TORONTO RAPTORS
Tuesday night's game: Clips 101, Raps 89. And it wasn't even that close.
The compelling story was Vince Carter, benched for the final 15 minutes of the Portland game last Saturday ... and now we know why. He's a mess. During the pregame "Everyone bunch into a circle and jump up and down" ritual, Chris Bosh accidentally bumped him in the head, so Vince dramatically took three steps back to make sure he was OK, then rejoined the circle with a sarcastic frown. He made his first five jumpers, banged his shooting hand on a collision with Maggette, then spent the rest of the game touching the hand, examining it and swearing to himself ... only he would not-so-coincidentally forget to do this every time he made a basket. When he was angry after not getting the ball before one timeout, he stormed towards the bench, then brushed off a high-five from Donyell Marshall and left poor Donyell hanging.
It went on and on. Forget about the fact that Vince doesn't play defense anymore; that he doesn't bother to box out; that he's shooting pretty much every time he gets the ball (23 shots in 26 minutes against the Clips); that he tries to avoid contact even on plays when he's driving to the basket. His moodiness affected everyone on that team. He's clearly trying to get himself traded -- playing just hard enough so nobody thinks he's dogging it, but acting up just enough so everyone knows he's unhappy. At one point, I honestly thought Rafer Alston was going to punch him.
Anyway, this was an impossible team to evaluate since Vince has pretty much poisoned them -- they're a Ewing Theory season waiting to happen. I see this one ending the same way the Nomar Era ended in Boston, with Vince getting moved for what seems like 60 cents on the dollar ... until everyone realizes that he's not the same player anymore. I mean, what could they really get for him? Who would roll the dice with that contract (4 years, 58 million) for a brittle, one-dimensional head case? You think New Orleans, Memphis or the Clips would deal quality guys for someone who could potentially destroy their team? If you were the Mavs, T-Wolves or Pacers, would you risk a potential title run for someone like that?
I could only see four teams making sense:
1. Chicago. It could send back Antonio Davis and one of its young guys (Eddy Curry, Ben Gordon) and hope Vince gets sufficiently excited to fill MJ's (belated) shoes. It's a big risk. But the Bulls already stink. It's not like things could get worse.
2. Charlotte. They have the cap space and the UNC connections ... if the Raps wanted to dump him for a draft pick, this would be the place.
3. Portland. For Shareef. This one makes the most sense: the Raps get another big body and some cap room next summer; Portland has the pockets to take a chance on Vince. Plus, Nike's right there. And on paper, a lineup with Stoudamire/Van Exel, Carter/Anderson, Patterson/Miles, Randolph and Ratliff looks pretty intriguing, on a number of levels ... including the "Wow, I've never seen two teammates fight to the death before" level.
4. Detroit. Not the Pistons ... I'm talking about the Shock. Now there's a team that would be perfect for Vince Carter.