Tracy McGrady Unlucky Career in the NBA | Basketball Bio

 

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There have been a handful of players that made the jump from high school to the NBA, many of these players most wouldn’t even know or remember as they fell victim to the pressure or simply were not ready for the league.

Few make the league and even fewer go on to have successful careers. Even rarer is it to reach superstar status, especially as a high school basketball player. To overcome an obstacle with such pressure takes resilience, mental toughness, and dedication.

Tracy McGrady makes up a rare breed of basketball players (Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, and LeBron James) who were destined for stardom as soon as they entered the league.

Many will measure a player by championships he’s won or he’s a failure, we only remember the winners while eventually forgetting the losers. How can we measure the success of a player based on championships when he depends on a team to help him do so. When we are only in control of ourselves, it must take some luck to have the right pieces in place. This is the bio and story about the unlucky career of Tracy McGrady.

McGrady was born on May 24, 1979, in Bartow, Florida. Raised by his mother, and grandmother. His father was not apart of his life, already McGrady’s odds were stacked against him. The statistics are high for children without fathers, youth are more likely to have behavioral problems, with the likelihood of growing up in poverty and ending up in prison. Though McGrady couldn’t deny his god giving talents, excelling at basketball and baseball growing up while attending Auburndale High School.

 

Highschool

In his high school Junior Year, McGrady posted averages of 23.1 ppg and 12.2 rebs with 4 ast and 4.9 blocks per game. This would have any player in their senior year receiving recruiting letters by every college in the country. But no one had a clue who McGrady was. Until he was lucky enough to be invited to the Adidas ABCD Camp, a prestigious camp of the top 175 players in the country would attend and play. Tracy impressed the scouts and even himself. McGrady finally knew how well he stacked up against the best ranking number 1 in the nation amongst all the players.

Before his senior year, Mcgrady transferred out of Auburndale to Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham North Carolina. His team would rank 2nd in the Nation while putting up 27.5 ppg 8.7 rebs 7.7 ast 2.8 stl and 2 blocks per game while earning McDonald’s All American National Player Of the Year award.

After his incredible senior year, he weighed his options, the possibility of making it to the NBA weighed heavily on his mind. He had to have a backup plan and it was to play for University Of Kentucky if he wasn’t projected to go in the first 20 or so picks. McGrady was hesitant and undecided to play at the next level in the NBA. Tracy was also fearful of playing college and doing poorly in his first year while if that was the case he would have to stay an extra year to help drive up his player stock up.

Tmac didn’t want to lose this opportunity, it was an easy choice, projected as a lottery pick and guaranteed millions on signing his first contract McGrady entered the draft.

 

Toronto Raptors (1997–2000)

In 1997 Tracy Mcgrady was drafted by the expansion team the Toronto Raptors with the 9th pick, signing a $4.7 million dollar contract with the team, the max allowed at the time for a rookie. Prior to the draft, Tmac agreed to a 12 million dollar endorsement deal with the Adidas.

The 6-foot-8 swingman dream was fulfilled, McGrady had more money then he knew what to do with. Though the overwhelming feeling of happiness didn’t last very long, McGrady was about to face his toughest challenge yet, you see basketball was easy for Tracy always being the best where ever he played, now he was on one of the worse teams in the league playing garbage minutes if he was lucky under coach Darell Walker his rookie year.

McGrady went on record describing his rookie year as “Hell”, feeling lonely in Toronto, Canada miles away from home in another country. Mcgrady was at a low point in his life at 18 years old sleeping up to 20 hours a day, clearly thinking that this isn’t what he signed up for.

Though all was not lost and something happened that changed and propelled McGrady’s Career, He was given a chance. Late during the 1997/98 season, Darell Walker resigned. The Raptors brought in Butch Carter who gave Tmac a chance to play, to make mistakes and develop.

In 1998 the Raptors drafted McGrady’s distant cousin Vince Carter who was an instant star in the league, he was known as a human highlight reel. The two became inseparable during the 1999/00 season McGrady 3rd year with the team,  The Raptors were starting to make some noise making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, although losing in the first round of the playoffs this was a sign of great things to come. They were a high flying exciting team to watch, fans would be dunk of drunks for years to come if they could somehow keep their core together.

The Two put on an amazing dunk show at the Allstar game weekend in 2000, competing against each other and putting up perfect scores. Ultimately it was Carter who won, but the dunk competition they had, the whole world was buzzing as it resurrected the dunk comp, from the stale years prior.

Mcgrady during that season was a candidate for the 6th man award at 20 years old, he was already averaging 15.4 pts, 6.3 rebs, 3.3 ast, 1.9 blk, and 1 steal a game. McGrady’s contract was up at the end of the 1999/00 season, his decision?

 

 

Orlando Magic (2000–04)

McGrady decided to leave the Raptors, agreeing to a sign and trade with the Orlando Magic, for a six-year $67.5 million dollar contract. I believe Mcgrady left the Raptors as he may have felt he was unable to tap into his full potential behind Vince Carter. When McGrady signed with the Magic another superstar also had signed. This is where the unlucky story begins for Tracy.

Grant Hill who was entering his prime (26.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 5.2 ast) suffered an ankle injury with the Detroit Pistons before signing with the Magic, Hill has gone on record stating the Pistons medical staff misdiagnosed his injury. For more on this story Click Here! The injury lingered for years, the Magic thought they were getting a perfect duo with a prime Grant Hill alongside Tmac, but it didn’t happen.

With Hill out McGrady was forced to score more and take on more of a leadership role. McGrady tore up the league going from 15 points to almost 27 ppg, 7.5 rebs, 4.6 ast. Within his 4th season in the league, at 22 years old he was already a superstar earning an all-star appearance and voted the most improved player in the league.

McGrady put Orlando on his back and they made the playoffs with little to no help, Bo Outlaw was there point guard at the time. In the first year that Tmac made the playoffs with the Magic, they faced the 2nd seed Ray Allen and the Milwaukee Bucks. Mcgrady in game 3 of the 7 game series put up 42 points 10 rebounds and 8 ast in a losing cause eventually being swept in the opening round. This wouldn’t be the last time we would see performances like this from Tmac.

McGrady would win back to back scoring titles with the Magic averaging 32 ppg in 2003 and 28 ppg in 2004. But during the 2003/04 season tensions grew between McGrady and the Magic’s GM at the time. Head Coach Doc Rivers was also fired after a 1-10 start. Alongside the Magic faced multiple injuries throughout that season while the Magic finished last place in the Eastern Conference.

Tracy knew his time was up with the organization, he left it all on the court and that’s all you can ask for from a player regardless of the turmoil in the locker room. All was not lost with McGrady and the Magic, Tmac discovered his capabilities in the league, with the Magic he achieved:

• 4 Time NBA All-Star
• 2 Time NBA All First Team
• 2 Time NBA All Second Team
• 2 Time NBA Scoring Champion
• Most Improved Player

McGrady had no help, losing 3 out of the 4 years he played with Orlando in the first round of the playoffs. When they signed Hill to a lucrative contract at the same time as McGrady, this held the team hostage and unable to bring in players to support the star with no room in the salary cap. Tmac and Grant Hill played less than 50 games in 4 seasons.

McGrady at this point in his career had never made it past the first round, losing 4 times.

Houston Rockets (2004–10)

On June 29, 2004, McGrady was traded to the Houston Rockets in a 7 player deal. Rockets Received, Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue, and Reece Gaines. In which Orlando Received Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley, and Kelvin Cato. McGrady’s response to the trade was he was happy and excited to play with Yao Ming.

The team initially struggled in their first 30 games posting a losing record in the first half of the 2004/05 season. But something amazing happened, McGrady had one of the most unbelievable performances of his basketball career that lasted only 35 seconds playing against the San Antonio Spurs scoring 13 points at the end of the game for a comeback win making 4 three-pointers in a row, one of which was part of a four-point play and another with 2 seconds left on the game clock.

The Rockets would bounce back and put it all together after the All-star game placing 5th in the Western Conference with 51 – 31 record to end the season. But losing in the first round to Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs.

The following year (2005/06) McgGrady would suffer an injury missing half the season due to back spasms. The Rockets wouldn’t make the playoffs both Mcgrady and yao were putting up excellent numbers between the two of them but would miss nearly 60 games combined in a tough Western Conference.

Final Years