Upon Vince Carter

I have recently begun to read criticism of Vince Carter among sportswriters. The sentiment is that he was dogging it in Toronto, hardly giving his full effort, and sulking his way to a trade. Since his arrival in New Jersey, Vince has again risen to a level shared by the elite players of the NBA. 30 and 40 point nights abound, and Air Canada is now flying in Continental Airlines Arena. The Nets may find their way into the 8 spot in the Eastern conference playoffs, and this has as much to do with Carter as it does with the brilliant and underrated play of the game's best guard,Jason Kidd. (By the way, Kidd would be doing as well or better than Nash is in Phoenix, and he even plays D.)
So why the knock on Carter I ask. I understand the arguement "If you sign a contract you should play your hardest every night." I agree that basketball is a player's job, and that they for all intents and purposes should give each game and practice their all. But... we are talking about Toronto's franchise player, who knew that he was not going to win in Toronto. You live half the year in Canada, you play with a hum-drum supporting cast, and you haven't had a high-caliber running mate since T-Mac left town. Jalen Rose and Chris Bosh are all well and good, but Toronto was not going to beat anyone in the East. Then you throw in the injuries that a one-man-band invariably suffers, and is criticized if he doesn't play through. Vince had some unfortunate injuries, and sat out to let it heal. I don't think that he was in any hurry to get back to a team that wasn't going anywhere. Ever since Vince pulled the UNC graduation/Game 5 vs the Sixers double dip, and they lost, he has taken a ton of heat. I think that you have to view Vince in the same light as Vlad Guerrero, Carlos Delgado, Shareef Abdur-Raheem...etc. Non-hockey sports superstars in Canada, on teams who dont win, always want to leave. Perhaps Vince leveraged a trade, and Toronto only got 10 cents on the dollar back (if that), but one can certainly relate to his predicament. Plus the NBA in general is better with Superstar Vince Carter, and Jason Kidd makes everyone look better, and stars look like superstars.