SPORTS: Clueless Carter

I've stumped for a Vince Carter trade from the Toronto Raptors before. The difference now is that it's pretty close to a certainity that the spineless whiner has to go.

He has some legitimate gripes. Richard Peddie is a first-class failure as Raptors CEO. His dilly-dallying over hiring Rob Babcock as new GM certainly eliminated any chance of trading Carter to Charlotte. And the delay might have prevented Babcock from finding a way to move back a few spots in the draft to take a guy that increasingly looks like a piece of the puzzle in Rafael Araujo. That would have saved a few bucks in salary cap room, netted another resource or two and kept the Raptors out of the Losers division of the recent draft ratings. Peddie's man on the inside at Raptor HQ, Jim Kelly, has done nothing to earn continued employment. So Carter has some nits to pick that we all share.

But the nit with Jack McCloskey, who crosses paths with Carter every decade or so, is idiotic. Demanding all three men be fired is way beyond idiotic. Of course, Carter didn't actually do that publicly. Instead, he had a friend do it. That's where Carter's lack of spine truly becomes gauling.

Whether it's his Mom, an agent or even good friend Nav Bhatia, the Raptors' Super Fan, Carter doesn't speak up for himself. He engages in a war of innuendo. It's cowardice of the worst kind.

So he doesn't have any spine. If he showed it on the floor, we could all live with it. But lack of fortitude extends to the hardwood too. As marvelously talented as Carter is, he is the worst of all NBA insults, SOFT. He is becoming, in too many ways, the Eastern version of Chris Webber, a talented loser who ALWAYS finds the way to lose, rather than the way to win, when the chips are down.

To the soft charge, we now add clueless. He's apparently upset the Raptors didn't sign Steve Nash and trade for homeboy Jamaal Magloire. Hunh? How? League rules forbade the Raptors from offering even half of what Phoenix offered Nash. And short of offering up Chris Bosh (and that wouldn't have been enough in either talent or contracts) to the Hornets, why would New Orleans send Magloire back to his roots? Cuz Carter asked?

Clueless. Spineless. If Seattle is still offering Ray Allen for Carter, do it! I'm tired of this spoiled little mama's boy.