In addition to his ability to make clutch baskets, Vince Carter also was known as a high-flying dunkster who had the
capabilities of jumping out of the gym.
“I’ll never forget when we got him in (New) Jersey, I threw the ball over the backboard and asked why he didn’t catch it, because I knew that he could jump,” Jason Kidd told Mavs.com. “His athleticism is like no other.
“His talents, not just in basketball, but bowling. He can throw a football 70 yards. I might be short-changing him — I hope I’m not. But just his athleticism is like no other.”
Carter was announced Saturday as an inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The ceremony will be on Aug. 17 in Springfield, Mass.
The 47-year old Carter finished his career as an eight-time All-Star who scored 25,728 points, 21st on the all-time NBA list. He also played more seasons (22) than any player in NBA history.
After being the fifth overall pick of the 1998 NBA Draft out of North Carolina, Carter played the bulk of his career for the Toronto Raptors from 1998-2004. But he also played for the New Jersey Nets, Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies, Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns.
Carter and Kidd were teammates in New Jersey from 2004-08, and again with the Mavs during the 2011-12 season. The fact that the Hall of Fame deservingly came calling, Kidd describes it an “awesome” accomplishment for Carter, who played for the Mavs from 2011-14.
“When you talk about Vince’s career in Toronto and New Jersey, he’s played everywhere,” Kidd said. “When you’ve had that type of career for that long and what he meant for me as a teammate in New Jersey — also as a Team USA member — it makes the game easy.
“He had the ability to take over games scoring, and the ability to catch any bad pass and make you look good. So, I’m very happy for him to make it to the Hall of Fame.”
Mavs fans may remember Carter as the player who buried a dramatic double-pump three-pointer at the buzzer to defeat the San Antonio Spurs, 109-108, in Game 3 of the first round of the 2014 Western Conference playoffs. Carter received the inbounds pass from Jose Calderon with just 1.7 seconds left and the Mavs trailing, 108-106, but that was enough time for him to nail the game-winner.
Kidd, now the coach of 
the Mavs, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018 and offered some sage advice for Carter leading up to his Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.
“It’s a surreal moment when you talk about the greats before you,” Kidd said. “Your class that you’re going in with, it’s kind of like a movie when you reflect on your basketball career, and now you’re in the likes of the greats.
“It’s an incredible weekend. It just goes by so fast. I just hope that he can enjoy each day and understand that this chapter of his basketball career to make it to the ultimate place is now fulfilled.”
LINEUP CHANGED MADE THE DIFFERENCE: After Sunday’s pulsating 147-136 overtime win over the Houston Rockets, this run of 14 wins in the last 16 games by the Mavs started with a lineup change on March 7 against the Miami Heat.
Before that, the Mavs had a starting lineup that of Luka Dončić, Kyrie Irving, Josh Green, P.J. Washington and Dereck Lively II
during a 137-120 loss at home against the Indiana Pacers. Following that game, the Mavs started Derrick Jones Jr., Daniel Gafford, Dončić, Irving and Washington, and that lineup has been a smashing success.
Of the Mavs’ 14 wins during this stretch of games, eight of them have been against teams who would be in the playoffs or the play-in tournament if the season ended today. So, what changed – other than the starting lineup?
“When you look at, since the Miami lineup change, our defense has gotten better,” Kidd said. “We’re a bigger team, so that helps. So, give those guys credit in that locker room of being able to pivot from the beginning of the year when we were all about offense and shooting threes and making threes, and now playing defense has helped us win games when we’re not able to make threes.
“It’s been a big part of our success, but when you look at the lineup change and also making the trades (that brought in Gafford and Washington), it coincides that both of the things helped us to play defense. Now we’re starting to pivot here, we’re starting to make a couple of threes here. But if we can continue to play defense and believe that our defense is going to help us win, hopefully that’ll take us to June.”
KIDD SALUTES HARRISON: Prior to Sunday’s game against Houston, coach Jason Kidd paid homage to Mavs general manager Nico Harrison, who engineered the Feb. 8 trades that brought Gafford and Washington to Dallas.
“Nico has done an incredible job of putting the pieces together and building this,” Kidd said. “This isn’t a one year. This is a plan of building a championship organization and team, and that just doesn’t happen in six months. This is always continuous in a sense of building.”
And the building, the Mavs hope, will reach a crescendo if they reach the NBA Finals and win the whole thing.
“This trade, we got two good players that fit what we’re trying to do,” Kidd said. “And the same thing is going to happen this summer – there’s going to be change. That’s just the nature of the business.
“We’re building something, when you talk about Kai and Luka. You got talent, and you have to have talent to win in this league and that’s what we’re doing.”
BRIEFLY: Kidd reflected on the year 2022, when the Mavs defied the odds and advanced to the Western Conference Finals. “(The year) 22, that was a great year,” Kidd said. “The expectations were low. Dallas, before that, hadn’t done anything. But to get to the Western Conference Finals, we found out a lot about ourselves. But that was a different team. One of those guys is on the Rockets with Reggie (Bullock). But it was a team. It wasn’t just built around Luka (Dončić) and it’s not just built around (Jalen) Brunson. But Brunson stepped up and found his footing to be a star in this league. But our defense, we were a team that relied on playing defense then.”. . . How tough has the schedule been for the Mavs lately? The Mavs got home Wednesday from an 11-day road trip in which they played five games. Then they hosted Atlanta and Golden State on Thursday night and Friday night, respectively, before hosting a Sunday afternoon game against Houston. “It feels like we’re playing every day,” Kidd said. “Coming off this trip, playing back-to-back and playing the afternoon game, this is old school in a sense of playing three (days) in a row. But that’s the way the schedule sits. We’re a team that doesn’t complain.”. . . Mavs guard Josh Green (right ankle sprain) and rookie center Dereck Lively II (right knee soreness) both missed Sunday’s game.
X: @DwainPrice
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