<a href="https://www.archysport.com/2022/01/guide-to-tv-programs-broadcast-on-sky-sports-nba-20/" title="Guide to TV programs broadcast on Sky Sports NBA“>Vince Carter had an outstanding 22-year career in the NBA and has been the only one in history to play during four different decades. He scored more than 25,000 points, was part of the All-Star Gamewas Rookie of the Year in 1999 and member of the Second Best Team and Third Best Team NBA in 2001 and 2000 respectively.
But if the former Toronto Raptors or New Jersey Nets player is remembered for anything, it was for his famous Dunk Contest in 2000, classified as the best in history. Carter, as he has acknowledged, had a performance prepared that he finally discarded to improvise on the fly encouraged by the adrenaline of the audience and colleagues present there.
“I looked up in the stands and I was on another level as far as enthusiasm and excitement for that moment,” Carter said. «I felt that the routine I had prepared the night before was not going to work. And I took a risk. “We are talking about the good, because many things could have gone wrong… I just wanted to show the world my athletic ability,” he acknowledged.
«I felt very good that night. After the first dunk, a great level of confidence and a lot of emotion came over me. And from there the sky was the limit for me,” he added.
Carter started off strong with a pinwheel on his first attempt that left everyone speechless. It should be noted that he had never tried it before. He had grown up with that movement, he had even practiced it the day before without success. But on that magical night everything went as planned.
«I tried. I worked on that dunk many times and could barely do it in training the night before. But my adrenaline was so high that I said to myself: You know what? I think I can do it. And that’s exactly what happened,” he said.
«I remember receiving the ball with sweaty hands. I had just had surgery, so if you look at the pictures, you’ll see that my finger was bandaged. And I saw all my teammates that I was with in college or against the professionals that I played with and the excitement on their faces for what I could do,” he explained.
“So I said to myself: Let’s give him a good show,” he concluded.
The other notable player from the class of 2024 was Chauncey Billups. Quite a number 3 in the Draft who was traded up to three times in a row in his first three seasons in the league, and for whom it was difficult to find his place, although in the end history said that it had to be in those Bad Boys 2.0 ring winners in 2004 against the powerful Lakers.
After passing through Boston, Toronto and Denver, in 2000 the Minnesota Timberwolves allowed him to earn a name in the NBA as a reserve player. And already in the 2002 market it was the Pistons who bet on him, offering him a contract for five seasons.
Billups assumed the stripes in the Motor Town to lead them up to seven consecutive times towards the playoffs, and the long-awaited championship ring in 2004 after winning by a resounding 4-1 against the Los Angeles Lakers of Shaq, Kobe Bryant, Gary Payton and Karl Malone, among others.
“That’s been my journey,” Billups said. «We are all different. And I say it all the time. From the moment I was selected until today, this path has undoubtedly been very complicated. There wasn’t much traffic, to be honest. There weren’t many people. I was number 3 in the Draft, five different teams in five years… I wasn’t playing badly. It was just the circumstances. Obviously I wasn’t doing well enough. But it is what it is. I learned a lot during that trip and everything just shaped me,” he explained.
And along with Carter and Billups, there were also former coach Doug Collins; famous for having Michael Jordan under his command during his first stage in the Bulls, and also later in the Washington Wizards; Herb Simon, former owner of the Indiana Pacers; the recently deceased Jerry West; the brand new defensive player of the Lakers, Michael Cooper; the champion with the New York Knicks Dick Barnett; or Seimone Augustus, one of the best players in WNBA history with four championship rings.
«Jerry West was always there. “He was that kind of person who always helped you get through things,” said Michael Cooper. «The day I found out about his death was without a doubt one of the saddest of my life. I really miss him. But you know what? “The way we continue his legacy is through the things he taught us and the way we live,” he explained.
(Cover photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
