A pleasant surprise this morning, listening to the FAN590’s puck-centric Big Early while doing the commute: they talked hoops! Apparently it’s still a big deal whenever Vince Carter comes back to Toronto, even though it’s been four years since he was traded to the Nets. Four. Years. We Raptors fans sure know how to hold a grudge.

The point of this post: guest co-host of the Big Early, Elliotte Friedman, thought that the Raptors – in the days of VC, Tracy McGrady, Charles Oakley et al – were on the path to a championship. But, alas, egos got in the way. VC, though, didn’t have enough of an ego and was uneasy having the spotlight on him – Friedman even said he was “claustrophobic” when the reporters crowded around his stall. On the other hand, T-Mac craved it and saw no opportunity to shine in Cousin Vinny’s shadow, so off he went to Orlando’s injured reserve list. It led to some good times in Raptorland, dinnit?

And whose fault was that? Could then-coach Darrell Walker have played McGrady more, gave him more responsibility? Could McGrady have worked alongside Carter as Options 1 and 1A, a Big Two?

Anywho, fantasizing and WhatIfSports-izing would be self-flagellacizing. On to the present.

People are talking Vince versus Raptors. What about Roko Ukic versus Devin Harris? Okay, our beloved Marasmitch mascot might not even play a minute tonight. But do you remember, way back, the two faced each other in a pre-draft workout? Legend has it that Roko dominated Harris, but I can’t find much info on that besides one sentence on Roko’s old scouting report:

He also reportedly guarded Devin Harris very well during private
workouts.

And then there’s this thread from a Croatian basketball forum:

ROKO UKI? humiliated AND Devin Harris!

We’ll see about that tonight at the ACC.