Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Perhaps this is a case of “too soon” when it comes to discussing anything that has to do with the Toronto Raptors after their embarrassing sweep at the hands of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2018 NBA Playoffs. But a new addition of the Netflix library also serves as an immediate reminder of why arguably the roughest week in franchise history has been so painful. The streamer recently featured The Carter Effect, a one-hour documentary that looks back on one of the most captivating eras in NBA history, the Vince Carter years in Toronto.
The Carter Effect, produced by LeBron James’ media company Uninterrupted, is as much a chronological look at the franchise as it is an opus on the “Vinsanity” era. Released last fall and praised during the Toronto International Film Festival, director Sean Menard aims to tell the viewer how the stardom of the Florida native brought a cultural shift to the city that was known for cold weather, hockey and any Canadian stereotype a majority of the NBA audience in the United States had in mind.
While it breezes through his rookie and sophomore seasons, the film highlights a handful of important stories during the future Hall of Famer’s six-plus seasons in Toronto, starting with the relationship between Carter and his cousin Tracy McGrady, whom the Raptors drafted a year before. Though in separate roles at the time – McGrady in Los Angeles as an analyst for ESPN, Carter playing for the Memphis (nee Vancouver) Grizzlies – both talked about how they supported one another as young men in an unfamiliar city and a still-forming basketball market.
It doesn’t take very long to look back on the iconic 2000 NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, which could be argued as the height of Carter’s individual powers. In this reflection, Menard decides to let the entire moment speak for itself – showing the TNT telecasts of each of his absurd dunks without anyone’s commentary in the background, including none from Carter himself. Perhaps breezing through those early years served as the perfect set-up to the overall narrative. Sure, basketball fans knew of VC as a budding high school talent and a human highlight reel in college, but he was Toronto’s almost best-kept secret until he dazzled the world that night in Oakland.
Menard then decided to let everyone else around Carter – from former teammates to executives for his endorsers to local celebrities – signify what the event had done for Carter’s superstardom. They called it the “coming out party” for the team and the city’s burgeoning status as more than home to the NHL’s Maple Leafs. The “effect” over time, if you will, was Carter being admired across all of Toronto’s demographics in a way that few other public entities had before.
Though he appears often throughout the film, this is where Drake comes in.
The rapper and team ambassador has just as much sway in telling Carter’s story as Carter himself, speaking about how the Raptors helped open the world’s eyes to the talent and diversity Toronto has to offer. And while Drake’s sports fandom is often ridiculed, here it’s portrayed in an earnest light – Aubrey Graham was a local kid who was hooked on the energy Carter brought to the arena night in and night out.
There are plenty of interviews done to help frame why the Carter years were a boon to the city and the league – another future Hall of Famer and proud Canadian Steve Nash talks about how VC helped inspire Canadian kids to take up basketball as much as hockey. You eventually hear from some of those kids who made the league themselves, including current Raptor Cory Joseph, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson, and more.
The documentary followed up on other controversies that sprung up during his time, some that sullied his reputation on both sides of the border as his relationship with the team began to deteriorate. Carter’s decision to attend graduation at North Carolina hours before a Game 7 playoff loss in Philadelphia, and the infamous “I don’t wanna dunk anymore” media scrum got the world’s attention, but there are reflective tones in how those moments greased the wheels for his eventual trade to the then-New Jersey Nets in 2004.
The drawback of the documentary is that it lacks the deep dives into the on-court battles Carter’s Raptors had with some of the best and more established teams in the league. Perhaps The Carter Effect could have gone a step further in discussing the fan anger towards him by speaking on how Raptors fans felt seeing Carter play a starring role in the Nets’ playoffs runs as their team was struggled after his departure.
In an interview for The AV Club, Menard called his documentary “a love letter to Toronto,” something that certainly plays out throughout the film. In an hour, it’s impossible to tell every seminal story, but The Carter Effect eventually becomes less about Carter – who is still amazing NBA fans twenty years later as an elder statesman with the Sacramento Kings – and more about how Toronto feels about him. Thankfully, there’s still love between them.
Jason Clinkscales is the managing editor for The Sports Fan Journal, editor at Yardbarker and contributing writer for Awful Announcing. A New York City native, he is also a former media research analyst in both television networks and advertising agencies.
