When the Toronto Raptors joined the NBA in 1995, fans in the Great\u00a0White North were resistant, particularly without any superstar players. That all changed when the team traded for Vince Carter during the 1998 NBA draft, when\u00a0Carter was selected #5 overall by the Raptors. Canada broke out with \u201cVinsanity\u201d and dubbed their new superstar \u201cAir Canada.\u201d Basketball had officially emerged in Canada.<\/p>\n
A new documentary, UNINTERRUPTED\u2019s \u201cThe Carter Effect,\u201d directed by Sean Menard, explores the cultural impact of Carter, whose seven-year tenure with the Raptors is said to have changed the sports landscape of Toronto and inspired a generation of artists and athletes who grew up during his tenure with the team. The film features interviews with Drake, Steve Nash, Tracy McGrady, and others who discuss\u00a0Carter \u2014\u00a0an eight-time all-star\u00a0and 19-year NBA veteran who\u00a0has played for the Nets, Suns, Mavericks, and Grizzlies.\u00a0The 40-year-old recently signed a deal with the Sacramento Kings for the 2017-18 season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Carter Effect\u201d is executive produced by LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Drake, and Adel Future Nur\u00a0and was made for Uninterrupted, a digital media company founded by Carter and James. This week, it became the must-see film at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it premiered to sold-out audiences Saturday\u00a0at the 2,000-seat Princess of Wales Theatre.<\/p>\n
GOOD spoke with\u00a0Menard about Carter and the state of basketball in Canada.<\/p>\n
What did Canadians first think of Carter when he first came to the Raptors? <\/strong><\/p>\n Let\u2019s be honest, the Canadian basketball IQ wasn\u2019t exactly very high when Vince first came here and we got a basketball team. It was a hockey culture. Vince\u2019s game was a lot different, in the way that he\u2019d have these exciting high-flying slam dunks. It\u2019s exciting for someone who\u2019s not a basketball fan to watch that. It\u2019s different than what the other players can do. He was flying through the air, so it got people\u2019s attention really quickly, and that\u2019s the powerful part of a slam dunk.<\/p>\n How did Vince Carter pioneer bringing basketball to Canada?<\/strong><\/p>\n I always say that if he was a player that just came and played\u00a0and didn\u2019t play the way he does\u00a0and just collected his paycheck, there wouldn\u2019t be a \u201cCarter Effect.\u201d Before Vince, a lot of American players would basically say, \u201cYou guys can draft me, but I\u2019m not going to sign with you.\u201d That was the standard for a lot of the Americans. They didn\u2019t know too much about Canada. It was considered a kind of barren wasteland in the NBA\u00a0in a lot of people\u2019s eyes. Vince was very open-minded. He came here and discovered that it was a beautiful city,\u00a0very diverse,\u00a0very multi-cultural. The fans are welcoming and passionate, and he decided to do a lot of things away from the court.<\/p>\n What is the lasting effect on the sport’s popularity there?<\/strong><\/p>\n Vince started basketball camps for kids. The kids got to meet him and grew up to play in the NBA \u2013 Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph are two examples. He also opened a nightclub. He had players come up and spend time in the city, and it was a very positive thing. He was bringing superstars who had previously never come up to Toronto from the basketball and hip-hop world.<\/p>\n Fans initially turned on Carter when he left Canada, but now he’s seen as a good guy again. Can you talk a bit about that relationship?<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t think\u00a0his popularity has come back for a lot of people. People felt hurt. He was painted as someone who wanted to leave at the time. He was accused of no longer trying. There was a famous news conference where he said he didn\u2019t want to dunk anymore. … It rubbed people the wrong way. It\u2019s not what they wanted to hear from their superstar athlete \u2026\u00a0. In talking with Vince, he spoke about it like a relationship that had a bad breakup. You know, you look fondly on the relationship as your first love, and he wishes, because he was young, he hadn\u2019t said or done things and said he wishes that he and the city were on better terms. The film is a step in the right direction to let people know the whole story. The film shows the entire picture these years later.<\/p>\n What would you hope people would take away from this documentary?<\/strong><\/p>\n I just want people to walk away entertained. And I want to shine a light on the city of Toronto and help people understand that this city has become arguably the greatest fan base. When we had a playoff game, we had roughly 10,000 people outside the stadium lining the streets, watching it on a screen outside. Even when the team\u2019s not playing at that particular arena, people are watching on the street. It\u2019s a great representation of our city. Toronto is the greatest city in the world because you have people who\u2019ve emmigrated\u00a0from all over the world to Toronto and have set up shop here and created a life for themselves. …\u00a0I hope people come away with an appreciation for the city and what it\u2019s like up here.<\/p>\n If you could have done anything different making this film, what would you have done? <\/strong><\/p>\n No regrets. Not a damn thing. This was the first time I partnered with someone, and I was worried, but they were like, \u201cYou\u2019re the filmmaker, just tell us what you need, and we\u2019ll make it happen.\u201d NBA footage costs a lot of money, and they never held me to a quota.\u00a0I honestly feel it\u2019s the best NBA documentary and best sports documentary ever made because we\u2019re able to get it to a point where there were no compromises. I\u2019m proud of the film. Maybe in five years I\u2019ll look back, but for right now I\u2019m very pleased with the film.\u00a0<\/p>\n Share image by Uninterrupted.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When the Toronto Raptors joined the NBA in 1995, fans in the Great\u00a0White North were resistant, particularly without any superstar players. That all changed when the team traded for Vince Carter during the 1998 NBA draft, when\u00a0Carter was selected #5 overall by the Raptors. Canada broke out with \u201cVinsanity\u201d and dubbed their new superstar \u201cAir…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}