Striving Against Opposition

In Sporting News - Vince Carter Traded

This is a few days old but but late than never. Vince Carter was traded to the New Jersey nets for Alonzo Mourning, Eric Williams and Aaron Williams. They also obtained two first round draft picks, Philly's pick this year, and Denver's next year. Is this a good trade?

Yes and no. Yes, this is a good trade if you believe Vince Carter for the last two years has been a major disapointment whom has floated around on the court and seemed a mere shadow of his former self. Not to mention the fact that he has been injury riddled and seemingly devoid of any sort of competitive spirit.

The man once called "Half man, half amazing" by commentators after he dazzled us all with feats of athleticism, displaying great touch on his shots and amazing air, has for all intents and purposes "half man, half hype. All dissapointment." When you are averaging 16 points a game and are making 12.6 million dollars a year, you are definately not delivering. Given that there was no reason to believe he was going to turn things around this year liquidating him was likely the best idea, he'd also requested a trade.

Seeming to compound manners there are currently rumors he threw a game against the Sonics a month ago. Evidently in the dying minutes of the game he announced their play to the other team. Now many people have accused Vince of not wanting to win before but sabotaging the game? Three sonics players seem to be saying he was trying too. (CBC Sports)

On the other hand if you believe Vince Carter is going to somehow break free from his seeming listlessness and become the franchise player he was in 2001, and 2002 then this is an absolutely horrible trade. The raptors acquired Alonzo Mourning, who probably won't join the team as he's having kidney problems, as well as knee and hand problems. He's also 34. Aaron and Eric Williams are also both in their early 30s. Neither player is considered to be exceptional, but they do bring some size which has been lacking to the team. Hence the Raptors basically recieved two draft picks and freed up some room under the salary cap to go after a free agent. Thus in return for what was arguably their best player all they recieved were a couple of bench players, an injured and unlikely to play former all star and a speculative investment.

This trade will likely seem wise or incredibly stupid, depending on whether Carter ever snaps out of his funk and the degree to which the Raptors either use his cap space to land a major free agent or draft well.

posted by Chris @ 12/19/2004 04:33:00 p.m.