(also written by me on bleacher report) It’s October and the New Jersey Nets are without Richard Jefferson, and have left Jason Kidd in Dallas. Who will lead this team? Not Vince Carter. The guy has no heart, no passion, and no desire to win. Give him a young Nets team, and he will do nothing but sit out with soft injuries—not giving commitment to the youthful squad. I’m sure many people thought like that. Haters, analysts, and even some fans all had doubt in the man people used to call half man, half amazing. None of them could have been more wrong. "Vince has been great," Nets President Rod Thorn said, "not just on the court but with our younger players. He seems to be very happy. He likes the leadership role. I think what's important is he likes these guys and these guys like him. Vince is a focal point around the team." It can be argued that Devin Harris is the best player on this team with his significant improvement, but there can be no denial to who the leader of the team is. Carter has been a consistent scorer. His playmaking skills are showing that he has matured from past years. Vince’s defense which has been labeled lazy and bad, has improved to good. His determination, heart, and desire to win have all been rejuvenated. A team that was projected to be among the worst in the league has been led by Captain Carter with the help of the favorite thus far to win the most improved player award, Devin Harris. Harris and Carter are one of the best backcourt combinations in the league. They both compliment each other well—maybe more than the Kidd-Carter duo. The most notable game by Vince this season has to be the one in Toronto a few weeks ago. The Canadian boo birds were going crazy as usual, the arena was hectic. The fourth quarter began and the Nets were down by double digits. With the help of the team, Carter led the Nets to an overtime victory. He hit the three in the end of the fourth quarter to force overtime, and then ended the game with a game winning reverse dunk. "He [Carter] is one of the best athletes in the game," said Raptors’ forward Chris Bosh, “Lawrence Frank drew up a fantastic play and left it up to his best player and he capitalized." The Nets are sixth in the Eastern Conference and are playing like a playoff team. Whether they can keep this stellar play up, remains to be the question. With Carter leading the team and proving critics wrong, we might see some success from this team that can show haters that Vince Carter is more than just a highlight reel.
I was hoping in the off season that vince would prove all the naysayers wrong, and so far he's doing a wonderful job. Lets hope he keeps it up. After tonights game we saw a true example of it and he put a hurting on the wolves, and brought his team along with him. That my friends is true leadership! Great job Vince Carter...
Good article, but one suggestion: Vince and Devin is no doubt the best backcourt combination, even the best duo in the league compared to any duo.
in short vince has been great his ENTIRE time in Jersey. The doubter haven't watched any of the nets games for the last 5 years....
but he's grown over the last year and a half. He was a gunner and poor shot taker before and when he was on he was unstopable. When he was off he was just terrible and shot the nets out of games even though he got his stats. In the past year and a half he has grown as a player because he now plays within the team concept, and has become a true leader. Not just with the rookies, but even his assists are up. He is now a team player which in my opinion makes him a complete basketball player...
I agree he has grown in the sense that he takes better shots, but I'd also like to point out this is one of the only teams in Jersey that has consistent shooters on the team. Imagine if JKidd decided to play the way he's playing now last year, or maybe if he decided to stay?
I apologize. I meant to say, Carter couldn't play with Kidd. The reason that Carter is doing well this season is because he can feed off Harris. In a way, he's that #2. The "Pippen" of the duo. He doesn't necessarily have to do more of the scoring for the Nets to win the game. In the Kidd-Carter relationship, Kidd wanted Vince to thrive off his passing. Jason felt that Carter could play at the level of Kobe/Lebron if he just put his head down and made a play. That isn't Carter. He prefers be the "second-guy". Now with Harris, he can be the second guy. There's no pressure for him to play well everyday, because now someone else on the team can fill up the scoreboard. VC could play at his own pace. Kidd can't put the ball in the basket like Harris; he's always been a traditional point guard. His job was to make it easier for Carter to score in bunches. Unfortunately, that's not how Vince operates. Like I said before, he likes to go at his own pace. No pressure is when he excels the most. With that said, I'm not saying Carter isn't a leader. So, don't get it twisted.
carter has always been a great player, even as he is getting older, he is still leading the nets to a good record and putting up crazy stats. he would make any team better.
