Atlanta Hawks: 3 Reasons the Vince Carter Signing Was Great

NBA Free Agency is always a fascinating time, and the Atlanta Hawks signed Vince Carter to a one-year, veteran’s minimum deal on July 26 per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

After taking it easy for the early portion of NBA Free Agency, the Atlanta Hawks have turned up the heat in recent weeks on that front.

While most of the big names landed elsewhere, the Hawks have signed a Two-Way player (Alex Poythress), a backup center after the departure of Mike Muscala in a trade (Alex Len) and, now, the Hawks have added perhaps one of the most beloved veterans in the league.

Vinsanity himself, Vince Carter, will join the Hawks as a 41-year-old veteran wing to play alongside a supremely youthful Hawks squad.

While clearly more of a ticket-selling decision from Hawks GM Travis Schlenk, we’ve outlined three reasons why signing Vince Carter to a one-year deal was an awesome move by the Hawks’ front office.

Leadership

The main reason the Hawks signed Carter, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, was to have him “around its young locker room,” and that’s certainly a stellar reason to have VC on the team.

Now in the latter portion of his career, Carter has recently been part of youthful locker rooms such as in Sacramento last season alongside electric rookie point guard De’Aaron Fox. Vince will now be able to support new Hawks point guard Trae Young both on and off the court.

With both Jeremy Lin, Kent Bazemore and Carter all in the fold, Young and his fellow rookies Kevin Huerter and Omari Spellman have strong leaders to look up to regarding how high-quality players carry themselves on and off the court. Second-year players such as Second Team All-Rookie member John Collins and Tyler Dorsey will also benefit from their time with VC.

The 2018-19 season will be Carter’s 21^st in the league. An astonishing achievement in its own right, Carter was drafted 4 months before Trae Young was even born, and was born 8 months before Trae Young’s father was even born (let that sink in for a minute).

With ample experience, it seems Vince is prepared to serve as more of a player/coach than anything – as the Hawks will not be looking to immediately topple the Celtics and 76ers for Eastern Conference dominance anytime soon.

Amazing Career

Because of those two decades of experience, the Atlanta Hawks will now be inextricably linked to Carter – even though the incredible dunking displays of his “Air Canada/Vinsanity” days are well behind him.

What a joy to watch.

Even if Atlanta is just a one-year pit stop in the list of teams that Carter ends up playing for, he himself chose to play for the Hawks when he could’ve just gone ring chasing.

Any player that chooses a somewhat downtrodden franchise like the Hawks – even someone as ill-fitting and ill-advised as Dwight Howard – immediately becomes a likable player when they’re on the Hawks. (Sorry, is my fandom showing?)

On-Court Effectiveness

Though Vince Carter signing with the Hawks is big-enough news on its own, the actual on-court impact he makes will likely be minimal – comparative to other players on Atlanta’s roster at least.

Despite his advanced age (in NBA terms at least), Vince is still a very effective player. In only 17.7 minutes per game in 58 games last year, Carter put up per-game numbers of 5.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists.

The year prior, his final campaign for Memphis in 2016-17, Carter was even more effective in his age-40 season. In 73 games and 1799 total minutes, VC put up 8 PPG, 3.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists as the Grizz made the playoffs (getting bounced in the first round by the San Antonio Spurs).

Carter definitely doesn’t defy gravity with the same regularity that he used to, but he can still get up for some nice slams, which is something quite impressive at 41 years of age:

VC is also a cagey, intelligent defender who rarely makes mistakes on that end of the floor and has enough size and length to stymy multiple positions on the court.

Having Vince Carter on the team will make the 2018-19 Hawks one of the most enjoyable teams in franchise history, and let’s hope he sticks around all year. It seems likely, since he played all of last season with the lowly Kings.