Raptors should announce retiring Vince Carter's jersey soon

[dTox]

Lowry should, and rightfully have his jersey retired first, it's not like VC has to wait that long.

[WetLikeWater]

Retire his jersey asap! Lowry can wait!

[WetLikeWater]

Vince Carter is going to hall of fame. He is the one who put Raptors on the map. Raptors should announce retiring his jersey soon. It is the right thing to do.

Start a poll

[TheGeneral99]

Retire his jersey asap! Lowry can wait!

The GROAT deserves his jersey retired first.

Vince shouldn't even be in the conversation.

[TorontoBaller]

Cmon, forget it.

It’s like having a smoking hot girlfriend who you loved so much… but then she cheated on you.

You don’t put her in your will.

Sure, you’ll think back on that time she gave you a BJ while overlooking Niagara Falls, but you won’t tell your grandkids about it.

[Jenike]

Everyone that says Lowry first is thinking everything is linear. Retiring someone's jersey first doesn't mean they are better. I don't care what order they are done, but Vince and Kyle are what represents two very distinct chapters in the Raptor's history. The first is the foundation phase, the second is the achievement phase. Retire them both. I would even consider Demar on the list (the growth phase). Chris Bosh NEVER.

[SpezNc]

Carter has been instrumental in the Raptors history

Retiring his jersey is an absolute no brainer IMO

The question is when, not if IMO

[discconnected]

As someone who grew up in toronto public schools and balling on Toronto public courts, I will say first hand, that the Raptors organization and the NBA, are responsible for the explosion in basketball in this country, both of them invested tons of money into our basketball infrastructure. I played high school ball during both the pre and post raptor years and the minute we hosted the FIBA World Cup was the minute our basketball infrastructure changed to futher the development of basketball on the grass roots level in this country.

I wouldn't say Vince didn't contribute, but crediting him for the success of SGA, Wiggins etc is absolutely nuts. Saying SGA would be spiking volleyballs without Vince is flat out delusional.

If anybody should get the credit it would be Magloire, when he went from local Toronto high school (I once had the assignment to cover him) to US prep school and then Kentucky, it really changed the attitude around the city, before that noone thought it was possible, after that point my far more talented teammates started training harder and believing in the possibility, I witnessed this firsthand.

And I attended the world cup, nba draft, our first game, in fact I was there the day Isiah jumped out of the logo to announce the team, I was even there that day at the CNE when Magic Johnson first announced that Toronto was getting a franchise (to be later outbid by the Bitovf group)

In other words, stop with this revisionist history.

[discconnected]

I could get behind this argument if Vince had been MVP, or has led us to playoff success here, but he was not even a first team all NBA talent, nor had playoff sucess, in fact he played horribly in the postseason for us.

Talk to me the day Larry Johnson gets his number retired by the hornets for "putting them on the map"

[discconnected]

But I am talking to the same fan base that thought Demar for Kawhi was a "bad deal"

[lobosloboslobos]

As someone who grew up in toronto public schools and balling on Toronto public courts, I will say first hand, that the Raptors organization and the NBA, are responsible for the explosion in basketball in this country, both of them invested tons of money into our basketball infrastructure. I played high school ball during both the pre and post raptor years and the minute we hosted the FIBA World Cup was the minute our basketball infrastructure changed to futher the development of basketball on the grass roots level in this country.

I wouldn't say Vince didn't contribute, but crediting him for the success of SGA, Wiggins etc is absolutely nuts. Saying SGA would be spiking volleyballs without Vince is flat out delusional.

If anybody should get the credit it would be Magloire, when he went from local Toronto high school (I once had the assignment to cover him) to US prep school and then Kentucky, it really changed the attitude around the city, before that noone thought it was possible, after that point my far more talented teammates started training harder and believing in the possibility, I witnessed this firsthand.

And I attended the world cup, nba draft, our first game, in fact I was there the day Isiah jumped out of the logo to announce the team, I was even there that day at the CNE when Magic Johnson first announced that Toronto was getting a franchise (to be later outbid by the Bitovf group)

In other words, stop with this revisionist history.

Well, that's very interesting and entirely fair, but for people not living in the heart of canadian ball at the time, but in hockeyland anywhere in the country, Vince was pretty damn important. Also from a business and branding perspective, he was huge not just for the franchise but the city. I can't believe i'm defending him but for those couple years of his prime he really was just about the biggest thing in the NBA and arguably in American sports. He was a meme champion almost before there were memes.

[Bank Shot]

I don't think we need to. The extremely mediocre VC era has been romanticized enough. He gave us a fun rookie year, a solid sophomore year that ended with him shooting 30% in the playoffs, and 2001. Everything after that involving Vince was trash. We have also had nine teams since then that have at least matched the 2001 team's win total and none of those teams had the benefit of playing in the worst conference of all time like the 2001 team did. We would also be retiring the number of a guy who told the opposing team our play on the final possession of the game. Imagine a star player did that today. Their reputation would never recover.

[TheGeneral99]

I could get behind this argument if Vince had been MVP, or has led us to playoff success here, but he was not even a first team all NBA talent, nor had playoff sucess, in fact he played horribly in the postseason for us.

Talk to me the day Larry Johnson gets his number retired by the hornets for "putting them on the map"

This is the funny thing.

Vince had one really good playoff run with us when we lost in the 2nd round. That series is also slightly tarnished by the fact that he took a plane to attend his graduation on the same day of game 7. Why the heck does a pro athlete need to attend his graduation on the biggest day of his professional career? Did he not realize he could just attend the next graduation ceremony likely 3 months later? LOL.

Other than that he was bad in the 2000 playoffs, was injured and missed the 2002 playoffs (when the team had a crazy year finish without him), and the Raptors missed the playoffs in 2003 and 2004 with Vince.

[TheGeneral99]

As someone who grew up in toronto public schools and balling on Toronto public courts, I will say first hand, that the Raptors organization and the NBA, are responsible for the explosion in basketball in this country, both of them invested tons of money into our basketball infrastructure. I played high school ball during both the pre and post raptor years and the minute we hosted the FIBA World Cup was the minute our basketball infrastructure changed to futher the development of basketball on the grass roots level in this country.

I wouldn't say Vince didn't contribute, but crediting him for the success of SGA, Wiggins etc is absolutely nuts. Saying SGA would be spiking volleyballs without Vince is flat out delusional.

If anybody should get the credit it would be Magloire, when he went from local Toronto high school (I once had the assignment to cover him) to US prep school and then Kentucky, it really changed the attitude around the city, before that noone thought it was possible, after that point my far more talented teammates started training harder and believing in the possibility, I witnessed this firsthand.

And I attended the world cup, nba draft, our first game, in fact I was there the day Isiah jumped out of the logo to announce the team, I was even there that day at the CNE when Magic Johnson first announced that Toronto was getting a franchise (to be later outbid by the Bitovf group)

In other words, stop with this revisionist history.

Well, that's very interesting and entirely fair, but for people not living in the heart of canadian ball at the time, but in hockeyland anywhere in the country, Vince was pretty damn important. Also from a business and branding perspective, he was huge not just for the franchise but the city. I can't believe i'm defending him but for those couple years of his prime he really was just about the biggest thing in the NBA and arguably in American sports. He was a meme champion almost before there were memes.

I don't think anyone is disputing how popular Vince was and that he made basketball even bigger in Toronto, but this idea that the Raptors would have folded as a franchise had we not drafted Vince is just laughable and plain revisionism.

[EH15]

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet but Mo Gueye wore #15 in pre-season and with the 905s, but wore switched to #16 last week on his 10 day. It most assuredly is happening to the disappointment of many.

[phanman]

Everyone that says Lowry first is thinking everything is linear. Retiring someone's jersey first doesn't mean they are better. I don't care what order they are done, but Vince and Kyle are what represents two very distinct chapters in the Raptor's history. The first is the foundation phase, the second is the achievement phase. Retire them both. I would even consider Demar on the list (the growth phase). Chris Bosh NEVER.

It's not just about retiring Lowry's first, its also about him being the very first one in franchise history.

The more you think about it, if we haven't retire his jersey by now I really don't think it's going to be done. Unless they are indeed waiting to put Lowry's up first. Look at Udonis Haslem, he only retired in the off season and has already gotten his number retired this year.

I wouldn't say Vince didn't contribute, but crediting him for the success of SGA, Wiggins etc is absolutely nuts. Saying SGA would be spiking volleyballs without Vince is flat out delusional.

If anybody should get the credit it would be Magloire

Magloire?

C'mon dude, that guy is known more for being a Raptors assistant coach than a 1x All Star. Plus Wiggs has gone on record that Vince was a huge influence on his game growing up.

[tradejosehesux]

On a side note, does anyone know where to find the Sportsnet documentary (The Reimagination of Vince Carter)? I think Grange produced it. It’s no longer on YouTube and can’t find it anywhere.

Only ask because I make an appearance in it and want to see it again.

[RandomRaptorfan]

Torn on the jersey retirement personally. On one hand:

-His impact on basketball in Canada is undeniable. Multiple Canadian NBA players went on the record that he got them into basketball. He also did charity work in the city and built courts, held summer events, etc. Pretty sure the VC logo court is still there at Kipling and Dixon today. People took an interest in basketball when they never would have other than basketball heads. I can count several casual fans/family that didn't watch the raptors for a decade after Vince left.
-His impact on our franchise's relevance early on was definitely important. A team in Canada having the most popular player in the world at one point undeniably did wonders to put the team on the map. I don't think we'd go the way of the grizzlies without him but we would definitely be struggling far far longer. Canada is a backwater wasteland to ignoramuses in America, and our team was prime time NBC material for a short time. People all over America bought Raptor jerseys, rappers wore them in music videos, he had a signature shoe and commercials with Nike, the cover of an NBA video game, the guy was straight up showtime. He even brought investment to the city's nightlife culture.
-Even during down years, you could still put together a top ten list of his plays that season and think the dude was the best player in the league with the dunks and gamewinners. Like any true superstar he could be worth a ticket purchase even during a trash season because you don't know what superhuman feat you might see that night. Also, kids and casual fans aren't paying attention to the teams record all the time, or his FG% or other small details. They just knew if you go to a raptors game, Vince Carter will put on a show.
-As much as people downplay the lack of playoff success, we can't deny that until 2019, we were all collectively STILL wondering "what if" with regards to that 01 series we lost at the buzzer.

On the other hand:
-Our best season with him was 47 wins. 47!! Even in the dog days of DeMar and Kyle that was a record we could get in our sleep. We sadly clung onto such a mediocre record as a badge of honour until the we the north era came and raised the standard.
-The actual on court production when you strip all the highlights away was good, but not all-time good. We have a LOT of players that came after in the entire league who could do what he did but didn't have a new franchise to carry to get all the spotlight. The best he got was all NBA second team and 10th in MVP voting.
-Regressing to 15ppg in your prime is unforgivable to me. Beef with Rafer Alston and Sam Mitchell all you want, but dogging it like he did on the way out was taking a huge dump on everything he
built. Even in the player empowerment era there have barely been a handful of situations where a player so publicly stabbed the fanbase in the back forcing their way out. I can think of AD and Kyrie off the top of my head. Not a fan of how he tried to rewrite the narrative and say he really DID want to stay but Babcock wanted him out in the end.
-Ultimately we only had 3 seasons with him we'd consider a success (rookie year just due to the hype, 00 and 01). The other 3 were undoubtedly failures from an individual and team point of view.
-The team and fanbase eventually extended the olive branch to honour Vince after 10 years of vitriol during our 20th anniversary season. But I've never once heard Vince apologize or express any kind of regret about how he hurt countless Canadian basketball fans on his way out. This was our first heartbreak and those don't go over well. I'd love to be proven wrong on this point but whatever i hear from him is basically glossing over the rocky final seasons and romanticizing the early days up to 2001.

In the end, we were a new franchise that undoubtedly was incompetently run until the Masai era, and also a city/fanbase/media that was historically horrible to superstars in favour of hard work/blue collar bench guys. It was not a recipe for success but somehow we still had some great times. I do hope to see his jersey up in the rafters someday, but there's absolutely no way it's going up before Kyle and DeMar. We've grown up after our first breakup, got into a better, healthier, more successful relationship and we're not gonna frame a photo of our ex before honouring the loyal new partner.

[The Duke]

100% VC should get into HOF under the Raptor bannor. Lowry will have his jersey retired from Raptors, but who knows if he’ll get consideration for HOF.

VC had bigger impact on basketball in general. (HOF Honor)
Lowry had bigger impact on Raptors. (Jersey retirement)

[DelAbbot]

Cmon, forget it.

It’s like having a smoking hot girlfriend who you loved so much… but then she cheated on you.

You don’t put her in your will.

Sure, you’ll think back on that time she gave you a BJ while overlooking Niagara Falls, but you won’t tell your grandkids about it.

nah, it's more like that hot girl back in high school during summer camp, who decided to make a man out of you scrawny nerdy boy. Then she went back to dating jocks and you never saw her again.

It's a memory you will carry to your death bed.