What were T Mac's major weaknesses in his prime?

[Nick Young]

his choking nature in the playoffs.

[nathanjizzle]

tmac was a beast, hes alittle better than wade, and arguably on kobes level.

[T_L_P]

He would be rated clearly below LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis and he would be in the mix of players like Steph curry, James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul. I would probably rank a prime McGrady about the fifth or sixth best player in the NBA if he were active today.

He also never seemed to fully commit himself on the defensive end of things.

Overall prime? Sure.

Peak T-Mac (03) had a better season than anyone did last year, and he'd be clearly ahead of the Currys/Hardens of the NBA.

[Noob Saibot]

Where T-Mac fell really short was in the intangibles. Competitiveness, leadership, work ethic - I can't think of a superstar who possessed less of those attributes than him. He had a 'I did my part' mindset towards the game, where as long as he got his numbers and the team did relatively well (made playoffs), he was content.

Skill-wise, he certainly didn't have an exploitable weakness, but despite his elite athleticism, he was never a very good finisher nor even that good at getting to the line. His at-rim percentages and FT rate lag well behind other superstar swingmen of the 00's and 10's, making him a lot more dependent on the jumper than them. His game did lack a certain shiftiness/change of direction quality to it. He was more of a straight-line player and that's probably what prevented him from getting to the line much.

^that sums it up and if TMac were to play now in his early to mid 20s, people would be talking about him as the best player in the league hoping to dethrone Lebron James. The wing positions now have regressed compared to ten years ago were it was stacked with talent. Tmac would get more exposure in 2015 no doubt.

[GrapeApe]

tmac was a beast, hes alittle better than wade, and arguably on kobes level.

What? Peak Wade was arguably better than Kobe (but I don't feel like getting into that debate). T-Mac was most certainly not better than Wade. For example, for all of T-mac's athletic ability he never made an all-defense team. Wade finished 3rd in DPOY while leading the league in scoring and finishing top 10 in assists (only MJ has done that). T-mac never had the overall impact of Wade or Kobe, despite putting up pretty numbers.

[HOoopCityJones]

Kobe Bryant.

[nathanjizzle]

What? Peak Wade was arguably better than Kobe (but I don't feel like getting into that debate). T-Mac was most certainly not better than Wade. For example, for all of T-mac's athletic ability he never made an all-defense team. Wade finished 3rd in DPOY while leading the league in scoring and finishing top 10 in assists (only MJ has done that). T-mac never had the overall impact of Wade or Kobe, despite putting up pretty numbers.

fine, he wasnt.

[GrapeApe]

fine, he wasnt.

I din't mean to come accross like I was attacking you or anything, I just think T-Mac gets a little overrated due to his numbers and his "eye pleasing" game. He had some defficiencies that hindered his ability to translate his production to team success.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

What? Peak Wade was arguably better than Kobe (but I don't feel like getting into that debate). T-Mac was most certainly not better than Wade. For example, for all of T-mac's athletic ability he never made an all-defense team. Wade finished 3rd in DPOY while leading the league in scoring and finishing top 10 in assists (only MJ has done that). T-mac never had the overall impact of Wade or Kobe, despite putting up pretty numbers.

Well stated. He had some good Houston teams that should have made it to the 2nd round.

[Dragonyeuw]

Where T-Mac fell really short was in the intangibles. Competitiveness, leadership, work ethic - I can't think of a superstar who possessed less of those attributes than him. He had a 'I did my part' mindset towards the game, where as long as he got his numbers and the team did relatively well (made playoffs), he was content.

Skill-wise, he certainly didn't have an exploitable weakness, but despite his elite athleticism, he was never a very good finisher nor even that good at getting to the line. His at-rim percentages and FT rate lag well behind other superstar swingmen of the 00's and 10's, making him a lot more dependent on the jumper than them. His game did lack a certain shiftiness/change of direction quality to it. He was more of a straight-line player and that's probably what prevented him from getting to the line much.

This is a good summation. Regarding his shiftiness, or lack of, I don't think his lateral quickness was all that great which kind of plays into the whole shift gears/change of pace ability when slashing or playing great man defense.

To those saying an inconsistent jumper, not in 2003. That jumpshot was money, not historically great like Durant but elite-level. Tmac's jumpshot, like much of his game, took a nosedive once the back injuries really kicked in. His shot was much flatter after 2005/6 and he lost some lift.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

^that sums it up and if TMac were to play now in his early to mid 20s, people would be talking about him as the best player in the league hoping to dethrone Lebron James. The wing positions now have regressed compared to ten years ago were it was stacked with talent. Tmac would get more exposure in 2015 no doubt.

I kind of agree with this. At the SG position, with Wade and Kobe aging. If a 2003 Tmac all of a sudden came into the league, he would be hailed as the best SG and the future "best wing" in the league once LeBron retires.

[Smoke117]

He was prone to settling for the jumper instead of driving to the basket. He really only had one especially good season as a scorer...2003. The rest of his career he was more of a high volume scorer...needed a lot of shots to get his points. He's regarded as a much better scorer than his production shows...but considering how overrated a guy like Iverson is among you all as a scorer and Tmac wasn't close to as bad as him...it doesn't surprise me that Mcgrady is overrated in this regard too.

[Clifton]

His shot selection wasn't very good.

He also wasn't clutch. He wasn't a choker, at all. He was just as good in the 4th as he was the rest of the game... but he wouldn't make those timely plays at just the right moment like Kobe, Wade, Jordan did. I'd rather have the ball in the hands of Melo or KD or Paul with the game on the line.


And before someone posts 13 in 35... he could get hot. And he didn't choke. I'm just saying he didn't respond to situations like most of the other top-tier all-time greats were known for doing.

[JimmyMcAdocious]

TMac improved on all his numbers in the playoffs in each season other than 03 where he went from 32.1 ppg to 31.7 ppg with everything else pretty much the same. 2003 against that Pistons teams, btw. He made some real shit Orlando rosters into vying playoff teams. His elimination game stats are something like 30/8/6 (someone can check, going off memory when I saw them years ago).

To say he lacked competitiveness is erroneous. Was he wired like MJ or Kobe? Probably not. But you act like you can just walk on the floor and be a 32 ppg scorer when the defense is solely focused on stopping you based purely on god given basketball talent.

[90sgoat]

You said it. His game had no weakness. Maybe a slightly inconsistent jumper.

Once injuries started coming he became too reliant on the jumper and stopped taking it to the hole, where he was unstoppable.

He also wasn't a leader and could never get guys to play up for him.

T-Mac like most of his generation (AND-1) lacked fundamentals, couldn't play off ball and could barely play inside a real system.

He was an extreme ball hog on a bad team (Orlando).