If you had a choice out of Grant Hill or Vince Carter which player would you take?

While both players are superstars in their own right, which player you chose might not even matter if the report on Carter's knee rings true.  Hill, again bothered by ankle problems, must be questioning how many times he is prepared to rehab and make comeback attempts but according to a report in the Toronto Sun he may just be in the NBA longer than Carter.

Steve Simmons reports that well-regarded Toronto orthopedic surgeon Dr. Robert Gordon believes that Carter's knee is so bad that he might even mean the end of his career.  The Raptors, however, believe it is nonsense.

"There is serious risk that he is done," said Dr. Gordon. "It's very sad."

Dr. Gordon also added that the team "should definitely shut him down for the year. He has an injury that has a healing time of three to six months. You have to rehab it in order to get better.

"It needs four to five hours a day for that kind of rehab. This is bad luck for Vince, bad luck for the team, and I'd hate to be the insurance company that has his contract."

The news comes after Carter was able to practice on Friday in a hope of being back on the court Sunday at the latest.  According to Simmons Carter was told to stop practicing later in the same day and flew for another opinion with Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham who told the high flyer to give it a rest for the time being.

"His career is not in jeopardy," said Glen Grunwald, the general manager. "I don't want to respond to a doctor who is treating people without knowing what he's talking about. We've consulted with the best doctors. The people who have examined Vince would disagree with (what he's saying)."

Gordon is concerned with Carter's right knee while most around the Raptors believe his left - the knee that left him out of games late last season - is more severe out of the two.

"He has a partial tear, from reading the report of Dr. (Doug) Richards. He could tear his whole tendon off the patella. If he did that, he would be done. The risk of tendon tear is going to be there. To do what Vince does, you need incredible force. You can go across the knee with such strength, you can rip (the tendon) off."

Grunwald is angered at the words expressed by Dr. Gordon, questioning the ethics of a professional who has not even treated the patent.

"If he's got something to say, why doesn't he call me?" said Grunwald. "He hasn't treated Vince, hasn't seen the MRIs, how can he know what's going on?"

"I see kids with this injury almost every day," Gordon responded.

"If this is indeed his injury, he is far from a dog," said Gordon. "In fact, he's a bulldog. I don't care if you're Suzy Q, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Vince Cater, if you've got that injury, you're not playing. "

"This is a bad injury and he's not dogging it. This is a bad problem. You have to be shut down and do serious rehab to get it back. This is hard and intense rehab. And from everything I hear, he's doing it."

Grunwald maintains that Carter's career is not in question and he will be back in a Raptors uniform in the future.  As Simmons writes he will play for the Raptors again, but he just may not fly as high.