Vince Carter: His Most Underrated Season – CrownHoops

DIGITAL IMAGE – 08/03/01 – TORONTO, ONTARIO – Toronto Raptor star Vince Carter enters the ACC for his charity game Friday night. (Photo by Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

The NBA has now seen another future Hall of Famer leave the game as Vince Carter has officially retired. With Carter’s departure from the game, there are now no players left from the 1990s. The man was an ageless wonder as he played until the age of 43, an NBA record. Over his career, he would play for a total of eight different games. However, he made his biggest mark as a player while playing with the Toronto Raptors and the New Jersey Nets in which he would make one NBA Finals appearance.

While this was somewhat expected, the NBA world cannot help but feel a bit sad watching another legend walk away from the game. As someone who got into NBA basketball in the mid-2000s, it is a bit shell-shocking to see so many greats now gone from the league.  As a result, it only makes sense to go over Vince Carter’s most overlooked campaign in this ongoing series. Without further adieu, let’s take a look at which season of Vinsanity’s career deserves more credit.

Vince Carter: His 1999-2000 Season

For his sophomore season, Carter took a major leap. He became a first-time All-Star and started putting Toronto on the map as a legitimate basketball destination. Not to mention, his cousin, Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady, was also starting to find his stride as the duo was making noise in the Eastern Conference. The Toronto Raptors benefited from Carter’s rapid development as a player.

They would finish with a winning record of 45-37 and make the postseason. The team did get swept in the first round by the New York Knicks, the same Knicks team who would advance to the Eastern Conference Finals and be defeated by the Indiana Pacers in six games. The Raptors would also finish the season with a 104.7 offensive rating and a 104.9 defensive rating. Both of these team statistics are sub-par at best, but Vince Carter was far from the problem for these average numbers.

Air Canada’s 1999-2000 Numbers

Carter put up gaudy numbers during his second year in the league. He upped his averages to 25.7 points, 3.9 assists, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game. On top of this, he also averaged 46.5 percent shooting from the field to pair with a three-point shooting percentage of 40.3 percent. Solid numbers for a two-guard to say the least, especially in just their second season.

Carter’s advanced numbers during this campaign were also impressive. He tallied an offensive rating of 112 to go with a defensive rating of 105. Not to mention, Carter also possessed a player efficiency rating of 23.4 to go along with a true shooting percentage of 54.3 percent. His percentages in the advanced categories also make one do a double-take. During the 1999-2000 season, Carter averaged a total rebounding percentage of 8.5 percent, and an assists percentage of 20.5 percent, and a block percentage of 2.1 percent. After looking at Vince Carter’s whole career and analyzing the numbers and facts, it is clear that the 1999-2000 campaign was the most underrated season in his Hall of Fame career.

Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images