It’s almost painful to watch as the man, the myth, the legend, once known as “T-Mac” struggled to return to form last season in New York. Now armed with another off-season of rehab and more than a full year from his last knee surgery in February of ‘09, the question still remains whether or not Tracy McGrady still has anything left in the tank.
As the newest member of the misfiring Detroit Pistons, McGrady reportedly has accepted his new role as a bench player. With his long history of injuries, it just makes sense to use him in limited minutes playing behind the finally healthy Tayshawn Prince, Rip Hamilton, and Ben Gordon at either the 2 or 3 spots on the floor.
In New York, he initially gave us false hope that he would return to All Star form by scoring 26 points, dropping 5 assists, grabbing 5 rebounds, while making 10 of 17 shots from the field in his first game. Although he scored in double figures in 11 of his 24 games as a Knick starter, he faded down the stretch, missing 4 of the team’s final 7 games and finished with season averages of 8.2 ppg, 3.3 ast, and 3.1 rebs. I guess it wasn’t a total failure for the Knicks organization since the return of McGrady at least brought a few more fans to Madison Square Garden, for at least curiosity’s sake. In my opinion, he looked a bit out of shape and appeared a tad winded during long stretches of playing time.
Like him or not, what we were all hoping for was the McGrady from ’00 through ’08, who was a 7 time All Star, 2 time scoring champ, and was arguably one of the Top 5 most difficult players in the league to defend. I personally longed for the the player that once scored 13 points in 33 seconds and regularly dunked the ball off the backboard in the All Star Game.
Is the T-Mac of old gone? Have the numerous knee and back injuries taken too much of a toll on the former NBA Lottery pick in 1997? Remarkably, he is still only 31 years old, which isn’t ancient by NBA standards. After all, some of the all time best prep-to-pro players of his era like Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant are still playing at a high level, even though they are a few years older. And let’s not forget the remarkable recovery of “Agent 0“ Gilbert Arenas with the Wizards last season. Arenas is roughly the same age(29) and made a near full recovery after missing essentially 3 seasons after similar knee injuries.
In recent interviews during Pistons training camp, T-Mac swears that his knee is healthy and insists he feels the best he has in years. He remains an extremely popular player, regularly eliciting the biggest applause and bringing the crowds at camp to their feet during introductions. But the key statement is “during introductions.” Coach Jon Kuester surely hopes he hears those cheers once the actual games begin.
I, as well as the rest of TheHoopDoctors.com staff are pulling for ya T-Mac!
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
