Vince Carter hails ‘awesome’ Raptors

Former Raptor Vince Carter spoke about how proud he was of the team’s recent playoff run to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The playoff success of the 2015-2016 Toronto Raptors brought pride and elation to an organization that has had its fair share of rotten luck through the years. Not since 2001 has the sole NBA franchise from Canada been able to celebrate such a successful campaign. One former Raptor, who last plied his trade for the team 15 years ago, still holds affection for it. Vince Carter may have left Toronto in an ugly fashion in 2004 when he was traded to the New Jersey Nets, but there’s no arguing the adoration that is still felt for the 39-year-old by the Raptors fan-base. These feelings are mutual as Carter recently commented on his satisfaction at watching these young Raptors progress deep into the 2016 playoffs.

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“It was awesome,” said Carter before Game 3 of NBA Finals. “I reached out to Kyle and DeMar . I’m not really big on doing the whole reaching-out-through-social-media-so-everybody-sees-it type thing. It’s just not my thing. You know, we talked. I just told them, I was like, ‘You guys are the best,’ and they should hold their head up high. Because not only did they make history, they actually changed a lot of minds of a lot of people. Everybody thought they could be here.”

Nov 19, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Memphis Grizzlies forward Vince Carter gestures as he reacts to a highlight reel from his days in Toronto as the Raptors paid tribute to him as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations in the first quarter at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

If any past player can associate with the achievements of this playoff run for the Raptors, it’s Carter. His missed buzzer-beater in Game 7 of the second round series versus the Philadelphia 76ers lingers in the minds of the fan-base, though that Raptors side still managed to make franchise history by becoming the first team to progress to the second round. Making history has become common in the league in the last few years, most notably Golden State surpassing Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls for most wins during the regular season, and Carter believes it’s a positive sign of where the NBA is heading,

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“So I think they had a heck of a run, and I was just proud to read about it, to listen to people talk about it. Where it was like at one point they weren’t even talking about them in the Finals and next thing you know, the Raptors could possibly do it. It was great to see it, and to know at one point I was part of that and to see your record go down, I mean, all records are broken at some point. We’re seeing a lot of history this year throughout the NBA, and it’s great to see, because that’s why we play the game.”

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With the right moves made in the off-season and a determined roster coming back for next year, this past campaign should only be the start of Toronto’s road to ultimate glory in the NBA. How fitting would it be should Carter, likely to be a free agent this summer, end up back at the place he started for the final lap of his career? Any thoughts, Rapture Nation?