T-Mac just retired.

[Eja117]

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/post/_/id/9601759/does-tracy-mcgrady-belong-hall

feel free to vote

[Interceptor]

See everything after, "never made it past the first round..." is usually believed to be understood and left out for brevity.

I was born at night, but it wasn't last night. I know what people are getting at. It doesn't matter. Wrong is wrong.

[Eja117]

See everything after, "never made it past the first round..." is usually believed to be understood and left out for brevity.

I was born at night, but it wasn't last night. I know what people are getting at. It doesn't matter. Wrong is wrong.

Out of curiosity do you consider Eddie Gaedel a pro baseball player?  Because TMac is the Eddie Gaedel of the NBA playoffs. If Eddie were in front of me I fully admit I would not have anything even approaching the stones to tell Eddie he wasn't a pro baseball player.

[bdm860]

See everything after, "never made it past the first round..." is usually believed to be understood and left out for brevity.

I was born at night, but it wasn't last night. I know what people are getting at. It doesn't matter. Wrong is wrong.

I'm not sure if you understand what people are getting at if you think they're wrong, or I just don't understand your argument (perfectly possible).

Are you saying TMac deserves credit for San Antiono's run to the Finals?  Playing 6 games, scoring 0 points, and only playing garbage minutes?

From a star to a rotation player, over 15 NBA seasons playing meaningful minutes, his teams never made it out of the first round.  [Insert long spiel about why San Antonio doesn't count]. What is wrong about that?

[Interceptor]

Out of curiosity do you consider Eddie Gaedel a pro baseball player?

It's not up to me.

I'm not sure if you understand what people are getting at if you think they're wrong, or I just don't understand your argument (perfectly possible).

It's probably the second thing. I'm not making judgments about T-Mac's HOF inclusion. For reasons which remain unclear, they don't send me a ballot. I just re-posted an ESPN stat tweet, and pointed out that people who claim he never made it out of the first round of the NBA playoffs aren't actually correct.

[CelticG1]

Pierce just said Tmac was top 3 toughest he had to guard on twitter.

So Lebron and Kobe then Tmac?

Who's he slighting? Melo? Jordan (ok not really)?, Carter?

[NocturnalRebel]

Yeah. I was watching First Take when he announced it. I hate that injuries held him back from a lot of success he could have had. I loved him and Yao here in Houston and it sucks I'll never know what my Rockets could have conquered if both Yao and T-Mac and were healthy.

Injuries put him on a decline but as Stephen. A said, he had more to give. But I agree with his reasons for retiring.

[manl_lui]

Pierce just said Tmac was top 3 toughest he had to guard on twitter.

So Lebron and Kobe then Tmac?

Who's he slighting? Melo? Jordan (ok not really)?, Carter?

I think a Healthy TMac was harder to guard than Kobe (same time)

[Onslaught]

Pierce just said Tmac was top 3 toughest he had to guard on twitter.

So Lebron and Kobe then Tmac?

Who's he slighting? Melo? Jordan (ok not really)?, Carter?

Kobe has said that Tmac was the most difficult person to play against. Because he was so athletic and tall.

[Donoghus]

Pierce just said Tmac was top 3 toughest he had to guard on twitter.

So Lebron and Kobe then Tmac?

Who's he slighting? Melo? Jordan (ok not really)?, Carter?

I think a Healthy TMac was harder to guard than Kobe (same time)

That's a tough one.  Once Kobe starting getting that Jordan-eque fadeaway jumper down, he was ridiculous to guard. 

[More Banners]

Pierce just said Tmac was top 3 toughest he had to guard on twitter.

So Lebron and Kobe then Tmac?

Who's he slighting? Melo? Jordan (ok not really)?, Carter?

I think a Healthy TMac was harder to guard than Kobe (same time)

That's a tough one.  Once Kobe starting getting that Jordan-eque fadeaway jumper down, he was ridiculous to guard.

and now with Hakeem's shake, then the fadeaway on the high post.

[BballTim]

Second option, sorry, mistyped.

Feel free to harp on the unimportant part of that post, though.

  When the "third option" comment follows "Clyde Drexler won a ring as a throw-in on the 95 Rockets team" then it's worth pointing out you don't have much of a handle on how good Drexler was.

[D.o.s.]

Second option, sorry, mistyped.

Feel free to harp on the unimportant part of that post, though.

  When the "third option" comment follows "Clyde Drexler won a ring as a throw-in on the 95 Rockets team" then it's worth pointing out you don't have much of a handle on how good Drexler was.

TP, that's fair. I know he's been on my 50 Greatest Players ever poster for as long as that's been out, but I never paid much attention to him beyond that--I was pretty young, so I was all in on the larger-than-life types Jordan/Kemp/Barkley.

It bears reiterating, I think, that my point in bringing in Drexler was as a comparison to T-Mac's career after all the dust had settled, and as they're fairly similar physically and statistically to bring in conversations about the differences in HoF lock (which Clyde is) and "borderline," which is where most people see McGrady.

[Moranis]

Second option, sorry, mistyped.

Feel free to harp on the unimportant part of that post, though.

  When the "third option" comment follows "Clyde Drexler won a ring as a throw-in on the 95 Rockets team" then it's worth pointing out you don't have much of a handle on how good Drexler was.

TP, that's fair. I know he's been on my 50 Greatest Players ever poster for as long as that's been out, but I never paid much attention to him beyond that--I was pretty young, so I was all in on the larger-than-life types Jordan/Kemp/Barkley.

It bears reiterating, I think, that my point in bringing in Drexler was as a comparison to T-Mac's career after all the dust had settled, and as they're fairly similar physically and statistically to bring in conversations about the differences in HoF lock (which Clyde is) and "borderline," which is where most people see McGrady.

The difference is, Clyde had a much much longer career and a lot more playoff success as his teams best player, which makes it really no comparison at all when talking about the HOF.  Now if you were taking a fantasy draft and could only use one season, that is a different thing, but full careers there is no comparison.

[Interceptor]

Bumping with this article to add to the fire.

It's a good read, even if you don't like Simmons. Interesting to have some perspective on T-Mac from JVG, Kobe, Morey, and *gasp* Doc.