Vince Carter: Primed for Success

Half-man, Half-amazing. Vinsanity. Invinceable.

Call him what you will (my personal favourite: 'Wince') but Vince Carter is undeniably still one of the best dunkers and finishers in the game today. Even at the ripe old age of 32, Vince is a consistent threat to embarrass the Toronto Raptors, and he regularly makes Frederic Weis wet his pants. Last season with the New Jersey Nets his averages of 20.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG and 4.7 APG were nearly on par with his career numbers of 23.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG and 4.3 APG. However his move to the Orlando Magic has the man formerly known as 'Air Canada' primed for a stellar season for three reasons:

1. The presence of Dwight Howard
Never before has Carter had the fortune to play with a dominant big man. Granted, he was teamed up with Chris Bosh for two uneventful seasons, but Bosh was more like Anthony Randolph than his current All-Star status. Now, with Dwight Howard in the low-post demanding considerable attention and often a double-team, Vince will be able to drive the lane even more, forcing defenders to cheat in order to keep up with his athleticism and speed.


2. Strong surrounding cast
This is the best team Vince has ever been on. The Magic are coming off a finals loss to the Lakers, but more importantly, they are returning from an Eastern Conference victory over Lebron James. Superman aside, Orlando's shooters will provide Vince with more operating room to slash and more options to kick the ball out. We all know that cry-baby Carter plays his best basketball when the pressure isn't on him to be a leader, and with Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, and Jameer Nelson all already carrying 'leadership' status for the Magic youngsters, Vince will be free to just be the freakishly-talented player we all witness on the nightly Top Ten list 82 times a season.

and 3. Free Throws
This piggy backs on point #1, but last season Vince tied his career high in FT%, shooting at an 81.7% clip. He has consistently improved his free throw shooting throughout his career, and with the attention his teammates will be receiving on the offensive end of the floor Vince will have dozens of opportunities to drive the lane on a nightly basis. The defense will have no choice but to cheat or collapse, leading to fouls and more free throw opportunities than Vince will know what to do with. He could easily bring his 2008-09 average of 4.2 FTM per game into the 6.0-7.5 range from the charity stripe in 2010.


Sure, his vertical is probably down to only 41", but Vince Carter is still a premiere player in the NBA and is capable of 30-10-10 any night of the week. With him on board the Orlando Magic are now equipped with a top five PG, SG, SF, and C in the East. Look for Vince and Dwight to put the pressure on Lebron and Shaq come November 11th, as Vince is primed for what could be a career year with his new family down south.

Breakout Fighter Watch: Gegard Mousasi

Alright everyone, I know technically Gegard Mousasi isn’t a ‘breakout’ fighter, he is the reigning DREAM middleweight grand prix champion, and has been in 29 professional fights already in his young career (remember he’s only 24).But with his 60 second demolition of battle-tested veteran Renato Babalu Sobral in Saturday night’s Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight title fight, Mousasi has undoubtedly entered the elite ‘Bad Motherfucker’ realm in the world of MMA.
Did anyone else notice his nonchalant demeanour directly before arguably the biggest fight of his career against his toughest opponent to date? This guy has ice water running through his veins, and has a similar cage presence to P4P kingpin Fedor Emelianenko ( not to mention they frequently train with each other). It is quite a shame the Mousasi will be spending the next few fights of his career in Strikeforce, when the entire world knows that the Light-heavyweight division in the UFC would clearly offer him better competition. The pressure is clearly on Strikeforce now to find high quality opponents for Mousasi, or else they would surely be wasting his immense talents.

Raptors Acquire Amir Johnson

The Toronto Raptors have continued their busy offseason this week by acquiring budding PF prospect Amir Johnson from the Milwaukee Bucks. Veteran restricted free agent Carlson Delfino and PG Roko Ukic were sent over to the Bucks in the deal. The Toronto Raptors also acquired SG Sony Weems in the trade.

The acquisition of Johnson and Weems continues the facelift process GM Brian Colangelo is completing this offseason. Amir Johnson is a special athlete , who will bring a tremendous amount of energy and defence to the notoriously lackadaisical Raptors frontline.Last season in Detroit there was a lot of optimism surrounding the future of Johnson, as he was believed to possess a boatload of potential, and was being groomed to eventually be taking over the reigns of the Detroit frontline. Unfortunately, Johnson only put up averages of 3.5 ppg, and 3.7 rbs over the 2008-2009 season. Johnson may not be given that much run this year as he is believed to be below both Reggie Evans and Rasho Nesterovic on the raptors depth charts. Regardless, this is just another example of Brian Colangelo turning nothing into something, by working out yet another sign and trade.

Michael Vick to the Philadelphia Eagles

According to a report on Yahoo! Sports, QB Michael Vick will be joining the Eagles after being reinstated to the NFL just two weeks ago.

Speculation that Vick would be joining any number of teams was great; he was expected to be headed anywhere from the Bills to the Patriots.

For those of you cavemen living on planet Dagobah with Yoda for the past 3 years, Michael Vick was sentenced to 23-months after being convicted of running a dog-fighting ring. Prior to the conviction he was coming off what many considered his best season, throwing 20 TD's on nearly 2500 yards for the Atlanta Falcons.

It remains to be seen whether Vick will be able to leave behind the drama and continue what began as a stellar career, now in Philadelphia. Maybe his good days will be behind him. Maybe he'll be a bust. Maybe he'll sink the town of Brotherly Love, and maybe the hardest fans in the world will give him everything he deserves. But on the bright side, at least he isn't Stephon Marbury.
Stephon Marbury
Stephon Marbury

And just for kicks, the live feed to Stabury in all his glory: Stephon Marbury

Clippers get Rasual Butler from Hornets

Rasual Butler is off to the Hornets in what has already been a very active week in the NBA. Now all you folks in fantasy leagues definitely remember the contributions Butler seemed to be making for an opponent in your league. After the all-star break he averaged 13.6 points, 1.9 treys, 0.7 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. Not bad from a late second round pick in a 2002 draft that didn't produce many stars outside of Yao Ming, Amare Stoudemire, Caron Butler, and Carlos Boozer.

Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said “We believe he is another piece who will help us get back to being a competitive playoff team"... OK, well lets not go crazy here. Remember, these are the clippers we're talking about. But if last year is any indication, Butler should at least get a chance to get some minutes with the Clippers while Baron Davis tends to whatever happens to be his injury-of-the-day.

So to summarize -
Fantasy fans, Rasual is a late-round worthy pick in deep leagues.
Hornets fans, Congrats on shedding some salary without a heavy loss.
Clippers fans: For real? The Lakers play in the same god damn city and you're sitting there wetting yourself thinking about 12 points a game from Rasual Butler? Only one word can describe your current state: SAD.

Olympiacos signs Kleiza

Euro League’s Olympiacos signs Kleiza for 2 years $12.2million. Kleiza is now the 4th former NBA player on the team, joining Childress, Andreas Glyniadakis, and Von Wafer.

Yahoo Sports has even reported that Olympiacos has shown interest in acquiring Iverson. I’m sure AI wouldn’t mind travelling on a bus, sleeping in random European motels and wearing a Euro thong to the beach.

Kleiza’s contract includes an optout which will allow him to once again become a free agent at the end of the 2009/10 season.

Alex Rios to the White Sox

Some MLB-related news here, and its substantial:

Alex Rios has officially been claimed from waivers and released to the Chicago White Sox. In return the Toronto Blue Jays will receive... Salary Cap Relief.

OK, its nothing in the short run, but that $60M could come in handy this offseason as the Blue Jays make an attempt to rebuild and compete in what has become perhaps the greatest division in MLB history.

Meanwhile the White Sox will likely let go of an aging Jermaine Dye.

My two cents? - As with all former Blue Jays players, Alex Rios will now become a perennial all-star, and a solid lock for 100-25-100-20-.290 season in and season out.