Vince is gone.  And as much as I had grown to detest his "Wince" Carter personalty and his ineffectiveness, I'm sad to see him go.

Vince lifted the franchise to unprecedented heights... and put all the fans through the deepest lows.  He had an incredible debut in his rookie year, and went on to have the most spectacular first 3 seasons of any player that I can remember.  Every night, every game, Vince did something noteworthy, memorable, and spectacular.

I do believe the Raptors are a better team now, and that the professionalism and, more importantly, the toughness of Eric and Aaron Williams will do wonders for the franchise, but Vince is the greatest player in Raptor history.  How do you replace that?  The people we got back from the trade are tough veterans who'll shore up weaknesses in the lineup, but where's the excitement going to come from now?  If Zo had shown some willingness to join the Raptors, I could be excited.  As it is, the trade was extremely anti-climactic.  No All-stars coming back.  No stars coming back.  Heck, nobody coming that can create their own shot, demand a double team, or even score more than 12 points a game.

Jalen had a great comment in the Sun:


Having said all that, I am a little bit excited over the changes that may happen to the club.  We've already witnesed MoPete become more aggressive - he oft times fell into the Wince Carter act by pouting his way through games.  Now, he's been aggressive, authoritative, and showing signs of leadership.  Bosh has been too inconsistent - I can't believe he'll miraculously become a 20-10 guy (even though I believe he will be one day) with Aaron Williams banging in the paint... but hopefully he'll at least start to produce 14 and 8 consistently.  The Raptors have already proven this season that they've got enough scoring to overcome the loss of a great offensive talent like Vince, so I'm not too worried about the offensive end for the Raptors.  In fact, I think we'll see an incredibly balanced offensive output through the rest of the season: most nights we're gonna see 4, 5, 6 guys in double digits.  Nobody's going to have an incredible offensive game, but they'll win a heckuva lot more games this way.  In fact, I'm going to say it right now:  the Raptors will make the playoffs this season.  Currently they're in 10th place, only 3.5 games out of the 8th spot.  I believe they'll finish 40-42 this season, which means they'll finish the rest of the season at 32-25.  7 games over .500?  I dont' think that's a ludicrous prediction.  We've shored up our biggest late-game weaknesses: rebounding and defensive intensity.  That should lead to a .500 team.  Throw in the post-Vince surge we're gonna go through and voila: playoffs here we come.

Okay, so it turns out that I'm actually pretty excited about the trade afterall.  Sadly, Zo will never play for the Raptors, but a Jalen/Zo package could be veeery enticing for other teams out there.  Perhaps the Raptors will add an exciting player before all is said and done.

Air Canada in flight

Some people out there want to see Vince do poorly, but I would love to see him go through a renaissance and get back to his high-flyin', gravity-defying, highlight-making self again.  I have so many amazing memories of Vince and I'm hoping to see more from Vince, even if he is in another uniform.

Here's a sample of his incredible plays over the past 7 years:

First VC Celebrity Charity game: Shammond Williams handling the rock with Vince roaring down the middle on a break.  Shammond pulls up from about 20 feet out and chest passes the ball off the backboard.  Vince takes off from the middle of the key, catches the ball in the air, and windmills it home.  An alley-oop windmill?  Sick.

Game winning dunk vs. Houston: iso'd left wing, time winding down.  Vince explodes left, going baseline.  As he blows by his defender, Olajuwon swings across the key to provide some help D.  Vince goes airborne and throws it down on Dream with no time on the clock.  Raps win.

1st dunk in 2000 Dunk Contest: reverse 360 windmill... a jaw-dropping dunk - I loved seeing Shaq's reaction

Throwin' it down

3rd dunk: off the bounce catch between the legs, with the photogenic point to the heavens afterwards

4th dunk: Post-jam elbow hang - just looks amazing in slow mo

Cramming it in Mutombo's grill as a rookie, and followed it up with a staredown at Deke

Crazy ass reverse baseline jam vs. Indiana: any other mere mortal and it would have been a reverse layup.

Breakaway windmill(s) at home.  The grace.  The elegance.  The ferocity and power.  Followed by the scream.

Putback spike dunk against New Jersey: after an errant shot, nobody boxed Vince out and he went up for it unimpeded.  Threw it straight down - the ball bounced up higher than the backboard after the jam

Vs. Detroit: on the right wing, blows by Rip Hamilton to the top of the key, takes off from the circle.  Big Ben's waiting for him, and challenges Vince in the air.  VC flies through the air around Ben and throws it down.

Vs. Sacramento D: Vince goes right baseline, spins away from Doug Christie (a noted defender) into the air, and goes over Vlade for the 2 hand tomahawk

Defender's view of Vince

Incredible  speed: against San Antonio,  iso'd right wing against Bruce Bowen.  Goes left hard and in midstep does a between-the-legs crossover, turning on a dime without losing any speed whatsoever.  Vince does lose Bowen, howeer, and goes in for the unimpeded dunk.  Insane move at high speed to lose one of the best perimeter defenders in the League.

Against New Jersey, I forget who was guarding Vince.  He's on the right wing again, beyond the arc.  VC fakes right with a jab step and the defender bites.  Hard.  He actually stumbles trying to regain his defensive position and ends up falling on his ass about 5 feet away from Vince.  Vince stands there, stares at him, then calmly launces a 3.  Nothing but net

Thanks for the memories, Vince.  It's been a great run...