Tracy McGrady has caught some serious flak for comparing his career to that of the late Kobe Bryant, yet he shows no signs of backing down. As a matter of fact, he has pushed the matter further. Despite having become a punching bag within the basketball community for his lack of postseason success, McGrady has now compared himself to the legendary Michael Jordan.
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T-Mac has a reputation as one of the most skilled scorers the game has ever seen. But he didn’t fully evolve into the player NBA fans know and love until he joined the Orlando Magic in 2000. Once with Magic, he truly came into his own, averaging no less than 25 points in his four years in the 4 years he spent there. Individual success rapidly fell into McGrady’s lap. Unfortunately, his individual success didn’t translate into team success.
Magic had originally signed Grant Hill to be a co-star with McGrady. But unfortunately, the former Duke star would remain injured with an almost hellish consistency, leaving McGrady to lead the one-man show. He never even made it out of the first round as the lead guy in Orlando. That curse followed him throughout his tenure with the Houston Rockets.
Despite fans nitpicking at McGrady’s shortcomings, he adamantly believes that he isn’t the only one to experience these postseason struggles.
“It’s always situational. In my four years in Orlando, I was the same age as Michael Jordan when he was getting bounced out of the first round,” McGrady said in an interview with Timeless Sports. “We’re talking about the greatest of all time. Was he to blame, or he didn’t have the team around him?”
His opinion of Jordan is very similar the the point he made in his appearance on ESPN’s First Take regarding Kobe. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar had talent that McGrady didn’t have the opportunity to play with. What would be the result if McGrady did? He believes the answer to be quite simple.
“Replace me with Kobe Bryant with Shaquille O’Neal, I don’t win a championship?” McGrady proclaimed.
It’s much easier to get over the hump once there’s another star player to carry the load. Bad shooting games are inevitable for any player. Unfortunately, McGrady never had another player to cloud his poor performances.
“You could go in every series that myself, you could add Michael Jordan, you could add Kobe Bryant, you can add guys like Paul Pierce. We all have had games where we didn’t shoot the ball well,” McGrady declared.
McGrady makes some compelling points, but once narratives begin to spread on social media, it is difficult to put them to an end. Regardless, nobody can take away from his greatness. His peers continue to give him his flowers, while his critics remain just as consistent.
