Raptors should announce retiring Vince Carter's jersey soon

[TimeForChange]

Vince says he's going into the HOF in a raps jersey.

[Reeko]

Vince says he's going into the HOF in a raps jersey.

That's his choice and it makes the most sense for him. He's largely remembered for being a Raptor, but if he wanted to go in with a Nets jersey I wouldn't give two ****.

The Nuggets aren't going to retire Melo's jersey for similar reasons, but Vince left the Raptors in a substantially worse fashion. I forgive him and I'm happy that he looks back at his time here fondly and maybe with some regret at how he ended things, but I'm never going to forget the way he set this franchise back years.

Lowry is the only surefire player to get his jersey retired. And I'm also a strong supporter of having DeMar's jersey retired. As for the two most talented Raptors to ever don the uniform, Vince and Kawhi, it's a strong no in my opinion.

[YogurtProducer]

Vince says he's going into the HOF in a raps jersey.

That's his choice and it makes the most sense for him. He's largely remembered for being a Raptor, but if he wanted to go in with a Nets jersey I wouldn't give two ****.

The Nuggets aren't going to retire Melo's jersey for similar reasons, but Vince left the Raptors in a substantially worse fashion. I forgive him and I'm happy that he looks back at his time here fondly and maybe with some regret at how he ended things, but I'm never going to forget the way he set this franchise back years.

Lowry is the only surefire player to get his jersey retired. And I'm also a strong supporter of having DeMar's jersey retired. As for the two most talented Raptors to ever don the uniform, Vince and Kawhi, it's a strong no in my opinion.

I agree on VC and Lowry, but I am a "no" on Demar and a "yes" on Kawhi.

Lowry - so obvious why he should be retired

Kawhi - Finals MVP. I just don't see how you don't retire the single greatest season in Raptors history when he got traded here, played at an MVP level for us, and won us a ring.

VC - I feel like asking out and doing that kind of stuff should not be rewarded even if he had a tremendous impact.

Demar - he just was not good enough IMO. Both of his all-nba nods to me are really Lowrys (the fact DD got them over him is a joke, lets be honest here). Other than that, his history here is as the 2nd best player in the greatest run the Raptors had and his "loyalty".

To me, if Demar is a "lock" then so is Siakam who has just as many, if not more, accolades than Demar does in a Raptors jersey.

[C_Money]

Lowry and Demar both deserve their jersey retired.

I’m on the fence about Siakam.

[TRik]

Vince was a global phenomenon in a Raptors jersey and put us on the map. He made us cool. Everything else is forgotten by now by the majority of everyone….especially outside of Raptors nation.

He absolutely should get his jersey retired in my book.

[Grandia]

It's funny how people here are saying they hate Vince because they hate quitters, but they have been wanting us to tank for the longest time even when it was a year after the Championship.

[defstarcon]

great player, squandered his skills, no real playoff success, yeah he brought attention to the raptors, but like i think that would have happened anyway, just really propelled it in a short amount of time. i would say nah too

[Reeko]

Vince says he's going into the HOF in a raps jersey.

That's his choice and it makes the most sense for him. He's largely remembered for being a Raptor, but if he wanted to go in with a Nets jersey I wouldn't give two ****.

The Nuggets aren't going to retire Melo's jersey for similar reasons, but Vince left the Raptors in a substantially worse fashion. I forgive him and I'm happy that he looks back at his time here fondly and maybe with some regret at how he ended things, but I'm never going to forget the way he set this franchise back years.

Lowry is the only surefire player to get his jersey retired. And I'm also a strong supporter of having DeMar's jersey retired. As for the two most talented Raptors to ever don the uniform, Vince and Kawhi, it's a strong no in my opinion.

I agree on VC and Lowry, but I am a "no" on Demar and a "yes" on Kawhi.

Lowry - so obvious why he should be retired

Kawhi - Finals MVP. I just don't see how you don't retire the single greatest season in Raptors history when he got traded here, played at an MVP level for us, and won us a ring.

VC - I feel like asking out and doing that kind of stuff should not be rewarded even if he had a tremendous impact.

Demar - he just was not good enough IMO. Both of his all-nba nods to me are really Lowrys (the fact DD got them over him is a joke, lets be honest here). Other than that, his history here is as the 2nd best player in the greatest run the Raptors had and his "loyalty".

To me, if Demar is a "lock" then so is Siakam who has just as many, if not more, accolades than Demar does in a Raptors jersey.

I don't think DeMar is a lock, I am just a strong supporter of his jersey being retired. There is definitely an argument that he wasn't good enough when you look at him as a player. Add the other things in though, like the constant vocal support of the city and franchise, the culture that he helped to establish not just in so far as winning but also demonstrating what it is to be a leader and great teammate. All the young guys Fred, Pascal, Norm, OG, Delon, Jakob love DeMar because he was always so generous with his time and money when he had no obligation to do so. He was the face of the franchise during its most successful period and not once did you ever get the sense that he would leave us for some other franchise and city.

As for Kawhi, that lone season is undeniable and had he re-upped with us for even one more season I would probably call him a lock. But he did something literally no other player has done before by leaving a franchise right after winning a title and still having all of the pieces in place to compete (and likely win) for another one. As much as he elevated the franchise, the franchise also elevated him. Guys were on tv talking about how he looked like Jordan out there and was the best player in the league, that talk all died down as soon as he went to the Clippers. Also the reports that he was actively recruiting other star players like Jimmy Butler to come play with him in LA, while still playing for the Raptors is pretty gross.

[refshateRaps]

Hard NO

Vince was a next level, electric talent and anyone who witnessed him play live can say we've seen nothing like him since.

But when Vince quit on this franchise, he quit on the damn franchise. And the fans. We owe him nothing more.

Vince should never have his jersey retired here for that reason.

[2019nbachamps]

I’d retire Lowry and Kawhi for sure. Maybe DeMar too to soften the blow of trading him.

[Raptorfan2012]

This has been years in the making already - Vince will get his jersey retired one day at Scotiabank arena. They already started the 'forgive Vince' campaign years back. I suspect it will happen next season as part of our 30th anniversary. Really no point in debating anymore.

[Morse Code]

No. It doesn't make any sense to retire him before Lowry.

Lowry is going to be first, he's going to retire soon, and he'll sign a one day as a Raptor to do it.

Everyone knows he's the greatest Raptor of all time and there's no controversy like with VC. He deserves to be first and not VC.

Being the first person on a team to have the jersey retired is a big honor and only one of those two guys deserves that.

I'm not opposed to VC having his jersey retired one day, but he should not and will not be first.

Don't speak for all of us. Vince in my groat. Love Kyle but he's half the player Vince was and had half the impact on the sport in this country. If not for Vince, the NBA would likely be an all-USA league right now.

Sent from my LG-H873 using RealGM Forums mobile app

[TRik]

No. It doesn't make any sense to retire him before Lowry.

Lowry is going to be first, he's going to retire soon, and he'll sign a one day as a Raptor to do it.

Everyone knows he's the greatest Raptor of all time and there's no controversy like with VC. He deserves to be first and not VC.

Being the first person on a team to have the jersey retired is a big honor and only one of those two guys deserves that.

I'm not opposed to VC having his jersey retired one day, but he should not and will not be first.

Don't speak for all of us. Vince in my groat. Love Kyle but he's half the player Vince was and had half the impact on the sport in this country. If not for Vince, the NBA would likely be an all-USA league right now.

Sent from my LG-H873 using RealGM Forums mobile app

Lord knows what would have happened if we didn’t have Vince. But I imagine the Grizzlies would have had a stronger chance of staying in Vancouver if they had a player like Vince early on.

[Scase]

Vince says he's going into the HOF in a raps jersey.

That's his choice and it makes the most sense for him. He's largely remembered for being a Raptor, but if he wanted to go in with a Nets jersey I wouldn't give two ****.

The Nuggets aren't going to retire Melo's jersey for similar reasons, but Vince left the Raptors in a substantially worse fashion. I forgive him and I'm happy that he looks back at his time here fondly and maybe with some regret at how he ended things, but I'm never going to forget the way he set this franchise back years.

Lowry is the only surefire player to get his jersey retired. And I'm also a strong supporter of having DeMar's jersey retired. As for the two most talented Raptors to ever don the uniform, Vince and Kawhi, it's a strong no in my opinion.

I think it's exceptionally unfair to put that solely on him. The franchise and the FO were one of the worst in the entire NBA, he deserves some flack for sure, but there's only so much blame I'm gonna put on the player in a weak situation, and not the FO that build that crappy team.

Dude dogged it for 20 games. 20 games.

OG did the same thing this year, clearly playing like crap before the trade. The only difference is yeah, he wasn't public about it. Like god damn, dude wanted out of a team that had a starting 5 of a 31 year old Jalen rose, 30 year old Donyell Marshall lol, 35 year old Antonio Davis, and a 19 year old Chris Bosh.

Year before that? Mo pete, Davis, Alvin, and JYD. Like come on guys, that FO was beyond incompetent lol. Could he have handled it better, yeah for sure, but 75% of the blame rests on that horrendously stupid FO. The FO set the franchise back years, not the player.

[ForeverTFC]

Hard NO

Vince was a next level, electric talent and anyone who witnessed him play live can say we've seen nothing like him since.

But when Vince quit on this franchise, he quit on the damn franchise. And the fans. We owe him nothing more.

Vince should never have his jersey retired here for that reason.

When one partner decides to walk out on a marriage, does that mean they've quit on the kids?

I know this statement is hyperbolic and there's more nuance in this situation, but saying Vince quitting on the Raptors as a franchise is the same as him quitting on the fans is a bit much IMO. He should have handled it way better, but the guy just came off a season playing under Kevin freaking O'Neill and they followed that **** up with hiring Babcock and Smitch. Why wouldn't he want out?

Carter did so much for this city and the franchise. The guy was making investments in the city and opening businesses at a time when Toronto was not cool in NBA circles. He re-signed when everyone else to that point had walked. I think a lot of this is forgotten by a sub-set of our fanbase.

[D.Brasco]

Vince says he's going into the HOF in a raps jersey.

That's his choice and it makes the most sense for him. He's largely remembered for being a Raptor, but if he wanted to go in with a Nets jersey I wouldn't give two ****.

The Nuggets aren't going to retire Melo's jersey for similar reasons, but Vince left the Raptors in a substantially worse fashion. I forgive him and I'm happy that he looks back at his time here fondly and maybe with some regret at how he ended things, but I'm never going to forget the way he set this franchise back years.

Lowry is the only surefire player to get his jersey retired. And I'm also a strong supporter of having DeMar's jersey retired. As for the two most talented Raptors to ever don the uniform, Vince and Kawhi, it's a strong no in my opinion.

Melo and the Nuggets isn't the best comparison, it's more like Shaq and the Magic. Two superstars (VC, Shaq) who landed on expansion franchises and put those franchises on the map only to have a messy departure which pissed off the fans at the time.

If the Magic can move on to retire Shaq's jersey, the Raps can do so for Vince. At least the Raptors have actually won a ring since Vince left unlike the Magic post-Shaq.

[hype_2004]

He'll nah, f that quitter momma's boy, "Dunking is overrated" dogs it then when he got to the Nets just straight dunked everything with ferocity Big Hell Nah!

[hype_2004]

Hard NO

Vince was a next level, electric talent and anyone who witnessed him play live can say we've seen nothing like him since.

But when Vince quit on this franchise, he quit on the damn franchise. And the fans. We owe him nothing more.

Vince should never have his jersey retired here for that reason.

When one partner decides to walk out on a marriage, does that mean they've quit on the kids?

I know this statement is hyperbolic and there's more nuance in this situation, but saying Vince quitting on the Raptors as a franchise is the same as him quitting on the fans is a bit much IMO. He should have handled it way better, but the guy just came off a season playing under Kevin freaking O'Neill and they followed that **** up with hiring Babcock and Smitch. Why wouldn't he want out?

Carter did so much for this city and the franchise. The guy was making investments in the city and opening businesses at a time when Toronto was not cool in NBA circles. He re-signed when everyone else to that point had walked. I think a lot of this is forgotten by a sub-set of our fanbase.

Continue to suck on his nuts, the loyal fanbase never forgets. Vince was a never was, he was an entertainer that quit when he didn't get what he wanted like all of them spoiled babies. MLSE and Tanenbaum surely agrees on the fanbase that this quitter will never get his number retired for the way he left the franchise hanging with his absurd demands, him and his momma's damn parking space.

[hype_2004]

This has been years in the making already - Vince will get his jersey retired one day at Scotiabank arena. They already started the 'forgive Vince' campaign years back. I suspect it will happen next season as part of our 30th anniversary. Really no point in debating anymore.

He could've retired a Raptor and there were news of him contacting the organization and Tanenbaum to sign a farewell contract. Guess what he didn't get it, shows how much of a grudge Tanenbaum still has to this day the way the quitter did the franchise and city wrong. He not getting his jersey retired, the Franchise owner has spoken by his actions.

[phanman]

Some of these responses are just comical to read. Those who argue against retiring Carter's jersey but want to retire Kawhi's? I don't care if we won a chip during Kawhi's lone year here, that is not nearly enough to be rewarded with a team's ultimate honor. We'd be the laughing stocks of the league for doing it after just one season.

I''ll admit I have soft spot for Vince as he was THE reason why I fell in love with basketball but also the reason why I became a fan other players (Kobe) and teams (big 3 Celtics) when we sucked. If we retire his number great, but I think he made a grave mistake in not signing with us to finish his career and provide closure to such a messy divorce. Lord knows we could have use his vet presence and I think he would have had a massive impact on the development of both Kyle and DeMar. With that said, 5 different players have worn #15 since his departure which naturally leads me to believe that he just won't get the nod.

As a whole his Raptor's career was a disappointment but I blame his departure as much on the front office as I do on him dogging it for those 20 games. What everybody overlooks is the fact that he was only 3 years into his 6 year contract and we didn't have to accept that poo poo platter of a package. If the front office and Carter had just a slither of patience, the 2 man game with Chris Bosh was already in place to be competitive again.

Lowry - Yes
DeMar - Yes
Pascal - Yes

Guy's like Fred, Chris, and Kawhi deserve to be in a Ring of Honor group if that eventually becomes a thing here.