Vince Carter’s 39-year-old body still feels good enough to allow him to pull off the occasional highlight-reel dunk, and he’s not ready to call it a career just yet.
VC is followed by Manu Ginobili, Jason Terry, Paul Pierce and Dirk Nowitzki as the oldest players in the NBA this season.
These old men: Carter, near 40, leads NBA's elder statesmen (from @AP) https://t.co/UknHqcbc2Y
— Brian Mahoney (@briancmahoney) November 30, 2016
These vets have learned to compensate for their vastly reduced athleticism.
Per the AP:
“That’s how I was able to stay around this long, is just, I learned the game,” Carter said. “Not being able to play. Everybody can play basketball, but learning the ins and outs of the game is what has kept me around.”
Carter acknowledges tiring of the endless “play the right way” mantra preached at Chapel Hill, but now he lives it. He can’t just jump over players like he did to Frederic Weis in the 2000 Olympics , though he quickly earned the trust of first-time coach David Fizdale, who had Carter on the floor defending 21-year-old Andrew Wiggins to spark the Grizzlies’ comeback victory over Minnesota in their season opener.
And how many more (seasons) after this? […] “I don’t know yet,” he said. “I’m still flying. It’s not time yet.”
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