Vince Carter Interview (2005) - traded to Nets from Toronto Raptors

Vince Carter talks with John Thompson (Inside the NBA) on TNT. Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson discuss.
Associated Press
TORONTO -- Vince Carter's former teammates were dismayed Friday after hearing him admit he didn't always try his hardest when he played for the Toronto Raptors.
In an interview broadcast Thursday on TNT, network analyst John Thompson asked Carter if he pushed himself as hard as he should have in Toronto.
"In years past, no," said Carter, acquired by the New Jersey Nets on Dec 17. "I was fortunate to have the talent ... you get spoiled when you're able to do a lot of things. You see that you don't have to work at it.
"Now, with the all the injuries, I have to work harder. I'm a little hungrier. Getting a fresh start has made me want to attack the basket."
Many have questioned Carter's dedication, his commitment to offseason conditioning and his desire to improve, but some where were surprised to hear Carter acknowledge it.
"It's a reflection on him and his character," Raptors guard Rafer Alston said. "Is he a guy that you can go to war with night in and night out? That's what a lot of people are going to be questioning."
Alston also suggested that Carter cost the Raptors games with his lack of effort.
"It hurts," Alston said. "I don't know if a player who is considered an All-Star and has so many fan votes going into All-Star week wants to have that on his rap sheet."
Carter has played well since being traded for Alonzo Mourning, Aaron Williams, Eric Williams and two first-round draft picks. He is averaging 22.5 points in 40.3 minutes with New Jersey, compared to 15.9 points in 30.4 minutes with the Raptors.
Toronto guard Morris Peterson was shocked when he watched the interview on television.
"It caught me off guard, being a professional player that's something I always pride myself on," Peterson said. "I can sleep better at night knowing I give it everything I can."
"You could tell he wasn't playing his best," Peterson said.
Toronto coach Sam Mitchell didn't want to talk about Carter.
"That's between Vince and his conscience," Mitchell said.

[@theunthinkable1021]

Rest in Peace, Coach John Thompson.

[@LyricalMurderer1]

this interview was blown WAY out of proportion by national media...

[@mdjiles]

"Vince Carter, he'll be 28 in a few weeks. Have we seen the best of Vince Carter?" Crazy because it's 2014 and he's still contributing. He is still a more than useful player. He may even give you some dunks that flashback to years past.

[@johnruiz4419]

Marcus Jiles he’s still doing that at 41

[@good_teanice_house6789]

@@johnruiz4419 he's still doing that at 42

[@3jzak]

Just retired 2020

[@DC180PP]

At the time though, this was a legit criticism though. He even admitted himself to not working on his body as hard as he should have in the offseason. He had a long career but he should been arguably the best SG ever and definitely better than kobe

[@LyricalMurderer1]

this man got treated like shit for giving an honest interview.....

[@sauce556]

@Raptorel I dont think Vince admitted to not playing 100% in games or trying hard--If i recall correctly Vince said in an interview that Mr. Thompson apologized to him during the summer while he was in North Carolina for this interview because it was edited to say that Vince didnt try whereas he was pertaining to working out in the gym during the offseason or some other question

[@Thrielyl44]

Vince is a fucking Badass..The best dunker to ever play in the nba. And He just recently passed Larry Bird on the all time scoring list which an awesome accomplishment. He has put his mark in basketball history and will always be remembered. Let me know when you've got that kind of resume.

[@WestboundPromo416]

vince was our mj growin up in toronto

[@roozbeh60]

He still has a chance to get the crowd back by coming to Toronto and retiring where he started.. I dont think he cares for the ring anymore after all these years.. Im a Toronto Fan and his fan.. I too was upset at him when he left, but our minds changed when we found his issues are with the management.. He is still my hero and Id go to many of his games if he comes back to TO for last couple seasons

[@Dashman98]

Vince's body wasn't breaking down, Bruce bowen broke his ankles twice as a raptor and almost a 3rd time in NJ. People forget that. Imagine if load management was a thing in the early 2000s

[@Charisteas2005]

great player, best dunker ever, too bad he doesnt have a title in his pocket he deserve it, i dont know if with dallas will have one he came too late

[@LyricalMurderer1]

yes you are better than everyone else....just look at what the raps have accomplished before and after the vince carter era. He was the best thing to happen to the team.... player or manager....

[@wedgeflex]

Toronto & Canada Loves Vince Carter... We've always loved him... Even when he was getting Boooed and the perception was that Toronto hated him... The truth was that We hated that Vince Carter was gone... Vince Carter will always be a Raptor 4 Life... Should've never been traded... I believe his Jersey # will be the 1st Raptor retired at the ACC.... It was a special time when Vince was here... He's done more for Canadian basketball than he'll ever know... He was also the most exciting player in the NBA and led NBA ALL Star voting for multiple years... No Slam Dunk contest has come close to the show Vince put on.... I can't see him entering the HOF as anything but a Raptor.... I hope he feels the same.... Thx for all the amazing memories and contributions.... Much Luv from a Toronto fan of yours

[@johnnykeoka5945]

They're gonna honor jalen though

[@chriscruz672]

wedgeflex So when Toronto chanted "VC Sucks" that just meant that you loved him? lol ookay

[@timhoward5]

You a lie. Like he said you're speaking for yourself. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4PWi3ehapqlgLM

[@klewis564]

These john Thompson interviews are gold idk why he’s not that entertaining but he ask those questions that nobody else will and so blunt and non chalant

[@Raptorel]

And you say that because you always gave it your 100% to your boss at each and every job you had. Right.

[@Raptorel]

So if you were in Vince's place, you would've given 1000%, right? It's so easy to judge people and put yourself in their shoes, but it wouldn't be if you were to actually BE in that position. To have the talent and have basketball come easy to you - you'd say "hey, it works like this well too". Who knows? We should just enjoy what he did give for basketball and he gave quite a bit.

[@Loudmouf84]

Anyone know the song at 1:50??? First saw it on an And 1 mixtape back in the day and never found out who it was.

[@Raptorel]

Vince has always been penalized after this interview for being honest. He could've answered "yeah, I bustem my ass ever since I got in the NBA" and people would've never said all the shit they're saying now. So if he was to lie it was probably better. Tons of players don't give 100% effort but they lie and it's OK.

[@afielde11]

There’s probably less than 20 guys in the history of the entire league who truly worked as hard as they could and got everything out of their talent possible. Vince was honest and he got killed for it. Nowadays every mediocre player who played in the nba who goes on a podcast acts like they had Kobe’s work ethic and we all know it isn’t even close to the truth.

[@kombuchasmellsnice]

Just imagine if he worked as hard back then as he does now

[@ahmad.tillery.1987]

Vince proved "Age Ain't Nothing But A Number" he was still a useful player beyond 28 up until his retirement.

[@maryannwilliams4913]

Speak CHUC❤❤❤

[@LyricalMurderer1]

the media destroyed him...and they tried the same b.s. with lebron.....but i'm glad he got the ring. I hope vc joins miami and gets one as welll....

[@moeman1991]

he wanted them to trade the pick, not draft dwayne wade who plays the same position as him.

[@some1nw]

misconstrued. its taken outta context.

[@nabillion]

Wow listening to what chuck PREDICTED about vince IS ON THE MONEY!

[@maryannwilliams4913]

Treat ME LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!!! 😮😮😮

[@FallacyUnknown]

Vince Carter just didn’t have the drive that a Kobe Bryant had to be a superstar or championship level player

[@rplayer360]

😂 superstar?

[@FallacyUnknown]

@@rplayer360 yes Moron

[@icannn206]

So what? he's a player not a manager

[@Raptorel]

Yeah but Allen Iverson had heart, not work ethic. Kobe has work ethic, Steve Nash has, Grant Hill has etc. And these people are exceptions rather than rules.

[@kishaunkurse5561]

I can’t believe sir Charles was right.. I criticize him and he takes a lot of criticism but he was 100% correct on VC.. and I love VC but he honestly was not a #1 guy. N Kenny backed it up.. I’ve been tryin to tell people the superstar vs the star theory.. Paul George is not a #1 scoring option.. kd is not a #1 scoring option Jimmy Butler is not a #1 scoring option.. they can not win you a championship unless you put PG or jimmy in a warriors jersey so they can piggy back off of curry, dray, n clay.. those guys need a big 3 around them to take the pressure away from them because they have a hard time making other players better

[@LyricalMurderer1]

he put the raptors ON THE MAP...before and after him they were and arre complete shit...and i'm from the dot.....

[@cnote3580]

Barkley was wrong when he said VC wasn't a superstar. He was box office nobody was more exciting than VC .... nobody

[@timhoward5]

That's what separates him from Kobe and Jordan he did not want the superstar responsibility

[@Luigidude64]

Vince didn't give up on Toronto,Toronto gave up on Vince

[@bksm6936]

He sure as hell did!

[@mathewdo4121]

idiot

[@worthlessmutts9598]

when tnt was serious and relevant.

[@icannn206]

What does that have to do with my point? just cuz you put a team on the map means ur better than everyone else?

[@kevingibson5894]

Vince Carter is the best player Toronto has had on its 20 year history. Forgive and forget, Toronto fans.

[@Raptorel]

Practice? We're talking 'bout practice?!

[@GoggleMan25]

@wildestyungsta uuuummm take T-Mac outta there, he was a beast

[@Raptorel]

@sauce556 Well it sure doesn't sound like that at all :P

[@modalize]

lul^^ organization's ego was too big they didnt want to keep "nofuture" players in their team like (tmac, vince, oakley and dr.J as a coaching member CAN U FUCKIN BELIEVE THAT?!), so they traded for few other guys. people bought that crap with him quitting , this is embarassing for me as a human, but Vince knows the truth and how he reacts to this day is unbelieveble, never broken. they said he is too soft for a competitor XD if u dont want to anger the evil, what you think will happen when u anger the good ) the truth will always come out. my fav players are kobe , tmac and vince, when i saw each for the first time i knew that, but when i saw Vince my heed was blown the fouuack off.. tmac is out, kobe is going out, my last tick with dr Funk XDD stop buying shit becoz it's so easy and chip look how many people are killed every day, becoz u bought that shit, u will understand that when death comes to you, but will be to late and tears wont help my sermon is done , peace out

[@crackerman23]

espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:16889998 How do we explain this?

[@crackerman23]

So did he say he wanted to be traded in post trade interview or he's caught not telling the truth?

[@julienstam]

I will give respect where it's due and I'm glad to see that things have smoothed over but I will always have a fuck you left for how things ended.

[@LyricalMurderer1]

wtf does that have to do with my point?

[@meharinationsportspodcast2582]

The bottom line is after the 2001 ECSF vs Iverson his career went downhill from there because he just didn't want become the best player in the NBA and really didn't take care of his body after blowing his knee in 2002. Kobe had the pieces early with Shaq but you can tell that Kobe wanted to win at all cost where with VC he had more skills but didn't want to be the man and really lacked the championship killer instinct that Kobe, MJ, Duncan, Bird, Thomas, and Magic.

[@sauce556]

So basically you stopped watching Vince play after 2001. Dude was a BEAST in New Jersey from 2005-2007. Superstar numbers across the board but his team as usual was trash. Also had solid but slightly less productive years 2008-09.

[@Raptorel]

@sauce556 He talks about that in here _VIDwTgeqc0

[@djmagx]

Some say he is still on a losing team to this day...

[@worthlessmutts9598]

i don't think he tried. He could have been #1 but i guess he found out the nba was scripted

[@unoriginallusername]

slap his momma for a rebound LOOOOOOL this is why chuck is the man

[@sharkl11]

Raptors will always be irrelevant. David Stern won't fix the lotto for them.

[@raydingo7081]

Lol now they are in the finals ..

[@boonebeasley9622]

Won the chip

[@nessatofresh]

he didnt mean that he wasent working hard, he meant that he didnt have to because he had the talent, the media will destroy ur career smh, charles said that he wasent a superstar,as a raptor he averaged 16 a game, but after that season he averaged 27 a game as a net. if vince had kobes mentallity to win, he would've been better than him

[@John-jm4nv]

nessatofresh Vince averaged waay then 16 ppg for the raptors 😂😂.

[@icannn206]

Vince Carter is not the President of the team. Vince Carter thought he was better than everyone else and that was the reason why.