Latest / Bleacher Report / Vince Carter's Nets No. 15 Jersey Retirement Ceremony - Full Speech

Transcript

Vince Carter's Nets No. 15 Jersey Retirement Ceremony - Full Speech · Bleacher Report

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Excellent. Thank you, Thank you so much. I'll try to
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: be brief. Thank you all right.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: First and foremost, I like to thank Joe and Clara
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Sigh for allowing this amazing night and opportunity to happen.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: This is truly something my family and I will cherish forever.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Sean Mars, my former teammate. Believe it or not, we
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: were teammates in Toronto Rookies. At that I'd like to
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: thank you as well for having your hand in this
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: as well.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you, Love you man.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: To mister Bruce Rattner, I'm truly grateful for you, my friend,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: for okaying the deal to bring me here to start
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: something fun and great. To mister Rod Thorne, Ed Stefanski
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Sean Marx, I'm sorry, Bobby Marx.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: You guys would have.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Masterminded behind all of this, giving me the opportunity to
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: be here to help me show that I'm still dominant
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: in this league and can get it done.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Thank you, guys. Which brings me to who's not here?
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Jake Kid.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: When I got here, I wanted to do everything in
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: my power to fit in, and you a guy who
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: didn't say much, but you led by example. You said
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: to me. Look, I can't paraphrasing just kids here. He said, Look,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: we brought you here for a reason, so I'm gonna
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: need you to be you. I got the message, and
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: when I got the message, it was go time. And
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: then from there, particularly the ally us, the one that
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: he's talking about through extra high that I tried because
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: I'm going to try to catch and didn't make.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: We built that.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Chemistry and it was action from there. So thank you,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Ja kid, RJ. I have a lot of great appreciation
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: for RJ. I mean, you guys can see, man, it's
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: a lot that comes with RJ, good and bad.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: But because of him and his conversation.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: With teaching me who J Kid was, how he thought,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: how he went about his business, made me realize and
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: understand how I can go about my business and make
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: the game easier for him. Watching RJ One Run One Wing,
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: I wanted some of that next thing, you know, jkids
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: throwing lives to both of us and we're fighting in
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: the air for lives, making magic.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: So I really have a great appreciation for.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: RJ for really just sitting with me, talking to me
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: to help me become me. Thank you, brother, Gary Sussman.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: I'm so thankful that you're here. You're the first person
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: that called me when I was traded and we talked.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: You explained who I was traded for, and you explained
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: it again just to make sure I was hearing you correctly. Nevertheless,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: this man brought life into the building. And if you guys, remember,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: did you see VC Gary Sussener And if you remember,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: that was a v C.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: That man.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Thank you man, Thank you Tim Walsh, Timmy. When I
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: first got here, I was injured, we spent a lot
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: of time together before I put my shots on the court.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: And one thing I remember more than anything those long days,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: you said, and I'll never forget. Don't worry a kid.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: We're gonna get you right so you can go V dominant.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: And I did just that because you. Thank you, which
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: led me to Rich Delatri, our strength and conditioning coach.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Rich you were on the other side of rehab.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: You put us through some of the weirdest, craziest.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Drills I've ever been through.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: But I was one of the strongest, most confident and
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: built for the beating that I took back in those
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: days because of you, and I was prepared, which is
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: given me this opportunity today. Thank you, and then there's
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Lawrence Frank. L Frank had the task of making all
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: of these things work, infuse them together. He had all
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: these talented players and he had to make it work.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: He had to figure out how to.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Get the best out of all of us, getting me
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: act made it and give us a chance. Well, L Frank,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: you did that. You figured it out. You got in
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: my ear, you gott in our ear. You work hard.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: You always had pin marks on your hands and your
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: face and all of this stuff giving us to play.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: But I'm very thankful for one player, ten fifteen two
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: in and I you know, you know ten fifteen allowed
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: me to have a lot of posters and I appreciate
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: you man. One last thing, I remember you said we
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: talked about the d three point shot that shot today.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: You pulled me aside and you told me you weren't
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: happy with the fact that I shot them, but I
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: shot a decent percentage of them, and it became a
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: weapon because you allowed me to.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Aaron Harris.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: I know you're around here somewhere, Aaron Harris and your team.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: You guys are great putting this all together, all of
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: these guys here. I mean, it's a lot of work
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: that goes into it to make this look like perfection.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: And you've done that.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Your team has done that, and I appreciate you Aaron
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: and your team. Thank you very much. My teammates, my teammates,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: Devin Harris, Bobby Simmons and Twin Wright, Twin Jason Collins,
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Ryan Anderson, Josh Boone's here, Nanat Christis, Boss Shaw knockbar.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Thank you guys, Thank you. You guys were great teammates
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: and I hope I was a great teammate to you.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: I won't name any names. I've saved a few of
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: you from doing something crazy throughout the years. He will
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: remain nameless. He's probably smiling the hardest though, So take
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: a look. I appreciate you, my bad, but I appreciate
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: you all man being in on my side some dark days.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: We've gone into some rough environment, but I always knew
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: you guys and the rest of my teammates had my back,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: and it warms my heart having you here.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: So thank you.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: You do see my family. I have my friends here.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Please give them around the pass. I don't want to
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: hear your mouths. I'm gonna be quick. They've gotten their
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: love and shine at the Hall of Fame. But I
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: thank you all. They're all spread out around here. I
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: appreciate you all being here, being my support system and
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: being in my corner.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: I love you all. Thank you.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: I know the players are here, so I'm gonna get
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: you guys back out so you can warm up. But
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: it's a lot of whoa bro, whoa wrong?
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Shoes on? Unless ya, I got some sixteen back there.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: It's like.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: All right in closing, it's a lot of history up there.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: I remember the first day I walked in here. For
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: some reason, my eyes were always drawn to fifty two
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: thirty two, twenty five three. But I never realized why.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: All of a sudden walking this building, I was just
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: drawn to it. I would see it every day and
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: have such appreciation for these gentlemen. To be the seventh
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: person to go up is insane, particularly beside you, somebody
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: I admire and I appreciate. It's one of the greatest
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: times outside of the Hall of Fame to actually get
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: to do this.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: So there's an honor to be up there with you, gentlemen.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: This is for.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: Not only the players, but for every young kid, every athlete,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: every person. When this jersey goes up tonight. I want
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: this to motivate you. I want you to feel like
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: I can go out there and get it. I got
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: to see it, feel it, and I'll do anything I
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: can to be the best version of myself, of yourself
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: because of it.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: And I said this before and I will say it again.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Fifteen carters going up there, but we're going up to together.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, namit much love.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: Vincecosor, please join your family. This is the moment we
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: have all been waiting for. Number fifteen, Vince Carter. Lets fence,
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: let's hear it for number fifty fence and no mins,
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: It's time to raise the.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Its fans. It's fifteen. Forever Fits Tarter.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: Congratulations Fitz Carter. You are in rarefied air forever a
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: nest