ORLANDO, Fla. — OK, here’s the scary part. Vince Carter, according to his coach Butch Carter, has reached only 60 percent of his potential. After first improving on his left hand two summers ago, his perimeter shooting last summer, this summer’s plan is to get Vince to D-up.
For all the comparisons to Michael Jordan, defense is the one area where Carter doesn’t hold a candle to the Wondrous One.
“Last summer he flew in three times a week to work out,” Butch Carter says, noting that made the difference in this year’s play. “I tell people he’s operating at 60 percent. A lot of nights he’s great but a lot of nights he’s operating at 60 percent and as he grows and understands how he can use his talent on the defensive end, he’ll have a bigger influence on the game.
“I can’t say enough about how coachable he is,” Butch continued. “Even under the worst of circumstances he listens and wants to do well all the time. If you are a coach who can teach something, he’s the perfect player, if you’re a philosopher, he’ll struggle. First, he cleaned up his ballhandling, then the jump shot and this summer he’s got to learn to concentrate on being down in his defensive stance. As soon as the season is over you give him a game plan and he’ll work with it, so he’s going to come back a better player.”
Vince Carter also appreciates a great player as well as any NBA fan and he admits one of his favorites will be across the ball from him today. “I have a lot of respect for Latrell Sprewell,” Vince says. “He’s a guy who I’ve watched for a long time at Golden State. I’ve always been a big fan of his. I enjoy playing against him.”
This second season has been a whirlwind year for Carter. Regarding the Olympic team, he says, “We did the photo-shoot for it recently and it felt good. I looked in the mirror and I remembered playing on the Junior Olympic Team in high school, hoping one day I’d be in the Olympics. It’s going to be fun and hopefully we can bring it home.”