Fantasy Basketball: Is Vince Carter Turning Back the Clock?

I’m not suggesting that Vince Carter, at 35, is going to leap over anybody on a slam or revert back to his "Half-Man, Half-Amazing" days. I’m not suggesting that the Vinsanity is going to return either. Those days are behind him. However, he can still score, as evidenced by his recent streak. The question is whether or not he can keep it up.

In his past four games he has twice went for 21 points en route to a 15.5 points per game average. He is contributing across the board, adding 3.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 0.5 blocks, 1.3 steals and 2.0 three-pointers. He has even hit 50.0 percent of his shots during the hot streak.

His recent stretch has allowed his season numbers to increase to 10.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.3 apg, 0.4 bpg, 0.9 spg and 1.3 3pg. Not exactly superstar numbers, which is why he is owned in 48.0 percent of Yahoo! and 39.4 percent of ESPN leagues.

Obviously his age and the Mavericks' depth also play a role. Carter is averaging 29.0 minutes per game over his past four, but with Jason Kidd, Rodrigue Beaubois, Jason Terry, Vince Carter, Delonte West, Shawn Marion, Lamar Odom, Dirk Nowitzki, Brendan Haywood and Ian Mahinmi, the Mavs have 10 players playing just about 17 mpg or more. Nine of them are playing at least 20 mpg.

Carter has bounced around quite a bit, with Dallas being his fourth team since the 2008-09 season. He likely can’t sustain the 15.5 ppg average, especially with Dallas’ depth. If you want to ride him while he’s hot, it’s not a bad idea. Along with the scoring, you’ll get a little bit of everything.

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