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It is foolish to minimize the impact Vince Carter had on the Raptors, the city, the country and a generation of kids who grew to love basketball and idolize Toronto’s franchise.
He was the first global star to wear the purple, black and red jersey and introduce the team to the world.
He was a great, electric player, the first transcendent star in franchise history. Full stop. No denying it.
And no, it didn’t end particularly well 20 years ago, and there was enough blame to go around. To put that solely on him is simply revisionist history.
But few things end in storybook fashion, especially in the cutthroat world of pro sports. The chance to make amends — to celebrate the good, and the growth from an ugly ending — is what’s driving the ultimate honour being afforded Carter. He gets it, the franchise gets it, everybody should get it.
“This is what I wanted more than anything,” Carter said when it was officially announced Friday that his No. 15 jersey will be retired in a Nov. 2 ceremony.
“I had six crazy years here, period. For those that know me, they know my love for (Toronto). It’s just hard to articulate it and to get people to buy into that, but here we are.”
And where we are is the franchise paying homage to one of its best.
You can make the argument that Kyle Lowry is the best Raptor, but anyone can surely see Carter was the most important.
If there was a theme that emerged from Friday’s ceremony to rededicate a $1-million remake of the Vince Carter courts at Dixon Park, it’s that times change, people grow, and lingering bitterness from a four-month stretch of 2004 needs to be considered in the context of the six years before that.
“This city means something to him, the people and the fans mean something to him, and the basketball means something to him, so it was great,” said Masai Ujiri, the Raptors president who was a driving force behind finding a suitable way to honour Carter.
“Right from inside, he’s been emotional. You can see he’s getting the feeling of everybody and the support.”
Ujiri knows the breadth of Carter’s relationship with Toronto. He was the team’s president when Carter was vilified every time he came to Toronto in the late 2000s, and saw the cathartic moment in 2014 when Carter was left in tears during an in-game video tribute at Scotiabank Arena, played to a deafening ovation.
It’s the kind of “forgive and forget” reaction that should accompany this honour.
“I saw both of the times, and as people you just get better, as people you forgive. And that’s life, and that’s the way life should be,” Ujiri said.
“When we know better, we do better. He was young, and some of the things he did here, we recognize that. But he’s changed as a person, and you can really see it … this has grown over the years. We learn from what we don’t do so well. And now, for me, I just look at culture. I look at all the things that created the path for us, and I just appreciate the player and the person.”
What he created can’t be diminished. He and the Raptors were nightly staples on TV highlight shows; he and the Raptors were a global phenomenon. A generation of kids who might not have known whether a basketball was blown up or stuffed were indoctrinated in the game by Carter.
“It was just so much electricity and excitement, passion,” said Raptor Kelly Olynyk, who was a preteen growing up in Scarborough at the height of Vinsanity. “It was really just kind of the first time that, as a basketball fan, you had something to watch and admire and aspire to. And I think that he changed the landscape, as everybody said, and just helped the whole country grow in terms of what it was to be a basketball player in Canada.”
That’s what the honour is for.
“At some point, let’s bring people together,” Carter said. “As you know in politics today, everybody is trying to go against each other — pointing the finger, pointing the finger. Let’s come together for a change.
“We have a great opportunity. This is something that’s never happened before. So let’s celebrate it moreso than turn our nose up at it, and have your views of it, because (a Raptors number retirement) has never happened before. I’m just truly thankful to be a part of it. I mean, truly thankful to be a part of it.”
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