Caught in Nets' growing pains, Carter adapts to a new position

Vince Carter has quietly played near the level of other All-Stars this season, a fact obscured by the Nets' struggles to win consistently. Adam Hunger/SI Steve Aschburner's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Steve. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

MINNEAPOLIS -- Vince Carter had found a seam in an otherwise dreary Sunday, no one leaning on him, no one looking to him for much of anything at that moment. His 36 points, 28 after halftime, hadn't been enough to even sweat the Timberwolves in a listless, toothless performance by his Nets, and the New Jersey beat writers were busy at the moment with teammate Devin Harris in a dressing stall across the way.

So Carter sat, his waist wrapped in one blue terry-cloth towel, his hands draping another over his head. Somewhere underneath it, Carter looked tired, disappointed, a little ground down -- until he yanked it off after all of 30 seconds, inhaled deeply and stood up just as the correspondents turned his way.

Enough with any pity, any fatigue, any wear or any tear. There was explaining to do.

"We can't have the lackadaisical effort in the first quarter, more than anything," Carter said after a 108-99 loss at Minnesota that the Nets needed badly to help their playoff chances. "This was an opportunity to get the best out of us and accomplish something, and we took a step back. ... If we don't give more of an effort, we're just out there playing to finish the season. And I don't think that's what we want to do. I think we're a lot better than that."

Story of his career? Maybe. Carter is 11 seasons into an NBA life that has been more sizzle than steak, that has offered lots of spectacle but a lot fewer tangibles, all adding up to a body of work somehow less than it was supposed to be. He has been basketball royalty pretty much from the start, but he's still in search of crown jewels. The guy christened Half-Man, Half-Amazing by Shaquille O'Neal is 32 now, his still-good stats undercut by mediocre results (30-44 through Monday), and more likely these days to inspire debates about half-full vs. half-empty.

And, perhaps with Phoenix's O'Neal and Steve Nash, Carter figures to be one of the NBA's biggest names who will be both healthy and lottery-bound when this season ends.

"He's got the desire," Nets swingman Trenton Hassell said. "He wants his team to be successful, he wants to be the best and he's willing to sacrifice to do that. But we're young. We're overachieving. We're doing better than most people gave us credit for doing. We've still got an outside chance for the playoffs -- that's still our goal. He's one of the older vets on our team, so he's trying to direct us in the right way."

It isn't a thankless job -- all the Nets, from president Rod Thorn to coach Lawrence Frank to the roster's rookies, express gobs of gratitude for Carter's work on and off the court. Jason Kidd got out, Richard Jefferson is gone but Carter remains, endeavoring to complete the transition New Jersey is trying to undergo from contender to also-ran to contender again.

"He has served the term 'captain' very honorably," Frank said. "Coming with a team that has veterans from other teams, some young guys coming straight from school, a couple of 20-year-olds and one 21-year-old. Showing them how you handle every day and the professionalism you approach your job [with], his disposition, his character. Plus, he's played at a very high level. He's accepted different roles on the team, at different times, to let other guys thrive and play at a high level, and yet has shown that he still is one of the elite players in the league."

Carter's numbers this season -- 21.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 4.6 apg -- aren't far off those of his first 10 years (23.4, 5.5, 4.2). He and Harris (22.2 ppg) are the highest-scoring starting backcourt in the league. In fact, only five players (LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Stephen Jackson and Kobe Bryant) are hitting thresholds -- 20 points, five boards and five assists -- that Carter is within a few dozen Nets field goals of reaching.

The season, through the first four months or so, scarcely could have been more intriguing. The Nets were winning more than expected, based on the experts who pegged them as the Eastern Conference's worst team. Carter's name was popping up in trade speculation, with alluring destinations such as Cleveland and Portland -- no, seriously, we're talking NBA competitive allure, not some snotty Fodor's travel review -- mentioned for the eight-time All-Star. Then there was the New Year's Eve game he got tossed from, with a black referee allegedly calling him "boy." And the day Carter looked out the bedroom window of his Weehawken, N.J., high-rise one afternoon in January just as a US Airways jet plopped down safely into the Hudson River.

But a trade never happened (the $33.6 million guaranteed on Carter's contract through 2010-11 makes one unlikely this summer or next February, too). Most days, the Hudson is a river, not a landing strip. There will be no teaming with LeBron James, no mentoring of Brandon Roy and other young Blazers. The Nets aren't on the honors track that way, their lessons learned harder, with Carter mentoring and marking time for the foreseeable future.

What becomes a legend most? It can't be this.

"I love it," Carter said. "It's frustrating, because you want these guys to succeed. But I love it. It's been the challenge from the organization, from the coaching staff, from Day One. This helps me. I've been in this situation before ... being written off last year and people saying, 'Does he still have it? Can he lead a team?'

"I accepted this challenge. I'm just proud of the guys that they've come so far. They expected us to be in last place -- here they are, fighting for a chance to be in the playoffs."

Boosting a team from 15th to maybe, possibly, eighth isn't supposed to mean as much as boosting it from, say, fourth to first. But it fits, given Carter's tastes-great, less-filling variety of stardom. He frequently has been the guy who makes the highlight reels with dunks or buzzer-beaters, stuffs the fans' ballot box or nails a shoe deal. But Carter never has made it past a first- or second-round playoff exit. Teams that believed he could carry them beyond that, the Raptors and the Nets, either stopped hoping or still are waiting.

"I don't think you win with him," one NBA assistant coach said. "He's one of those guys who's got so much talent, but he doesn't have the leadership or personality. It's not his fault -- he'd be great if you had him with someone like [Kevin] Garnett or Shaq or [Tim] Duncan. He hasn't had that."

Carter helped make Toronto relevant, with two playoff trips in his six-plus seasons there, but it ended badly as he coerced a trade (to the Nets) in December 2004. It sounds like Carter would rather not have this stay end badly.

"It's tough," he said. "But I want to finish my job. I accepted this challenge. I think it makes me a better person. Keeps me on my toes. Because I want the best for these guys, I'm constantly trying to figure out how I can help each one get better. Especially the young guys, helping them with things, maybe, [that] they're struggling with.

"That's where my frustration comes in. Coach might be trying to get something across to them [and] I think, How, as a teammate, can I help them? Sometimes I get caught up in my own frustration -- maybe I'm having an off night -- and I'm not giving them time like I should. It's a fine line. That's the growing pains I'm going though."

So Carter is well-compensated for his labor, appreciated for his effort, revered for his talent and criticized for where he hasn't led a team. Does he yearn for more?

"I definitely want to play for that opportunity [at a championship]," Carter said. "But I also don't mind being on a team where they say, 'Hey, this team was going to be the last-place team in the NBA and he was able to help these guys develop.' That's my goal -- though I'm losing my hair."

Steve Aschburner covered the Minnesota Timberwolves and the NBA for 13 seasons for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He has served as president or vice president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association since 2005.