McGrady mentioned as antithesis of Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hr hard-worker

The only surprising part of this is that Morey and JVG already feel so comfortable talking about Tracy's main weakness.

 

“Tracy McGrady was 1,000 hours of practice.” Lol, damn they really ripped into T-Mac. It's a shame what could have been if he put in that extra 9,000 hours.

That part about Shane is interesting too. Shane is well known for putting in the work to be a good defensive player...studying film and stats sheets. But I do wish he would have put in the work to be a solid offensive player too.

 

McGrady did have some awesome years in Orlando, when people talk about Durant I don't think his numbers come close. I would like to see durant pass more and rebound more like t mac did in his younger years.

 

Durant isn't as physically gifted as McGrady was. Not really close IMO. Basketball is harder work for him but he's much more dedicated.

 

I'm not surprised at all. Shane never struck me as someone who was really into being the best he could be. I said that during his peak years here. On offense, my description of him was uncreative, lazy and passive. The same way some great offensive players take a break on defense, Shane rested on offense and allowed whoever was guarding him to rest. To some extent this defeated his purpose.

 

I think T-mac loved baseball more than basketball it's just basketball was the best way for him to be successful.


Either way I still say Injuries is what will keep him from being an HOF player more than how hard he worked away from the court.

 

I recall similar things being said about Barkley (and holding true). And in both cases, the lack of dedication to working hurt them plenty - Barkley being in shape and McGrady rehabbing.

 

I think thats the wrong way to look at it. Thats more of a sign of the offense or his role. You don't have to be creative to be good at something and i don't think many people would describe Battier as lazy. His passiveness had more to do with his role as well.

It's better to look at his individual skills, like dribbling or shooting, and say it showed he didn't practice it as much as he could have.


As for Tmac, i wonder if Morey and JVG were taking his injuries into consideration. That could be part of why he wouldn't reach the 10000 hrs...IIRC, the point is to play for that long, not necessarily put in pure practice hours on your own. Someone can correct me if i'm wrong though, its been a while since i read that book. Either way, i think it's safe to say Tmac would have been a significantly better player without scoliosis or chronic injuries, even with the same practice habits, so it's important to consider that.

 

Van Gundy brought up a good point about one of the most underrated aspect of Tmac's basketball "skills": his 'mind'

Now, we all know he has said, and will say, some pretty dumb things off the court. And of course he's not very intelligent either. But as far basketball goes, he was very intelligent and when he was not heat checking and holding on to the ball, he was top tier when it came to basketball IQ's. A very underrated example is how he drew fouls in the act of shooting. And not to mention his passing abilities and court vision.

 

Yes, injuries were a BIG factor, but one has to wonder how much farther he could've gone if he was a little more dedicated and more humble. I'm not saying that his infamous quote back in the '03 playoffs against the Pistons were directly linked to the Magics losing 3 straight, but it sure didn't help him nor his team.


But its still cool to see how , despite what Gundy said about his practice "habits," he was still a very gifted and very intelligent player. If Gundy and Morey praises your basketball IQ then that carries a lot of weight

 

I didn't mention it in the earlier post, but I considered both Shane's actions on offense and the fact he never developed any more skills. You can make an excuse for him by saying he was just "playing his role" by parking in the corner most of the time, but that doesn't explain all of it IMO. When the player guarding you can take a break playing defense, you are a liability on offense.

 

Poor practice habits, weak mentality, has quit on multiple teams, thrown teammates under the bus, What is not to love?

 

...injuries are inevitable but Tmac's aversion to workouts aided in making him more susceptible - especially with those chronic back problems that most certainly could have been lessened if he had been able to maintain a work ethic to strengthen other muscles that could have compensated for the relative weakness of oft injured areas in his back. Houston McGrady never once came back from injury looking leaner or stronger than when he left - not once.

 

You missed one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceLlz7dOOvY

 

Well, I would disagree about Shane. I think Shane has a good understanding of what he is capable of, and he knows he would be hurting his team if he tried to do too much. Shane is a somewhat limited offensive player, and if he has players on his team like a Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, or Kevin Martin, I think it is best that he plays within himself and let the more offensively skilled players carry the offensive load. You are correct that Shane is offensively "uncreative" and "passive", but I think that is for the best, and he knows that.

 

Interesting read. I would really want to hear how they'd say about Shaq.

 

You didn't see him play in college? "Limited" players don't get Player of the Year. Shane consciously didn't improve his skills on offense, which limited what he could do.

It would probably blow your mind to see a couple of Shane's games at Duke. He wasn't Carmelo Anthony or Kevin Durant, but he wasn't the shell you see now.

 

Ohh McGrady, you couldve been the best player this league had ever seen. If Only you had heart