sometimes my teammates think I'm faking it" (when I lay on the floor writhing in pain so many times and get up limping off)"
Man, I remember so many times rolling my eyes as he was bumped and lay on the floor rolling around and teammates would turn their back and walk away lol

That's a pretty good video that clearly shows why some fans still boo quitter-carter and many have forgiven. But it helps remember all his Mom's interference, Vince pouting and trying to decide management and coaching, admitting he didn't put in the work and tried to get by on talent etc. Even fan boys can get a bit of perspective through it lol

Rafa, Pasta man (ouch), seeing Oak and Antonio Davis, McGrady, Bosh and the beginnings of DeMar/Kyle, great stuff.

Man what could have been

[bertarapsfan]

Looking back on all of it i don't think i would have wanted to situation to play out any different.
In the end we Won, Vince never did, Tracy never did. Both willl always think back and go damn what if we could have had one.

Vince's best year were here but he fucked us and MLSE and Babcock fucked him. We got rid of bad apples in the F.O and Vince left to boos. He had to live with coming back to his original team and get torn apart for 10 years. We forgave him eventually but he still had to live with his choice. He became a journey man bouncing team to team and although he will be a hall of famer he never lived up to his full potential if he maybe would have stuck it out in T.O.

Vince watched Demar, a player with much less raw skill replace him. Deebo did it with hard work and a archaic mid range game. Vince had flash dunks and a tendenacy to half ass it.

But now we still reap the benefits of Vince as Canada Basketball fans, Jamal Murray, SGA,R.J Barret, Tristan Thompson, Cory Joesph and Andrew Wiggins will make that clear.

In the end Vince helped put us on the map maybe unlike the Grizz we wouldn't have sold but he certainly helped make sure we didnt. We got young Canadian talent inspired by him, We got our championship.

Vince career will always be a what if to him, great player but maybe something squander. Could be a story to tell to future young players looking to leave a team.
I forgave him, but i still don't want his jersey to be the 1st in the rafters. When he finally does get his jersey up hopefully after someone else then we can finally write the final chapter of this story.

[S.R.]

Looking back on all of it i don't think i would have wanted to situation to play out any different.
In the end we Won, Vince never did, Tracy never did. Both willl always think back and go damn what if we could have had one.

Vince's best year were here but he fucked us and MLSE and Babcock fucked him. We got rid of bad apples in the F.O and Vince left to boos. He had to live with coming back to his original team and get torn apart for 10 years. We forgave him eventually but he still had to live with his choice. He became a journey man bouncing team to team and although he will be a hall of famer he never lived up to his full potential if he maybe would have stuck it out in T.O.

Vince watched Demar, a player with much less raw skill replace him. Deebo did it with hard work and a archaic mid range game. Vince had flash dunks and a tendenacy to half ass it.

But now we still reap the benefits of Vince as Canada Basketball fans, Jamal Murray, SGA,R.J Barret, Tristan Thompson, Cory Joesph and Andrew Wiggins will make that clear.

In the end Vince helped put us on the map maybe unlike the Grizz we wouldn't have sold but he certainly helped make sure we didnt. We got young Canadian talent inspired by him, We got our championship.

Vince career will always be a what if to him, great player but maybe something squander. Could be a story to tell to future young players looking to leave a team.
I forgave him, but i still don't want his jersey to be the 1st in the rafters. When he finally does get his jersey up hopefully after someone else then we can finally write the final chapter of this story.

Good summary. Vince was fun but he was never a killer - far from it. From that perspective, there maybe is no "What if?" with him and T-Mac. I don't think those guys had enough MJ/Kobe/Lebron/Kawhi in them to win a chip, even paired up. Were Vince & T-Mac ever going to top the Kobe/Shaq Lakers? Duncan's Spurs? The peak Pistons? More likely Toronto would have been Lob City North.

It is interesting how winning a chip in Toronto can affect how former players look back on their time here and what might have been. They can't really blame Toronto/Canada for not peaking when Kawhi & Co. showed them it can be done. Get those Chris Bosh/Antonio Davis excuses outta here.

[bertarapsfan]

Good summary. Vince was fun but he was never a killer - far from it. From that perspective, there maybe is no "What if?" with him and T-Mac. I don't think those guys had enough MJ/Kobe/Lebron/Kawhi in them to win a chip, even paired up. Were Vince & T-Mac ever going to top the Kobe/Shaq Lakers? Duncan's Spurs? The peak Pistons? More likely Toronto would have been Lob City North.

It is interesting how winning a chip in Toronto can affect how former players look back on their time here and what might have been. They can't really blame Toronto/Canada for not peaking when Kawhi & Co. showed them it can be done. Get those Chris Bosh/Antonio Davis excuses outta here.

If T-Mac and Vince both are here i think we would have had a pretty good chance to at least make the finals in those back to back Net years.
But i think the what if for vince is he will think he could have been a 1 team legend who never left. Even if he wasn't as good as Kobe, Dirk and Duncan and even if he end without a ring. He would be one of the few stars who stayed with a team his whole career and no doubt left a better legacy. I'm sure he would have preferred that over moving team to team on 1-2 year deals never apart of a long term plan and only brought in to add a veteran presence.

[S.R.]

If T-Mac and Vince both are here i think we would have had a pretty good chance to at least make the finals in those back to back Net years.
But i think the what if for vince is he will think he could have been a 1 team legend who never left. Even if he wasn't as good as Kobe, Dirk and Duncan and even if he end without a ring. He would be one of the few stars who stayed with a team his whole career and no doubt left a better legacy. I'm sure he would have preferred that over moving team to team on 1-2 year deals never apart of a long term plan and only brought in to add a veteran presence.

I don't know, that still kind of gets into a "What if?" that's not really Vince. Carter always had weird goals - like getting super fired up for the dunk contest. I think he always wanted a long career, he sees it as a kind of accomplishment. Fits really well with his "pace yourself" ethos in his pro career which is probably directly at odds with other potential goals like winning a championship. Or sticking it out through tough times. I mean a bunch of GOATs retire not because their bodies broke down, but because if they couldn't play at a high level anymore they didn't want to play at all. I think a lot of them have way too much ego to end their careers the way Carter's ending his. Kobe would never, ever, finish his career as a scrub coming off the bench for a league worst team like the Hawks. It's all very Vince Carter. I'm just really skeptical of his "What if?" potential at this point, I think he is who he is and his career trajectory was inevitable. It was directly determined by who the guy is, not by circumstances outside of his control.

[golden]

I don't know, that still kind of gets into a "What if?" that's not really Vince. Carter always had weird goals - like getting super fired up for the dunk contest. I think he always wanted a long career, he sees it as a kind of accomplishment. Fits really well with his "pace yourself" ethos in his pro career which is probably directly at odds with other potential goals like winning a championship. Or sticking it out through tough times. I mean a bunch of GOATs retire not because their bodies broke down, but because if they couldn't play at a high level anymore they didn't want to play at all. I think a lot of them have way too much ego to end their careers the way Carter's ending his. Kobe would never, ever, finish his career as a scrub coming off the bench for a league worst team like the Hawks. It's all very Vince Carter. I'm just really skeptical of his "What if?" potential at this point, I think he is who he is and his career trajectory was inevitable. It was directly determined by who the guy is, not by circumstances outside of his control.

One of those "weird goals" was having Dr. J run the team. lol. Or maybe it's just because his mom wanted Dr. J as assistant GM. What an unbelievable train wreck that could have been and that's really saying something.... when you think about what happened after that. Below was just a normal day in the life of the Raptors franchise back then. Good times.

"My mom just said, `Hey, here's Dr. J's number ? give him a call.' I was like, `Who? Yeah, sounds good to me.'"
It was former Raptors tough guy Charles Oakley who once said of Michelle Carter, "Vince's mom runs the team ? she's the GM." If Erving does get to be the next Raptors GM it just solidifies Michelle Carter's position as the woman calling all the shots in Toronto.

https://basketball.realgm.com/wireta...ns-the-Raptors

[MixxAOR]

SR summarized it pretty beautifully. "Maybe there's no what if".

[G__Deane]

I think both Vince and McGrady might fall into the camp of "what if" they took a shot at being a 1A and 1B rather than want all the glory on teams that eventually won nothing. Although McGrady gave it a shot with Yao and ....won nothing.

Kyle saw the error of their (and his) ways eventually and won a chip as a #2 behind true talent. I don't think Vince ever had the drive and heart anyways, to be honest. He'll always lead the most-talent-to-never-win-a-thing list with Chris Paul, Stockton, Malone, The Round Mound, Steve Nash, Reggie Miller and likely Harden. Most of those guys you don't question their heart....

[bertarapsfan]

SR summarized it pretty beautifully. "Maybe there's no what if".

I dunno I think deep down Vince knows he could have had a better career. How many playoff series did the guy even win 2 or 3?