Jason Terry was never the guy on any team. Do you think based on the facts you posted above, that JT was a better overall player than McGrady? And 12 years of relative health and extraordinary individual success as a player isn't enough? You must be a "what have you done for me lately," kind of guy. So if JJ Watt ends up coming back hobbled and a shell of himself due to back injuries, does it mean he wasn't a sure fire HOF in his first 6-7 years?!
http://www.hoophall.com/news/naismi...ourteen-finalists-for-class-of-2017-election/ The Class of 2017 will be announced on Monday, April 3 at a press conference in Phoenix prior to the NCAA Men’s Championship game. A finalist needs 18 of 24 votes from the Honors Committee for election into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The Class of 2017 will be enshrined during festivities in Springfield, Massachusetts, the birthplace of basketball, September 7-9, 2017. Tickets for the various Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2017 Enshrinement events are on sale at www.hoophall.com. North American Committee Finalists: HUGH EVANS [Referee] TIM HARDAWAY [Player] ROBERT HUGHES [Coach] ROLLIE MASSIMINO [Coach] TRACY MCGRADY [Player] DNEY MONCRIEF [Player] BO RYAN [Coach] BILL SELF [Coach] RUDY TOMJANOVICH [Coach] CHRIS WEBBER [Player] Women’s Committee Finalists: REBECCA LOBO [Contributor] MUFFET MCGRAW [Coach] KIM MULKEY [Coach] WAYLAND BAPTIST UNIVERSITY [Team]
At 28 years old, his last healthy season, had he just called it a career there and retired? He'd be top 20 in career reg. season PER(With Westbrook and Curry both just recently pushing him down 2 spots had he remained at 23.4 PER). He'd be #7 in career playoff PER(24.7) He'd be #5 in career playoff PPG He'd be just outside the top 25 in career reg season PPG and that'd be with 3 seasons spent as a role player playing 18 and 22 minutes/g his first 2 years. D-Wade is considered the GOAT shot blocker at SG and LeBron is known for his blocks, but T-mac as more blocks in less games than both. Jordan is the only guard ahead(by like almost 100 blocks..thats crazy.) All he did by playing hurt was bring down his career averages, but when you just see the peak, he's a top 25 player of all time statistically IMO. It's the longevity and playoff TEAM success that ultimately keeps him from being a top 25 player of course. I know Tinman will come in and say all T-Mac fans play is the "What if" game. That's true for guys like Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, maybe Joel Embiid. But, guys like Walton, Yao, Penny, Hill, T-Mac, Kemp, Webber, Rose etc have all done enough in their NBA career to logically and realistically believe these guys would be minimum top 50 all time greats had their careers had the longevity of any other top 50 player. To say that if T-mac stayed healthy from 28 to 36 years old and not believe he would have found playoff success and consistency to end up a top 30 player ever is a bit silly. But, even without it, just peak, he deserves to be a HOF'er. T-mac is like the only player you see trashed for lack of playoff success compared to other all time greats. Yet those other all time greats all had their own top 20 teammate or 2. T-Mac had the unfortunate luck of having two of the greatest "What If" basketball stories as his teammates(Hill and Yao) when he himself turned into a what if player. When you look at other all time greats who didn't have that much help most of their prime, they eventually teamed up with another all time great in their early to mid 30s. Wilt joining West and old Baylor. Drexler joining Hakeem. Moses joining Dr J. IIRC T-Mac's contract would have been up the same summer Wade, LeBron and Bosh teamed up and Melo and Amare teamed up. Were he healthy, he probably would have joined Kobe in LA eventually but that summer the Bulls had cap space and could have teamed him up with Rose and Noah and Thibs..(though that would have turned into another unlucky break as Rose would become his own what if story). Not saying he would have become a champion outside of joining the Lakers or Spurs or Heat, maybe Mavs, but he no doubt would have eventually teamed up with someone to have at least 5 seasons of playoff runs as a contender which includes staying healthy with the Rockets. Chance probably would have never been as good as beating the Lakers in game 7 had Yao been healthy and T-Mac played. No doubt they would have destroyed the Magic in maybe another sweep like 95. Still think the star power of LA and Kobe and the refs would have won game 7 even with Yao and T-mac though.
you forgot the rockets game got better because Tracy didn't play. That team that played the lakers only proved that . Be happy he's in the hall of fame. His individual accomplishments got him in. The bull crap what if scenarios will never be real
Let it go Tinman. You know you had a blast watching him in a Rockets uniform just like the rest of us. Not even Kobe would have led us past Utah without Yao or game 7 against the Mavs or Jazz. I'll confidently say Kobe's trash Lakers those few years were still better than the Rockets when you consider Yao was hurt most of the time or easily taken out of entire games with small ball. In game 7 against Utah, Kobe wouldn't have grabbed those defensive rebounds that Matt Harpring and Boozer and Okur were getting over Yao. Kobe wouldn't have defended Okur when he drained those crucial 3's b/c Yao was too slow to get there. You literally could have put Chris Mihm, or Turiaf in place of Yao and they would have increased their chances of winning. That loss was on Yao. Period. Mavs game 7? Ryan Bowen sure wasn't Lamar Odom and JVG coaching like it was 1999 and stubbornly unwilling to adjust wasn't 11x championship coach Phil Jackson. The Mavs would have wiped the floor with us even if Kobe replaced T-Mac. Stop putting it all on T-Mac. It's more on JVG and his old ways and old Knicks(+Carroll Dawson) against the Mavs, Yao and garbage role player production against the Jazz first time and injuries against the Jazz the second time.
Tim Hardaway Jr. must have mixed emotions. His nominal father got in, but his biological father is still overlooked.
You're making an exception for t-mac's failures and putting in a bunch of what if statements. he accomplished some great things as an individual player. he was more exciting to watch than tim duncan. but would i have traded him for duncan? 100% congrats to Rudy T, who definitely deserves more praise as a Rocket than Tmac.
Tracy McGrady is certainly a hall of fame player. There's no prerequisite for having team success to be in the hall of fame. If there is a prerequisite for a starter leading a team to a few playoff series victories, then he would not make it.
I'm with you for most of this argument, but I take exception to you comparing T-Mac to Drexler and saying Drexler had to join another top 20 player to win. Drexler took the Blazers to the Finals twice. T-Mac could never get out of the first round. Sure, there are plenty of HOF guys who never won a championship. But guys like Ewing, Barkley, Malone, and Drexler were on perennial contenders, and regularly advanced deep in the playoffs.
