Carter stays grounded, but others fly high at charity all-star game

This past week the Vince Carter Annual Charity All-Star game was played and I had the fortune of attending the event.

For the first time in the game's history it was not a sell-out. In fact as I arrived there with my younger brother and headed straight to our box seats (oh the luxuries of being an eSports correspondent) there was a huge line of people. Having heard the game was in trouble, they were looking to buy tickets.

So, some thoughts from the charity game.

The brother is waaaay too upset by the change of names from "So Cool" and "So Fresh," to "OldSkool" and "Throwbacks." He's ranting about how he was all on the "So Fresh" bandwagon, and now he feels lost and alone.

The first players are introduced. Kenny Thomas runs onto the court, my brother and I share a nervous look. After everyone is brought on, with the exception of Rafer Alston's dribbling abilities, Carter's dunking as per wonky knee's allowance, and Andre Iguodala's alleged athleticism. There isn't a single guy who wow's me. Well except for Stromile Swift, but Dude's wearing jeans and a tee shirt. "Maybe he's going for the Superman thing," my brother says.

I checked. In no dictionary do the names Bendan Heywood, Dahntay Jones, Robert Traylor or Chucky Atkins appear after the term "All-Star." Strangely enough though, Atkins name shows up twice for "Charity".

Russell D. Walker and Lennox Lewis are the celebrity coaches. Quick does anyone here beside the Raptors front office and me know who Russell D. Walker is? This might be the most separation between celebrity coaches since the "Battle of the Network Stars" when ABC had that guy from "Maude" running the show.

It took approximately 15 seconds for the first missed three-ball of "Rafer Alston era -- The Return."

Traylor makes me pay for my doubting him by hitting a better percentage from beyond the arc than Rafer does. I think I just cursed the Raptors.

Toronto fans are still ticked at Vince. Early in the first he passes up a drive to shoot a three and is booed. The next trip down though he hammers a wicked windmill dunk. It doesn't bode well for the franchise that everyone holds his or her breath waiting to see if he will be able to jog down court. He does. 13,000 exhale.

At each stoppage in play some poor shmuck from BET is forced to try to "keep the crowd warm". Since for some reason the normally good ACC acoustics are currently on par with a port-o-let in a echo chamber, we only get every third word he says. Eventually he lapses into this bizarre muttering to himself highlighted by occasionally giving Robert Traylor a hard time about his weight.

Five minutes into the second quarter, after Rafer shoots wildly, again, on his way to a 5-17 first half in a game where NOBODY is playing any defense, my brother Brian turns to me "You know, this might not be a fluke".

Another clang, and the two of us dust off the first "NOOOOO" scream in the history of a charity game out. "Why won't he stop shooting?" My brother is n agony here - each Rafer miss is making him feel like he just shelled out $28 million of his dollars. For my part I hope the Raptors have an out-clause. Along the lines of "If Rafer misses a combined 300 three-pointers in exhibition and charity play the contract is null and void." After the game I conservatively estimate, that if indeed such a clause exists, the Raptors are half way there.

Team OldSkool is getting run out of the gym -- all they do is come down and fire wild threes -- it's like Dallas in the playoffs. Meanwhile the Throwbacks are getting into the paint and scoring a surprising number of lay-ups for a Charity All-Star game. OldSkool calls a timeout.

Brian and I have a good time trying to guess what Lennox Lewis could possibly be saying in the huddle: "Ok guys take this opponent lightly -- get beaten and then kick the crap out of them in the rematch, when HBO offers you $50 million"

The first play after the T.O. is a long-off balance three by Carter. Who knew Kevin O'Neill was Lewis' assistant coach?

Mo Pete wows the crowd with a pair of thunderous dunks off of misses. Peterson, who had an acrimonious off-season with the Raps as it looked like the new Orleans Hornets were going to sign him away, looks like a new man. Brian and I decide that Mo could be a very good sixth man on this team, especially if the Raps get out and run as all the rumours are suggesting. He's not a great ball-handler, but Mo can shoot it, and when he gets to the rim a few times early in the game he normally does a pretty good job of staying on the attack. If new coach Sam Mitchell can eliminate a good chunk of those games where Mo came out and put an X on the floor to remind himself of where he planned to stand on offense all day, the Raps may have made a very good decision keeping the swing-man in Hog-town.

I am enjoying Jamal Magliore's display. He doesn't jump much, but with those long arms of his he's a handful inside. Jamal is also taking gleeful advantage of the fact that Antawn Jamison is often the biggest man on the court against him, and is savagely attacking whoever makes the mistake of being in the paint. Be it Jamison, or say, Atkins frantically trying to get out of the way.

Roughly a quarter and a half into the game it finally dawns on me that Stromile Swift is not about to take the jeans off and throw down some dunks to save this thing. Why did he even show up? He could be out at Caribana absolutely cutting a swath of destruction using this NBA-player thing.

During half-time a little kid, maybe four or five, comes on, and proceeds to put on a clinic. The kid is flying around, dribbling two balls like some sort of And One promo video. Most impressively he drains a shot on a regulation height net -- it had to be seen to be believed. Sort of like one of those nature specials when you learn that the Honduran flea can jump 312 times it's own height.

At the beginning of the second half Shammond Williams is practicing his three-ball. He hits something like ten in a row with a trainer's hand in his face. Since Williams is the only one who seems to be working at improving his first half performance this leads my brother and I to wonder if Williams has a contract anywhere this year. Unsurprisingly, it turns out he doesn't.

Williams starts out the second half on fire. Hitting threes from everywhere, then he makes a few absolutely beautiful passes. Meanwhile Rafer does his "try to get the ball from me" schtick with someone's grandmother in the front row. Brian and I start wondering if we can somehow dress up Williams in Rafer's clothing. Williams is looking so good out there he may just have earned himself an invite to camp somewhere -- hey, NBA teams have now seen more of him in the past 15 minutes than they did of Robert Swift all year.

We decide that, based on that logic, Boston is already drawing up a four year $16 million dollar offer sheet.

Meanwhile Andre Iguodala is ON. The kid is simply fantastic. He throws down some ferocious dunks, but also shows a good handle, and impressive shooting range. He reminds me a lot of a young Vince - nobody knew if Vince could play ball or just throw it down, and then Vince wowed them with a very NBA ready game. Iguodala looks like the real deal as well. My bold prediction is that this kid is going to be awesome in Philly and win the rookie of the year award -- just nipping Okafor.

Brian chuckles over Herbie, the announcer's difficulties pronouncing the name Iguodala - by his count we're up to eight variations. This sparks a lively debate over what the most difficult Raptor's name of all-time is. We'd both agree it was Aleksander Radojevic, except for the fact that he was such a miserable bust we can't decide if he ever saw the floor or not, let alone scored a bucket or grabbed a board.

After a particularly impressive sequence for the Philly rookie my brother and I look at each other -- just to confirm that indeed Iguodala was available in the draft when Toronto chose Rafael Araujo -- who is noticeably absent from the evenings festivities.

The intern tells me that upon further review it appears that Radojevic actually played three entire games in the NBA -- whoops, my bad.

A few minutes later Dahntay Jones has a mini-spurt of his own throwing down some hellacious jams. My brother comments after the final rim rocker -- "well I can see why Boston took him in the first round". Then the two of us have a good laugh, Jones is a poster boy for the all too common new breed of NBA player. The guy who shows all-world athletic ability but actually can't play the GAME of basketball. Did I mention Boston drafted him? (Yeah, ok, they traded him on draft-day, but still...)

Things get a bit more entertaining in the second half overall as the players loosen up, and actually talk with the M.C.'s during stoppages. At one point Shammond Williams jumps on the scorers table and starts backing that ass up.

> Boston has now upped their offer to five years and $24 million.

Actually Williams is pretty hilarious, during a later break he gets down with the Raps dance-pack - he's working the girls like it was $2.50 Martini night and the crowd is hollering. Williams pulls his jersey over his shoulder and then in mid swerve the dance-pack's routine sends them spinning away from him. Shammond gives the crowd the "oh come-ON, I was punching that clock" look, and then thinking about it, check his pits. As the dance-pack flounces off his floor Williams runs off with them. Then after the announcer urges his return, he takes off his headband, and signs it for a kid in the front row.

I think I want the Raps to offer this kid a contract now -- we haven't had a guy who plays to the crowd this much -- in forever. Short of Charles Oakley coming back and smacking Jeff McInnis around again Williams would be the best entertainment we could ask for in this city.

In the end the game has the storybook ending as Williams, Jones and Carter lead the Throwbacks on a spirited comeback, to eventually win the game. My brother and I bemoan Russell D Walker's decision to go away from Magliore in the crunch. Didn't he want to win this game? Didn't he realize what was at stake?

As we leave I tell Brian that while Vince's play was unspectacular I have to say that Peterson looked good. Assuming Mitchell is going to put a bit of a leash on Alston's three-point bombing, the Raps might be able to cause some trouble. They will definitely be able to get out and run, and that style worked wonders for Milwaukee and Miami in the East and neither of them had points who was much of a shooting threat. Rose and Carter have to be on par with Eddie Jones or Michael Redd and Chris Bosh, well maybe he can have a Lamar Odom season at the four -- minus the urine tests. If Donyell Marshall and Alvin Williams can contribute as well, and Araujo isn't a huge bust - than this isn't that bad a team.

The lesson here is that even bad charity game basketball makes hope spring eternal.