Remembering Tracy McGrady's Greatness As He Retires From The NBA

Tracy McGrady is retiring from the NBA after 16 seasons. (bleacherreport.com)

It's sometimes hard to remember, what now with the likes of LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard dominating the game. Tracy McGrady never reached LeBron or Kobe status, but he was one of the best offensive players in the league just as LeBron was entering it. 

McGrady is retiring from the NBA after 16 seasons and seven all-star appearances. That is an eternity in professional basketball standards. McGrady held on well past his prime, now just a sliver of the greatness he exhibited for more than a decade.

Young NBA fans today know of McGrady, but they only remember the twilight years. That's the only problem with holding on to the limelight for as long as possible. What some tend to remember is the last four years spent with five teams, the last in San Antonio when he didn't even play, averaging less than 10 points per game.

That was not the McGrady who was an offense force for most of his career. That was what was left of a great player trying to fight off age and injury.

Let's not let those last few years overshadow how dominant McGrady was throughout his career. Despite averaging seven and 9.3 ppg his first to seasons and 8.2, eight and 5.3 his final three, McGrady still averaged 19.6 ppg for his career.

McGrady will be remembered most for his Orlando years after spending his first three seasons in Toronto. McGrady averaged four of his five highest totals of his career in Orlando in four seasons with 26.8, 25.6, 32.1 and 28 ppg. He then had four more years averaging more than 20 ppg in Houston.

McGrady was a household name in the early to mid 2000s. People wore his Magic and Rockets jerseys and bought his Adidas shoes. Kids pretended to be T-Mac playing in the driveway. Watch his career highlights and it becomes clear why. Like when he scored 13 points in 33 seconds against San Antonio, or his monster dunk on Shawn Bradley. And he was always good for a few passes to himself off the backboard. All of these can be found in the video below.

McGrady is calling it quits in the NBA but is leaving the door open to playing overseas. It's difficult for great players to walk away from the game they've know for so long, which is understandable. It's impossible to find the thrill of competition outside of the game.

What McGrady doesn't need is to continue playing for his legacy. That has been written already. If McGrady does extend his already successful career, let's just hope the next chapter doesn't overshadow his greatness from not that long ago.

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First Major Player Traded as Memphis Deals Rudy Gay to Toronto

Rudy Gay is now a member of the Toronto Raptors after a three-team deal with Memphis. (bleacherreport.com)

Boston. Houston. Milwaukee. Minnesota. Rudy Gay could have been calling any of those places home after news surfaced in December he might be available for the right return, which the Memphis Grizzlies found Thursday in a three-team trade sending the small forward to the Toronto Raptors and netting the Grizzlies the front court duo of Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye, who leave the Detroit Pistons as point guard Jose Calderon comes in from Toronto.

This trade also lands forward Ed Davis in Memphis along with a second-round pick from Toronto, while Grizzlies reserve center Hamed Haddadi goes to the Raptors.

Memphis is the only true winner in this situation, vacating Gay's contract of nearly $34.4 million over two years and a player-option $19.3 million third year in return for a total of just under $17.7 million (three years of Prince and one of Daye). Including the Davis-Haddadi swap, Memphis net savings is around $15.1 million.

New owner Robert Para is guiding the Grizzlies away from big contracts while trying to maintain the integrity of a franchise that has come on strong over the past three years, making several playoff appearances and currently sitting at fourth place in the Western Conference rankings. It was during one of those playoff runs -- in 2011, when Memphis upset the San Antonio Spurs before battling and eventually being eliminated by the Oklahoma City Thunder -- when Zach Randolph emerged as Gay watched from the bench due to injury. Randolph's ascendance and the continuous high-level player of Marc Gasol, one of the best passing centers in the NBA, made Gay less valuable to the franchise, especially in light of the playoff success the Grizzlies experienced with him in street clothes.

Gay is the first major player to be traded this season, outlasted on the trading block by Pau Gasol and the injured Anderson Varejao. His decreased importance to the Grizzlies allowed Memphis to replace him with a veteran like Prince, who, though aging, can still contribute while the organization develops Daye and Davis to fit its mold, barring any successive trades or buyouts.

The three-team deal also facilitates the long speculated-about flight of Calderon away from Toronto. He becomes a free agent after this season, so his stint in Detroit is likely to be short, placing him in a back-up role behind young point guard Brandon Knight on a roster loaded with reserve guards -- a situation completely different than the swingman-heavy look from which Memphis wanted to move away and Toronto just inherited.

Gay and the Grizzlies can part ways amicably. Gay will be the Raptors' go-to scorer as Toronto continues with a future just slightly less hazy than it had before the deal, facilitating Detroit's move to focus on its core of youthful talent, while the Grizzlies will still be a playoff team and save a few million dollars. All is well that ends well.



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No Dap for David

Cut it out, LeBron. (cbssports.com)

Gosh damnit, David Stern. Lockouts, blocked trades, the “respect for the game” rule – and now this? The NBA announced last week it’s implementing a 90-second clock for pregame rituals. After player introductions, teams will have just a minute and a half to perform rim pull-ups, chalk tosses and shorty solicitations. Less clowning and quicker tip times, the NBA says. Tell me, David, do you lease your fun-sucker or did it come with an option to buy? 

The NBA pregame dap exchange is more important than the third quarter! It’s DVR-worthy. True story: I once rewound a Toronto Raptors game just to see how awkward it was to see Linas Kleiza and DeMar DeRozan bump torsos. That has to be the first time “rewound a Toronto Raptors game” has ever appeared in the written word. These are the greatest athletes on the planet. The handshakes, the theatrics, the egos – that’s what makes your league go, Mr. Commissioner. Why would you take that awa-ohmyGod you’re retiring.

As I’m writing this post – my first for Beats, Dimes & Drives – ESPN is reporting that Stern, 70, will retire Feb. 1, 2014. On that date, he will celebrate his 30^th year as commissioner of the Association. Wow, I don’t know what to say, really. This was a curveball. I was kind of hoping to crank out another 500 words on how the big, bad man took my John Wall Dougie away. Now I just, I don’t know.

Joe Posnanski, I feel your pain, dog.

Thinking…

Congratulations, Mr. Stern. I just put two envelopes in a tumbler. One said to FINISH YOU Mortal Kombat-style and turn this into a litany of your wrongdoings as Big Boss (the ’85 lottery, urinating on the already rainy Seattle, the “buried bodies,” CP3 to the Lakers); the other said to let you off blast and offer five ways to speed up NBA games without murdering The Dapshow. I pulled the latter. I know, should have bent the envelope.

1. The five-minute jump: If a team, up 15 points, hits four three-pointers in a row, the game clock skips forward five minutes. Think of it like jumping off Rainbow Road on Mario Kart and landing halfway through the next lap. Obviously, this rule has its limitations. You can’t use the shortcut with under five minutes remaining, effectively ending the game. But if the Bobcats are down 23 with 6:51 in the 4^th quarter… c’mon, that game needs to get off my TV.

2. Picture-in-Picture the second half of all TV timeouts. Mute the broadcasters so the advertisers don’t get pissed, but throw the ball back in before Kobe’s done ladling soup for the NBA Cares campaign.

3. And1s in quarters 1-3 are automatic points. This will result in fewer trips to the free throw line and more hard fouls. If you get hacked on a made bucket in the fourth quarter, you still have to shoot the free throw. The pressure remains when the game is on the line. Put on your stars and stripes bandana – that rule is ’Merican right there.

How will this man's introduction be entertaining? (canishoopus.com)

4. Coaches no longer get introduced during pregame. Sure, I’m just shaving seconds at this point, but LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, THE HEAD COACH OF YOUR MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES…RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKK ADDDDEEEELLMANNNNNNNN!!!

Stop it.

And finally, any on-court beef between league-minimum players takes two minutes off the game clock. This happens all too frequently in the NBA. Hey, guy-who-rides-pine, sit down. It’s garbage time. We didn’t care about you when you were an athletic, high ceiling, 8.3 ppg-dude in the Big Sky. We certainly don’t now that you’re in the league. Get out of Mo Harkless’ face.


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