Things started out well for Carter after arriving in Toronto in a draft-day trade for Antwan Jamison. He shocked the league with his magnificent dunks, at once the pinnacle of grace and power. He got to the rim whenever he wanted, embarrassed every center in the league at one point or another, and went elbow-deep in the rim at the dunk contest.
Carter was indisputably Toronto's best player, but his leadership always trailed well behind his ability; the Raptors never passed the second round of the playoffs on his watch, despite fielding very talented teams in very weak versions of the Eastern Conference. Carter's failings reached their apex in 2001, when Carter missed an open jumper that would have put Toronto in the conference finals after arriving late to the arena from his college graduation ceremony.
Regardless, the Raptors were still an elite team in the East, and Carter entered that summer among the league's most desired free agents. As a condition for staying in Toronto, Carter convinced the Raptors to sign many of the complimentary players who helped the team advance in the playoffs - Antonio Davis, Alvin Williams, Jerome Williams - to long-term contracts well above their market value. Those players never played at the same high level again, and when the team began losing consistently, their massive contracts denied Toronto the flexibility to improve through free agency or trade. Ironically, it was exactly that inability to upgrade the roster that prompted Carter's trade demand before this season. Carter's desire to abandon a team he helped construct further damaged his credibility around the league, though his standing in the All-Star balloting never waned.
Carter is now widely seen as lacking the psychological attributes required of a team leader, namely toughness, intensity, and resolve. However, he has demonstrated the capacity to hit game-winning shots, perform at a higher level in important games, and win a playoff series, so his resume is not without its highlights, and he is not far removed, in time or ability, from the game's elite. New Jersey offers Carter a situation where he will be judged strictly for on-court performance, a welcome relief from the swirling trade rumors and booing home fans that defined the final months of his Toronto tenure. Instead, media scrutiny will primarily focus on his new teammate,
