Vince Carter Has Slowed Down But is Still a Great Player

Vince Carter is hated by many people. He does not fall into the Kobe and Iverson hate category but he is very hated. He may just be the third most hated player in the NBA behind Kobe and AI.

Vince Carter receives a lot of unfair criticism and is unfairly judged. People wait for him to fail so they can write about it or have something to talk about. Vince Carter just pisses so many haters off. They hate his swagger, hate his attitude, hate the fact that he could have been so great but is not.

For the past three years Vince Carter has been called a washed up player with no heart who can not lead or help a team win games. That is not true at all. Everyone player loses a step when they get old, it just so happened that Vince did not take great care of his body and lost a step a bit earlier than most players.

But remember, Vince from 2000-2004 was an amazing player and how much worse can an amazing player get? Vince was great now he is good. Just because he can not jump over players and dunk on anyone or blow past any defender does not mean he is washed up.

No player over the age of 30 can do those things, Kobe can not dunk like he once could, Jordan could not when he was 30 and LeBron won't be able to either. Vince's game was so exciting and when his abilities went from amazing to good people assumed he washed up.

Last season VC averaged 20 points, 5 assists, and 5 boards. Not to many players can do that. He played in New Jersey and did not recieve much attention and did not have any national TV games so people did not get to see how good Vince really is.

Now it is starting to show. Vince may have been lazy and lacked heart but now it is looking like he is playing with the passion he had in his early days as a Raptor. Maybe it is because he is with a contender and is playing in his hometown. Maybe it is because he knows he can finally win games and contribute to some kind of success.

In the Orlando Magic pre-season VC has lead the Magic to an undefeated record. The Magic have been destroying teams and Vince has been a major reason why. People counted the Magic out in the East but Vince may just be the reason the Magic get back to the Finals.

Many thought the Magic would get worse with Vince. But Vince can do everything Turkuglu can do and he can do it much better. Vince can create his own shot like any other elite guard in the league. He is one of the most clutch players in the league and is still very athletic.

Although Vince can not take it to the rim like he once could and he can not fly through defenders he has become a much smarter player and more fundamentally sound player. He has improved his jumper over the years but unlike the past few years Vince has been consistent with his shot this season.

He went five for five from behind the arc in Orlando's preseason finale Friday. Vince is getting to the rim much more and is even throwing down those great dunks. He has lost half a step or maybe even a full step but he is a much smarter player.

Vince is one of the great guards this past decade and is an eight-time all-star who has over 19,000 points. He may not have turned out as great as the Kobe's and AI's and D-Wade's but he had so much pressure on him because people expected him to be the best player ever and thought he was the next Michael Jordan.

He did not live up to that hype which is extremely hard and now he is being bashed for it by haters. This season Vince is going to do something he has never done. WIN. Vince has never had that sidekick that can truly win you a championship in his prime and like Iverson and J-Kidd is a victim of bad management in his prime.

Vince has not been a winner in this league but he has never got the true chance to. He has never been on a 50 win team. But this year it is all going to change. Vince now has a legit side kick that can win him a title in Dwight Howard and he has good pieces around him like Rashard Lewis and Jameer Nelson, he also has a great coach in Van-Gundy.

The Magic will win over 60 games this season and Carter may just win a championship this season with the Magic. Everybody is counting the Magic out but they forgot about Vince. The Cavs and Celtics are great but there is something about the Magic which seems perfect.

Vince has never been the unique kind of player that could single handedly take games over anytime he wanted in the same way Kobe, LeBron, AI, Dwyane Wade and Shaq did so that is why I do not see Carter causing any problems for the Magic because he is the type of player that can succeed in any type of offence because his style of play is not unique.

He does not need the ball to be effective and he can't blow by any player he wants anymore. But he understands that.

Is Vince Carter a hall of famer? Can he help a team win games?, Can he co-exist with Dwight? Is he going to be consistent this season? Is he going to play hard defence? Is he going to avoid being lazy this season?

Vince can prove so many people wrong and show everyone he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame if he helps the Magic get a ring. This is the most important season of his career and if it goes good The 2010 season is going be the season Carter took Vinsanity to another level and showed everybody how good he really is.