Even the most optimistic of Raptors fans probably thought that between the season finale on April 26 and the Draft Lottery on May 30, there wouldn’t be much in the form of interesting or intriguing Raptors news. But as Manchester United supporters are painfully aware today, assuming makes a big pretty big ass out of everybody.
On Thursday night we unveiled Vince Carter as the No. 1 Raptor (surprise, surprise) in the finale of our Ultimate Raptors Rankings.
What I didn’t mention in that post is that Scott and I actually had a chance to talk to Vince a couple of weeks ago, during the final week of the regular season.
Vince was great to chat with, as he was friendly, courteous, honest with his answers when we got to the tougher questions about the John Thompson interview, and seemed like an all around good guy. It was kind of interesting to hear him say “oh, wow” when we explained that the reason we wanted to interview him was because we were naming him the best Raptor in franchise history for our Raptors-related blog. He sounded genuinely surprised and flattered, which kind of caught me off guard. The fact that something as small as a couple of bloggers in Toronto naming him the best Raptor would surprise him, makes me think that Carter is humbler than people give him credit for. Heck, he thanked us for our time at the end, when in reality, we were the ones that were lucky to be granted a few minutes with Vince Carter for RaptorBlog.
Anyway, here’s the interview:
The Ultimate Raptors Rankings are the RaptorBlog editors’ attempt to rank the top 30 Toronto Raptors of all time. These rankings are obviously somewhat arbitrary and endlessly debatable, but they’re based on each player’s contribution, performance and longevity as a Raptor, and on how beloved they are by Raptors fans.
Vince Carter’s Raptors résumé:
- 2nd in All-Time Franchise points (9420) and 1st in Points per game (23.4)
- 3rd in total rebounds (2091) and 4th in total assists (1553)
- 2nd in total blocks (415) and 3rd in total steals (534)
- Leader in P.E.R. (21.8)
- 5th in games played (403) and 3rd in minutes played (15,114)
- Perennial All Star and multiple-time leading vote-getter
- 2000 Slam Dunk champion
On Tuesday, with Sam Smith of Bulls.com’s statement that “Many believe Nash instead of chasing a title with a contender for a lesser salary will go back to Canada and the Raptors for a three-year deal and help bring their young players along” setting the blogosphere on fire,we thought why not go right to the source of the frenzy and talk to Mr. Sam Smith himself.
The Ultimate Raptors Rankings are the RaptorBlog editors’ attempt to rank the top 30 Toronto Raptors of all time. These rankings are obviously somewhat arbitrary and endlessly debatable, but they’re based on each player’s contribution, performance and longevity as a Raptor, and on how beloved they are by Raptors fans.
Chris Bosh’s Raptors résumé:
- Second in franchise history, games played (509)
- First in franchise history, points (10,275)
- First in franchise history, rebounds (4,776)
- Five consecutive All-Star nominations as a Raptor (2006-2010)
Starting from when he was drafted fourth overall in the 2003 draft after the most-hyped top three picks in the history of the NBA draft — LeBron, Darko and Carmelo — Chris Bosh has always been viewed by the general NBA fanbase as an afterthought, a nice piece of the puzzle but not a player you’d want to build a team around. The fact that Dwyane Wade was selected right after Bosh in that draft hasn’t helped Bosh’s image as the quintessential sidekick.
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