#30 - Vince Carter
Quick! Name the three guys in the league who did 20/5/5 last year!
Hmmm…..Ok, Lebron that one’s obvious...Kobe, you probably knew that one too…What about the third? It couldn’t be….nah, really? Vincent Lamar? Believe the hype. He also shot 46% from the field and turned the ball over less than Kobe, Lebron, D-Wade, Iggy, The Truth, Melo, T-Mac and Mikey Redd. No shit. This probably surprises a lot of people, but lost in all the trendy post-glory-days Vince bashing is the reality that he’s still a top-notch offensive weapon. Sure, he doesn’t dunk on helpless ogres with reckless abandon on a nightly basis anymore. He still doesn’t play a lick of defense, but neither have 2 of the last 3 MVPs. He still launches a lot of ill-advised threes from 30 feet, but I digress…
I have a heavy heart on this one because, like most other Canadian basketball fans, I’m upset with Vincent. He fucked us, plain and simple. As incompetent as Raptors management had been since extending him, he passionlessly played well below his potential and forced Toronto to deal him for nothing the same season they drafted Chris Bosh. It was a gutless move that set our only franchise back years and made everyone think he was that much more of a fucking muffin. But despite Vince’s immature ignorance, you can’t deny the validity of his likely being the most eye-poppingly entertaining athlete, in any sport, ever. Before his injuries, he assaulted sports channel highlight shows unlike anyone before or since. And though his poster shots are scarce these days, his play hasn’t slipped much. A decade in, through all the alleged injuries and controversies he remains among the league’s sickest, no matter how sick he made our country.
Quick! Name the three guys in the league who did 20/5/5 last year!Hmmm…..Ok, Lebron that one’s obvious...Kobe, you probably knew that one too…What about the third? It couldn’t be….nah, really? Vincent Lamar? Believe the hype. He also shot 46% from the field and turned the ball over less than Kobe, Lebron, D-Wade, Iggy, The Truth, Melo, T-Mac and Mikey Redd. No shit. This probably surprises a lot of people, but lost in all the trendy post-glory-days Vince bashing is the reality that he’s still a top-notch offensive weapon. Sure, he doesn’t dunk on helpless ogres with reckless abandon on a nightly basis anymore. He still doesn’t play a lick of defense, but neither have 2 of the last 3 MVPs. He still launches a lot of ill-advised threes from 30 feet, but I digress…
I have a heavy heart on this one because, like most other Canadian basketball fans, I’m upset with Vincent. He fucked us, plain and simple. As incompetent as Raptors management had been since extending him, he passionlessly played well below his potential and forced Toronto to deal him for nothing the same season they drafted Chris Bosh. It was a gutless move that set our only franchise back years and made everyone think he was that much more of a fucking muffin. But despite Vince’s immature ignorance, you can’t deny the validity of his likely being the most eye-poppingly entertaining athlete, in any sport, ever. Before his injuries, he assaulted sports channel highlight shows unlike anyone before or since. And though his poster shots are scarce these days, his play hasn’t slipped much. A decade in, through all the alleged injuries and controversies he remains among the league’s sickest, no matter how sick he made our country.
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