Vince Carter remembers the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest like it just happened, when he went from an up-and-comer to a full-fledged phenom.
He had been the NBA Rookie of the Year the season before with Toronto and now he was a first-time All-Star. But when he slammed the ball down in Oakland, leaping so high with such force that he put his arm through the rim, he had created perhaps the biggest highlight of a Hall of Fame career that would last another 20 years.
"What the dunk contest did for me, overnight it changed my life," Carter said Saturday during a press conference at Mohegan Sun Casino to discuss his induction.
Some players have careers like that, where they seem to hit the ground running from the moment they are drafted and never stop - in Carter's case until he had played an NBA-record 22 seasons.
And then there are guys like Chauncey Billups.
