Story of a Card: Vince Carter, 2000-01 Topps #50

Vince Carter took the NBA by storm in 1999.  Having celebrated my eleventh birthday in September of that year, I do remember the first few seasons of Carter’s career, but only faintly.  Thirsty for something to write about, the card in question inspired me to take a look back at VC’s sophomore campaign of ’99-00, when he averaged nearly 26 PPG.  Already the reigning Rookie of the Year, Carter’s continued improvement helped the Raptors win 45 games, good enough to get them into the postseason for the first time in franchise history.

One of Carter’s first marquee performances as a professional came on December 5^th of ’99.  Facing Tim Duncan, David Robinson, and the defending champion Spurs, Carter scored a career-high 39 points, including eight in the final four minutes, as the Raptors came from behind and hung on to win 98-92.  Despite the immense degree of difficulty many of his attempts entailed, Carter converted 15 of 25, including his only three-point try (he’d finished sub-30 percent from range as a rookie).  Vince’s cousin, Tracy McGrady, was Toronto’s second-leading scorer with 16 off the bench. 

Vince and Tracy continued to roll into All-Star Weekend, where they went head-to-head in what many consider the most spectacular Slam Dunk Contest in NBA history.  As was typical of this period in McGrady’s career, he was forced to take a backseat to Carter, finishing third as Vince ran away with the title by scoring 198 of a possible 200 points.  That offseason, McGrady signed a lucrative contract with the Orlando Magic.  Back home in his native Florida, T-Mac would prove himself even more explosive a scorer than Vince.  

 

Oh, what could have been…

Evan Turner Was My New Hero, And Then He Wasn't

On Sunday night, as the 76ers put the finishing touches on a 111-104 defeat of the Lakers, Evan Turner scored the game's most insignificant points when he dunked the ball at the buzzer.  This apparently angered Nick Young, and thus continued the discussion of one of basketball's unwritten rules: that it is unacceptable, as a member of a presumable victor, to shoot the ball after the shot clock has been shut off. 

The play in question:

Many feel as though Turner's spectacular jam constitutes unsportsmanlike conduct.  Okay, maybe... but who cares?  Allow me to explain my opinion in the context of this very play.

Firstly, from the loser's perspective, such instances as this are easily preventable.  If it offends you to be beaten, Nick Young, win.  The Philadelphia 76ers were 8-21, and on a 13-game road losing streak.  In other words, they suck.  So don't let them, in your own house, recover from that early double digit deficit.  Don't cough the ball up twenty times.  Don't allow 59 second-half points.  Sever their jugular.  Okay, so you slipped up and lost.  You're pissed off.  Good.  You should be.  At yourself.  They were hotdogging?  Take it as added motivation to whip 'em up twice as hard next time.  Skip the ceremonial postgame hugfest and be on your way.

But as for you, Evan Turner... if you're going to do it, then do it.  Do it against the same team twice.  Do it to a helpless group of kittens.  Do it shamelessly, because there is no shame in winning.  After you do it, though, don't expect the team you've just styled on to shake hands with you.  Don't pretend you didn't realize what you were doing.  Don't try to play it off cool.  Put on your meanest mean mug and bask in the glory of your own audacity.  Show no remorse, express no regret.  Repercussions?  You don't give a damn about repercussions.  You're the baddest man on the planet.  You just smashed a 360 windmill, IN-GAME.  You're not worried about the Sacramento Queens Los Angeles Lakers.  Not at all.

Except you clearly are, because you apologized.  Thus, you are no less lame than Nick Young is for being upset at anyone but himself after missing 15 of 21 shots.  Unless, of course, Nick Young was only irked by Turner's silly attempt to make friends.  In that case, Evan Turner, you are all the lameness.

Bobblehead Swag: Ricky Davis

Of the fifteen or so bobble heads in my collection, only about half can be described as having an obvious facial likeness to the player they represent.  For this reason, I always find it exciting to discover a bobble head which captures to a tee the general appearance of its subject.  Other collectors, I imagine, feel the same way.  Maybe that’s why Ricky Davis’s Boston Celtics bobble head seems to be so popular.

As you can see, it doesn’t take careful examination to identify Ricky Buckets.  Adorned with his signature cornrows and wearing a confident grin, Tyree Ricardo bobs his head swaggerishly, not entirely dissimilar from the way he once did to celebrate a spectacular jam over Antonio Davis.  Though he’s missing his headband, Ricky is sporting his armband, complete with the proper inscription, “GET BUCKETS 12.”  Heck, even his sideburns are on point, and his goatee neatly groomed.

Davis, who turned 34 in September, presently plays for the Erie Bayhawks of the NBA’s Development League.  He averages 14 points and 5 boards, and just so happened to drop a season-high 26 this Friday evening.  Erie's NBA affiliate is --- guess who --- the New York Knicks.  Already struggling mightily and with a difficult road swing on the horizon, the Knickerbockers ought to give Davis a call.  I mean, hey, that Jeremy Lin guy worked out pretty well.

RICKSANITY!  Mike Woodson and I are so ready.

Story of a Card: Bonzi Wells, 2004-05 Topps #6

In December of 2003, the Grizzlies and Nets were headed in opposite directions.  In their second season under the accomplished coach Hubie Brown, a youthful Memphis squad had already won twelve of twenty games, including a franchise-record streak of six in a row.  Despite the rigors of playing in the powerhouse Midwest Division, the Grizzlies were, for the first time in their eight year history, developing into a formidable foe.  In addition to the progression of the reigning Rookie of the Year, a seven-foot Spaniard by the name of Pau Gasol, the team’s standing was elevated by the acquisitions of James Posey and Bonzi Wells.  A pair of athletic swingmen, Posey and Wells fit in seamlessly.  Able to run alongside transition magician Jason Williams, the duo also brought a degree of toughness which helped the Grizzlies make dramatic defensive improvements.

Meanwhile, in the meadowlands, the Nets found themselves in the early stages of a fall from [relative] grace.  Having won consecutive Eastern Conference titles, Byron Scott, Jason Kidd and company weren’t supposed to be hovering around .500.  Though a coaching change would inspire the team win 25 of its last 40, they’d eventually go on to be defeated in a heartbreaking seven-game semifinal by the eventual Champion Detroit Pistons.  Shortly thereafter, Kidd’s favorite running mate, Kenyon Martin, departed to Denver in free agency; and thus began a steady decline from which the franchise is yet to recover.

On the 13th of the month, the Nets and Grizzlies were scheduled to face off for the second time in ten days.  The Nets were coming off a couple of wins, the Grizzlies a loss, but the Grizzlies had beaten the Nets in New Jersey, and overall trends foreshadowed a statement victory by the home team.

The Bonzi Wells dunk pictured on the card in question represents two of his game-high 22 points.  It also represents the first of three Grizzly slams to be thrown down in the final two minutes of the most lopsided triumph in franchise history.  In a second half they won 65-35, the Grizzlies encountered virtually no resistance as they ran the floor at breakneck speed, repeatedly bombarding the Nets’ rim.  Human sledgehammer Stromile Swift, Wells’ partner in crime off one of the league’s most capable benches, smashed the iron on four devastating occasions.  In the waning seconds, Wells connected with Swift on one of the most spectacular alley-oops in NBA history, inciting pandemonium at the Pyramid.

It was later reported that the Nets could be heard screaming profanities at one another in the confines of their locker room, which had been closed to the media, presumably for fear that Kenyon Martin might decapitate an inquisitive reporter.

Wells, Swift, and the rest of the Grizzlies would go on to win fifty games, more than enough to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.  Though the success of Hubie’s Grizzlies was both limited and short lived, their breakthrough into respectability was an exciting development in Memphis basketball --- one which will not be soon forgotten by those fond of the Grizzlies.



Photograph: December 13, 2003; Nets v Grizzlies; The Pyramid; Memphis, TN; Joe Murphy