Almost 8 years ago, a younger version of me found himself heartbroken upon coming home from school one afternoon to find that local hero & noted UNC graduate
Vince Carter had been traded from my beloved
Toronto Raptors. In a deal that ranks among the worst in local sports history, my favourite team traded away their most skilled player of all time for what turned out to be nothing. This deal raised question marks at the time as one would think that shipping a superstar of this caliber out of town would surely bring one back. However it didn't & most fans of the team have looked back on the moment with disgust ever since. Like a bad breakup, it would forever be a moment we wouldn't look back on unless it was totally necessary. Then then this week happened.
The man once known as Vinsanity came on to Toronto radio talking about how he wouldn't mind being a Raptor again to close out his career. He also debunked
a story about how he had his former coach Sam Mitchell in an airplane spin (Woo-hoo! Wrestling reference). This lead to an interview with the former NBA Coach of the Year that lead to Mitchell saying that VC was a good guy & he in fact didn't want to be traded from Toronto. The heads of Raptor fans subsequently exploded.
I was under the impression that VC had wanted to be traded from the team. He sulked on the bench during his time here, allegedly told other teams what plays we were about to run & even admitted to giving less than 100% effort during his final days in Toronto. According to Mitchell though, Carter had called him the night before he was dealt admitting that he didn't wish to be traded. When Mitchell relayed this to then General Manager Rob Babcock, he was told that it was too late & a trade had already been verbally agreed to.
As a fan, hearing that all this didn't have to happen is hard to hear. We could've really had something special here. Had Cater played like he did after his trade with a young Chris Bosh on his team, who knows where we would be today. It reminds me of a relationship that ends over something stupid
, like forgetting to "Like" a Facebook post. The drama would have never happened if there was better communication between all parties involved. Now he wants to put it all behind him & start over. Should we accept him, probably. Will we, hell to the no. We had our hearts broken, Vince. Now don't make us open this shoebox of memories again.
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