So Just How Good Was Tracy McGrady in (02-03)

[Batman]

How is that funny? He's injured and not coming until around all-star break

many people thought it was a knock on mcgrady. to the person who wrote that shows he has alot of basketball knownledge because mcgrady isnt coming back until halfway through the season.

[O.J A 6'4Mamba]

300+responded, 8.8k+ viewed and counting
I'm too big for ISH.

[The Joker]

So Just How Good Was Tracy McGrady in (02-03)

Better than O.J. Mayo

[Batman]

Better than O.J. Mayo

this

[O.J A 6'4Mamba]

Highflyer do some f*cking research before you make a thread.

[oh the horror]

TMac was god damn ridiculously good. Yes, he was better than Kobe. He was better than Kobe ever has been. This fiction that there is something inherently "winner" in Kobe and inherentlly "loser" in Tmac needs to stop. Most heroes are made and Kobe is most definitely made. His work ethic is stronger than Tmac's there's no doubt about that. But Kobe's work ethic is merely a product of the same selfishness and impatience that makes him less effective, and less conducive to winning, than he otherwise could be.

But having great teams and great coaches around him from day one has *made* him a winner, both in terms of results and reputation. Tmac would have won just as much as Kobe did in his shoes.

Tim Duncan is a flat, emotionless, offensively passive player. Yet he is considered a winner of the first order, and why? Two reasons. One is that he is a very consistent offensive player who makes his teammates better - just like Tmac does. Two is that he is a part of the greatest organization in recent sports history. From day one of his career he has been in the best possible situation. Perfect roleplayers. Rookie year was the final piece of the puzzle for an already good team. Top 3 coach in NBA history... all these things made him what he is today. And he is that - if you took away all these things and stuck him on LA Clippers he'd still be a "winner" (though not to the same extent) but if he had been on LA Clippers from day one who on earth knows how he would have turned out?

Tmac consistently showed up in the playoffs, and in a big way. He never had the team, the organization, he coach. There's really no reason to believe that given Gregg Popovich and all that other stuff, he couldn't have won a few championships? I'm not suggesting he's Duncan's equal, or even could be, because Duncan's defensive impact is huge. But Tmac gets underappreciated. All these guys are considered losers, and then they get some decent teammates, win a ring or come close, and all of a sudden they're great leaders with tremendous intangibles (Pierce, Garnett). Fans are fickle.

Couldnt agree more.

I don't get where the whole McGrady has no heart thing comes from, is because he never made it out of the first round? I guess Grant Hill has no heart either.

Is it because he was injured so much? I guess Hill, Penny, Yao have no heart either.

Go look at his playoff games, and tell me that he didn't give it his all every time. People just go along with the "he has no heart" thing, without looking at the facts. IMO he "choked" in the playoffs twice, in the series against Detroit and the series against Dallas, even neither were entirely his fault.

Its the same hatred, and insane logic as when people refer to EVERY OTHER player as a "cancer" without any real explanations. Some of these situations require actual well thought out answers....yet very few can provide why they feel such about certain players....most of the time, the "facts" are mere speculation.

[phoenix18]

Why bother arguing about Kobe here? It doesnt matter what you say, people are still going to think whatever they want. It gets tired.

[The_Yearning]

Orlando T-Mac was the best player in the damn game, undisputed. When he got traded to Houston, that was the time where the focus was entirely on Kobe because of the Shaq fiasco and T'Mac's injuries started to ensue...

ISH is horrible if they think Kobe > T-Mac in his prime Orlando days...and 08-09 Wade better then Prime T=Mac? Hop off the crack chump.

[O.J A 6'4Mamba]

i hope tmac comes back better than ever.

[D.J.]

i hope tmac comes back better than ever.

It's not happening. He'll be 31 in May and he had major knee surgery not long ago. The man is finished.