HOUSTON – Vince Carter hails from Florida, works in New Jersey, but his demeanor usually is more laid-back California. Nothing seems to rattle him on the surface.
And that was the face and attitude he put forth here last night regarding a weekend of all-Vince, all-the-time rumors stemming from All-Star weekend, a time he spent “doing nothing” in Florida.
Pick a team, he probably was linked to it in at least one trade report over the weekend.
Carter – and remember, he wants to stay put – has been through this before with Toronto. He insists it just doesn’t get to him, that it’s all just part of the territory.
“Doesn’t bother me. I don’t really get caught up in that,” said Carter who claimed he heard about all the reports through conversations with others – although he did chat with GM Kiki Vandeweghe on the matter.
“He’s been straight up from the beginning. He says, ‘If there’s anything that needs to be said, I’ll say it to you,’ ” Carter related before practice as the Nets prepped for tonight’s post-break schedule starter against the Rockets.
“Everything we talk about, everything I feel we need to talk about, we talk about.”
Vandeweghe reiterated yesterday that “we have nothing going on” along the trade front as Thursday’s deadline nears, although league sources last night insisted a deal with the Spurs involving Roger Mason Jr. and George Hill as the main pieces for Carter was alive.
Over the weekend there were reports linking Carter to trade talks with not only San Antonio, but also Cleveland, Dallas and Portland. How can it not bother him?
“I’m at a point in my career it’s more about being professional and doing my job,” Carter said.
“I’m not avoiding the question, that’s the reality.”
So as the Nets gear for the final 29 games in their drive for a playoff spot, this is just one more distraction. Teammates are in his corner. But the call is not in their hands.
“It’s the trade deadline, it’s something you go through every year,” Devin Harris said.
Carter has remained genuinely excited about the long-range potential of this team with its youth movement – and he enjoys the role of mentor.
“I’ve been on teams where you’re in a situation [coming] into the second part of the season and the energy is still blah,” Carter said. “But coming in here, everybody’s up-tempo.”
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Yi Jianlian practiced and said he is fine in recovery from Jan. 9 broken pinkie.
“I should be able to play [tonight],” he said.
Coach Lawrence Frank will make the decision on the availability today but Ryan Anderson remains starter. …
Sean Williams was arrested and released Sunday for misdemeanor trespassing after allegedly violating a restraining order barring him from Boston College campus. Williams faces a court date later this month.
He, and the Nets, had no comment, but Williams nodded his head in the affirmative when asked if he had been invited to the Duke-B.C. game Sunday.