What Tracy McGrady could have been with Orlando Magic
Tracy McGrady established his Basketball Hall of Fame credentials with the Orlando Magic. Yet, his Playoff failures with the Magic continue to define his legacy.
The modern-day NBA superstar has changed their ways.
The NBA used to be a league where the best went against the best. But now the best players are teaming up with the best. Or, at least, doing so more openly. Now superstars recruit superstars to create super teams.
But in Tracy McGrady’s era in the early 2000s, most superstars wanted to compete against other superstars.
Still, success in the NBA is judged on stars. Throughout the league’s history, players have congregated on the same team by chance or not. The league is defined by mega teams like the Hall-of-Famer-loaded Boston Celtics of the 1960s and 1980s. Or the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers.
How many NBA players have won a championship without another certified Hall of Fame level talent on the roster? The 2011 Dallas Mavericks with Dirk Nowitzki and Rick Carlisle‘s brilliant use of a zone defense to reduce LeBron James to a role player and the 2004 Detroit Pistons stand out as the only outliers.
There are not many. And one of the many stars who toiled alone was McGrady, a prolific scorer who never had enough help.
It was not supposed to be that way, of course. McGrady joined the Magic in the summer of 2000 as part of a grand plan to attract three mega free agents in the same summer. Orlando struck out on Tim Duncan but still signed a perennial All Star in Grant Hill.
Even adding Grant Hill was nowhere near enough. Injuries kept Hill from playing any significant time — just 47 games in four seasons with McGrady — and left a heavy burden for McGrady. A burden the Magic never lifted.
Throughout McGrady’s tenure with the Magic from 2000-04, the organization failed to put the necessary pieces to complement his skill set and take the team to a championship level. Or even put them in position to advance out of the first round of the Playoffs.
McGrady never had the supporting cast he needed to make it. And it damaged the reputation of the seven time NBA All-Star and Hall of Famer.
While Kobe Bryant had Shaquille O’Neal and Phil Jackson, and Tim Duncan had Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, Tracy McGrady shared the court with Darrell Armstrong and Mike Miller. They were not bad players in their own right, but they are clearly not on the same level. Hill’s absence was evident.
It proves basketball is a team game no matter how good an individual may be. During McGrady’s time in Orlando, he was one of the top five players in the NBA. Some critics believed he was better than Bryant. McGrady was a consensus top player in the league — a two-time All-NBA First Team player and a four-time All-Star starter with the Magic — and yet could not experience Playoff success.
Orlando Magic
McGrady by his mere presence made the Magic relevant and a Playoff team in a weakened Eastern Conference. But he was never enough alone to win on his own.
Which is what happens when you are a superstar type of talent on a team without a legitimate supporting cast. It is similar to the reason why LeBron James went to the Miami Heat to team up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. That was likely the plan when McGrady originally arrived before Hill’s injury derailed everything. Imagine McGrady with a supporting cast of players comparable to Wade and Bosh. Maybe we would be speaking about T-Mac with a different type of tone.
Imagine McGrady with a supporting cast of players comparable to Wade and Bosh. Maybe we would be speaking about T-Mac with a different type of tone.
Imagine McGrady playing full-time with Hill — McGrady averaged 27.8 points per game and Hill averaged 14.9 points per game in 43 games together as the team went 20-23. A lot of this is with Hill at half speed. He still would have been a star. Just one without such a heavy burden.
Maybe if McGrady had an All-Star level Hill with him for more than half a season over three years, we would be speaking about McGrady with a different type of tone.
But injuries are a part of the game, and McGrady was not a LeBron James-type of talent who could will his team to the Finals, despite the injuries to key players on the roster.
The organization had good intentions of putting quality stars around McGrady and nearly landed Duncan. Making attempts like acquiring Duncan could have changed the landscape of the franchise and took pressure off of McGrady, especially as he matured. He became a star carrying this heavy burden.
That dream of a “big three” with McGrady, Duncan and Hill was a long shot from happening. But if it would have gone through, and if Hill could have stayed healthy, Orlando would have been one of the best teams in the East. They would have competed against the New Jersey Nets of that era and the Los Angeles Lakers every year in the Finals during Los Angeles’ three peat.
McGrady put up incredible individual numbers. But it never translated.
Although McGrady led the team with 42 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in Game Three of the first round matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks in 2001, the Magic still lost in four games. McGrady’s superhuman efforts in that series — 33.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game — were nowhere near enough to take down the trio of Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell.
Orlando never was better than a fifth seed in the Eastern Conference with McGrady. And his Playoff performances were the best the Magic have ever seen. The success was ultimately not there.
Orlando had Mike Miller, a former Rookie of the Year, and Darrell Armstrong working as Tracy McGrady’s regular running mates. They were solid, but not spectacular players. Orlando never could find the right mix around him — trotting out near-retirement Horace Grant and Patrick Ewing to play center and a far overweight Shawn Kemp too. The team never found the right role players to accentuate McGrady.
They just expected McGrady to carry the load.
Although Orlando had good intentions of putting a supporting cast around McGrady, good intentions do not win championships. Good “healthy” players do.
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And everyone is left to wonder what could have been with McGrady.