whoop! there he is!

Raptor to rapture: the Vinsanity begins

Tuesday, December 21, 2004
BY DAVE D'ALESSANDRO
New Jersey Star-Ledger Staff

--EXCERPT--

"It's a new start. I'm going to make a lot of people eat their words when it's time. Don't be my friend later. Keep it like it is. If you hate me now, hate me later. I don't mind. My job is to go out there and play and bring another aspect to New Jersey Nets basketball. ...

"I'm still pinching myself just to say, 'Hey, look what it says on my chest now.'"

In a more candid assessment, however, he admitted the divorce from the Raptors -- the team he carried for six years, before becoming little more than trade bait this season -- was more important than the actual destination.

"It was time for Vince Carter, the person, to be rejuvenated," he said. "There was so much stuff going on, so much talk, my body just needed a jolt. Once it all settled in, I was like, 'Hey, here it is.'"

VINCE WON'T FLARE UP

The New York Post
December 21, 2004
by Fred Kerber

FORT MILL, S.C. — Vince Carter couldn't believe all the fuss and didn't want to comment. So, naturally, he commented. The newest Net refused to let reports he "tipped off" the Sonics about an impending Raptors' play last month spoil the excitement of a fresh NBA start with the Nets.

"I'm not going to really get caught up in that, I don't know what the motive is behind it, if there is one, they can't spoil my excitement of a new start. I don't know what it's all about. It's ridiculous. It's stupid," Carter said. "I just say, children will play."

And Nets coach Lawrence Frank followed suit calling all the attention "grossly, grossly overblown." A report surfaced Sunday that at the end of a game last month in Seattle, Carter, with Toronto, told the Sonics his team was running "a flare, a flare." Toronto, down seven at the time, scored on the play.