Tracy McGrady’s career is one for the legends

Tracy McGrady may not have the complete profile of a Hall of Fame inductee. But his legend is one we continue to tell over and over again.

Tracy McGrady is something of a myth.

His teams did not win and he never made it out of the first round except for the end of his career with the San Antonio Spurs. McGrady did not have much team success. And so in the all-time highlights of NBA history, McGrady goes unmentioned.

He had plenty of Playoff moments. Many of them with the Orlando Magic, even though he won just five Playoff games in three years with the Magic. But none of them resonate through the annals of NBA history. He is simply a legend, talked about in nostalgic tones by those who watched him but forgotten by those who missed out.

Instead what resonates about McGrady are his statistics and the stories of how he played. In an age that is increasingly becoming more about “ringz” and “video or it did not happen,” McGrady may be one of the league’s last true great legends. One of its final hidden gems who achieves greatness solely on his individual feats.

McGrady made his name solely on his legend.

He continues to resonate today on that legend. His prodigious scoring ability, his smooth demeanor and play and, yes, those YouTube highlights that confirm his genuine awesomeness on a basketball floor.

There are players who are still waiting for the Hall of Fame call who also had the scoring chops. But McGrady’s career and impact go beyond those impressive statistics.

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And those statistics were impressive, although not for his entire career perhaps — 19.6 points per game and a 47.0 percent effective field goal percentage in total. With the Magic, when he truly broke out, McGrady averaged 28.1 points per game and shot a 48.4 percent effective field goal percentage. Even more impressive considering his 32.7 percent usage rate. That is Russell Westbrook-kind of usage. And McGrady put up Westbrook-type numbers.

McGrady led the league in scoring twice and was a two-time All-NBA First Team player. To the surprise of those who did not watch him, debates about Tracy McGrady and Kobe Bryant were regularly had on message boards and remained a legitimate debate. Bryant even called McGrady the toughest player he ever went against.

There are stories about McGrady throughout the league exactly like that. Even the story of how he came to the NBA’s attention is the stuff of legend, as he related this summer in an interview at the Basketball Hall of Fame:

McGrady said he went to a high school camp rated the 175th player in the country no one knew who he was. He was an unknown, again a myth or legend only few knew about. There was no Rivals or 247Sports to rate every high schooler with video and interviews. McGrady was a literal unknown.

He made his presence known at that camp. McGrady left it as the top overall player in the country in high school after that camp. He dominated his opponents and purposefully sought to embarrass them.

That seemed to be part of the edge McGrady played with. His droopy-eyed look made it look so effortless, but really McGrady was a revenge-game machine. When he furrowed his brow and gave that intense stare, opponents knew their night was over. He could turn any slight into a reason to dominate. And then he would squash his opponents in the process.

He even explained his legendary off-the-backboard dunk was his way of figuring out how to get the ball against zone defenses in high school. Teams would just zone his team in Auburndale or at Mt. Zion Christian Academy to try to force the ball away from him. So he decided one day to throw the ball off the backboard and dunk over the center in the middle of the zone.

And he did it. His crazy idea worked because he was Tracy freaking McGrady. Just ask Shawn Bradley or Mehmet Okur what happens if Tracy McGrady sees an opening for a dunk and he puts his mind to it.

Those Magic years with McGrady were all about him. The team lacked a second star as Grant Hill struggled to return from an ankle injury throughout Tracy McGrady’s four years in Orlando. It allowed McGrady to flourish, but also kept him from experiencing the Playoff success his career was left wanting. After finding his footing off the bench with the Toronto Raptors, he came to Orlando and took the reigns.

From there, he put on a show every night it seemed.

He glided down the court, seemingly turning on the turbo buttons to get to the rim and finish with force. Or coming to a complete stop and rising quickly for a jumper.

McGrady would have this sort of high step in transition as he sized up a retreating defender. He judged whether he would use that speed and length to get to the basket or whether he would just pull up for three. It did not matter what he did, the defense was powerless to stop him.

McGrady has a secure place in the Magic’s Mt. Rushmore. He is the team’s greatest all-time scorer. But it is easy to forget his years here. He never won more than 44 games in a season and he never got out of the first round. Tracy McGrady’s tenure with Orlando fits between Shaquille O’Neal and Anfernee Hardaway‘s teams and Dwight Howard‘s team, almost perfectly. And yet, he does not have the Finals accolades or runs that trio had.

Like so much else, McGrady’s career is pushed to legend.

Orlando Magic

But that legend persists. It is not just the story of how he got his attention. As he noted in that Hall of Fame interview in July, kids still wear his jersey — whether with the Orlando Magic or the Toronto Raptors or even the Houston Rockets. He thanked their parents for keeping his memory alive.

Because there is a worry that McGrady’s memory and what he did in the league would go away. His impact on the league was not that universal. He benefits from the early days of YouTube and the ability to access his highlights easily. Otherwise, he would be another forgotten player. A pure legend.

Injuries cut McGrady’s career short. A back issue. Then a knee issue. Then just the burden of having to carry so many teams who could not give him the help he needed to experience the team success his individual talent, frankly, deserved.

There will be a day, maybe 20 years from now, where someone goes through the halls in Springfield and wonders who this Tracy McGrady fellow is. Why did McGrady make the Hall of Fame? They will not recognize him from montages or understand what made him great.

Maybe that is part of the argument for keeping McGrady out of the Hall of Fame. His universal impact was small. His star quickly burning.

But McGrady is a Hall of Fame player. Those who watched him play and continue to talk about his effortless scoring and his impact on the league know it. Magic fans know it, having watched him grow up and mature into one of the best players in the league.

This week’s Hall of Fame induction for McGrady will only continue his legend. A legend that exists between the world of video and stats. A legend that continues to resonate to everyone who saw him.

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Tracy McGrady is simply a legend. And this Friday, among the immortals.