vado wrote:No I am understanding fine. I think the term generational is being used here loosely.
Then that's still your issue, because it's clearly not being used the way you want it to be, and you're trying to shift the goalpost from what the OP intended to your clearly-different preference for the term. All of the "yes" discussion has been based on what the OP meant; the "no" discussion has been essentially a sequence of straw man arguments about him not being good enough on-court to merit the "generational" tag, which isn't actually salient to the intended discussion.
Whenever you throw around the term generational it often brings lofty expectations.
Which only makes it appropriate, because he was Heir Canada, one of the Next MJs, and HUGE things were expected of him, most especially because of how electric and exciting he was to fans all across the continent earlier on in his career. That very much applies to him. Everyone, even outside of Canada, expected the world of him because of his talent.
I think there were too many other talented guards when he was playing for him to be considered an overall generational talent.
This is, again, you circling back to the level of play coming out of those guys. McGrady is the only other guy who had similar levels of physical talent/skill that had you really drooling at his potential. Even Kobe didn't really scream "ATG in the making" based on his tools; he looked a lot like a ton of other guys who'd been drafted in the hopes of finding the next MJ. He was quick, he could shoot and he had good (but not staggering) hops. The difference with him was his endless dedication to coming up with new tricks and working on his skills. It's the same thing that had Paul Pierce be so effective despite elite-tier physical talent (though he certainly didn't lack for physical tools, especially pre Melo/Lebron as far as power 3s).
The only aspect of Vince Carter's talent that I consider generational is his athleticism.
Do you not recall how he developed basically overnight as a shooter? When he put any kind of effort into things, he picked them up. It wasn't just his hops or his first step. It was his mid-air body control and poise, his creativity, his jumper. He had solid elbow post game, he could make plays pretty well, he could slash... he didn't really have a skill weakness. It was functionally clear that his mentality was what held him back, because whenever he had motivation, he murdered faces. Like in Sydney, or after getting traded from Toronto, for example. He just couldn't sustain it, didn't have that alpha personality and desire to dominate.
