I really appreciate this clip. Back in the early 2000's was the period of iso-heavy bball, right after MJ's dynasty was blown up. It was fun to see electrifying guards like TMac, Kobe, Iverson and Gilbert Arenas go at it, but just how far did any of these guys get with iso-ball hype? Answer is- none got that far, arguably it's even the iso-ball style that brought U.S. international bball to its lowest trough. The hype around superstars like TMac made them feel it was all on them individually, which is the wrong mindset. Even MJ in all his on-court omnipotence needed to buy into the triangle offense philosophy of the Zen master to fetch him all those rings. The triangle offense was designed to get the ball out of Jordan's hands. That's exactly my fear for ball dominant guards up till this very era: no championship rings are feasible for them, even if their efficiency and stats go up the roof.
Agree with this. Reason why im not a fan of Kyrie's Uncle Drew playing style ( 1 v 1, lots of dribble, lots of dancing around the court, hard shot ALL for just 2 pts ) despite him being a wizard with the ball.
I'll never forget a friend and I being at a Raptors game very early, and Tracy was on the court by himself taking threes from at least 3 feet behind the line and hitting them consistently. Such a fun memory of a very young star. :)
In his prime, Tracy McGrady was Kobe Bryant's most feared NBA player. However, he was an unlucky star player who did not win the playoffs or the NBA Finals.
its always going to be crazy to imagine the kind of legendary finals duels we couldve gotten if tim duncan did sign with orlando(assuming tmac wouldve stayed healthy)
Even if Duncan didn't go there Grant Hill being healthy would change everything. Dude was a proto-LeBron who was very talented in the late 90s he was second to MJ in the East.
His 13points in 35 sec against the spurs was the most my mind has ever been blown while watching a game live. The way that everything happened didn’t even seem real. 🤯
In all fairness, T-Mac said it felt good to make the second round in ‘03 because that was the same season Commissioner Stern announced the league was changing the first round format from best-of-five to best-of-seven. Stern made the announcement like two months before the playoffs kicked off. He forgot.
Great player when healthy, Too many people judge individuals based on team success. In a team sport, the best team wins, not necessarily the best player. Further, judging an individual for his team's failure in a play-off series, when his team is the lower seed is ridiculous. All we can ask of star player is that they perform at or near their best in the biggest moments and biggest games whatever the outcome. For the most part, T-Mac was superb in those situations, especially when you consider that play-off coaches can focus on taking away what a team/player does best, and he had very little help most years.
One thing folks forgot to mention in T-Mac's legacy is he usually came into the post season as an underdog. Rarely had home court in the playoffs due to lack of help in the regular season. This is why he was never in position to play lesser opponents in the first round. That makes a big difference.
Good video, Jonny. T-Mac was very talented and I would say that injuries and not having enough help were the biggest factors, but there were times in which he choked, like against Detroit. His story definitely has a lot of 'what ifs'. Have a great day, Jonny 😊
the charlote hornets series was truly a choke, those hornets had the same record as the magic and were missing their second best player. those hornets were led by baron davies and a whatever cast. you cant be percieved on the same level as kobe and get swept by a mid team. he never closed the fourth quarters and usually went scoreless in the most important moments
-- Kobe languished much like Tmac without any major stars. But Kobe played with Shaq (most dominant) and then had Phil Jackson for most of his career who won 11 rings. Then toss in Pau Gasol for good measure. Tmac? His best player was Yao who suffered debilitating injuries. Tmac's prime ended at age 27 -- that's when most players enter their true prime. Dirk, KG, Hakeem, didn't win their 1st ring until their 30s.
@@culifabrizio1479he didn’t maybe in 2000 but afterwards hell no. It’s ignorant to say he carried him. Kobe numbers were damn near identical to shaq’s in the playoffs. They needed each other. That’s why they were so dominant as a duo.
i can't help but think of the comparison with Tmac and James Harden, which is kinda sad because it would seem like Tmac is the more involved, more competitive player, but with almost same results.
Tmac had a lot of opportunities to elevate his team to the next round. The type of moments that separate stars from the greats. Unfortunately he came up short in those moments. That being said, he was never in an elite team. There were some very good ones, but none that were highly believable as championship contenders. It’s not like he was losing to 7th and 8th seeds. It’s a mixed bag.
True none of the teams he faced were that low seeded, Hornets team he lost to in 02 was a bad loss though. They were missing Mashburn and Baron Davis carried them when T-Mac should've been able to get over the hump.
Remember.. Jerry West was going to follow up the Kobe draft with later getting Tracy McGrady and adding him to the Shaq and Kobe Lakers. But their coach Del Harris refused because he didn't want to lose Eddie Jones. Had Del not gotten involved the Shaq and Kobe Lakers would have been the Shaq and Kobe and McGrady Lakers. And Tracy has gone on record saying he was always more comfortable in a Pippen role than a Jordan one. He was just forced to be in that one because of the teams he had to lead. So imagine how McGrady career changes if he's with Shaq and Kobe and how many rings that trio wins together.
TMac was a what if who just happened to play with two big what ifs, Grant Hill and Yao Ming. What ifs rarely reach their potential, or atleast rarely win, because of multitude of circumstances, usually injuries.
I’m still so Mad that once T-Mac finally… Finally made it to the Finals (even though it was for the spurs run and him sitting on the bench) the fans rejoiced since he always had the first round curse on him, everyone was going to give him his flowers, then Ray Allen happened and saved the Heat and Lebrons ass in the process.
I don’t like this mentality that winning a ring on the Spurs would have increased T-Mac’s All-Time ranking. Winning a ring as a benchwarmer would have done nothing for him. He was carried to the Finals. It’s like Mitch Richmond winning with the 2002 Lakers. It was a nice congratulatory prize, but it did nothing to bump him up on the greats list. He would not have gotten close if it weren’t for Shaq and Kobe. The same thing would have happened with T-Mac.
Idk but I've been running a fantasy draft association with my homie and lost the first year to him in the finals (2011). Made three adjustments the following year to replace my retired back up pg, draft bojan for eventual shooting and defense, and got Tracy McGrady, the idea being he was there to mentor Paul George and Michael Beasley. He took over and won the whole damn thing for me, averaging 23 a game for me off the bench.
I love T-Mac, I watched the 16 second comeback live on TV. But lately he’s been in a lot of conversations he has no business being in. He was a tremendous player but that’s it, he didn’t do much of anything in the league. Whenever he got hurt in Houston it was a huge letdown and disappointment. All that talent and he couldn’t overcome his circumstances. Couldn’t even take a team to the Finals with how talented he was. Melo in the same boat too except his fate was of his own design
It’s mainly the “Hooper” crowd who put T-Mac into these types of All-Time great conversations. T-Mac was a great player in his prime, but he did not have the playoff success and consistency needed to be a Top 30 player All-Time. People overly utilize “What-If’s” in talking about his legacy in order to try to prop him up to that tier.
Tmac, like Iverson, will always be a legend to me. He has the the coolest play style ive ever seen, he reminds me of a coiled viper, or a wildcat, somehow. His 62 point game in 2004 is up for free on RU-vid, i encourage everyone to give it a watch this off season. He was the lebron before lebron. 6'9" freak athlete, drafted out of high-school, averaging 30ppg and nightly highlights
Being stuck on the worst team in the league at his peak and him and his second best player never being healthy at the same time. That's why he never got past the first round for the casuals calling him a choker.
If you look at any player with multiple championships, in addition to all the talent and hard work, luck is on their side also. A player can do everything right and still not win.
A series of unfortunate circumstances keeps T-Mac outside of the best player conversations. He was not the most active defender either, even though his length could be a serious weapon. Offensively, he had the whole bag. Silky smooth on the court. It was a pleasure to grow up in this era.
Tmac was absurdly talented he just didn't have the mentality to be a #1 on a contender. If Grant Hill wasn't injured that Magic team goes places even if Tmac never put up the godly numbers carrying garbage. By the time he got to the Rockets he wasn't able to be healthy and neither was Yao Ming.
Agreed, like his cuz Vince he had all the talent in the world but lacked the competitive drive needed to elevate above the competition when it mattered
@@SoggySlopstertotally disagree. Vince went toe to toe with AI with a 50-ball in the wcf and was a game winner away from making it to the finals. Both guys did everything you could expect them to do individually. If they were playoff chokers I’d agree but they just couldn’t do it alone.
A sad thing in T-Mac's career was that the blame always went to him no matter what. Yao sucked against Dallas in those last games and was completely outplayed by Boozer in 07, but everyone pointed their fingers to T-Mac.
Great video. I love McGrady but he’s been severely overrated by much of the fans. He was EXTREMELY talented but choked in the playoffs + his inefficient scoring was due to poor decision making… I do think that he could have benefited from being much more humble in his younger years… as well as being a 2nd option to someone like Shaq (only one could dream). I think his defense would have shined and his efficiency would have gone up IF he was more off-ball.
I guarantee you if you put his stat line (averages) from his prime years up against Kobe during that same time span you would not be able to tell which is which. Tmac was very capable of leading a team. He suffered from bad circumstances more than anything. He takes some of the blame for those series losses but not all of it.
Please forgive me but what does Mcgrady being more humble have to do with effecting his career? Early on in Toronto, (too which he should have stayed).Anyway, Mcgrady was just getting his feet wet in the NBA. When he was traded to the Orlando Magic. He Was thrusted into the limelight. Being humble isn't going to have any effect. He has to go out and perform.
T-Mac was as good as it gets, the guy was just unlucky and always stuck in average teams. On another note, McGrady vehemently denied he ever made that statement about the Pistons in 2003 and dared anyone to find a footage or an article at the time that he made that statement.
I still remember Tmac being young and arrogant while he was in Toronto. When he decided to leave Toronto via Free Agency, he was interviewed by a media member and was asked as to why he left the Raptors, his answer was he wanted to have his own team. I knew at that time that decision and statement was going to haunt him the rest of his NBA career, and sure enough it did. Had he placed his ego aside and just studied NBA history for a minute he would have learned that NBA Champions are built in Stars by committee (the exception is Hakeem Olajuwon). Had he stayed in Toronto, he and his cousin, Vince Carter would have at minimum 2-3 Championships. Unfortunately, his selfish ego got in the way and history was written differently.
Health and help. McGrady is one of the most talented, yet, unfortunate superstars in NBA history. He didn't have enough help or health to have a long career like players (LeBron) today. If McGrady had the amount of talent LeBron played with, he would have won three championships.
That clip of T-mac kicking the ball into the crowd (twice) will always be funny to me. An all-time great that was just so unlucky, either running into far superior teams, his injuries or his teammates' injuries. I was so annoyed that the spurs couldn't win it in 2013 because I wanted T-mac to get a ring. The guy deserved it, no matter how little he played.
T-Mac was just a player who was good at scoring, and he was on weak teams that let him shoot as much as he wanted thus he was able to get those scoring titles, and that was all about it. He was not an efficient scorer and didn't elevate he's team by making he's teammates involved/better, unlike players like Luka or Jokic. Similar players to name are Harden and Westbrook, who can score monstrous numbers on nightly bases, and even they managed to lead the team deeper into the play-off. T-Mac was fortunate to be teammate with Yao which generated him a huge fan base in China. Sadly, in the end he's just an overrated player who constantly under-performed and never live up to the hype.
This is the thing people purposefully make themselves forget about T-Mac. Even when he was healthy, he was never a great playoff performer. He was inefficient (Never once shot above 45% in the regular season or playoffs) and was never a guy who elevated his teammates in a big way especially in Orlando.
In my opinion, a bust in sports is not just about an athlete's performance on the field, it also includes their character and work ethic off the field. However, others may have different criteria when evaluating athletes.STOP THE HATE LET EM BE FREE 1:13
TMac is definitely a victim of injuries and circumstances. I always look at TMac as a prime example of a “what if”…and frequently describe him as a more polished version of Durant (I know some may not agree); TMac was that good! Unbelievable talent with just poor fortune. We at least got to see some years of greatness and the potential of what could have been.
just like i dont think its fair to label a player a bust if injuries is the main reason for their failure to live up to expectations, i dont think its fair to call a player a choker if the main reason for their lack of playoff/championship success is because of horribly timed injuries. that is just something you can't control.
That 2009 Rockets squad still is one of the weirdest teams I’ve ever seen. T-Mac, Yao, Mutombo, Kyle Lowry, Ron Artest, Luis Scola and Shane Battier. It’s hard to believe they all played together on the same team at one point.
Maaaaan don't talk ill of my dude. Literally unguardable. Put it this way,, offensively he did more than Kobe and didnt have to do as much and didnt have to work as hard.
T-Mac I still say it to this day and I'll stand on it if him and Yao Ming are healthy for that 2009-2010 season they beat thr Lakers that year that starting 5 was scary T-Mac Yao Ming Ron Artest Shane Battier you got Aaron Brooks Luis Scola on the bench they were ready all they needed was T-Mac and Yao Ming to be healthy they only had 1 healthy season together which was the 1st season. Also, I can't stand Doc Rivers to this day, which cost my boy T-Mac to have a prime Tim Duncan in Orlando with him
If T Mac and Vince had stayed together in Toronto, with Bosh… they could have won a couple chips or more. Revisionist history, sure, but they had the pieces.
By eye-test, peak McGrady might have been the best baller I have ever seen. If Kobe's game looked as good as T-Macs, I'd feel way better about the Jordan comparisons.
If you compare year wise jordan and Mcgrady his 3 years at Toronto equal Jordan’s 3 years at UNC it took Jordan 5 years in the NBA to get to the Finals (with no injuries) and he had 2 all-stars playing with him them take away the injuries put the right team with him and he gets at least 1 ring if not more
I'm not sure if this is true, but I've heard that he was kind of lazy. He was so naturally talented that he didn't put in the work like Kobe, Jimmy Butler, or Kawhi Leonard did/do. That led to him often being gassed at the end of playoff games where he played 40+ minutes. Moreover, he relied too much on that talent and being "on" rather than having those thousands of hours of practice to fall back on so he could contribute in other ways if his shot wasn't falling.
Isn't the story that T-mac forgot at that moment the format change from first to 3 to first to 4 in the first round that year? Or maybe it's T-mac making excuses years later.
He was a shoot you out of a game player plain and simple do not build your team and he was no what if. The back problems didn't start till later on. Vince carter far more of a whay if. He was injured constantly during his prime. And actually did stuff with less.
@@CrazyxEnigma I think you’ve got a point. But I think he still would’ve become an All NBA talent and been part of a more stable team built around him. Bad luck certainly played more of a role in his sub-par career with the Magic and Rockets than anything else. I think his good fortune would’ve been better back in Toronto. Very much hindsight for sure.
Even if I wasn't a Lakers fan I'd take Kobe every time. Kobe played great defense at his athletic peak and came out clutch multiple times in the playoffs. T-Mac ain't winning in 09 or 10 if you subbed him for Kobe.
Side note: that Pistons series was the first time they expanded the first round to 7 games. Anytime before that Orlando would've been in second round. With that said...him claiming he was in the second round before round one was over was just foolish.
