Vince Carter has had a sensational career spanning four decades, but was he at his best when he was with the Toronto Raptors?
When you have been playing for as long as Vince Carter has, you’re bound to go through different iterations of the player that you are. Carter was an athletic scoring guard with the Toronto Raptors and the New Jersey Nets before becoming a three-point marksman with the Dallas Mavericks and a helpful veteran in the later years of his career.
Now, in his final season in the NBA, Carter was a needed presence on the court and in the locker room for the Atlanta Hawks, led by Trae Young. It’s been quite a career for Carter, who is third all-time for games played in the NBA with 1541 and nineteenth in the all-time scoring list, just behind Kevin Garnett.
Carter spent seven seasons with the Toronto Raptors from 1998-2004 and was a five-time All-Star, 1999 Rookie of the Year, 2000 All-NBA Third Team, and a 2001 All-NBA Second Team selection with the team. He left in 2004 to join the New Jersey Nets after becoming disillusioned with the Raptors lack of trajectory under Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment and then Raptors president, Richard Peddie.
After his spell with the Toronto Raptors, Carter had a fruitful period with the New Jersey Nets, forming a dynamic partnership with Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson until Kidd was traded to the Dallas Mavericks during the 2007-08 NBA season.
Just yesterday, we wrote an article about five drafted players who had great careers elsewhere, and Vince Carter’s name popped up on that list. Yes, like I said then, and will say now, Carter technically wasn’t drafted by the Raptors but he ended up wearing their hat on draft night – so that’s enough for us.
It said that while those five players had good-to-great careers with the Raptors, maybe their success was more prominent elsewhere. For the likes of Chris Bosh and Tracy McGrady, that rang true. Bosh was a two-time NBA champion with the Miami Heat and Tracy McGrady developed his game to become one of the purest scoring forwards of all-time, winning two consecutive scoring titles with the Orlando Magic.
They, without a doubt, experienced more success once they left the Toronto Raptors – both collectively with their teams and as individuals. But can the same be said about Vince Carter?
Collective success after the Raptors
If we’re being perfectly candid, Carter had his most success once he left the Toronto Raptors – at least in terms of team success. I suppose it helps when you spend an extra 15 seasons all around the NBA once you’ve left the team that drafted you.
After leaving the Raptors, Carter spent five seasons with the New Jersey Nets and while he formed a strong core with Jefferson and Kidd, the three never really had a chance to play at full strength together in their first season together and won only 42 games. Still, that was enough to make the playoffs.
In his five and a half seasons with the Nets, Carter made it to the postseason three times but never progressed past the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. Though he was often described as a fragile player, Carter missed only 11 games in his first four full seasons with the team and, at his peak with the team, averaged 27.5 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game.
After his spell with the Nets, Carter was traded to the Orlando Magic to provide support for Dwight Howard who had just taken the Magic to their first NBA Finals appearance since the 1994-95 NBA season when they were led by another dominant center: Shaquille O’Neal.
While the Magic couldn’t repeat their trip to the Finals, they got pretty close. Carter provided a strong scoring punch and averaged 16.6 points per game – which would be the lowest scoring total of his career to date – and the Magic got all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to the Boston Celtics in six games.
Later in his career, Carter would become an important member of the Dallas Mavericks and the Memphis Grizzlies, performing admirably for the Mavericks in his second and third season with the team. He led the team in win shares during the 2012-13 NBA season but the Mavericks failed to reach the playoffs, winning just 41 games.
Interestingly enough, Carter joined the Nets, Magic, and Mavericks all one season after each time had made it to the Eastern Conference Finals – with the exception of the Nets who made the NBA Finals in 2002 and the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals in 2003.
Carter was 28 by the time he left the Raptors but went on to play for another 16 seasons in the NBA – while it only ended up with one Conference Finals appearance, it’s fair to say that Carter found success.
Individual success with the Toronto Raptors
While Carter didn’t have the same postseason success with the Raptors that he did elsewhere in his career, a lot of that could be probably put down to the relative infancy of the franchise. Carter was drafted by the Raptors heading into only their fourth-ever season in a market where basketball just wasn’t on the agenda.
In Carter’s seven seasons with the team, he only made it to the postseason three times – those efforts being the Raptors first forays into postseason action since the franchise’s inception. He was the leader of the team, even at such a young age. This was Vince Carter’s team.
That showed on the court. In his second season in Toronto – at the age of 23 – Carter was named to the 2000 All-NBA Third Team after averaging 25.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game. He was already taking 20 shots per game and led the Raptors to their first-ever trip to the playoffs.
The journey was short-lived as the team was swept in three games by the New York Knicks, with Carter averaging 19.3 points per game while shooting just 30-percent from the field but it was a taste of winning, regardless. Carter and Tracy McGrady had carried the team to the great beyond.
McGrady left the Raptors to join the Orlando Magic in 2000, but Carter would carry the team on his back again – this time, the Raptors won a the franchise-record 47 games and progressed to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. His performances in the regular season earned him a place on the All-NBA Second Team and Carter was named as an All-Star once again.
He was the star in Toronto for seven seasons, even once the trips to the playoffs stopped. A Slam Dunk Champion, Rookie of the Year and five-time All-Star, where was Carter at his best?
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.
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.