Jalen Rose takes shots at Raptors front office for trading Vince Carter

Before the Toronto Raptors could call themselves NBA champions thanks to the services of players like Kyle Lowry, the franchise was kept aloft by the superstar play of Vince Carter. While he never had an amazing collection of role players alongside him, Jalen Rose managed to have some success in Canada.

Rose averaged 16.2 points per game in his 177-game tenure with the Raptors. Unfortunately, most of his time in Canada was overshadowed by the fact that Carter was in the middle of a nasty feud with the organization.

Be it with Glen Grunwald and Kevin O’Neill or Rob Babcock and Sam Mitchell, Carter laid the groundwork for what became a bitterly disappointing trade to the New Jersey Nets due to some contentious back-and-forths. Rose went down memory lane and aired his grievances with the Raptors for how they handled this.

Rose briefly touched on his Raptors tenure during his appearance on “All The Smoke.” Rose claimed that part of the reason he was excited to play for the Raptors was his desire to team up with Carter. Thanks to the friction between Carter and the organization, Rose never got to fully realize his dream of forming a lethal 1-2 backcourt punch.

Rose starts discussing the Raptors just over one hour into the episode.

The one thing I hated about my experience in Toronto is that they traded Vince,” Rose said. “That’s why I went. To play with Vince.” Rose mentions that the organization was going back and forth with Carter by leaking information about where his mother would park during games amid their mutual frustration with one another.

Jalen Rose took shots at the Toronto Raptors for trading Vince Carter.

While Rose did hint that he was on friendly terms with Mitchell, he was a bit displeased with the fact that Carter was not the focal point of the offense all the time. If Rose had his druthers, Carter would be screaming to the rim on nearly every offensive possession.

“Give Vince the ball,” Rose said. “Y’all know he can shoot, [he is] crazy athletic, he’s unstoppable. Get him going downhill.” Rose took shots at Babcock for not trading Carter for another borderline superstar player like Jason Kidd or Richard Jefferson, citing the fact that Alonzo Mourning already ruled out playing in Toronto.

Carter himself appeared on All The Smoke last year. On top of echoing the well-known reasons for his departure as it pertained to his issues with management, he claimed that part of the reason he bolted was the decision to lean on Chris Bosh as the face of the franchise over him.

Rose did say that he “loves the fans in Toronto” and goes back to Canada from time to time. Even though he didn’t pile up the wins in Toronto, he seemed to enjoy his stay.