Few players captivated audiences like Vince Carter in his prime. The man known has “Half Man, Half Amazing” was 100% amazing more times than not with his otherworldly slam dunks. Even his most routine jams were leaps and bounds better than most of his contemporaries; but Vince’s game was much more complex than that. The highlight plays were icing on his preverbal cake – Vince could shoot (a skill that has aided him greatly as his athleticism drained), and he used his unselfishness to create the best basketball play for his team – he was a true NBA superstar.
The 41 year old has thrived in every stage of his career’s evolution from: up-and-coming prospect, to star, superstar, role player then veteran. In his prime, Vince successful anchored the marketing of Nike Basketball and enjoyed many hit signature shoes. The VC line centered around Shox technology, and the turn of the century tech grew with Vince to become one of the defining design elements of Nike Hoops from 2000-04. The Swoosh tasked Carter as the poster boy for their new cushioning system at the 2000 Summer Olympics, resulting in the most iconic play of international hoops history.
Okay, so, obviously the dunk is amazing but Vince made the defensive play setting up his dunk… he’s more than a dunker, people.
The Shox shoes we mentioned above were the Nike Shox BB4, and because of Vince’s dunk the shoes became instant hits. With Mr. Carter as their spokesmen the BB4s would go down as one of the best modern basketball shoes in history.
The BB4 came out before the VC I much like Penny Hardaway wore the Air Foamposite before the Penny 1, and this marketing strategy only helped strengthen the demand for Vince products. It’s easy to forget all of this when we see him now, so unassuming and seasoned; but that just speaks to the character of Vincent Lamar Carter. Since this is his last season (sad face) Nike and Vince decided to go back to his Nike roots (not Puma or And1 roots) and finish out the season in the shoes that started it all – the Shox BB4. We dug up some pictures from Vince’s 2001 campaign in the BB4 for ol’ times sake. Please, enjoy what you can of his NBA treasure for the rest of the year, enjoy!
Sneaker History
Aaron Nojima
Robbie Falchi