Mo Pete -- It was a good 7 years

Since about last December most Raptor fans had a pretty good idea that Morris Peterson, the last link to the Vince Carter playoff years, was done as a rap. It was definetly a good laugh about how ironic it was that the game that broke his league high streat of consecutive games played was also the same night that the ACC was doing Mo Pete bobble heads to honour that streak. But there was also a vibe in the air that night that this was going to be it for Mo Pete. His playing time was on the downward spiral. There was rumours of him being unhappy in the locker room. Stats were going down. Him missing his own bobble head night was just the example that it was not his year.

I heard it was a contract year thing for him. When some players get the stats up in a contract year for more money (Remember Mike James?) Mo Pete seemed to do the opposite. His weakest year from a PPG view was 03-04 when his rookie contract ended. And here it is again, contract ending year and lowest numbers of his career. So what happened this year?

Anthony Parker for starters. Let's see...great perimeter defender. Great three point shooter. Runs the floor well. Decent rebounder. Sounds like Mopete. Except AP does everything just alittle bit better. So AP joining the team as well as lack of confidence I believe was a part of the issue. And maybe MoPete just is not as good as his stats has shown in the past. Lets not forget that he was starting for one of the worst teams in the league the previous season. There will be stats to be had but does that truly show your value as a player when the team is only winning 20 games? (Remember Mike James?)

Truth be told, I think he will be a nice fit for New Orleans. Playing off of Chris Paul is not going to hurt. And with Peja on the other side (if he can make it threw the season injury free) will create some problems for any defense. New Orleans is not a champion ship team by any stretch of the imagination. But an injury free season and the addition of Peterson could see that team grabbing one of the final 2 spots in the tough western conference playoff race.

As for the end of an era, it is sad although expected. And I will be at the ACC on that one night that New Orleans comes to town. And when they introduce the starting shooting guard for the visiting team, I hope and expect that we will hear the respect us fans had for a true class act in the NBA. Even if he was not happy with his role, he was a team guy all the way. And that type of character guys is a dieing breed in the National Basketball Association. Besides, how can you not give the guy who gave us moments like this some respect....






And since it is the end of an era...one more just for fun. Sadly not alot of videos of this one on youtube. This is all I could find.