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The NBA season is in full swing and while some teams have started to witness their hard work in training camp bear fruition, others are bogged down by issues such as chemistry, adapting to a new coach and a new system and the most dreaded one, injuries. Come April, as the NBA season winds down, it will be time for many veterans to sound the final buzzer on their career, bringing to an end their stint in the NBA.
For some though, this might not mean an end to their association with the league for they may don their thinking caps and hats and become assistant coaches and may try their hand at sports broadcasting as game-time analysts.
There are two categories of NBA veterans – ones that have had illustrious careers and are retiring on a high and others who used to embrace greatness but have overstayed past their prime and have dragged their feet for too long. This article takes a look at the latter.
Derek Fisher
It was 13 May 2004, the venue being the AT&T Center (erstwhile SBC Center). Tim Duncan had drained an 18-foot fadeaway to put the Spurs ahead 73-72 with 0.4 seconds left on the clock, in a fiercely contested Game 5 of the Western Conference semi-finals. But the Lakers snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, courtesy of Derek Fisher, who found time to catch the ball and hit an improbable shot, all within a span of 0.4 seconds. The Lakers would go on to win the series 4-2.
Fast-forward to 2013 and you’ll find Fisher having five championships under his belt, all with the Lakers, last of which came in 2010. Currently a reserve for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Fisher averages a meagre 2.6 points per game compared to his career average of 8.4. He barely makes a field goal per game and his minutes have also dwindled to 13.2 per game, while he averages 25.7 for his career.
Reports emerged in July this year that Fisher had officially decided to call it quits at the conclusion of the current season.
Vince Carter
Vince Carter – No longer exudes the “Vinsanity”
Picture this. A player doing a 360° windmill dunk, a between the legs bounce dunk, and an “elbow in the rim” dunk, all within a span of minutes.
Hard to believe, right? Wrong. Vince Carter did all this and wowed the crowd, en route to winning the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest, thus leading to nicknames like “Vinsanity” and “Air Canada.”
An eight-time All-Star, his athleticism has slowly deserted him and he is now a mere shadow of his old self, a liability on defense against the younger and quicker crop of guards. His deal with the Mavericks also expires this summer, thus paving the way for his retirement, after three seasons with them.
After a sparkling college career with the North Carolina Tar Heels, Carter began his journey with the Raptors and won the Rookie of the Year award in 1999. 15 seasons later and having won an Olympic gold with USA basketball, Carter has reached the twilight of his career.
Jermaine O’Neal
O’Neal faces off against Dwight Howard
One of the rare breed of players who were drafted right from high school, also known as prep-to-pro players, Jermaine O’Neal had his best times in the NBA during an eight year marriage with the Indiana Pacers, where he made six All-Star appearances, made the All-NBA team thrice and led Indiana to the playoffs six times, this including the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals.
O’Neal struggled in Portland, the team that drafted him, as he could barely crack the rotation, averaging just over 10 minutes a game, something that the high school prodigy wouldn’t have envisioned as an ideal start to his NBA career.
Plagued by injuries in the recent past, O’Neal has failed to reproduce the form that propelled him into the NBA elite during his time as a Pacer. The last three seasons have witnessed him average 5.4, 5.0 and 8.3 PPG numbers that pale in comparison to his ’04-’05 season with Indiana where he averaged 24.3 PPG on 45% from the field.
Kenyon Martin
Kenyon Martin – Will this be his final season?
K-Mart was the first overall pick in the 2000 Draft by the New Jersey Nets, on the heels of becoming the all-time leader in blocks and field-goal percentage of the Cincinnati Bearcats. His best seasons as a Net came after Jason Kidd joined the ball-club in 2002. The duo joined hands with Richard Jefferson and Keith van Horn to lead the Nets to two consecutive Finals appearances, in ‘02 and ‘03 albeit losing in both. This ensured that he landed a berth as an All-Star in the 2004 All-Star game where he amassed 17 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and had 3 assists in his first and only All-Star appearance.
He then played with Carmelo Anthony at Denver, leading them to the playoffs in all his 7 seasons with the club.
Martin even had a brief stint in Chinese basketball with the Xinjiang Tigers in 2011 but returned to the NBA with the Clippers. He is currently with the New York Knicks and is played with caution by the Knicks medical staff, because of his creaky knees. His minutes have been cut down, especially on the second game of back-to-backs. The Knicks even attempted to platoon him and Amar’e Stoudemire, but were forced to abandon the plan due to Tyson Chandler’s injury.
Antawn Jamison
Jamison playing for the Lakers
The 6’9” Jamison kick-started his NBA career with the Golden State Warriors, whom he represented for 5 seasons. The Tar Heel graduate then spent a season with the Dallas Mavericks where he won the Sixth Man of the Year award, leading the Mavs to a 52-30 record and playing in the playoffs for the first time in his career.
Jamison spent the bulk of his career with the Washington Wizards, where he made both his All-Star appearances. In his presence, the Wizards made the playoffs for the first time since 1997 and even made the second round.
Jamison was then traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in February of 2010, in a three-team deal. He joined hands with LeBron James and led the Cavs to the best record in the Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers, despite beating the Chicago Bulls, fell to the Boston Celtics in 6 games. That spelt an end to the LeBron James era in Cleveland as he would shortly join the Miami Heat, where he would play alongside Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.
Los Angeles was the next destination in Jamison’s journeyman career. In his only season with the Lakers, Jamison averaged 9.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg and 21.5 mpg off the bench.
He currently plays for the other team in LA, the Clippers where his averages have dropped to 4.9 ppg and 14.5 mpg, all career lows.
