How Grant Hill Ruined Tracy McGrady's Career

Sometime soon, the Summer of 2010, the NBA’s most anticipated and extravagant offseason ever, will feature the low-key signing of Tracy McGrady to an as-yet-unknown NBA team. McGrady will settle for a bench role and a paycheck worth a fraction of that of the big names who preceded him. The shame in all of this is that McGrady might have been bigger than any of them.

McGrady’s superstar days were already on the way out in February of 2009, when he underwent microfracture surgery on his left knee. The surgery signaled the end of McGrady's tenure with the Houston Rockets. It also marked the last of McGrady as an elite player, joining the growing list of athletes whose careers were never the same after going under the knife - Jason Kidd, Chris Webber, Brian Grant, Terrell Brandon, Allan Houston, Penny Hardaway, Kenyon Martin and Antonio McDyess. Already hampered by recurring back problems and the natural aging process, questions regarding McGrady's future in the league have taken a backseat to his legacy outside it. McGrady won two scoring titles and made 7 All-Star teams, yet it remains to be seen if he will be remembered as Tracy McGrady, the star-crossed uber-talent or T-Mac, the best guy to never lead a team out of the first round. The first whispers of this debate were heard as McGrady's Orlando Magic collapsed in 2004, blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Detroit Pistons, and grew to a roar as his inconsistency and discontentment tore apart a talented Rockets team at the beginning the 2009 season. In the most individual-centric of the major sports leagues, where legends like Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing are endlessly scrutinized for their failure to deliver a championship, how will we remember a guy who never even won a playoff round? Clearly, McGrady will never be the man on a team playing deep into the playoffs. It seems highly possible that in a decade or so, none but the most diehard of NBA fans will seriously remember McGrady as more than a prolific scorer and a general malcontent. Already, casual fans have turned on McGrady, with words like ball-hog and prima donna painting him as a soft, fragile and moody. What's most unfortunate is that it should never have come to this. And it's all Grant Hill's fault.

McGrady quietly slipped into the NBA as an unknown ninth overall pick in the 1997 draft. He made little noise as a high school project in his first three seasons with the Raptors, and was largely overshadowed by his high-flying teammate and cousin Vince Carter, who was named Rookie of the Year in 1998. Finally becoming a starter towards the middle of the 1999-2000 season, McGrady displayed eye-catching potential as he joined Carter and Doug Christie in leading the Raptors to a high-profile playoff showdown (and subsequent sweep) with the New York Knicks. A free agent at the end of the season, McGrady became the third big name in a highly anticipated free agent class that included all NBA-ers Tim Duncan and Grant Hill.

In an as-yet unrelated note, the Orlando Magic spent the end of the 99-00 season making a surprising push for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Magic, previewed as a group of no-names and cast-offs were written off for most of the season before making their unlikely late season run, led by point-guard combo Darrell Armstrong and Chucky Atkins, and young, undersized center/power forward Ben Wallace. The Magic were just finished recovering from the Shaq-Penny hangover and were essentially built with the free agency of the summer of 2000 in mind, making their resurgence all the more remarkable. Armed with a group of hard-working role players, overflowing coffers and the fifth pick in the draft, the Magic set out to build a dynasty.

Once Duncan resisted the temptations of the Heat and the Magic, the two Florida teams turned their heads towards Grant Hill. Entering his 7th season at 28 years old, apparently in the prime of career, Hill had a winning pedigree from his years at Duke and monster statistics, averaging 25.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. Supplanting Scottie Pippen as the best small forward in the game, Hill became best free agent available. Coming in second was McGrady, still just 21 years of age and ready for the spotlight after putting up 15.4 points and 1.9 blocks per game in just under half a season starting for the Raptors.

Eager to depart the shadow of his cousin Vince (or, more likely, eager to sign a max offer), McGrady narrowed his choice to the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic. Determined to make a splash after missing out on Duncan, the Magic were ready to open their pockets. On August 3rd, the Magic made their move, landing McGrady and Grant Hill in separate sign and trade deals, supposedly cementing their place among East contenders for the next five years. Though they didn't realize it then, the Magic had also struck as close to gold as possible in the draft, landing Mike Miller with the fifth pick in what will assuredly go down as one of the worst NBA drafts of all time (Kenyon Martin was the top pick, Michael Redd and Jammal Magloire were the only others to make an All-Star team, and Marcus Fizer and DerMarr Johnson went 4th and 6th, respectively).

Little did McGrady, or anyone in Orlando, realize, but the feature was not shades-bright. Grant Hill had injured his left ankle in the last week of the season, then worsened the injury by trying to play through pain in the Piston's playoff loss to the Miami Heat. Hill would miss the 2000 Summer Olympics, then the start of training camp, the bulk of preseason and 78 games in 2000-2001. He was never the same. Never even remotely close, honestly. The dream pairing never had a chance, which was especially unfortunate as McGrady met and exceeded nearly all expectations, blossoming into an All-NBA talent while Hill nursed his wounds on the sideline. To make matters worse, in clearing room for their Big 2, the Magic had jettisoned most of the Little Team That Almost Could, saying goodbye to Ron Mercer, Tariq Abdul-Wahad, Matt Harpring, Chris Gatling and Corey Maggette via free agency or trades. Even more devastating, they sent Chucky Atkins and Ben Wallace to Detroit to make the Hill signing work. Suddenly, Darrell Armstrong and rookie Mike Miller were the only players left who weren't below average.

And then there was McGrady. Hill's hypochondria thrust McGrady into the role of team leader, top scoring option, best defender, passer and rebounder. McGrady put up amazing numbers and, year after year, willed his team into the playoffs only to fall in the first round. His stats shined, but the years of being a one-man show took their toll. McGrady had shown glimpses of his Pippen-esque defensive capabilities, but being the primary ballhandler and leading scorer left him without the energy to mark the opponent’s best guy. He started slacking off on defense, and relied on his athleticism alone for weak-side blocks. His court vision suffered as, time and time again, his teammates proved incapable of more than the occasional spot-up three-pointer. Mentally, the burden surely wore on him, as the task of single-handedly leading a group of sub-par players was made all the more difficulty by the frustration of Hill's absence. To add insult to injury, Ben Wallace developed into a defensive force in Detroit while the Magic threw out a hilarious slew of washed up big men (Bo Outlaw, Horace Grant, Patrick Ewing, Shawn Kemp, and Juwan Howard) at center. The Magic also dumped Mike Miller for Gordon Giricek and were forced to start the likes of Jacques Vaughn and Tyronn Lue at point guard when Darrell Armstrong's age forced him into a reserve role.

It was during this time when McGrady, in the tradition of the misguided attempts by Kevin Frazier and Stuart Scott to turn ESPN into producers of hip culture, that McGrady became T-Mac. While it may have been just another in the long line of A-Rod inspired lazy nicknames, the donning of the name coincided with McGrady's transition from superb all-around talent and team player into bona-fide superstar. This distinction may not sound like much, but it is. Situation can be everything in basketball. The smaller team size and emphasis on individual stats and performance in the media don't do justice to the huge importance of teammates. McGrady could have been one of the all-time greats with the right running mates, but he spent his Orlando years developing the ego and attitude, and subsequent bad basketball habits, that come with being the best guy on a bad team. McGrady passed less out of inclination than out of necessity. His shot selection became poorer, thanks to endless end of the shot-clock isolations and the team's dependence on him to end scoring droughts and come through in late-game situations.

More importantly, the night-in, night-out burden wore on him physically. McGrady did everything, all game, every game. By the time he reached Houston, his body had already begun to deteriorate. His back gave out first, then he lost his legs. The athletic freak who blocked one-on-one jumpers and threw off-the-backboard self-oops in exhibition games became a Rip Hamilton/Ray Allen-type mid-range shooter and finesse finisher.

It's easy to blame McGrady for becoming T-Mac, the selfish star that couldn’t get it done. His dubious streak of first-round playoff exits haunts his legacy, and being Vince Carter’s relative will always tarnish one’s image. The biggest free agent of this summer, LeBron James, has finally been exposed as a prima donna, narcissist off the court who lacked the intangible “desire to win” on the court. LeBron slammed the door on the Kobe vs. LeBron and LeBron vs. Jordan debates with his willingness to ride the coattails of his biggest on-court rival to championships, showcasing nothing but his own ego in the week-long proceedings and all but admitting what his on-court game hinted at: he’s not a winner at heart.

The same will be said of McGrady. Of course, McGrady never had LeBron’s natural talent. But LeBron at least took a team to the finals, with the one virtuoso performance he gave us in his 7 years with Cleveland. (Though no one seems to remember that after that all-time fourth quarter and overtime, in which LeBron scored 29 of 30 points, he completely disappeared against the Spurs in the finals, folding as he’s always done in big games before and since). McGrady never had the help LeBron had, though. His Orlando supporting cast was more comparable to that of Dwyane Wade’s these past two seasons; though McGrady never had a healthy teammate with half the pedigree of Michael Beasley.

What McGrady gets crushed for is the Rockets failures; where he and Yao Ming failed to escape the first round for the next four years. Yet the two were rarely healthy together, and the two Utah losses were mostly the result of Carlos Boozer dominating Yao Ming than McGrady’s not stepping up. He scored 29 to go with 13 assists in the clinching game, while Boozer annihilated Yao and Juwan Howard to the tune of 35 points.

Sports fans hate feeling robbed of great performances, whether by injuries, fluke upsets that ruin big-time showdowns, or players who don’t perform to expectations for whatever reason. McGrady never lived up to his - in the bitterest of ironies, he watched the Rockets win a first round series while recovering from his knee surgery in 2009. There is a recurring debate over the best player to never win a championship. McGrady will undeniably go down as the best player to never win a playoff series. But the fault lies with Grant Hill’s gimpy ankle; for hamstringing the Magic’s roster for four long years as McGrady’s prime withered away. T-Mac will be unfairly lumped in with LeBron and Vince as stars who didn’t want it, but the tears McGrady shed after Boozer knocked the Rockets out in 2007 were real, and were something you will never see from a player who didn’t want it. McGrady’s career would have been unequivocally different playing alongside not just Grant Hill or Tim Duncan, but even Ben Wallace and whatever role-players Grant Hill’s money could have afforded while his body crumbled. Unfortunately, we'll never know. And soon, no win will even ask.