It's still a hockey town. Don't get me wrong.

	Carter doesn't want the spotlight all the time, but dunks like these are hard to ignore.

But there's something new in the air in Toronto.

You had to be at Vince Carter's charity basketball game on Friday to feel it, to see the electric reaction he received -- complete with thousands of prepubescent squeals -- from a sellout crowd. At a charity game. Nineteen thousand eight hundred Canadian butts in seats. (That may be a recurring theme. The Raptors have sold 1,400 full season tickets since Carter's last-second shot in Game 7 of the second round against Philly rimmed out.)

What has happened in Toronto over the last month is nothing short of amazing. Yes, a more restrictive cap has made it easier for teams to keep their key players. But that shouldn't take away from what GM Glen Grunwald and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the Raptors' owners, accomplished. They nabbed the big fish, and made it look easy. In doing so, they made a statement.

Hockey, yes. But basketball, too.

The last four months have been an extended victory lap for basketball in Toronto. First, the Grizzlies cleared the stage in Canada by moving to Memphis. No one will come out and say it, but the demise of pro hoops in Vancouver doesn't exactly hurt the cause here. Corporate sponsorship dollars, already much stronger here than in Vancouver, have nowhere else to flow. That is partly why you'll see something called Raptors TV all throughout Canada this fall. All Vince, All the Time. The way Carter looked at it, he could be one of a lot of great players in the States, or one of a lot of great players in the States and the top dawg in the Great White North. Cha-ching.

	A. Williams

	Oakley

Second, Charles Oakley -- and he must get credit for this -- put Carter on notice that he had to play better if the Raptors were to do anything in the postseason. And Carter responded, with the help of Alvin Williams in the first round, and Antonio Davis in the second.

Third, the Magic weren't able to make the trades (Darrell Armstrong or Bo Outlaw) that would have cleared enough cap room to make a real run at Davis. The Bulls, leery of being played for suckers again, pulled out. And Maple Leaf Sports opened up the checkbook, giving Davis $60 million to re-sign when there wasn't that kind of money around elsewhere. In essence, MLSE negotiated against itself.

But Davis was the key domino. Everything flowed downhill after that. Jerome Williams and Alvin Williams quickly followed, and once they were all in place, Vinsanity knew he was coming back to a real squad. And Carter re-upped for six years. Two days later, Hakeem Olajuwon decided to end his career here -- but, in the process, add credibility to the franchise.

So Toronto, which Tracy McGrady spurned and David Wells dogged and Roger Clemens grew tired of, and which never was able to land Wayne Gretzky -- and hasn't been able to land Eric Lindros -- is where Vince Carter wants to be. He (sort of) knows the words to the Canadian national anthem. And he is helping overcome hockey's decades-long head start. A few years ago, many of the hockey folks around here wouldn't have minded one bit if the Raptors flamed out. Nor would have many in the local media.

	“	I think by us playing well, making it to the second round, Game 7, it took care of a lot of (uncertainty). A lot of guys, I think it helped keep the guys that we have, and get the guy we want, Hakeem. I think that success in this business is gonna help you out. And now that Toronto has won games and established themselves as a winning team so to speak, guys are looking at Toronto like, 'hmmm. Maybe.' So we just have to keep doing that. ”
		— Carter

That's all changing. No wonder I hear the Commish nearly did backflips in Olympic Tower when he heard VC was signing on the dotted line.

"I'm happy," Carter said before the charity game. "I've learned that some things aren't the same for the others. It's been great for me. It's been a great opportunity. You have to give it a chance and let things pan out. Because at first, I can say I was a little skeptical. But it panned out for the best. I'm just glad that they drafted me and have given me the opportunity to show what I can do."

Like Barry Bonds, Carter wrestles with the whole fame thing. It's not that he doesn't like the spotlight, but I don't think he wants it on him all the time. There are some guys, like Shaq, who accept the fact that when they step outside, the camera is on. But Carter seeks privacy. In Toronto, he can walk the streets without being mobbed.

"The people are very nice and considerate," he said. "And they took the initiative to learn about the game of basketball. At first, when it all started my first year, it was bad, early. And it got better. They started understanding...(privacy) is important. Everybody wants their space and wants some down time. When you're always going, going, going, you try to have as normal a life as you can. 'Cause you know it's impossible. So every little bit counts. That's not saying in other cities they don't have that, but you don't know if that grass is greener on the other side. I just want to be happy, not only on the court, but also off the court. So why go somewhere else when you're happy where you started?"

But Carter acknowledges he probably wouldn't have committed to Toronto this early if the Raptors hadn't gotten their free agents back.

"That was a big part of my decision," he said. "It was just a small factor, but it was a big thing -- a big, small factor. It meant a lot. I had so many things that I had to get answered to myself. But that was something that was important. I didn't want to be one of the guys in their ear all the time, because it's a lot of pressure, trust me. I was a year away, and still, not a lot of pressure, but you have so many people saying 'what are you gonna do, what are you gonna do, we want you to stay, we want you to come here, it's great here.'

"I gave my little speech to the guys, I think, twice. And that's it. It's their decision. They're the ones that have to be happy. I understood that. I made sure that I was sincere. I just told them the truth and how I felt, when I did present myself to them."

Jerome Williams figured someone might leave.

"Everyone was influenced by each other," he said, "whether it be myself, whether it be Antonio, whether it be Alvin. Everyone was influenced. And look what happened."

Said Carter: "I think by us playing well, making it to the second round, Game 7, it took care of a lot of (uncertainty). A lot of guys, I think it helped keep the guys that we have, and get the guy we want, Hakeem. I think that success in this business is gonna help you out. And now that Toronto has won games and established themselves as a winning team so to speak, guys are looking at Toronto like, 'hmmm. Maybe.' So we just have to keep doing that."

Amazing what winning one round in the playoffs will do. Now, players come to Toronto in the summer, when it's 90 degrees out instead of snowing, and they see the diversity instead of fretting about taxes. They see Caribana, a week-long celebration of Caribbean and African cultures in Toronto that is a lot like Carnival, only 1,500 miles closer. Shaq came here for Caribana, not the game. Alonzo Mourning brought his wife and kids.

Carter said he only made one phone call to Olajuwon, "but it was a good one" that helped close the sale. Now, he figures, the city and the franchise can sell themselves.

All in all, quite a run for the Jurassics. And Carter still thinks he was right to fly to Carolina on the morning of Game 7 against the Sixers to get his degree.

'That's a thing of the past," he says. "And when I do think about it, I'm proud. Proud of the way I was able to fight through it and just handle myself in the manner that some people wouldn't. It was a special time for me and I wasn't gonna let anybody spoil it. And yes, it was spoiled by a missed shot. But you miss shots all the time. There's gonna be times in your career when you're gonna miss those shots again and again, and there's gonna be times when you're gonna make them and you're gonna be a hero. And nobody says nothing but 'hey, it was a great day.'

"When I go back for my Master's -- which I'm gonna do at some point in time -- that same situation could happen again, and I would do the same thing."

DA's take
Derek Anderson says he's not worried. Not worried about taking less money. Not worried about going to a team that already has incumbent (though admittedly injured) Bonzi Wells at his position, and whose proclivity to continue amassing players at the same position was again proven by adding swingman Ruben Patterson a few days later. Why, I wondered, would he go to a team where wars over playing time has sliced team camaraderie to bits the last two years?

	Anderson

"I can make the most out of any situation," Anderson said. "And they're not going to pay a guy who doesn't play."

Actually, DA, they do that all the time. But I digress.

Anderson believes in new coach Maurice Cheeks.

"It all comes down to the coach," he said. "He doesn't let them get away with that. This whole thing could change ... (Cheeks) gave me a compliment my rookie year. He said I was a good guard. I was like, that's cool. And he ain't gonna lie to you."

	“	It all comes down to the coach. He doesn't let them get away with that. This whole thing could change ... (Cheeks) gave me a compliment my rookie year. He said I was a good guard. I was like, that's cool. And he ain't gonna lie to you. ”
		— Anderson

Anderson doesn't come out and say the Spurs lied to him about a contract, but he does say that negotiations with San Antonio went from bad to worse in a hurry. He says he told the Spurs that he understood they had to deal with David Robinson's contract first, so he waited. But he didn't understand why the Spurs then presented him with a take it or leave it offer of four years and $36 million -- one that didn't include guaranteed fifth and sixth seasons.

"The numbers were fine," Anderson said. "It was the years. They wouldn't guarantee the fifth year, and then they said they would, but they wouldn't give me an out (after the fifth season). And they never guaranteed the sixth year. Look at the Mavericks, with Michael Finley. Did they argue with him one bit on the years? Did (the Knicks) argue with Allan Houston? And he had a first-round flameout ... it should have been a six-year deal. They could have taken a million dollars off of it. But to have a four-year deal after I had already sacrificed a year (playing for the mid-level exception this past season), I couldn't do that. I've sacrificed enough." Anderson claims the Spurs began disparaging his play during the contract talks.

"They were like, 'well, he didn't play well in the playoffs,'" Anderson said. "I just didn't play in three or four games (after separating his shoulder against the Mavericks in the conference semis). Then they started comparing players. I'm like, why are you comparing players? Then they said 'we don't know if his knees are gonna hold up.' Man, I played all 82 games. They were just looking for excuses."

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