An appreciation of Vince Carter, a slam-dunk Hall of Famer

When the NBA season was suspended last week, the 22-year NBA career of Atlanta's Vince Carter probably ended, too. Last summer, he announced he was retiring at the end of the season, but no one could imagine the end coming so soon and so ingloriously –- in a meaningless game against the Knicks.

If last Wednesday's game indeed was Carter's last, it's time to salute Vinsanity's unbelievable basketball journey -- one that will be culminated someday with a first-ballot election to the Basketball Hall of Fame. If anything, the 43-year-old may be underappreciated by fans, probably because he has zero titles on his resume and his flair for ridiculous dunks overshadowed his all-around game. 

Guys who can score like Vince usually have “Mamba Mentality” in their DNA. But Carter seamlessly transitioned from superstar to supporting star, to three-and-D role player, to veteran mentor, and remained valuable. It might be unprecedented for a player who was “the guy” to sublimate his ego and become just one of the guys as Vince did.

Carter started his career with the Raptors in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, averaging 18.3 points and running away with the Rookie of the Year trophy. In his second season, Carter rose to supertar status, averaging 25.7 points, shooting 40% from three and starting in the All-Star Game. The Raptors went to the playoffs three straight seasons, and after his controversial trade to New Jersey in 2005, he continued to make All-Star teams and average 20+ points.

The next phase of his career began in 2009, when he was traded to defending Eastern Conference champion Orlando. No longer the same rim-attacking force he was as a younger man, he scored from the perimeter and assisted Dwight Howard. He then bounced around a bit before finding a home in Dallas, where he thrived as a three-and-D guy. Carter was no longer a first option, or even a third option offensively, but he played good defense and was deadly from long range. 

After Dallas, he turned into a veteran leader and stabilizer of bench units in Memphis, Sacramento and Atlanta. But he never lost his shooting stroke -- he hit 38.9% from deep at age 42. For a guy who was always known for his freakish athleticism, it’s incredible that he hung on so long based on basketball smarts and an amazing jumper. How many dunk champions turn into Kyle Korver types? It’s really just Carter and Brent Barry, who no one would confuse for an athletic marvel.

By the numbers, Carter is a no-doubt Hall of Famer. He has played more seasons than anyone. Carter is 19th on the all-time scoring list, sixth on the all-time three-pointers list, and is the rare player to have three different great nicknames: Vinsanity, Air Canada, and Half-Man, Half-Amazing. Plus, he’s simply one of the most memorable and popular players of his generation.  

Part of Vince’s legend is that he delivered some of the greatest dunks of all time, in and out of competition. His jam over 7-foot-2 Frederic Weis of France in the 2000 Olympics was like a dunk contest stunt in real life. Usually when a guy dunks on a big man, the player doesn’t clear his entire body. Vince spread his legs, soared over Weis, and jammed so hard that French newspapers called it “le dunk de la mort" –- the "Dunk of Death." That ferocious slam might explain why Weis wanted no part of the NBA, despite the Knicks drafting him in the first round.  

Carter only competed in one All-Star Game dunk contest, but it was a master class, delivered against a great field that included his cousin Tracy McGrady and Steve Francis. The other guys were good, but Carter was unbeatable with his collection of 360-degree dunks, including the title-clincher in which he put his whole arm in the rim. Look, if Michael Jordan says it’s the most amazing dunk he’s seen, it’s the best dunk contest dunk ever. Carter’s dunks were so impressive and ferocious that Hamidou Diallo won a dunk contest 19 years later just by re-doing one of Carter’s jams.

Even the knocks on Carter don’t seem that bad in retrospect. His worst moment came when he forced his way out of Toronto in 2004. He was dealt to New Jersey for a disappointing return that included two first-round picks and Alonzo Mourning, who refused to report to Toronto. But compared to LeBron’s televised "Decision," the Anthony Davis saga in New Orleans, Paul George forcing his way to the Clippers, and Kawhi Leonard leaving the Raptors after a championship, Carter sulking for a few weeks seems almost quaint in comparison. And he was right to demand a trade!

The Raptors had missed the playoffs two years in a row, and had just fired their general manager and entire coaching staff. The new GM said he didn’t care if the team won for the next two seasons, and the new coach started benching Carter in the fourth quarter. Was he supposed to hang around for an indefinite rebuild at age 28, when his coach didn’t care for him? Any bad feelings about his departure are more than made up for by how he inspired a whole generation of Canadian players -– Jamal Murray, Andrew Wiggins, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, to name a few -– who grew up watching and emulating Vinsanity. He and the Toronto fans made nice in 2014, when a touching video tribute and ovation from the crowd brought Carter to tears.

The other supposed Carter scandal came when he attended his college graduation at North Carolina on the same day as Game 7 of Toronto's second-round playoff series against Philadelphia. But that story was overblown, too. Carter was at his graduation for 20 minutes, and arrived back in Philly five hours before the game. Yes, he missed the buzzer-beater to win the game, but he tallied 20 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.

More than anything, Carter was a delight to watch, even as he got older and replaced his hops with trickery. Like the play in 2013 when he faked an injury to dupe Harrison Barnes, then cut backdoor for a monster dunk two weeks before his 36th birthday. Last season, he played 45 minutes in a four-OT game against the Bulls, draining threes well into the third overtime. What always came through was Carter’s abiding love of the game, which is what you must have to play as long as he has.

It’ll be strange to watch another NBA season without Carter, but after 22 seasons, he has earned a break. Carter will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts in a few years, and if he’s not a first-ballot selection, we’ll be half-shocked, half-amazed.