NBA Top 50: Vince Carter (no. 27)

. It's only time,let it pass away., originally uploaded by Hailey Dearyy;.

OtB is counting down the days 'til the NBA 2009-10 season tips off by ranking the top 50 players in the league. On Wednesday there are/were 27 days left.

Ah! Ah! There are fifteen minutes left in the day, Eastern Standard Time! Can I get it in? I haven't missed a day yet! Of course, there are six more hours plus aforementioned change in Hawaiian Standard Time, but that's beside the point, isn't Ye Olde New Bri'ish Folke?

So, let's get right to it. Who's better than the lanky jester of the NBA's internet savvy community? That's right, the guy who, for a few years there in the middle of the aughts became something of a joke. Half-man/Half-amazing? Prone to a lot of half-and-half jokes for awhile there. Of late, Vinsanity has been lauded as quite the team mate, a great pick up for the Magic (even if SVG is already on his tail for not defending! "But coach! They're my team mates!"), and shocker-of-shockers half-sane. As in not Vinsanity but Vince Sanity. Still, VC is the guy who was entirely nonplussed at the acquisition of Bosh in 2003. Was he right? Right enough to get the go ahead for the spot above CB4.

vince carter usa best dunk, originally uploaded by thedanger23.

The Skinny: Vince hasn't averaged less than 20 points a game since his rookie season. He says he's ready, and if "deferring" to Devin Harris last season was any indication (can it really be deferring if Carter took more shots? I guess this could be called the Shaq-method of deferral acting, which ain't exactly bad for Florida team looking for a title...), Vince should be a solid addition to the Magic. What more can I say than 20.8 points, 5.1 pulls, and 4.7 dimes a contest? Oh, and he can still throw it down with more authority than anyone ever to hail from Chapel Hill. That's right, MJ. Wanna fight about it? Or play Bryon Russell one on one for it? Didn't think so.

Why VC is #27: Let's go back to basics. What are the four factors I laid out at the outset of this list? Irreplaceability, Not Salaries, Age, and the Ineffables. I also, of course, have been talking about talent, skill, and effort (or talent maximization). If you could approximate Carter and Bosh's value to their teams while adjusting for any number of variables including pace and position, who would be more valuable? Okay, PER says Bosh, but PER has always skewed towards the big guys. My thing is, the big guys always struggle if their points and wings can't get them the ball well. The wing guys have no such restriction on their effect on the court. Filling in for new Raptor Hedo Turkoglu, Vince Sanity looks to be a big part of SVG's distribution plan. That means, he's a big part of what will go on on a major contender. I'm sorry for those of you who think play should be evaluated as if in a vacuum and good players are good even on bad teams, but that's important.

Hey, Hot Shot! Contender: Ryan Monaghan, originally uploaded by Jen Bekman.

Age, yeah Bosh wins out. But y'know what, this is how far outside the boxscore we are. Not even advanced stats that you can't get from your father's sports page fully whet our whistle here. Thus, a fairly big but also apologetic (in)eff you to anyone who doesn't like my wild card factor to this whole thing. You might write me off as lazy, and I might have to concede that point, but show me first where you lay your pen. Vince Carter positively beats out any of the guys below him on this list on sure thing ineffables coming in to this season. He's going to the Magic, where he's always longed to play, and he's not going to be a bit player. Put it this way, he's not going to be Gary Payton on the 2003-2004 Lakers, he'll be more like Karl Malone. Malone got hurt that year after a long ironman-like career. Carter is seven years younger and hasn't really been brittle since that one year before Bosh even got to the league, though VC carried that label for far too long after that season. Let's hope this year doesn't see Carter take a turn for the geriatric. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Chris & George Lopez's Star, originally uploaded by adriandanganan.

Okay, I'll get you some more content at some other point, but for now: Is Nagamatsu a Mexican name? No, it's Japa-Hawaiia-Kore-Chi-Spani-Portu-Filipino-Irish-Chamorro-English-ese! Dig?

Posted in: NBA Top 50,Vince Carter