Am I nuts or is Tracy McGrady vastly underrated?

[VancouverRaps]

I am taking him over Paul Pierce easily.

This is not saying much. I don’t think anyone would argue for prime Paula pierce over prime Mcgrady

Agreed. I’d imagine most non-Celtic fans would take a prime T-Mac over prime Pierce

[Ambrose]

T-Mac is one of my favorite players ever but he's more overrated than underrated. He made everything look effortless, had ridiculous talent, and had a crazy one year peak. He was also injury prone (which shortened his prime), relatively inefficient, his best year was pretty much an outlier, and he had his weaknesses overlooked because he made everything look so easy.

In another universe with some luck he ends up much higher on ATG lists than he does in reality. He had horrible luck between injuries and playing on awful teams. With health or better roster construction he is likely far more successful. The thing is that's all hypothetical and not what actually happened.

[dkb9696]

I think he's rated just about right. Has HOF accolades but not sure he's a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Outside of his 7 All-NBA seasons and the 1999-00 season where he was a defensive-minded complementary player, the rest of his career is pretty much a whole lot of nothing.

He was a monster in that 2002-03 season though and was such a smooth scorer.

left out 2 time scoring champ.

[TwitterFingers]

Maybe the most polarizing player ever. Personally I feel he’s an all time great. His skills were matched by very few. He ran into a lot of bad luck and his body broke down, but few players were as good as prime T-Mac

[Onlytimewilltel]

You're nuts. He's a volume shooter stat padder who never won anything in his career despite his accolades.

So similar volume shooter to Kobe? The guy who’s one of the top 12 ever to play the game? Hah their shooting percentages were about the same outside of free throws. And they took more long twos and fadeways and what’s considered “bad shots” today.

And he never won anything because his teams were not better than competition in playoffs. For example you replace prime T-Mac and Kobe and he also wins three rings with Shaq.

[dkb9696]

T-Mac is one of my favorite players ever but he's more overrated than underrated. He made everything look effortless, had ridiculous talent, and had a crazy one year peak. He was also injury prone (which shortened his prime), relatively inefficient, his best year was pretty much an outlier, and he had his weaknesses overlooked because he made everything look so easy.

In another universe with some luck he ends up much higher on ATG lists than he does in reality. He had horrible luck between injuries and playing on awful teams. With health or better roster construction he is likely far more successful. The thing is that's all hypothetical and not what actually happened.

making things look easy should not be looked at as a fault. lol

[dkb9696]

Hopefully people remember the playmaking ability. McGrady was a talented playmaker.

[Dupp]

I’d say he’s extremely overrated.


Great skill set, strong in all areas and very aesthetic. His 03 season was really a flash in the pan season though. He literally lead his team out of the firs round 0 times.

He was really really good but he wasn’t great. His peak was amazing but short lived. Harden for example is way better.

Kids do not even know who McGrady is. He was great. The man has 7 all nba teams on his resume.

You keep saying kids. You sound like a 14 year old trying to sound 14 and a half.

[picc]

He was every bit as good as Kobe/Wade at his peak. But his peak was only a year.

[SSUBluesman]

I’d say he’s extremely overrated.


Great skill set, strong in all areas and very aesthetic. His 03 season was really a flash in the pan season though. He literally lead his team out of the firs round 0 times.

He was really really good but he wasn’t great. His peak was amazing but short lived. Harden for example is way better.

Kids do not even know who McGrady is. He was great. The man has 7 all nba teams on his resume.

You keep saying kids. You sound like a 14 year old trying to sound 14 and a half.

Kobe never lead his team out of the first round without a 20/10 big.

The only roster worse than the one supporting KG during that era was the one supporting T-Mac. Kobe put up 35 a night playing with scrubs and couldn't beat the "worst back to back MVP ever" and get out of the first round.

[dkb9696]

I’d say he’s extremely overrated.


Great skill set, strong in all areas and very aesthetic. His 03 season was really a flash in the pan season though. He literally lead his team out of the firs round 0 times.

He was really really good but he wasn’t great. His peak was amazing but short lived. Harden for example is way better.

Kids do not even know who McGrady is. He was great. The man has 7 all nba teams on his resume.

You keep saying kids. You sound like a 14 year old trying to sound 14 and a half.

my bad.

[dkb9696]

He was every bit as good as Kobe/Wade at his peak. But his peak was only a year.

please ... he was far from a one hit wonder.

[Metallikid]

You're nuts. He's a volume shooter stat padder who never won anything in his career despite his accolades.

So similar volume shooter to Kobe? The guy who’s one of the top 12 ever to play the game? Hah their shooting percentages were about the same outside of free throws. And they took more long twos and fadeways and what’s considered “bad shots” today.

And he never won anything because his teams were not better than competition in playoffs. For example you replace prime T-Mac and Kobe and he also wins three rings with Shaq.

I disagree with that completely. Kobe was a better leader, competitor, defender. Tracy couldn't win a single round man. The constant was him on all those different teams. He didn't play winning basketball. With him it was a mentality thing.

[picc]

He was every bit as good as Kobe/Wade at his peak. But his peak was only a year.

please ... he was far from a one hit wonder.

He had a few very good years. But just one great one.

[Dupp]

Kids do not even know who McGrady is. He was great. The man has 7 all nba teams on his resume.

You keep saying kids. You sound like a 14 year old trying to sound 14 and a half.

Kobe never lead his team out of the first round without a 20/10 big.

The only roster worse than the one supporting KG during that era was the one supporting T-Mac. Kobe put up 35 a night playing with scrubs and couldn't beat the "worst back to back MVP ever" and get out of the first round.

The issue is he was never healthy and or good enough to lead his team to a high enough seed to win a first round matchup.

[dkb9696]

You're nuts. He's a volume shooter stat padder who never won anything in his career despite his accolades.

So similar volume shooter to Kobe? The guy who’s one of the top 12 ever to play the game? Hah their shooting percentages were about the same outside of free throws. And they took more long twos and fadeways and what’s considered “bad shots” today.

And he never won anything because his teams were not better than competition in playoffs. For example you replace prime T-Mac and Kobe and he also wins three rings with Shaq.

I disagree with that completely. Kobe was a better leader, competitor, defender. Tracy couldn't win a single round man. The constant was him on all those different teams. He didn't play winning basketball. With him it was a mentality thing.

He had easily one of the worst talent in the league as a supporting cast in Orlando.

[Rainwater]

You're nuts

He was a never a superstar on the level of Kobe because he was injured half the time and when he wasn't, he sure as hell wasn't anywhere as good as Kobe defensively

How old are you and when did you start watching basketball? Lol. Kobe or T-Mac was a debate in Barber Shops before T-Mac got hurt.

[Rainwater]

People point to his lack of playoff success but the Magic lost Grant Hill and were basically a 1 man team. He probably should have win a couple of series with Yao in Houston but they were never a legit contender level team.

I was there for the series the Mavs' (the 2nd seed) superior depth finally prevailed in 7 game series. T-Mac was absolutely terrifying, putting up 30/7/7. He certainly doesn't deserve any blame for that one.

His playoff stats are actually very good, it was his teammates that were generally lacking.

This is so true. T-Mac was always great in the playoffs but his teammates never seemed to help him.

[Dupp]

Tmacs probably got the biggest disparity of any player ever when it comes to peak/ actual ability vs career value.

[Rainwater]

I think TMac peaked as a top 5 player and was generally a consensus top 10 player but he was never on the Shaq/Duncan/Kobe level who were imo the best players of the early/mid 2000’s. Then you have KG, Dirk, Nash and James and Wade were coming in the mid-decade. I do think he was much better than Iverson however.

People point to his lack of playoff success but the Magic lost Grant Hill and were basically a 1 man team. He probably should have win a couple of series with Yao in Houston but they were never a legit contender level team.

This is a pretty accurate post. Although I always thought there was a top 4 of Kobe, Shaq, KG, and Duncan. Then there was the tier of Kidd, Nash, T-Mac, Dirk, and AI.

And you were right about T-Mac in Orlando and Houston in the playoffs. In Orlando he pretty much played by himself and in Houston either him T-Mac or Yao where injured with a half baked supporting cast. And by the time they got a decent team together T-Mac was done.