They booed Vince Carter in Vancouver Sunday because he refused to dunk on a breakaway.

	Vince's future is a topic for everyone.

It isn't the first time he's been booed north of the border. If he bolts the Raptors, as some expect, in two years they may never let him through customs again. Then again there may not be a basketball reason to go to Canada if Carter pulls the plug on his relationship with the city of Toronto.

This is all part of the enigma that is a 6-foot-6 powerhouse, whose standing as a hero is diluted. The pieces are all there, but the sum of the parts equals something less than the whole.

Carter is under contract with the Raptors through next season and the team will have exclusive rights this summer to try to negotiate a long-term extension. Carter has not acknowledged that he is even considering the possibility of staying in Toronto, has not even thought about it if you look at the cryptic conversation that was recorded All-Star weekend last month.

That's when he was asked if he expected the people of Toronto to court him with the same fervor that fans have shown Chris Webber in Sacramento.

In an interview with Bill Harris of the Toronto Star, Carter asked: "Me? ... What? ... They don't care about me ... Nah, nothing like that. No, I don't know ... That's too far ahead to look, I don't look at that. I don't look that far ahead ... that's entirely too far ahead." Later, he said he was joking but nobody laughed. Carter certainly did not laugh. There was no joke. An examination of tape at the interview revealed nothing funny, not even a small attempt at humor.

So you have Carter unwilling to publicly entertain the idea that he might sign a long-term deal in Toronto. Is this another Webber situation? Seems that way.

On top of it all you have his distant cousin Tracy McGrady saying flat out that Carter isn't going to stay in Toronto.

"I honestly don't know [Carter's intentions]," McGrady on a teleconference a while back, "but in my opinion I don't think he's going to be in Toronto. I think he'll come back to the States. That's where the league wants him to be ... and that will be good for him and the league."

McGrady could be wrong there. If the Raptors are to survive they need a star. McGrady, of course, bolted Canada for warm weather and a tax break. "It's nothing personal," McGrady said. "For me, being from Florida and being used to warm weather all my life, there are no state taxes, I was alone [in Toronto], being in the cold ... it was tough."

	“	Me? ... What? ... They don't care about me ... Nah, nothing like that. No, I don't know ... That's too far ahead to look, I don't look at that. I don't look that far ahead ... that's entirely too far ahead. ”
		— Carter

Over the weekend an agent who asked not be identified said of Vince, "He'd be crazy to stay up there. His marketability dramatically increases when he comes back to the States. Put him in any major U.S. city -- Washington, New York, Boston, Philly, Chicago, Miami -- you have a sellout every night. You have big, big corporate money. I don't know how much money is enough for his family, but they would have more than most of us could spend "

Carter has not yet become the player his talent suggests. He has never shown the grit that fans expect from a superstar, or a guy with superstar potential. In his home arena this season he was booed because he stood and waved to his mom rather than pursue a loose ball. When he had a minor knee problem he sat out the entire fourth quarter of a one-possession game against Minnesota because the knee tightened. Asked if he thought about riding a bike to stay loose, he said, "Nah, who wants to do that? I'd get bored." Next game, however, he did ride a bike in the hallway leading to the court each time he came out of the game. Asked about the bike, Lenny Wilkens snapped, "You weren't supposed to see that."

Averaging 27.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists, Carter plays the game with a smirk on his face and shamelessly mugs for the camera. In Australia he was heartily disliked by citizens of the host country for that reason. Fundamentally, he does not even take a pass at defense.

	McLeod

Earlier in the season, a young journeyman forward named Roshown McLeod scored nine straight Atlanta points in the fourth quarter against the Raptors. He scored them on Carter. Later, McLeod said somewhat incredulously, "He turned his back to me. He didn't even try to stop me." Maybe that's a Duke (McLeod) vs. North Carolina (Carter) thing, but more likely it's a guy being very honest.

Wilkens has tried to mold Carter in the image he finds more palatable, saying he's tried to get Carter to play within the flow of the game. "We've talked with him about it a lot. He doesn't have to take a ton of fallaways. If he's patient, it gives us a chance to let him set himself and then he's much better."

Vancouver's Dick Versace projected his team's problems to hit the Raptors, predicting they are courting disaster. The league docked him $10,000. "Toronto is one year away from our position. Whether he stays or he goes, they're in trouble. If Vince demands a huge salary, which he's going to, then their payroll goes up dramatically. They're probably just breaking even or making a little money right now." Toronto management was properly furious, but this tells you how tenuous the Carter business really is.

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