Nets: Vince Happy in his New Jersey

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">So does being a new father.

But being left in limbo while the NBA appears headed toward a lockout for the second time in his career is something he would prefer to not experience.

For this week, the former Mainland star can take his mind off an impending work stoppage by immersing himself in the activities at his youth basketball camp at the Ocean Center. In another month, he can preside over the fund-raising gala and charity golf tournament being hosted by his Embassy of Hope Foundation.

And he remains hopeful -- unrealistically optimistic, a pessimist might claim -- that a collective bargaining agreement can be agreed upon without causing the start of next season to be delayed.

"I can't see it lasting that long," Carter said Monday of a lockout, which is scheduled to begin a week from Friday. "With the hit that hockey has taken and is taking, I just can't see it happening to basketball. They're global. You just can't do that."

If Carter can take away anything from his six-plus years in Canada, other than ownership of most of the major career statistical categories in the Toronto Raptors' record book, it's an appreciation of a city that lives and dies with its NHL franchise.

Carter, who was drafted in the summer of 1998 but couldn't step on the court until the following January because of a labor dispute, doesn't believe the NBA would dare go through the same slow and painful death as the NHL. He said he keeps in contact with Jason Collins, the Nets' player representative, but admits to not being up to speed on the issues as much as he should be.

"I try to stay out of it," he said. "It gets frustrating for me."</div>

Source