Was Vince Carter at his best when with the Toronto Raptors?
Where was Vince Carter at his best?
It’s such a difficult question. Success is weighed subjectively. Some people would suggest that team success means more than individual success, while others suggest that the individual star carries the team.
But, we’re asking where Vince Carter was at his best as a player, not where he had the most success. If it was the former, it would certainly be his career after the Raptors – but a lot of that is down to longevity. Although, Carter was 28 by the time he left the Raptors in 2004 and it would be fair to say his best years were, maybe, behind him.
Statistically, the best season of his career came in the 2000-01 NBA season; Carter averaged a career-high 27.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game while shooting 46-percent from the field and 41-percent from three while taking five threes per game.
He was electric. Carter became the first-ever Raptors player voted in as a starter for the NBA All-Star Game and carried the team to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. The Raptors would take on the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round and Carter would go head-to-head with Allen Iverson, one of the league’s great guards.
Carter averaged 27.3 points per game during the postseason and dropped a franchise-record 50 points and set an NBA record for the most three-pointers made during a playoff game during Game 3 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
He was equally as electric during the 2005-06 NBA Playoffs with the New Jersey Nets and averaged 29.6 points per game, a playoff career-best for Carter but the team was dispatched by the Miami Heat in five games.
Still, where do you remember Carter the most fondly? Even an impartial voter would say with the Raptors. Vinsanity put basketball in Toronto on the map and Carter became a global star overnight. It would be totally fair to say that he was at his best with the Raptors because, well, maybe he just was.
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With the Raptors, his elite All-World athleticism was on display every night and Carter was the first real superstar for the team. Until recently, he was the undisputed greatest player of all-time for the Toronto Raptors. That must count for something. Carter was never better than with the Raptors, even if it did end on a sour note.