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I find it important to say that I once loved Vince Carter. Just as anyone who has ever lived and died by their favourite sports team loves their team's star player. It was a love made even more special as his arrival to the Toronto Raptors coincided with my birth into NBA fandom.

I recall vividly the lock-out shortened season of 1998-99, sitting in my living room nearly every weekend watching NBA on NBC after Saturday morning staples like City Guys and Hang Time with Reggie Theus.

The theme music is as clear in my head today as it was back then. Hannah Storm did the pre-game show, and Bob Costas was joined by either Doug Collins or Isiah Thomas to call the game. My main man Ahmad Rashad patrolled the sidelines along with Jim Gray and the alternates would regroup at halftime in the studio with Storm to discuss the latest in NBA news.

It was eerily similar to what TNT has going on now with Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Chris Webber and Kenny Smith - the Jet. Back then, the real Jet, Jason Terry, was still at Arizona thinking he could win another national championships without Mike Bibby.

It was a special season, one which saw the New York Knicks reach the Finals (something that, at this rate, may never happen again) as the improbable eighth seed no less, before falling to the eventual champion Spurs. For San Antonio it was number one of many to come, led by the Admiral, David Robinson and a young Tim Duncan, who Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy called the "best player in the NBA".

He went on to say that it was "not just because of his skill level. I think his maturity, knowledge of the game; that he just cares about winning. You can just watch a guy play and know if he's truly into winning or not. That guy's truly into winning."

Such praise for Duncan's desire seems ironically fit to coincide with the world's introduction to Raptors Rookie of the Year Vince Carter. The dunks, the hunger, the energy and the hope; the ingredients all seemed to be there and I, along with countless others in Toronto, believed that winning and the desire to win would be there as well.

Early evidence supported the belief. Carter elevated his play to an All-Star calibre in just his second season in the league, leading the Raptors to Canada's first ever playoff berth along the way. Toronto fell to the Knicks in the first round, but everyone could agree that it was a gigantic leap in the right direction. With the seemingly limitless potential that Carter possessed things were only bound to improve. He even found time to pick up more hardware, winning the Slam Dunk competition during its return to All-Star Weekend after a significant absence, doing so with a performance that rivals any put forth to date.

The hope grew exponentially over the summer. The Dream Team needed a last-second injury replacement and they called upon none other than Vinsanity. Carter's Olympic performance helped lead the US to an undefeated record and another gold medal, punctuated by the forever legendary Dunk de la Mort, which will go down as the greatest in-game dunk of all time.

His strong play carried over into the 2001-02 season, leading the Raptors (even without free agent departee Tracy McGrady) back to the playoffs, where they again faced New York in the first round and this time emerged victorious. I remember clearly Chuck Swirsky calling the final seconds of the series, Alvin Williams and VC heading the onslaught.

Then came a match up with the Philadelphia 76ers and league MVP Allen Iverson that included multiple 50-point games from both teams' stars. The series lasted the full seven games only to conclude in a manner that would redefine the relationship Toronto Raptors fans would forever have with their star; Carter missed at the buzzer.

From that point forward everything changed, all I remember is footage upon footage of Carter's UNC graduation, which he chose to attend on the same morning of that very game seven. It was the beginning of far too much television air time for Michelle Carter and it seemed that he needed his mother to frequently justify his actions, leading many to believe that she was the one making all of his decisions.

Unaware of the martyrdom their decision would eventually breed, the Raptors signed Carter to a long-term contract extension during the summer of 2002. Playing in no more than 60 games in two of his next three seasons, his numbers declined steadily until he was refusing to dunk and averaging only 15.8 point per game for the Raptors over the first 20 games of the 2004-05 season (down from 27.6 thee years prior).

Up to this point, Carter was either dramatically laid out on the hardwood screaming in agony over the most trivial of injuries or sidelined in street clothes collecting cash while producing nothing.

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