Kobe and LBJ may be better player on court to win a basketball game but I like watching Tmac playing more. He is silky smooth and graceful to watch!
Kobe made all defensive first team as early as 99-00. When he didn't have any reputation or benefit of doubt. McGrady was in Raptors at that time and why wasn't he favored if he did better? All D team were selected by coaches. Are you saying coaches were stupid or just didn't watch enough games? How many playoff games MJ won before he got Pippen? He had 1-9 playoff record in his first 3 years and that didn't prevent him from being GOAT. It's not about how many times you lose, it's about how many times you win. MJ and Kobe won enough when they have support. The same thing can't be said for TMac.
Oh sorry. I forgot that basketball was a 2 man game, my bad. Oh and shaq was the best Centre in the league in 04-05.
A Yao Ming and a Tracy Mcgrady a great team does not make. When you put one tool players around them with limited abilties and expect success you will pretty much get what we got. Dissapointment and failure. Team game people, 1 on 5 can't win, neither can 2 on 5. McGrady always tried to get the most out of his teammates but they were not aggressive or assertive enough. Mike James was the closet thing to a aggressive player on the roster at that time. That's including Yao. People seem to all of a sudden forget about Yao's soft hands always losing passes on the pick and roll with McGrady, costing us points and possesions. Yao was really good but it's not like his game was flawless. Let's not paint the wrong picture of Rockets history people.
Take Mr December out of our lineup and throw in Lebron or Kobe in his place. Is there any question that we would lose in the first round? We'd have been one of the favorites for the title! Stacey is a pretender.
Tracy gave the same type of production you'd get from those guys 28ppg, 6ast, and 6rb. So yes it woiuld have been the same outcome, it was just a match-up imo, yao couldn't guard okur or boozer and no one else could score on their own. People seem to forget kobe loss back to back in the first round when shaq left until they brought 2 more all-stars 2 pair with him and odom.
How about an old Fisher can guard TMac one on one? Hell, Rox were up 5 points with 5 minutes left in game 7 in Houston. TMac didn't score one point for that 5 minutes until garbage time. Kobe would be able to win that by his own in that situation.
Yeah its cool to dream "what if we had the 24-25 years old Mcgrady with the players we have now." But its not going to happen. Tmac will never be that guy in that video no more. Lets move on and talking about the Rockets tanking.
Make up your mind. Does the regular season count or not count? Is postseason the official coronation or not? Do stats count or not count? Kobe can have his numbers level off because of the triangle. But no other player can blend into their team, they failed because they had the reins handed to them and came up short all on their own. Everything in the road of winning a title can be justified as either surrendering accolades for the good of the team, or rising to the occasion when necessary. Kobe is just "laying dormant". Lebron or McGrady are just lazy, wasteful, failing, or inept. McGrady doesnt have good passing vision, I mean come on what a bunch of bull. There's absolutely no doubt Kobe has maximized all what he's been given. Including a Hall of Fame Coach. So for that he gets major credit. The thing is I actually do think Kobe is a much better passer than his stats indicate. I think he at times purposely fancies up assists to show he has that ability in his repertoire. With that, we've also seen him demonstrate a COMPLETE disdain for passing. Even rebounding at times. I dont have a high opinion of McGrady either. He crapped on the team, F*** him. But this downplaying his court vision to level with Kobe's, that aint gonna fly here.
Regular season doesn't count. But good regular season record helps your playoff success. Almost all championship team have good regular season records. Stats alone don't count, but with championships or at least some deep playoff run they become meaningful. Marbury averaged about 8 assist for his career, and no one raving about his court vision. Me-Mac tied with Kobe for 4.7, and he's at another level? You need better proof than religious belief.
I think MerGady and Kobe are really nice to watch. Both are smooth. LBJ not so much. Just the way he runs looks awkward.
I think it was Bill Walton who said during a Magic game that Tracy(of course this was during Mac's glory days when he was considered one of the top 2 players in the league) had the potential to be the greatest ever. I'm not making that up either. Now, today that seems insane, but at that time....it could have been possible. Mac may be the most gifted player I've ever seen...keep in mind I'm quite young, so didn't get to watch the greats of the past. Plus like some have mentioned, he just looked cool doing it. Really smooth at everything on the court. Sadly for fans, injuries kept from really knowing just how good he might have been. But isn't that how life is, you never get what you think you are going to get. And if you solve one problem, life will only give you ten more. Oh well....what might have been.
