My final tally on Vince’s time with the Nets is below. I started tracking this last season, notably after he obliterated the Raptors’ season and ended Sam Mitchell’s coaching career on That Night in November (remember how often Colangelo kept bringing it up right after he fired Sam? Yeah, death warrant). After That Night, where Vince was, as usual, booed incessantly, it seemed most people decided the booing needed to stop because it only made him play better.

I didn’t think that was true, since I’d seen every game the guy had played against the Raps and almost every game he played with the Raps, and noticed no difference whatsoever. But I decided to check the stats, and thankfully, the stats backed me up. Check it:

Stats as a Net	Games	FGM	FGA	3PM	3PA	FTM	FTA	REB	AST	PTS
Totals	374	3126	6987	638	1723	1944	2404	2152	1762	8,834
Per game averages:		8.36	18.68	1.71	4.61	5.20	6.43	5.75	4.71	23.62
Shooting percentages:			44.7%		37.0%		80.9%

Vs. The Raptors	Games	FGM	FGA	3PM	3PA	FTM	FTA	REB	AST	PTS
Totals:	24	212	476	45	121	102	147	160	108	571
Per game averages:		8.83	19.83	1.88	5.04	4.25	6.13	6.67	4.50	23.79
Shooting percentages:			44.5%		37.2%		69.4%

In New Jersey	Games	FGM	FGA	3PM	3PA	FTM	FTA	REB	AST	PTS
Totals:	12	99	219	21	54	60	85	71	53	281
Per game averages:			45.2%		38.8%		70.5%	5.9	4.4	23.4

In Toronto	Games	FGM	FGA	3PM	3PA	FTM	FTA	REB	AST	PTS
Totals:	12	113	257	24	67	42	62	89	55	290
Per game averages:			43.9%		35.8%		67.7%	7.4	4.6	24.1

So you see, the stats are virtually identical. His numbers were incredibly similar overall, vs. Toronto, and at home and away. In Toronto, where he hears the boos, his shooting percentages are down slightly, but his scoring and rebounding are up slightly, so it’s a wash. His free throw shooting is down across the board which is odd, considering he’s normally a great free throw shooter, but it’s likely just an aberration.

The only thing I really notice is the free throw attempts vs. field goal attempts in Toronto and Jersey. He seemed to take some more contact in Jersey, with 23 more FTs attempted in the same amount of games – and settled for more jump shots in Toronto, with 38 more FGs attempted.

Relevant? Probably not. The Nets won 13 of the 24 games during Carter’s time there, which is the most important thing, including 4 of the six playoff games of course, and that’s not a surprising thing considering they had the better team and coach most years.

In Orlando, I expect Vince’s stats to be down across the board as that team is pretty stacked and doesn’t need him to be the focal point of the offense; plus he’s not as young as he used to be. In the flip side, because they are a good team, he should probably experience his greatest team success there. I look at that roster and, assuming they fill out the bench with a couple decent guys, I have to believe they’re the Eastern Conference favourites – at least as long as Cleveland plans to head into 2009-2010 with the same undersized backcourt and under-athletic frontcourt (I fail to see how adding Shaq addresses the flaws exposed in the Orlando series).

So the question remains – will Vince be booed here in Toronto? Yeah… probably. Maybe not quite as much – New Jersey was a fun team to hate. But I’m sure they’ll still be plenty audible. And I’m OK with that. Most people seem to think it needs to stop… but really, who cares? Everyone loves a villain, and Vince brought it all on himself by quitting on the Raptors five years ago. As you can see above, it has zero impact on his play, so if people enjoy booing… I think they should go ahead and do so.

Quick Free Agency Update: Looks like Ariza’s going to Houston. That means, as far as I can tell, it’s all but a lock Shawn Marion will be back next year, and the Raptors will go into the 09-10 season with at least four of the five starters the same. Hardly a great recipe for improving on a 33-win team…

Tags: New Jersey Nets, Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors, Vince Carter

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 6:20 am and is filed under General NBA, General Raptors, Transactions.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.