This is not good. The Grizzlies, lacking options at small forward and shooting guard, are piling the minutes onto Vince Carter. Do they even realize how old VC is? He’s 39. 39 years old. You don’t give twenty minutes to a guy that age, much less twenty minutes in five straight games. If VC is going to make it to age 41 or 42 in the NBA, they have to put him on a serious minutes restriction.
What’s difficult about that is the fact that Vince Carter might still, at this late stage in his career, be helping his team win. The Grizzlies coaching staff takes one look at the roster and then one look at VC, and they say to themselves, “Well, he’s better than the other guys who could play that position.” So they really have no choice but to play him at this point.
If I were VC I would concoct some mystery ailment relating to my knees and then sit on the bench in a suit for the rest of the season. That’s how you extend a career.