Birth of the Cool wrote:I never understood the hate for Vince on this board. He was a team player (JJ and Jameer still have love for him), listened to SVG, didn't rock the boat, played both ends of the court, sacrificed his offensive game for the team. People want to forget the Magic in Vince's first year were basically tied with the Lakers for best team in the NBA, and went undefeated the first 2 rounds of the playoffs. KG was the huge factor in stopping Orlando (who everyone thought before the series would be a lock to go to the final because of their dominance the first two series). Even today you can see how KG makes the Celtics a good D team vs a bad team when he is out.
Then following year VC had a career high FG% when he was traded to Phoenix, and it's not his fault Otis had ties with Gilbert and also panicked on those trades after a rocky west coast trip.
You can see how drastically team chemistry took a nose dive once Gortat, Pietrus, Vince and Rashard left.
Anyways, it's great to see JJ and Jameer compete out there. Good guys and wish them the best. This team at least is more enjoyable to follow without the "D" drama and you guys have some nice pieces to follow (Vucevic, Moe, etc). Good luck the rest of the season!
i was a big Vince hater during his time here, but i've come to reflect on his tenure here much more favorably. weren't we playing some GOAT style basketball in the 2nd half of VC's first season? i'm pretty sure that post all star break, we were playing at a level that hadn't been done before. (can't remember exactly what that was...)
my biggest problem with VC was that what we needed was a Kobe/Pierce/Wade style dominant wing and closer, but Vince just didn't give us that. because there was no hope of us actually landing a legit Kobe/Pierce/Wade, all our hopes fell on him to fulfill that role, whether that's right or wrong.
the dude's a nice guy though. can't fault him for that. just look at that winning smile - how can you not like him?