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Wednesday, February 16
Carter's impressive for a number of reasons

By Mitch Lawrence
Special to ESPN.com

Vince Carter
Vince not only is playing great ball, he has manners as well.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Before his first All-Star Game, Vince Carter told a friend: "I hope this day never ends."

It did, but there will be many more All-Star days and weekends for the Raptors' young sensation. As for his dunking show Saturday night, no less a dunking authority than Julius Erving was bowled over.

"A masterpiece," was Dr. J's summation. "His last dunk, a punctuation dunk, didn't quite have it. But everything else was right there."

Carter was that good. The league had to be ecstatic, since he was the top vote-getter and is high on their list of young talents they're pushing. He could have made only a layup in the dunk contest and still walked away with the title.

Of course, he did way more. "He did things we never saw before," Dr. J said.

High praise indeed. Now imagine how Carter felt.

"I idolized Dr. J growing up," he said. "He's a legend and not a bad dunker, himself. To hear him say that, well, that's great. It was funny. When I came out off the court after it was over, he was the first person there to congratulate me. I was honored."

Even though he was more or less invisible in his first game against the West's star-studded front line, Carter left a very favorable impression on just about everyone. As gifted as he is, he's also very humble. It's no act, either. Take what happened when he got caught in Bay Area traffic Saturday and was late to the East's practice.

"He felt bad and he was apologetic for being late," said East coach Jeff Van Gundy. "I said, 'You don't have to apologize to me.' But I was impressed by that."

Van Gundy was even more impressed when Carter took the time to introduce him to his parents.

"You can just tell the character of the person when he does something like that," the Knicks coach said. "Obviously, he's also a tremendous talent and he's exciting."

Not a bad package, huh?

Rim Shots I
Michael Jordan, taking in his first All-Star Game as president and part-owner of the Wizards, minced no words when talking about how the next generation of stars has to start living up to players like himself, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

"This is a big transition period for the league, a very important time," Jordan said. "The big thing is that the new players have to accept the responsibility of what's been there before them. Sometimes, it's hard."

Or in this case, it looks next to impossible. Allen Iverson, Carter, Kobe Bryant and other "next-generation" stars are trying to follow the NBA's Holy Trinity.

"My advice to the young guys is simple: Develop your game," Jordan said. "No matter what the league tries to do to sell them. No matter how they're pushed. The ultimate judge of what they are is how they play. These guys have to realize, they're going to get the credit and criticism for how well they play. How they approach it. How much they improve as players."

You'll notice, he didn't say as dunkers or as showmen. But as complete players. That means fundamentally sound.

This past weekend, the major theme was the passing of the torch. Well, who better to talk about it than the man who held it higher than anyone else.

"If I could tell the young players one thing, it's to take your progression as a basketball player very seriously," Jordan said. "In the summertime. During the course of the game. During the season. That is, ultimately, how you'll be judged. And obviously, it's what you do in May and June that sets you apart. These guys have to be aware of that."

Sometimes, it takes a few years for players to realize that what they do in this exhibition game, or the fact that they're even here, doesn't really matter.

"They'll be judged on if they win, or not," Jordan said.

Which is how it has to be.

Rim Shots II
Talk about mere window-dressing, the league's rules and competition committee is considering reducing the number of timeouts teams have in the final 2:00 of games and in overtimes. Like, nothing else is wrong with the NBA's current product?

"There is a need to speed up the game, particularly in the final minutes," said deputy commish Russ Granik. "We haven't come to any decisions yet."

Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com.


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