Well I think everyone remembered how Vince's once hyped beyond slice and bread before he did anything great (especially around that dunk contest). I sincerely hope that Yao won't "fall from grace" like him. Vince still looks a good guy like though. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/rox/1806837 Familiar treatment Few athletes have ever had to deal with the acclaim and scrutiny Rockets center Yao Ming faces. But if anyone can relate to Yao's pressures, it might be Toronto's Vince Carter. Carter, who put on an exhibition in China with Yao last summer, has seen firsthand how fans react to Yao and on Wednesday got a good look at the media attention Yao inspires. "Yao has more media attention than I probably did," said Carter, once the most celebrated newcomer in the league. "Because of the Chinese factor, Yao is representing an entire country. Internationally, he's huge everywhere. And in China, he's the hometown hero. So his situation is worse than mine. "I guess I would tell Yao just to take his time, make good decisions, and I think the biggest thing what helped me is to ask questions whenever times are tough. Pull one of the veterans aside. I had Charles Oakley. I had Antonio Davis. I had Kevin Willis. I had all these different guys who had been there. You can't be afraid to ask questions, because when you do that, people see you're interested and you want to learn. "But you can't prepare for everything. Sometimes, you have to learn as you go." His good news, Carter said, might be that Yao's burdens could ease in the coming seasons. "When there's a new guy, and you're just coming onto the scene, so to speak, they always want to know what's going on every single thing about the new guy. That's what it's like. It'll settle down for Yao. It settles down for everyone unless you're named Michael Jordan."
Carter's hype hasn't died down. Note the fact he was an all-star despite doing absolutely nothing this year. The only reason he hasn't met expectations are the numerous injuries he's had... ... and with that in mind, let's take a second and think about how many games Yao Ming has missed this season as a starter, and compare that to: Mo T, Cato, Mobley, Francis, Rice... The guy's body is holding up well so far.
Exactly...Vince missed over half of a season, played injured when he did play, and was still the leading vote getter in the East.The negativity has been largely in the media, and mostly undeserved... As soon as he is healthy again, and he's getting there, and starts throwing it down again on ESPN night after night like he did last night, he'll be the next Vince Carter... That said, Yao's star status will eclipse them all, in a very short while, if he keeps up the play, given the new and huge demographic he's got loving him, and the general positive buzz about the guy and his game.
don't forget, VC is Yao's buddy, they met up in beijing last summer and had great time together. tons of Chinese voted VC to be allstar...............
Well I think 2 years ago there was also all sort of positive buzz about how good Vince's game was, how nice his personality was and how hard he worked. It's when he started not to play too well and got injuried, the negativity emerged.
They only played an exhibition together, hardly buddy. And Vince Carter was popular all over the world since his dunk contest and his Olympics performance. He didn't need Chinese votes, Ming didn't either.
i remember when VC was a high schooler...Sports Illustratedwas saying like he was the nexty Jordan or something... i thought so too.. Then he went to the pors and signed a shoe endorsment with Puma.
Yeah VC's overhyped. That's why every media guy wanted to criticize him now for "making up" for their previous "hype mistakes".
Vince lacks fire. Put Iverson's or KG or Kobe's heart in him, and Tor would be a contender in the East.
Funny you think KG has more heart than Vince. KG has more skill and talent than Vince yes, but not more heart. Vince has droped consecutive 40 pts games in the playoffs and has led Raptors to the EC Finals and was a shot away from the NBA Finals. KG's yet to do anything on the big stage.
Put the Raptors in the West and they don't make the playoffs, ever. Put the Wolves in the East, and they go to the conf finals. Don't even bother trying to compare a player's "accomplishment" from the East to a player from the West. You seem to say a lot of things, with very little thought put into them.
You seem not to read very well as well. I did say that KG's a better than Vince Carter having more skill and talent. But what about performing on the big stage when you get there and willing your team to victory? What supporting cast Vince had in that year they made the EC Finals? And he came a bounce away from beating Iverson's Sixers to the NBA Finals.
They didn't make the EC finals, they made the semis. They were one shot away from making the EC finals, but Vince missed the jumper. Too bad, it was one of the best playoff series in recent history. Vince and AI went at it with competing 50 point games. Beautiful...
I don't know about Vince. I think he's going to play it cool this season, while occasionally showing he's not done (43-pt performance) and then he's going to work REAL hard this summer to come back as strong as before. Of course, he never WAS in the same category as Kobe and McGrady, so he still won't be as good as those guys. Toronto need to hope that Mo Pete improves his game, and Antonio Davis doesn't get too old.
I like Vince. He's worked hard on his game, too. He doesn't have the same elevation or athletic ability he had a few years ago, yet he still has the ability to take over a game and beat any opponent. It's a shame about his injuries, though. I just wonder what type of player he'd be now with his experience, knowledge, plus the athleticism he had before all the health issues.
You have no clue what you are talking about do you? KG does not have more skill and talent than VC, he's has about couple inches on him. If he plays with heart and BIG IF he's healthy, he's better than anyone in the league (yes better than Kobe). I remember last year he dropped 43 on Houston hopping on 1 leg. Prob with Vince is that he tries to involve his teammates way too much and quite frankly he's teammates can't do ****. Hopefully when he gets healthy he'll realize he might get injured again and play with heart. PS. Vince was putting same or better numbers than Kobe despite not playing with heart, despite not playing D and without the double teams created by Shaq, so who's better?
