It's going to be tough for that shoe to drop if it has to slip over a swollen Achilles tendon. Would you trade for Vince Carter until you see him run and jump and play with the other kids again?
With the announcement yesterday that Carter has been placed on the injured list with his strained left Achilles, the emotional holding pattern that has paralyzed the Raptors and their fans for the past two weeks likely will continue to paralyze everyone for at least a couple more.
Everyone knows Carter wants to be traded and everyone knows the Raptors have been trying to get a deal done.
Carter needs a change of scenery. The team needs to move on. The fans are anxious for this so-called "new era" actually to be a "new era," as opposed to a continuation of the old era with a different coach huffing and puffing.
Carter's injury isn't necessarily that serious, but an Achilles problem always is dangerous for any athlete, and this is Carter we're talking about.
"It's something that has been bothering me for three years," Carter said of his sore Achilles. "Hopefully this time it can settle down and get better, instead of just always nagging, then go away, nagging, then go away."
Hmmm. Can't the same thing be said when describing the Raptors' defence? Nagging, then go away, nagging, then go away ...
But back to the topic at hand.
Carter isn't eligible to return till a game in Houston on Dec. 20, but we aren't particularly confident he'll decide to re-enter the fray on the road against Tracy McGrady. The truth is, Carter simply might not be ready to play again till after Christmas or early in the new year.
The Raptors aren't a good team with Carter, and if last night is any indication, they aren't a good team without him, either.
For all those Vince-haters who think the Raptors would be better off if they simply were to cut him, a discouraging blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets at the Air Canada Centre stands in opposition to that theory. As usual, the Raptors came back a little in the fourth quarter. But that practice is becoming as frequent as it is meaningless.
On the whole, the Raptors couldn't do much right and the crowd didn't even have Carter to boo. Instead, the patrons elected to do a lot more free-form booing through the first three quarters, expressing frustration with an entire team and an overall situation, rather than an individual player.
Without Carter as a target, the atmosphere in the arena was less acutely hostile, but actually more depressing overall.
Recent trade rumours have centred upon possible deals that would send Carter either to the New York Knicks or the New Orleans Hornets, with the Portland Trail Blazers having set their sights on Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets rather than Carter, at least for the moment.
Someone like Knicks GM Isiah Thomas might be bold enough to trade for Carter even while he's hurt, as long as assurances have been passed along that Carter is going to be okay. Injured players can be traded if both parties are willing.
But if we were running an NBA team, taking that route would not strike us as the best of ideas, especially with regard to someone who has been as fragile as Carter in recent years.
No matter how you slice it, Carter being injured reduces the likelihood of the Raptors getting a deal done any time soon. So we may be looking at another Christmas with the Carters, and that's not a TV special we're talking about.
"I don't know if there's a technical term for (the injury), or what it is," Carter said last night "I just know it has been a pain in the (butt) for a while."
This entire Carter situation has been a pain in the butt for a while, too.
The saga needs closure. But closure might not be possible till Carter's wounds literally have healed.
After all, it's impossible to know if someone truly will be missed if circumstances won't allow that person to go away.
