Was T-Mac the best player in the NBA when he was with the Magic?

according to the voting a lot of people do indeed think he was the "best" in the league....he was an amazing talent, but he was never the best player in basketball at any point in his career......as far as the "hater" label is concerned, it doesn't bother me that much...the facebook group is a thing just for a little fun for all us rockets fans who are fed up with tmac.....it's not like we're marching to his front door step and burning down his house, lol............I "hate" him as a basketball player (because of his softness, inability to follow through on promises, and the fact that he doesn't drive enough), but he seems like a pretty decent individual in real life........I've always said that he's had oustanding and amazing talent....I give him his props were props are due, but I also won't hesistate to criticize him for his weaknesses.

 

i guess 54% of the people here would rather have a Tmac in Orlando losing all the time, but yet satisfied that he scores lots of points

than

Shaq/Kobe in LA winning championships and Duncan winning champions
and MVPs

this is sad.

 

You've ever seen him play back in Orlando? He drove 80% of the time and averaged 30p/g on them-you still call that not driving enough? Maybe the last two years here maybe, but he has always been one of the most best slashers in the game. See, based on those two years, I can agree with you, but he lived mainly off driving the ball (thats also why he led the league in points per 4th quarters two years in a row back in Orlando).

 

where the Orlando fans yelling "MVP, MVP, MVP" when Tmac goes to the line?

2003-04 - Kevin Garnett, Minnesota
2002-03 - Tim Duncan, San Antonio
2001-02 - Tim Duncan, San Antonio
2000-01 - Allen Iverson, Philadelphia

 

t-mac was defintely the best player in the league in 02-03. he was also very efficient. i think he had the 11th highest PER in NBA history, thats much higher than kobe ever had.

 

So what are you trying to say here? Are you saying that he should drive more?
Then why bring up the other mvps, most of us agree that Tmac was NOT the best player during that time, just one of the elite players.

 

let's just say whenever they discuss teh best player in the L, he was one of the first 3-4 names that pop up. people would say he was "arguably" the best player in the L.

but again, it's all about wins. i don't care if what kind of players we have, as long as they are good character guys and lead us to wins.

 

Oh yes, rounding .3% up on FG % .4% up in 3 point % and .1 down in PPG was so significant. Don't even attempt to imply that the statistical deviation there was even significant.

Kobe did that in 02-03 with the benefit of a PRIME SHAQ to take pressure off of him. Do you not understand the difference in their situations? McGrady would face double teams every time he touched the ball, literally - every time. He had no one to take any pressure off of him whatsoever - yet he was still unstoppable in pretty much all facets of the game.

Shaq sat for a portion of the season last year - go to the box scores and see what that did to Kobe's stats. They were abysmal for that stretch - Kobe actually had a higher PER than McGrady until that point.

McGrady did it in less minutes per game, on a slower paced team. That's why his PER from that season was one of the highest recorded - all time. To put things in perspective - he was the youngest player to score 30+ (or have a season like that in general 30+/5+/6) since the NBA/ABA merger.

Very few would make the argument that Kobe's 02-03 season was better than McGrady's.

 

^^ Should read .003% and .004%

 

GAH, nm - didn't notice I listed it as a %, was thinking I listed it as a decimal. .3% and .4% ..... I need some sleep -.-

 

Did T-mac have a great statistical season? yes, was he the best player? far from it.

Being the best in the league has more to do with consistency than just a single season stat, Gilbert Arenas had a higher PER than Tracy McGrady last season, does that mean Gilbert> T-mac? no! far from it.

Single season performances doesn't make someone the best player in the league.

 

Kobe Bryant was hands down the best perimeter player in 2002.

 

I calculate it based on stats from nba.com, tracy is 29.4 PER at 02-03
(nba.com only has 04-now PER stats, so i calculate it by myself)

Best PER records:

04-05 KG 32.0
05-06 KG 30.3 LBJ 29.4
06-07 KG 29.2
07-08 LBJ 30.3 sofar

Yao 04-now PER 20.6/25/25.8/25.8
Tmac 04-now PER 23.7/20.7/21.3/18.4

 

Sorry, Tracy PER 02-03 is 28.8 not 29.4

 

That was his "peak" year, but during that three year stretch, he was a part of every MVP discussion. Like I said, most everyone here agrees that he wasn't THE best player, but truly one of the elites. People talk about Lebron's burden, but Tmac basically carried on his team-which in turn may have led to his bad back (jk)....actually that may or may not be true either.
Either way, stats aside, he was truly an elite player back then, and if it weren't for his infamous yap opening up before that elimintion game against the Pistons (where he was up 3-1 on them), we would all be talking about the elusive championship ring rather than the elusive....1st round.

Btw....does the "24" have anything to do with Kobe Byrant?

 

Kobe PER 02-03 is 31.6

 

Check sig.

 

i don't know what stats u used but basketball reference had tracy's PER for that season as the #10 best statistical season of all time. kobe is nowhere close to that. tracy is the only perimeter player other than MJ to have a 30+ PER that year, with lebron having one this year.

kobe has always hovered around 23-26.

 

Kobe 02-03

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kobe_bryant/career_stats.html

PER=(REB+AST+STL+BLK+PTS-TO)-(FG_MISS+FT_MISS)/G

=(6.9+5.9+2.2+0.8+30.0-3.51)-(1924-868+713-601)/82

=42.59-14.244=28.3461


Tracy 02-03

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/tracy_mcgrady/career_stats.html

=(6.5+5.5+1.6+0.8+32.1-2.6)-(1813-829+726-576)/75

=46.3-15.12=31.18


So, it is Kobe 28.35 vs Tmac 31.18

 

give the top tier NBA players 23 and 25 shots a game.... and im thinking they too can score 28 and 32 points a game...