watch before u vote ... <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/V4tJ5CCzY_Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
T-Macs fault: see above ^ Not T-Macs fault: always elevating his game in the playoffs, while wasting his prime on garbage teams.
It's an interesting question. It'd be interesting to see how far McGrady could go if he had Durant's teammates. I think McGrady was better in terms of pure basketball talent. But could TMac be a leader on a talented team like OKC to a championship run? Oh well, we'll never find out.
Every team McGrady was on, he was THE playmaker and scorer. Durant's role on OKC is basically just a scorer as he has WB to take care of most of the playmaking. We wouldn't know what McGrady's career would be like if he had played with another player who could handle the playmaking duties to allow him to focus on one particular area. Would Durant be who he is having Alston or Darrell Armstrong as his PG? But history won't care about any of those things. Durant is on the path to greatness if he keeps it up, just like Westbrook. Both guys have bright futures.
Natural talent, polished skill, athleticism, showmanship: McGrady. Heart, swingers, leadership, maturity, attitude: Durant. They're close enough in overall game, but Durant wins his categories by a mile. I'm not sure if T-Mac has ever even left a team in good standing.
Game 7 at home vs. a lesser team. 5 points up with 5 min left, Durant wouldn't choke away the win, enough said.
I think you're confusing Tmac with Lebron. Tmac 13 in 35? Tmac hitting game winners in the Dallas series? Tmac putting up beasting numbers in the playoffs? http://basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=MCGRATR01 "But he never got out of first round". Yes I know but Tmac didn't choke either.
Code: Season Age Tm Lg G MP PER TS% eFG% ORB% DRB% TRB% AST% STL% BLK% TOV% USG% ORtg DRtg OWS DWS WS WS/48 2002-03 23 ORL NBA 75 2954 30.3 .564 .505 4.6 14.6 9.5 30.0 2.2 1.5 8.4 35.2 116 104 13.2 2.9 16.1 .262 2011-12 23 OKC NBA 66 2546 26.2 .610 .547 1.9 20.4 11.8 17.5 1.8 2.2 14.0 31.3 114 101 8.5 3.7 12.2 .230 What I consider their "peak" seasons which coincidentally was when they were 23. Really similar stats. McGrady has a much higher PER mostly due to his higher usage rate and his assists. Durant obviously shoots much better. It's hard to just declare who's "better" but I'd rather have T-Mac for his play-making. Can't really ignore the first 30+ PER season by a guard since Jordan (only other one is Wade).
I'll take Durant any day of the week and twice on Sundays. When you need a bucket in the last minute of the game, I don't want a playmaker. I want scorer that can get a bucket with amazing efficiency. Kobe Bryant and Chauncey Billups are the only top players that has won the championship in the 20 years that didn't have a field goal percentage near 50 percent or higher. Both had a lot of help with stacked teams.
Kobe was only the top player in 2 championships. Shaq was pretty important in the first 3 and had shooting percentage a little better than 50 percent.
To add, there was only one other player besides those two that won a championship in the modern era not shooting near or above 50 percent and that was Zeke. Every other team had their leading scorer average near 50 percent or above. The moral of the story is, if you want to win a championship, the guy taking the bulk of your shots better be efficient above all else.
Even so, FG% doesn't paint the whole picture. Wade and Jordan had FG%'s in the mid 40%. PER efficiency is what counts, especially when considering perimeter players tend to have lower FG%'s than post players. They can make it up in other facets of the game such as playmaking. Code: Name Team Year PPG RPG APG FG% PER Dwyane Wade Mia 2006 34.7 7.8 3.8 46.8 33.8 Tim Duncan SA 2003 24.2 17.0 5.3 49.5 32.0 Michael Jordan Chi 1991 31.2 6.6 11.4 55.8 31.5 Shaquille O'Neal LAL 2002 36.3 12.3 3.8 59.5 31.4 Shaquille O'Neal LAL 2000 38.0 16.7 2.3 61.1 31.1 Michael Jordan Chi 1998 33.5 4.0 2.3 42.7 30.8 Tim Duncan SA 1999 27.4 14.0 2.4 53.7 30.7 Dwyane Wade Mia 2011 26.5 7.0 5.2 54.6 30.2 Michael Jordan Chi 1997 32.3 7.0 6.0 45.6 29.5 Shaquille O'Neal LAL 2001 33.0 15.8 4.8 57.3 29.4 http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playo...nist=hollinger_john&page=FinalsPerformances-1 Tmac Playoff Stats Code: Totals Shooting Per Game Season Age Tm Lg G MP FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA ORB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS FG% 3P% FT% MP PTS TRB AST 1999-00 20 TOR NBA 3 111 17 44 2 7 14 16 10 21 9 3 3 10 10 50 .386 .286 .875 37.0 16.7 7.0 3.0 2000-01 21 ORL NBA 4 178 51 123 2 10 31 38 6 26 33 7 5 8 11 135 .415 .200 .816 44.5 33.8 6.5 8.3 2001-02 22 ORL NBA 4 178 42 91 5 16 34 46 6 25 22 2 7 13 11 123 .462 .313 .739 44.5 30.8 6.3 5.5 2002-03 23 ORL NBA 7 308 74 165 16 47 58 75 10 47 33 14 6 26 16 222 .448 .340 .773 44.0 31.7 6.7 4.7 2004-05 25 HOU NBA 7 301 78 171 17 46 42 51 12 52 47 11 10 26 20 215 .456 .370 .824 43.0 30.7 7.4 6.7 2006-07 27 HOU NBA 7 280 63 160 9 36 42 57 5 41 51 5 6 21 12 177 .394 .250 .737 40.0 25.3 5.9 7.3 2007-08 28 HOU NBA 6 247 62 146 5 24 33 53 7 49 41 9 5 18 8 162 .425 .208 .623 41.2 27.0 8.2 6.8 2011-12 32 ATL NBA 6 90 10 26 0 4 5 6 6 17 6 0 2 10 4 25 .385 .000 .833 15.0 4.2 2.8 1.0 Career NBA 44 1693 397 926 56 190 259 342 62 278 242 51 44 132 92 1109 .429 .295 .757 38.5 25.2 6.3 5.5 http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/mcgratr01.html
Wrong, when Jordan and Wade won championships, their shooting percentage was near 50 percent. Wade shot 49.5 percent from the field the year he won. Jordan was a career 50 percent shooter. To be fair Jordan shot 47 percent in his last championship season. Every other season, was at 49 or above. Jordan shot 54 percent for the season during his first championship year.
It did not. My argument is that above all else, FG%(includes TS and EFG) is the most important aspect of a top player. Tmac was a chucker which is why he never went anywhere.
