Tracy McGrady makes Hall of Fame on April Fool's Day (Rudy snubbed again)

What exactly do you try to envision here? He was declining, his body was declining, without the surgery.

If you think Harden cannot play well enough with a wrist sprain, what makes you think he could play much longer on that knee?

 

I don't think his body was declining. Don't forget that he just had a great playoff series against the Jazz.

His knee issue was totally avoidable. Although arthroscopic surgery is considered routine surgeries, like all surgeries, it requires proper rehab. Given that McGrady entered the season noticeably overweight, it's clear he didn't rehab properly.

 

Congrats to Tracy, not just for making the HOF, but for also starting a brand new category that you (and you alone) are the only member of.

Not who are the greatest players to never win a ring, but who are the greatest players to NEVER win a playoff series.

There will be no need to construct this new wing at the HOF. My understanding is the janitor's closet in the back will have Tracy's plaque.

 

Is it too early for a "Is McGrady making Hakeem obsolete" thread?

 

The problem I see with armchair doctor assessments like this is that yes, fans are angry because Tmac is perceived to have ruined a championship chance.

However, from a different perspective you realize that Tmac was making $20M a year and getting that surgery isn't a decision he would've made out of spite or pranking the organization, as he had to weigh any decision against tens of millions of dollars of future earnings potential.

In the end the injuries took his career down and so it's kind of silly to expect that he could've just sucked it up and played well enough to push us to a championship.

That whole era is painful but I'm not going to hold on to bitterness based on conjecture. Am I frustrated and disappointed? Yes. But that was just a terrible scenario from any angle.

 

How is that a different perspective?

Is that what I said? Or did I say that he didn't rehab properly?

No offense, but did you even read my post before responding to it?

 

If you turn the angle:

First Ballot HOF also 1st round exit strategist. On April the 1st. Not a coincidence.

 

Orlando Tmac,at one point, surpassed Kobe in his prime. I remember Tracy going into the forum, checking him solo....dominating on both ends. But,the back issues caused him to never approach being the that player again, definitely without any kind of consistency. His J was erratic as a result of it. We knew what we were getting was "as is".

Along with the physical issues came the psychological side...frustration...major denial/delusions of grandeur...selfishness..

I despised his behavior as a Rocket, but am willing to forgive him as I know he wanted to be at his best ...(he DID give us some good times).. and was ill equipped mentally to adjust on the fly to being a shell of the player he was.

That said, in no way, shape, or form should his jersey go to the rafters. Let Orlando do that.

Also, I echo the sentiments regarding RudyT ...he's overdue.

 

Congrats to Rocket hero Tracy McGrady!

Well deserved!

 

Technically he did win a playoff series with the Spurs trolololololol

So your statement is false

 

Jordan retired after threepeating... twice. That's not quitting.

 

Because they're a bunch of babies. Many teams have had very long stretches where they haven't even made the playoffs. Many have never even won a championship.

Here are the teams that have:

Lakers, Celtics, Pistons, Spurs, Heat, Cavs, Rockets, 76ers, Knicks, Mavericks, Warriors, Bucks, and Bulls. That's it. 13 out of 30. And of those teams, the 76ers, Mavericks, Cavs, and Bucks won 1, so we're ahead of them. And the Warriors have won 2, as well as the Knicks, so we're equal with them.

So, when you look at how the Rockets franchise ranks in terms of championships (the ultimate gauge of team greatness), we rank around #7- and ours were back to back, so I'd put us above the Knicks and Warriors.

Lakers
Celtics
Bulls
Spurs
Heat
Pistons
Rockets

You can make a definite case for us being the #7 top franchise of all time.

Then, look at franchises who have had players win MVPs

Lakers- of course
Celtics- of course
Bulls- of course
76ers- with 6

I think we're next with 3, right? Malone twice and Olajuwon once. Tied with the Warriors.


And then Hall of Fame players: we have more than the average, with players who played with us at least 5 years.

All of this is to make one point: I am a firm advocate that if you are a Houston Rockets fan, you celebrate any accomplishment tied to the team. Any player who spent a reasonable amount of time with the team (this is why I'm perfectly OK with leaving Pippen out), you celebrate their success. Any team success, you celebrate.

There are teams like the Grizzlies who have nothing. No Hall of Fame players, no championships, etc. Or teams that have very few- like the Denver Nuggets. Or Dallas Mavericks- one championship and one Hall of Famer. Period.

We have a history and legacy that is certainly above the average, and it's something to be proud of.

For those that hate on McGrady, I would argue that Vernon Maxwell's defection in 1995 was the biggest act of betrayal by any player in Houston Rockets history. You want to talk about quitting? That was the ultimate betrayal. That was leaving the team in the middle of a playoff run. Did Tracy McGrady ever walk out on a team during the middle of a playoff run???? Well, did he??? Do you equate quitting on plays to actually leaving a team in the middle of the playoffs?

Vernon Maxwell gets my ultimate respect for his role in 1994- but he does NOT get a free pass for 1995. You can cover it with tinfoil all you want, but it won't hide what he did.

So, how about we celebrate all players who were part of our team and reached an ultimate pinnacle, such as the Hall of Fame? Yep.

 

You're not accounting for role or impact. At that point, Maxwell was coming off our bench, and we had capable replacements In 2009, McGrady was our highest paid player and supposed to be one of the team's cornerstones. Even after he started off poorly and played himself into a bench role, he still had a lot of trade value.

 

How about a category for “HOFers who had to endure the shittiest rosters of all time?“ Still baffled how little some of you guys know about basketball, there's no way any sane mind can put any of our playoff losses on McGrady.

 

Well you are more educated a NBA fan than the one who brought up Jordan


He should bring that up to a die hard bulls fan and see what happens

 

I never once thought he wouldn't make it to hall of fame
It's the second round of the playoffs and further which I'm pretty positive about him not making
But you can make up scenarios all you want
It's your mind and it's fiction

 

Toronto won without him so did the Rockets