Tracy McGrady, one of the best scorers in NBA history, has never had his career dissected as much as it has been in recent months. The barrage of criticism came after McGrady claimed that he would have won three championships with Shaquille O’Neal on the Lakers if he had replaced Kobe Bryant. Of course, it did not sit well with many.
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Kwame Brown recently weighed in on the matter, and he didn’t hold back. After looking at an old video where T-Mac was talking about the trade involving Brown and Pau Gasol (from 2008), the former No. 1 Draft pick went on a spectacular rant aimed at McGrady.
McGrady had claimed that he was mad at the NBA for allowing the Brown-Gasol move to materialize, calling the whole thing unfair. He went on to lament that nothing even remotely so lucky happened to him in his career, and laughed with his hosts. In the trade, Gasol moved to the Lakers, and Brown moved the other way to join the Memphis Grizzlies.
Brown understood that T-Mac did not consider him and Gasol to be on the same level. To be fair, that’s true. But it still wasn’t fun for the 43-year-old former power forward to hear, and he let McGrady know that.
Brown claimed that the Houston Rockets legend would never have been able to carry the Lakers to a championship because he was never as good as Bryant. He insinuated that McGrady was “living with regret” over how his career panned out.
“I’m not living with regret like this punk,” said Brown. “This n**** [is] trying to rewrite history and put himself next to Kobe. This fragile knee, fragile back, jelly spine punk that played with Yao Ming and some of the best point guards you can find.
“Hell no, you can’t carry the Lakers to a championship. You ain’t carry a team out [of] the second round. You didn’t carry a team out of the second round, but all of a sudden, we’re gonna talk championships. At least get to the Finals. You didn’t get close to winning a championship,” Brown continued.
“These guys need to stop comparing themselves to Kobe, when they don’t have the work ethic as Kobe. When they don’t have the will and mentality as Kobe,” the former Lakers forward added.
To be fair to T-Mac, there were times in the 2000s when even Bryant admitted that he was one of the hardest players to guard. Unfortunately for McGrady, his body never stayed healthy long enough for him to make a serious impact in the postseason, and so he never had the opportunity to challenge for titles.
McGrady’s legacy remains that of one of the most lethal scorers ever, evidenced by his seven All-Star appearances and two scoring titles.
Who knows? If he and Yao Ming had managed to stay injury-free in their careers with the Rockets between 2004 and 2010, supported by strong role players like Shane Battier, they might have changed history a little. But that is all in the realm of what-ifs.
As far as Brown and many others are concerned, T-Mac is just another ‘great’ player. And there are many of them in NBA history.
