<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MaxaMillion711 @ Apr 24 2008, 04:08 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>he'll probably start slowly quitting on us ala Toronto.</div> Vince has said numerous times he wants to stay and retire as a Net. He is forever grateful that they picked him up when trade value was so low and when he was injured. He used to be immature like I mentioned, but these past years have proven that he really has grown and what happened those last 20 games in Toronto will never happen agian. There were a lot of factors to his quitting on Toronto. Playing time. management knew vince wanted out. the fans knew it. the coach knew it. the players knew it. Vince did not get much playing time. He would start the games and get benched a lot. Case in point. SAS@TOR. vince is benched the ENTIRE 4TH QUARTER as the Raptors play their youth against a great spurs team. As the raptors are winning, Vince and Jalen rose are on the bench CHEERING THEM ON! He said that game "all i can do is play as hard as i can" Vince got the team off to 3 straight wins. vs a good Rockets team, the defending champs and an undefeated portland trail blazers team where he scored 25pts and hit the game winner. in ALL 3 GAMES he showed fire, passion and was getting praise from Swirsky and Jack. vs houston - vs detroit - vs portland - in seatlle on the western trip, carter battled with the team and he missed a potential game winner and raps lost 87-88 in portland, i was there live, and sat NEXT TO ROB BABCOCK (raptors GM at the time) wearing my VC jersey. He asked me why I came to see the raptors and I said "cause vince carter is my favorite player" and he didnt say anything, heh. I watched Vince. He hit a jumper, and was fired up in the 3rd quarter, but he was soon benched by mitchell to play the young guys. it was clear vince was not involved in the game plan. at the clippers, carter put on a 1st quarter show. he scored probably around 14 pts including 5 tough jumpers and a sweet baseline reverse dunk. this game is famous because mitchell tried to bench vince but vince said "leave me in there" and the very next play, he dunked it ... jack armstrong "ahhh keep him in there" then came the whole "i dont want to dunk anymore" comments. that was the immature vince. he was pissed at reporters saying "you have not dunked much this year". he was really pissed and playing with them. he doesnt do that now, but that is the immature vince that was in TO at the time. really mad even after wins cause the team and management were messed up. the game proceeding the comments, he dunked 3 times and made the highlight reels that night. one of his last best games a raptor was vs the knicks @ ACC. vince played spectular capped off by a windmill jam on the fastbreak that got him a STANDING OVATION BY THE CROWD the next home game, vs washington, vince poured in 34 points with a variety of shots and he lead the raptors into an overtime battle but larry hughes had a trip doub and washington won. but vince played great and was loved by the crowd. that was his last home game and he played great. good way to leave the home crowd. his last games were road games but a few stand out. @BOS, he hit some tough tough shots and the raps lost by 2 and vince was great. @NJN, he was battling food poisoning but he hit some amazing shots and kept the raptors in it. and his final game was at @DET, where he went down in the 3rd with an injury and walked off. fittingly, his last field goal as a raptor was the same shot he hit in february of 99 in his 1st game as a raptor...a turning fade away jumper. he was very soon after traded. now onto the john thomson video which raptor fans still hold up as the shining example of why vince sucks and is a teribble person. the interview was SEVERELY EDITED..that is why it HOLDS ON THOMSON and doesnt cut away until vince is in MID THOUGHT and gives his answer. vince had an interview with ahmad rashad...here is the transcript: vince: "mentally i was still there 100%" ahmad: "i want you to explain to me the comment about not playing 100%" vince: "that was blown out of .... it was taken out of context first and foremost. the beauty of EDITING...i never understood that. ive never not played 100%, i respect the game too much and i have too much fun on the court not to come play 100%. for the people that know me. they know i would never ever disrespect the game like that or myself of my family. " and when vince was talking about editing, they did NOT cut away like the TNT interview did. but nobody talks about that ahmad interview. so basically, the point im trying to make is that I watched all of his last games and i did not feel he tanked it. i feel it was time to go, he played less, the youth were the focus, and we dont know what happened behind closed doors with the GM and the coach and the players. but how do you expect TO fans to react to vince leaving? happy? no! of course they are pissed and they are going to justify hating him for it. i know im in the minority here guys. vince has a bad rap about those last 20 games. but i really want to defend him here and say that i think he did give a lot of effort but he was on his way out before the season even started. </div> wow, you really know your stuff. BTW your vids are sick.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MaxaMillion711 @ Apr 23 2008, 03:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>i know im in the minority here guys. vince has a bad rap about those last 20 games. but i really want to defend him here and say that i think he did give a lot of effort but he was on his way out before the season even started.</div> Max, I gave up a long time ago trying to set the record straight on Vince's last days in Toronto and what he did and did not do. Even though I watched every televised game he ever played as a Raptor (which was all but about 4-5), some people who rarely (if ever) watched him then are convinced they know what happened. I commend you, though, for so thoroughly revisiting the real history. I would add that not only did VC's playing time significantly decrease under Mitchell, the offense while he was in the game was significantly different. Many, many possessions, Vince was used on the weak side of the ball while Alston, Bosh, and/or other players were involved as the first options on the play. Too many times he would be thrown the ball with 5 seconds left on the clock and defenders swarming him and was expected to bail the team out of a poor possession. It's no surprise that with all these factors his scoring dipped to 15 in his last partial season with the Raptors. There were also a couple of reports in Toronto media early that season that Carter privately had expressed a desire to rescind the trade request but was, I suppose, too stubborn and proud to apologize for it and take it back. He also went to Sam Mitchell only days before the trade, seeking ways to help the team improve, expressing his difficulties playing off Rafer Alston, and offering to come out of the lineup early in the 1st quarter so that his playing time could be staggered more against Alston's and with a second unit PG. That's not something you do if you've mentally "quit" on a team. That said, the real damage Carter did was publicly asking for a trade in the first place. It was rightly received as a betrayal by the fans and the organization and as a repudiation of his teammates. That's one reason I'm sort of glad that Kidd did what he did, as it's forced Vince to experience the issue "from both sides", as Joni Mitchell would say. I've no doubt that this dual perspective is part of the reason he played so valiantly down the stretch this year and is fueling his obvious determination to put the Nets in contention again. I hope he holds on to the feeling all next year. He will need it, and so will the Nets.
