“He sat down with us a lot longer than we expected,” Houser said of Carter. (Ben Houser/ESPN)
Vince Carter's NBA career has spanned 22 seasons. (Ben Houser/ESPN)
Carter "was incredibly honest and authentic," Houser said. (Ben Houser/ESPN)It’s not certain at this point if Vince Carter will ever play in another NBA game, but what is certain is that he has left his mark over the past 22 years in the league.
In “Vinsanity,” airing Saturday on E:60 (noon ET, ESPN), the normally reticent Carter opens up about life, his career, some controversies and more in a revealing interview.
Ben Houser, who was coordinating producer for the feature, said the E:60 team had been discussing doing a retrospective on Carter for the past few years and finally decided to do it when Carter signed with the Atlanta Hawks for his 22nd and final NBA season.
Houser and crew traveled to Georgia for a shoot with Carter on the night before the players began training camp.
“He sat down with us a lot longer than we expected,” Houser said. “We thought it would be 20 or 30 minutes, and he actually ended up sitting for almost an hour and a half.
“It was really a great process and I thought he was incredibly honest and authentic, which is what you want when you do these television pieces for E:60.”
Carter discusses the controversy surrounding the NBA Playoffs in 2001 when he traveled from Philadelphia to walk with his graduating class at the University of North Carolina, then returned to play for the Raptors in Game 7.
Carter was roundly criticized for doing what he did, even more so after missing what would have been the winning shot.
But he was fulfilling a promise made to his mother that if he left college early for the NBA, he would finish his degree.
“I think it’s the biggest moment in our story,” Houser said. “He was so reflective and deep and thoughtful in all his answers about that time period.
“What we were able to bring to the viewer was getting Vince to relive some of these moments in his career. I think our story delivers that.”
As always, the Carter story was the work of many.
“We assembled a superb E:60 team to bring this story to our viewers,” Houser said. “We are incredibly proud of Scott Cikowski, a content associate, who brought creativity and a superior work ethic to dig through the archives and bring Vince’s story to life.”
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