Is Vince Carter "Done"?

[sportyguyfl31]

Watching the guy, I think its one of 2 things:

1) He's playing through injuries
--Magic can always hold out the hope that he plays through them, and eventually he either heals up or has some comfort level playing through them by playoff time.

2) His explosiveness is rapidly declining
--He simply isnt able to get to the rack anymore, nor does he have the elevation to get the shots off that he used to.
If this is this case, then his days of being a 20 PPG scorer are done, and the Magic are going to be pulling teeth to score points come playoff time.

I think it is more #2, then #1.

His highlight reel days are pretty much done. The bounce in his game has leveled off over the past 3 years.

He doesnt get to the line as often, and it doesnt look like he is going to reinvent parts of his game to compensate for his loss of hops.

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Is Vince Carter "Done"?

I dunno. He's supposed to be declining anyway, but just this summer he was still jumping out of the building. I think it's more adjusting and injuries than a complete lack of hops. Frankly, part of it might be that he's so comfortable being back home in Florida that he's not focusing on hoops as much as he should be. The Magic are a winning team and it's a long season. Guys like Vince don't start really playing until the ASW, especially as they get older and know they are going to be in the playoffs.

[Rawdeal28]

Re: Is Vince Carter "Done"?

he is on the decline. u can just see it. no spring in his jump. he looks stiff out there. if he cant get 20 a game, the magic are done.

[Jasong7777]

Re: Is Vince Carter "Done"?

I think he is done as an All Star type player, but not as a productive player.

[OSUFan_88]

Re: Is Vince Carter "Done"?

He looks like the corpse of Vince Carter out there.

It's gotta be injuries, but who knows?

[Lynsanity]

Re: Is Vince Carter "Done"?

Vince Carter, Shaq, Allen Iverson, and Jason Kidd are all bigger and less mobile than they were in their youth. The problem is not just natural declination with aging. The problem is that unlike Steve Nash, who has changed his training and nutritional scheme to maximize his current state, they have taken a path that has led to more mass than less.

Allen Iverson once weighed about 165 wearing shoes and his uniform. He has increased his weight to a uniformed 180. While 15 lbs may not seem like much, you must consider the wear and tear that 15 lbs. can have on the knees of a 5'10-5'11 guy with a small frame.

Increased mass means extra momentum on stops, cuts, slides, and moving jumps. While this affects all athletes, older athletes are more susceptible to injury, as the recovery ability of said athletes declines after a while.

Looking at images or All 4, it can be clearly seen that all are bigger and bulkier than they were when they were younger. While this may have allowed them to compete more physically when they were younger, the extra mass works against them now.

In the end, it is not so much that the athletes can no longer do what they once did, as much as it is that they need longer periods of recovery in between sessions. As such, it is better for these athletes to re-tool their exercise and nutrition plans to their own bodies, as well as retooling their basketball games to be more in tune with their current state.

[Lynsanity]

Re: Is Vince Carter "Done"?

That, and VC takes a lot of bad shots.

[Kruza]

Re: Is Vince Carter "Done"?

He looks like the corpse of Vince Carter out there.

It's gotta be injuries, but who knows?

Vince Carter is still playing through a pretty serious shoulder injury that I believe has affected his shot.

But despite this recent setback, VC has been losing explosiveness over the past few years anyway, like sportyguyfl31 has already pointed out. He's going to have to adjust his game to make up for that. Develop something like a one- or two-dribbles-and-raise type of game and also incorporate clever shot fakes.

Kruza

[sportyguyfl31]

Re: Is Vince Carter "Done"?

I do believe he has some injury battles, but looking at just how he moves, and plays..he doesnt play with nearly as much aggression and he just looks like he's lost a step.

I think he can productive as a 15-17 ppg guy, but I think he's going to do it, by being more and more of a spot and mid range jump shooter, as oppsoed to being a isolation, pick and roll player, who can dive to the basket and draw fouls.

[Kruza]

Re: Is Vince Carter "Done"?

I wouldn't worry about VC showing a lack of aggression now. He's just one of out of many veteran players on winning teams who coast throughout the regular season. When it gets near playoff time this won't be an issue.

Kruza

[KG]

Re: Is Vince Carter "Done"?

He doesn't move as fluid as he used to but it's to be expected given his age. As others have said, I think he just needs to coast in the regular season and make sure he enters the playoffs w/o his minor injuries turning into major ones.

[Muzyk23]

Re: Is Vince Carter "Done"?

Vince Carter has never moved fluid imo. There has always been sth akward in his movements to me.

[Moses Shuttlesworth]

Re: Is Vince Carter "Done"?

I think we expect too much of Carter because he's been overrated his entire career.

[J.R. Locke]

Re: Is Vince Carter "Done"?

Dude always took bad fadaway jumpers. Now he doesn't have the other aspects of his game to compensate.

Frankly I think this is exactly what Vince was going to be. I would rather have J.J. Redick playing his minutes because he will hustle and can spot and shoot.

Vince Carter is a nice sixth man to me.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: Is Vince Carter "Done"?

He'll be fine once playoffs start. He was just like this when he was in Jersey.