The meaning behind Vince Carter’s jersey retirement. It begins with love

Inspiring multiple generations is more than just Half Amazing.

“There is so much love in this arena,” Ian Eagle said, kicking off his speech Saturday at Vince Carter’s jersey retirement. It was only right that it was Ian who flaunted VC’s accolades but also a lot more. He hadn’t just watched Half-Amazing on the court; he knew Half-Man off it as well. Indeed, it was the latter half of Carter that drew so many to Brooklyn on a Saturday night when most fans spend their days checking the bottom of NBA standings.

It’s a season where the team doesn’t just stink, but their tanking ways have made them barely watchable.. But on this one night, maybe one night only, Nets fans put their jerseys and their happy faces on and shed some tears.

I’ll never forget where I was when Vince Carter was traded to the Nets. We didn’t all carry an iPhone during those days. No Woj or Shams to spread the news. It was mostly word of mouth spurred by a snipped on ESPN. My brother received a call on our landline phone from one of his friends. He relayed it to me.

“ANT, THE NETS GOT VINCE CARTER! THE NETS GOT VINCE CARTER!”

It was worth repeating … over and over. It was so unexpected. Like a couple of signings a decade and a half, the media thought that VC was bound for the other side of a river.

At that time, I was nine years old. My family had season tickets through the early 2000s for the Championship runs, but things became depressing really quickly after Kenyon Martin was shipped off. The team stunk, Eric Williams, a local product but hardly a star, was Kidd and RJ’s running mate, and speculation spread about Kidd seeking a trade (San Antonio was always the destination during those dreary conversations).

‘VINCE CARTER ON THE NETS?! THAT CAN’T BE REAL! HE ISN’T REAL!

It was a scene repeated all around the metropolitan area.

Vince was so much larger than basketball at that time. He was my favorite player who wasn’t on the Nets. His purple Raptors jersey was the first NBA jersey I owned. My first-ever book report was about VC’s upbringing. He was already larger than life in my eyes. I echoed every single move he did in my driveway. Yes, I lowered the rim and tried doing dunks like him too. I failed miserably. There was a basketball movie “Like Mike” that came out a little before but by then, Everyone wanted to be “Like VC.”

Sure, I’m fanboying. But I’m sure a lot of kids, teenagers, and even adults did the same during those days too.

That’s why now the near 30-year old in me suddenly had a piece of my nine-year old soul and spirit jumping for joy. You can make your argument that whether he did or didn’t earn it as a Net. Unsaid Saturday was the unruly fact he didn’t make it further than the second round of the playoffs. But that’s trying to base a legacy on rings, which we do way too often in NBA discourse. Vince earned it not only for his accolades as a Net, but what he did for basketball both on and off the court, at North Carolina, in the Olympics.

When his jersey went up with the Raptors two months ago and now with the Nets, it felt like we all went up there with him in some weird way. Just like he said: “[Number] 15 Carter is going up there but we’re all going up there together.”

Dr. J spoke. Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson left heartfelt videos. Former teammates like Devin Harris, Bostjan Nachbar, Nenad Krstic, Bobby Simmons, Jason Collins were there. Rod Thorn, Lawrence Frank and Bobby Marks too. Gary Sussman, who back then did double duty as PR director AND PA announcer, sat alongside the group, he the famous voice behind “Did you see V-C.?” and “It’s a V-C-THREEEE!”

See, VC’s impact went beyond the fancy dunks and circus shots. He inspired generations from nine-year-old me up to Bruce Reznick aka “Mr. Whammy”, who sat courtside with his Vince Carter sign before the game.

“I have to describe Vince in one respect: he was the ballet star of the NBA,” Whammy told NetsDaily. “You had to wonder and wonder about the things he did and what he would do next. He would fly. He would spin under the basket. He brought brilliance to the game. I don’t think there’s ever been a player as graceful as Vince Carter. He was the ballet star of the NBA. Nobody has shown the grace that he had in all of his movements. It wasn’t just basketball. It was a show. It was a ballet show on a court.”

The grace was more than on-court artistry though. Repeatedly on his weekend, on the big screen of the Brooklyn Paramount theatre, in interviews and speeches and just conversations, there were examples of how he had helped this player’s career, stopped for a autograph, a selfie or just flashing that big, warm and endearing smile.

One of the weekend’s least publicized (but most telling) events took place before the Barclays Center ceremony at a more modest gym in East Flatbush where VC didn’t just say hello, pose for pictures and depart, but took time to give advice and not just on how to put a ball through a hoop. As Sean Marks, Carter’s rookie teammate in Toronto, told the youngsters, Vince Carter just made them part of the Nets family.

The Nets and their fanbase gets kicked around a lot for not having a lot of fans. Like they don’t exist because they play across the river from the Knicks. They’re “B and T” — Bridges and Tunnel — people. But it’s a proud tradition with proud fans, dating back from when yes, they played well off-Broadway, way out on Long Island, in the swamps of New Jersey, at a borrowed hockey arena in the city of Newark and now in the heart of America’s hip borough as Brooklyn Nets. Fans still showed out on a night the Nets lost its 10th straight home game and fell to 14-32 on the season but filled with hopes of better days.

Indeed, there wasn’t just love in the arena, there was empathy. Every last person in that building was there to unite over basketball and one of its greatest performers. Over a sentimental “family” feeling those New Jersey Nets gave you back in the day. David, a decked-out fan from New Jersey, told me how he was a diehard Nets guy during the 2001-2004 Jason Kidd days but that his family didn’t watch sports at all. Until VC.

“My mom and dad didn’t even like sports before Vince Carter. They did after they saw me watching him.” He said. ”He brought us together as a family.”

Another Jersey guy, Adam from Ridgewood sported his throwback red NJ Nets jersey and a big smile.

“He was really the [New Jersey] Nets’ first super-super star. There’s obviously Jason Kidd, who’s one of the greatest Nets of all-time, but VC had the flash, the dunking, the scoring, everything… Nets fans just never had anything like that to root for.”

Carter, alongside Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson, helped lead the Nets to three playoff berths, including a pair of runs to the Eastern Conference Semifinals (2006 and 2007). He ranks third in Nets history in total points (8,834) and holds the two highest-scoring seasons in the team’s NBA record books, including the only 2,000-point campaign (2006-07).

So for one night, if only one this season, there was a specialness to being at a Nets game, sharing not just memories but a community. For those who care, New Jersey was completely shut out when they moved to Brooklyn. Some of us pleaded for the Nets to embrace their roots and to their credit, Joe and Clara Wu Tsai responded, last night being the culmination of those efforts.

For the first time in a long time, fans looked up to watch VC’s number next to a group of red, white, and blue banners. Not black and white. A slap in the face from the past regime when they substituted the history to fit their new aesthetic. Perhaps for one night, it felt like the Nets were on the right track in bridging the gap between Brooklyn and New Jersey. They moved 13 miles away, not 130 or 1,300. And it was appreciated.

There are now officially seven players Nets fans can look up to and feel the nostalgia from the Jersey days. Vince Carter is officially a huge part of that collection.

“Did you see VC?” Damn right we saw VC. Everyone else will too. Forever, in Brooklyn.