Welcome Back, Carter

The good news is Vince Carter’s ankle is fine. Back in town for his Vince Carter Youth Basketball Academy, we saw him dunk once or twice at his camp Wednesday morning.

“It feels great,” Carter said. “I’m finally getting the opportunity to run up and down a little bit and no soreness, nothing like that. I’m stiff from playing basketball with these kids more than I am with my ankle.”

Ready for the bad news....

Actually, there was none. For anyone expecting Carter to say he wanted out due to all of the moves the Nets have made, seemingly taking steps backwards in the eyes of many, that didn’t happen.

Carter said numerous times – and he was asked by multiple people and in different ways – whether he wanted to be a Net and he said yes every time.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Carter said. “It’s something I’m definitely looking forward to and something Devin is looking forward to – to get an opportunity to show what he can do, not only as a basketball player but as a leader. And of course, we have Eduardo, who is the eldestatesman of our team at the tender age of 32.”

Now that doesn’t mean he can’t change his mind. Remember a fellow named Jason Kidd? The difference is Carter is a more sincere person, even if when he was in a similar position in Toronto he went the way of asking out.

That said, later Carter was asked if he ever questioned whether he wanted to remain a Net when it appeared they were rebuilding. He said no.

“I never questioned what they’re doing and I definitely wanted to be here," he said. "It’s the way it goes. It’s the business of basketball. Sometimes guys get moved who didn’t want to and sometimes guys are thrown into a deal. All those different types of things happen. You have to accept it and I’m going to make the best of it. This is my opportunity to step up and be a leader on and off the court.”

Even later it came up again, as it was pointed out that Jason liked the team in October and wanted out in November so there is a concern that Carter could do the same.

“No, I’m good,” he said. “Every year, regardless of if it’s the same team or a new team, there’s always a new challenge. It’s always something to really see how you handle a particular situation. This is something new. It’s a new team. From what I understand they’re putting in a new offense. We’re going to start fresh and hopefully good things will come out of it.”

See all good news from Carter. It's important because he is the most important piece now. Of course, how Devin Harris handles being the No. 2 guy, the development of Brook Lopez, what Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons can provide are all huge factors. But Carter is the key to the Nets’ season.

They need him to be healthy and happy and be the guy who carried them earlier in his Nets’ career and carried the Raptors for those years before turning disgruntled. On this warm August day, Carter seemed to be willing to put the Nets on his back and try and make something out of this season.

“I’m willing to do whatever needs to be done,” Carter said. “If I need to put the ball in the basket more, that’s what I’m going to do.  I just want to find a way to help and get this team on the same page. We have a lot of guys who can do a lot of things. We just have to find a way to put it together and I’m going to do my part.”

But this is like Toronto again, isn’t it? So you’re going to have do everything.

“I don’t mind,” he said. “We’re just going to do our best to bring the ability out of each player and get what we can. I think we’re going to expect a lot more from Devin and from our new guys.

“Everybody who’s here is going to have to do more. It’s not like, ‘Oh you’re a rookie, you’re a second-year guy, you didn’t play much last year.’ No. Our focus now is to give us a little more. Find it from somewhere and hopefully that mentality will push us farther than everyone might expect us to go.”

Comments

[xcalibur]

nice to see vince is committed to this team/franchise. for some reason i think vince rather be on this type of team where the expectations are very very low. almost like there is no pressure. if he plays and and we lose, whats the big deal? he will play great and we will lose those games too.

eventually i think vince has to go if we really want to get lebron and get better talent around him. vince is the franchise guy right now and i hope we see the 2nd half vince where we as fans can be proud of him and his play. he was fantastic after kidd left and vince was on a bad ankle last year. so i give him credit for playing the year out and not living up to his reputation of not caring and dogging it by opting for surgery during the end of the season.

one thing that is underrated about vince is his passing. he is an above average passer and we've seen since hes been here that he truly does like to rack up assists and see his teammates come through so i think hes going to like playing with this type of team. we sure know that josh boone is thankful vince is still around or he would average no points.

eventually i think losing will take a toll on vince and wouldnt be surprised if he play takes a dip. what i hope rod and kiki do is to measure how vince is feeling and if they feel his value will never be higher before the deadline you gotta make a move that improves this team for the future. hopefully there is another dallas type of situation where a team is desperate to make a move and will overpay in a trade for vince. this is going to be an interesting year and wouldnt be surprised if vince is gone by the end of february. if not i hope vinsanity is alive and well in 08-09

[kdub]

Good post xcalibur, you covered all the bases, although I think Vince will always be good to have around with so many rookies. He's a great role model for them and will also put them in the best situation to succeed with his superb passing.

[Robert]

vote for vince, Coach of the year award.. ahaha.

[Mr. Dollar Bills]

Vince will have to be the main scorer, leader, play maker, and coach for this team. My hat's off to Captain Carter, and hopefully he can have a healthy year first and foremost.

[Adam.y]

This is why I love Vince he's a generally all in all nice guy not some NBA "I deserve the best in life and the best possible team" primadona who shall remain nameless.
Hearing that his and Devin's ankle's are feeling well again is the best possible news.
So yeah again nothing can be expected of this team this season but surprises could be in store.

[yehyeh]

Where LeBron is going is pure speculation, for now, I'd assume he's going elsewhere. But VC is likely to be traded to a contender at midyear. He is just too valuable to be playing for us at this stage.

In the meanwhile, if he does what he normally has done in the past, and is the glue that holds together this new team, we should be delighted.

[Libigman]

I think the key to the Nets is the development of the front court on defense. If that develops then Vince could easily lead the team in scoring, we'll contend and he will get most of the credit. Vince is at his best when he's healthy and going to the hoop consistanly to open up his outside shot. When he starts shooting 3s from the opening tip, it hurts him. It's good to hear he has the right mindset.
However, all bets are off if we are losing.

[Andrew Gregg]

I'm from Toronto, and I've heard this all before. So beware.