NBA: Tracy McGrady Definitely Deserves To Be In The Hall Of Fame

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The man they call T-Mac retired from the game of basketball Monday and although he was one of the league’s premier players for a while, his lack of winning will make him easily forgotten.

Much like Adrian Dantley, Tracy McGrady was one of the league’s premier wings in his prime. McGrady started out in Toronto, who took him with the ninth pick of the 1997 NBA Draft. In his first two seasons, he playing sparingly, failing to average more than 10 points per game in either season. In his third season, McGrady broke out, averaging 15.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.9 blocks per game.

After his third year, T-Mac was sent to the Orlando Magic for a future first-round pick (which turned out to be Fran Vazquez, who never came to the NBA), in a sign-and-trade deal. On that same day, the Magic acquired Grant Hill from the Detroit Pistons and both players received (then) max deals of seven years and $93 million.

Unfortunately for McGrady, Hill wasn’t able to stay on the court during his tenure in Orlando, playing in just 47 games in four seasons. While Hill struggled with a bum ankle, McGrady took hold of the Magic, becoming a bonafide star in the process. In the 2002-03 season, T-Mac averaged a career-high 32.1 points, while also putting up respectable averages of 6.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists.

To put that season in perspective, Kevin Durant has never averaged more than 30.1 points per game in a season. Carmelo Anthony has never been able to put up more than 28.9 points a night. Kobe Bryant has only averaged more than 32 points a night once in his illustrious career. Larry Bird has never averaged 30 points a game for an entire season. Even Julius Erving wasn’t able to average that many points per game in the ABA and  during Dr. J’s best scoring season in the ABA, the Virginia Squires put up 114.1 points per night.

In McGrady’s four seasons in Orlando, his team failed to make out of the first round of the playoffs three times and they missed the playoffs once. Although the team was marginal for all four years, which takes away a lot of statistical stardom (you know, the “rings over numbers” argument), T-Mac averaged 28.1 points, 7 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.5 steals and one block per game.

On June 29, 2004, the Magic traded McGrady to the Rockets for Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley. In Houston, McGrady became an international superstar and became a fan favorite in China. With Yao Ming on Houston’s roster, China became very involved in the Rockets (a big part as to why the Rockets signed Jeremy Lin) and as they were checking their countryman out, they all fell in love with McGrady. McGrady’s jersey was the top-selling jersey in China, edging even Yao Ming for number one on that list in 2006.

In Houston, McGrady’s back started to become more of an issue, forcing him to miss 35 games in the 2005-06 season. Houston stumbled to 34-48 in the 2005-06 season after going 51-31 the year before (although they still lost in the first round to the Dallas Mavericks).

During the 2007-08 season, T-Mac began to get some MVP whispers when the Rockets  rattled off 22 wins in a row, which is the third longest winning streak in NBA history (and the second-longest at the time). However, McGrady ended up missing 16 games that season with continued back issues and the Rockets once again fell in the first round.

By the 2009-10 season, T-Mac became expendable, as his back took away his lift and turned him into just another guy 6’7″ guy with a flat jumper. T-Mac was shipped off to the New York Knicks (who were grabbing onto bad contracts like it was their job) and spent the rest of his career as a shadow of himself. He played out the season in New York, then spent a year in Detroit, a year in Atlanta, some time in China and then tried to grab a ring last spring in San Antonio (and he was that close to actually getting one).

A lot of the debate with T-Mac’s retirement is whether or not he should be in the Hall of Fame and my answer is simple: of course.

This guy was one of the league’s premier players for a little less than a decade. Everyone started to be a fan of McGrady’s and everyone was wearing his adidas. McGrady never won a ring and he never really got close until he snuck onto Gregg Popovich’s bench last season, but there are 30 teams in this league and we can’t punish everyone for not having great supporting casts (and great backs), right?

McGrady was a lot like Carmelo Anthony is now, except he didn’t play in a huge market like New York. He put up great numbers, but was never able to win. He was an All-Star seven times, he was first team All-NBA twice, second team All-NBA three times and third team All-NBA twice.  He led the league in scoring two times and for all the stat fanatics out there, he was top four in the league in player efficiency three times, leading the entire league in 2002-03.

There’s no doubt this guy deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and anyone who says otherwise probably uses winning as the main reason.

Players come and players go, but McGrady is definitely one that should be remembered.  I know I’ll always remember the way he used to raise up to rim level for his jumpers and fire them on a line into the basket, releasing a distinct sound from the ball colliding with the back of the rim.

To celebrate the announcement of T-Mac’s retirement, here’s one of his finest moments:

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