WATERLOO, Ontario -- He had everything set up just so, with the cold food and the hot drinks within arm's reach and the remotes by the bed because his right leg was wrapped up like a mummy so the blood could drain out.

And the only time he could walk was to go to the bathroom, and that was not a pretty sight, if you know what we mean, and he'd watch the games and try to walk, but he couldn't, because his right knee was three times its normal size. This was around the time that people were asking again, "Is he really hurt, or is he just soft?" He was getting ripped because while his team was going to the playoffs without him, and he wasn't sitting on the bench every home game, which he couldn't do, of course, because if he sat too long, his knee would swell up two or three times its normal size, which is why he was lying in the bed with his right leg wrapped like a mummy's.

"You know, you put those (things) together and it's a lot to handle," Vince Carter says.

	Vince Carter opened the preseason with 26 points in a loss to the Pistons.

"And so I had time to sit at home. I had a lot of time to sit at home by myself and just think about things and just try to sit that aside, but yet prepare myself for the summer and my quest back to getting back ... how am I going to finally put it all together? And it just gave me a new focus and a new attitude and a new light. And to see things different, feel different. And I approach the game a lot different."

Last season, Carter took a header off the face of the earth. He was healthy, by his estimate, about 15 games last season before his knee started bothering him. And it wouldn't stop, like a pesky kid brother. And the season that was supposed to be the best in Toronto Raptors' history sputtered and almost came to a complete stop in March when Carter finally opted for the surgery he'd been trying to put off all season. We know now that the Raptors then caught fire without their star and roared into the playoffs.

Which had some folks asking if Toronto was better without VC.

Which is absurd, on the face of it. Except the Raptors did have to grow a little bit without Vinsanity around. And his teammates did wonder exactly what was going on, because Carter wouldn't confide in anyone how much he was hurting.

"I know that he wanted to be out there with them," coach Lenny Wilkens says. "But also, I think that ... here are these guys, here they are working hard, they're playing great defense, they're moving the ball, they're doing all these things. And so my feeling as a coach is that, 'Good, they've grown, they've matured some.' Now let's take that and put it with Vince and put him in that mix. We should be a lot better."

Carter knows it was probably wrong of him to keep so much to himself, but that's been his way his whole life, much less his career. He ponders and broods and keeps his opinions to himself and a tight-knit group of friends and family.

"It was fun to watch and I was proud of the guys, but yet, I think the outside world tried to turn them against me," Carter believes. "Saying maybe they didn't need me. You know, he's this, that and the other. Oh, look, he didn't show up for these games ... I think I went to Game 1 of the playoffs but I couldn't, I wasn't allowed to go for Game 2. And then they tried to turn it (into) 'Hey, maybe he's not for the team,' things like that. And it was a good feeling to see that my teammates still were behind me, and they knew the truth."

But they were in the dark, too.

"I mean a couple times he would complain that his knee would hurt," guard Morris Peterson says, "but you see some of the stuff he does out there on the floor. I mean, even when his knee was messed up, he was still jumping and dunking on guys and things like that ... we really didn't, really didn't know how serious it was ... until after he had surgery and stuff."

As it turned out, getting eliminated by Detroit in the first round might have been a blessing for the Raptors. If they'd gotten to the Eastern finals, Wilkens would have had a decision to make. Carter might have been able to play; now, he could continue his rehab in relative peace. It had been a hard decision for him to opt for surgery -- he'd seen a handful of different doctors before deciding to get cut -- and right after the surgery, the knee swelled bad.

"In my mind it almost made me even second-guess having surgery," Carter says. "Which was, it was good for me and I needed it but, being the competitor and wanting to be on the floor and when I'm around basketball I'm around it and I want to be a part of it. I think it set me back longer as far as being ready for the summer."

But slowly, the knee started to heal. He'd started walking just before the playoffs, and when he could walk up and down the Air Canada Centre floor in April, it felt like when you graduate and you get that new car you didn't expect. He sat on the bench when he could, but mainly, he rehabbed. He started getting the motion back and could ride the bike for a few minutes, and then a few more, and then he ditched the cane that he'd had to use. Then he had a big jump forward and was able to run a little bit.

"I finally accepted the reality that I was not going to play," he says.

	“	I'm hunting people right now. I'm hunting every defender that's stepping on the court against me right now. That's just how I feel. I have a lot of, not a lot of hate, but I have, that burning desire to say hey, 'Whoever is guarding me, is gonna have, you're gonna have a long night.' And that's just plain and simple and I don't care who it is. ”
		— Vince Carter

He tested the knee on the floor during a promotional tour in China this summer (ESPN the Magazine, Sept. 30), when he started dunking again and feeling like he was back, but he was more or less playing by himself and not against anybody, so it took his charity game in August to really convince him that he coul stop thinking about the knee after doing nothing but think about it for nine months. He reminded himself before the game, "Make sure I don't land funny. If I jump off with one leg, make sure I land with two."

"Very emotional inside for me," he recalls. "I really approached it like a regular game just because it was my first time and I wanted to play and playing that type of game before an actual practice or preseason, to get all the jitters out, the nervousness and all of the concerns of maybe the trainer or myself inside and it was, it was great. I didn't think about the knee at all. The first play of the game was a lob for me and it just felt like old times ... after the game when I was at home I replayed the whole game and I don't remember thinking about it at all. Not at all. I think my mom, I was sitting on the court (and) she asked me if I was all right. My trainer asked like once or twice, but other than that, that was it."

Then came training camp. He didn't know if his teammates had any doubts, but his goal from the first practice has been to erase that doubt and be Vince Carter again, the guy they can pin their dreams to.

"I see a difference from last training camp," Peterson says. "You can kinda see the fire in his eyes. Even before training camp started, a week before training camp started, he was in the gym every day working out. We were all working out, playing pick up games and that's all he's been talking about, 'Man, I can't wait till the season starts.' I mean, with that, having your leader and your best player saying that, I think that's really saying a lot. And I think he's gonna rise to the occasion."

Wilkens and the Raptors' therapist, Chuck Mooney, have been watching Carter like a hawk during camp. Wilkens pulled him out of some practices early -- no use exposing VC to some kid trying to make a name for himself -- and gradually plans to increase his minutes in workouts and in the preseason. Wilkens used to play, too, and he knows that on opening night of the regular season, against the Wizards and that Jordan fellow, Carter will be tempted to try and score 80.

"I'll be talking to him," Wilkens said. "The thing I'll keep reminding him is let the game come to you a little bit. When the opportunity is there, seize it, but don't feel you have to win it by yourself because you do have some capable people around you and they have to make a contribution as well."

Carter knows that. But he has some things to prove. He can only see straight ahead now, something even stronger than tunnel vision. He knows what he wants to do and he remembers everything that was said about him when he was hurt. Injuries make everyone doubt themselves. But Vince Carter isn't injured any more.

"I'm the hunter," he says. "I'm hunting people right now. I'm hunting every defender that's stepping on the court against me right now. That's just how I feel. I have a lot of, not a lot of hate, but I have, that burning desire to say hey, 'Whoever is guarding me, is gonna have, you're gonna have a long night.' And that's just plain and simple and I don't care who it is."

David Aldridge, who covers the NBA for ESPN, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.