Papabear Says
The NBA's Underrated: Tracy McGrady
By: Jonathan Tjarks
Sep 02, 2011 4:47 PM EDT
After a few injury-plagued years with Houston that resulted in him infamously never making it out of the first round of the playoffs, Tracy McGrady’s reputation isn’t what it once was. Many have forgotten how good a player he actually was, and as a result, they don’t realize how good a player he still is.
An incredibly skilled 6’8 220 perimeter player with a 7’2 wingspan, McGrady was doing many of the same things Kevin Durant now does in Oklahoma City. Except he was a more explosive athlete and a far superior passer.
In 2003, at the age of 23, McGrady averaged 32.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists on 46% shooting. He didn’t have a single hole in his offensive game: he shot 39% from beyond the 3-point line and had an assist to turnover ratio of 2.1.
He carried an Orlando team ravaged by injuries to a 42-win season and a first-round Game 7 against a Detroit Pistons squad whose core (Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton and Ben Wallace) would win a title two years later. Orlando's other four starters in Game 1 of that series: Drew Gooden, Jacque Vaughn, Gordan Giricek and Andrew DeClerq.
His teams’ lack of playoff success is often held against him, but it’s not like he didn’t perform on the big stage: he averaged 28.5 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists in 38 career playoff games. He has the fourth highest career playoff scoring average, behind only Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Jerry West and LeBron James.
McGrady was a victim of his own success: because the game came so naturally to him, because it looked so easy, people assumed that he wasn’t trying as hard as he could. Combine that with the belief that superstars can “will” their teams to victory, and McGrady’s lack of post-season success has often been attributed to some deficiency in his character.
Speaking at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference last March, his former coach Jeff Van Gundy criticized McGrady’s practice habits. Yet it wasn’t a lack of work ethic that side-tracked his career, it was chronic injuries to his knees and back. Much like his fellow injury-prone teammate Yao Ming, it’s possible that McGrady was just too big and too long, that the human body wasn’t designed to support someone with his frame and athletic ability.
There’s no way to avoid the types of injuries guys like McGrady, Yao and Grant Hill have had. His injuries weren’t a function of being out of shape; they were totally out of his control. Before his body betrayed him, McGrady had a Hall of Fame worthy resume: he missed the All-NBA team only once between 2000-2008, making the first and third teams twice and the second team three times.
He resurfaced in Detroit last season, playing in over 70 games for the first time in four seasons. And while he no longer has the explosive athleticism of his youth, he’s still 6’9 and he’s still an incredibly talented ball-handler, playmaker and shooter.
For a large part of the year, he was the Pistons starting point guard, the tallest in the league. His per-36 minute averages were 12 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists on only 2.2 turnovers, despite a career-low usage rating of 18.6. Defensively, his length allows him to switch almost every screen and roll as well as guard all three perimeter positions.
McGrady’s made the adjustment to being a role player, and he’d be a valuable piece for any of the league’s contenders. His shooting ability makes him a very effective off-the-ball player, and his positional versatility creates extremely intriguing line-ups: imagine a Miami back-court of him, Wade and LeBron or a Dallas front-court of him, Dirk and Chandler.
The gold standard for injury-plagued Hall of Famers coming off the bench at the tail end of their careers is Bill Walton in Boston. But even if McGrady doesn’t win Sixth Man of the Year, it’s easy to envision him in a role similar to Ron Harper on the late-90’s Bulls or Grant Hill on the Phoenix Suns.
Tracy McGrady is only 32-years-old. It’s not too late for him to change the flawed perception of his career.
Tracy McGrady, Detroit Piston
Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/blog/215432/The_NBAs_Underrated_Tracy_McGrady#ixzz1Wu6I18Ow
