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Orlando Magic Daily Roundtable: Tracy McGrady Edition

By Philip Rossman-Reich

ORLANDO, FL - APRIL 27: Orlando Magic's Tracy McGrady display threes on each hand after shooting a three pointer to the score at 92 points to send the game into overtime during the game against Charlotte Hornets at the first round of Eastern Conference playoffs at the TD Waterhouse Centre in Orlando, FL, 27 April 2002. The Magic lost 100 to 110 as the Hornets pulled ahead and won game three. (Photo credit should read CALVIN KNIGHT/AFP/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FL - APRIL 27: Orlando Magic's Tracy McGrady display threes on each hand after shooting a three pointer to the score at 92 points to send the game into overtime during the game against Charlotte Hornets at the first round of Eastern Conference playoffs at the TD Waterhouse Centre in Orlando, FL, 27 April 2002. The Magic lost 100 to 110 as the Hornets pulled ahead and won game three. (Photo credit should read CALVIN KNIGHT/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Tracy McGrady, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons
Tracy McGrady goes up for a dunk in a Playoff game against the Detroit Pistons. Photo courtesy of Getty Images. /

Do you consider Tracy McGrady’s tenure with the Magic a success? Did he need Playoff success to cement his legacy?

Palmer: I mean, I think Tracy McGrady was a success in Orlando so, yes. The Orlando Magic as a team did not have great success but that had to do with Grant Hill‘s horrible injury and the lack of talent around Tracy McGrady when Hill was unavailable. McGrady was one of the top five players in the league in Orlando, so his tenure was undoubtedly a success.

Buckley: It is easy to say no, just looking at the record. But two seconds of thinking about the situation will tell us otherwise. The Magic had zero talent or luck in McGrady’s four years in Orlando. Yes, the collapse against the Detroit Pistons is rather damning, but they were a superior team, and the Magic were not well run back in those days (…any days?).

Rossman-Reich: I do not know if I consider McGrady’s tenure with the Magic a success, however you want to define it. I always look back at the Tracy McGrady teams with the Magic and feel like the Magic — specifically general manager John Gabriel and Jon Weisbrod (especially) — let him down.

Here was a player who was undoubtedly one of the five best players in the league and the Magic could not create a consistent supporting cast around him. He did everything he could — literally crushing him with the burden of carrying Andrew DeClercq on his back for four years — to deliver a winning team to the Magic and it was never enough. No one could control Grant Hill’s injury — I think the Magic mismanaged the injury, but Hill was eager to rush back and be that help Tracy McGrady needed rather than taking care of himself.

To me, it was no surprise McGrady eventually got tired of it all. Orlando never had consistency. And with this special player, the DeVos family was unwilling to dip into the luxury tax to keep him happy — and give Hill that chance to come back. McGrady’s career to me is really just an empty promise. Not from McGrady but from everyone who built him up.