With The Basketball Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony Last Night, I Gotta Ask. Do You Consider Tracy McGrady A HOFer?

In case you missed it, last night was the Basketball Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony for the class of 2017. Tracy McGrady, Rebecca Lobo, George McGinnis, Jerry Krause, Bill Self, Muffet McGraw, Zach Clayton, Tom Jernstedt, Mannie Jackson, Nikos Galis, and Robert Hughes will forever be remembered in basketball glory for the rest of time.

Now I should make something clear before we get started. The Basketball Hall Of Fame is more The Basketball Of The Very Good when you compare it to the HOFs for the other major sports. I think it’s fair to say you see a lot more arguments as to if someone is HOF worthy in basketball than you do in any of those other sports. So keep that in mind as we try to answer this question. Is Tracy McGrady really worthy of being in the Hall Of Fame?

Personally, I say yes.

Let’s start with the basics. McGrady during his 16 seasons finished a 7x All Star, made the All NBA 3rd team once, the All NBA 2nd team three times, and the All NBA 1st team twice. McGrady is a 2x scoring champ, 31st all time in PER, and is 64th all time in points. That may seem low, since scoring is supposed to be what McGrady does best, but his point total is right there with fellow Hall Of Famers Dolph Schayes, Dave Bing, and Calvin Murphy.

Things get tricky because some might argue McGrady didn’t play enough games, that his prime was cut short due to injuries and there is some truth to that. McGrady was plagued by injuries throughout his career. However, he did play 938 games, which is somewhat in the ballpark of other guys like Calvin Murphy (1,002), and Joe Dumars (1,018), so in that regards I won’t hold his injury history against him. I think it’s also fair to say that from 2000-01 to 2006-07, McGrady might have been the best player in the NBA not named Lebron (once he joined the league). Sure maybe 35% of that is my forever hatred for Kobe Bryant, but the numbers back it up.

The biggest reason as to why someone might not think McGrady is HOF worthy is of course his playoff resume. Never getting out of the first round, at any point in your career, isn’t ideal. Especially when we are supposed to be talking about the best of the best here. But at the same time, let’s not try and make it seem like McGrady did not show up once the playoffs rolled around. In three playoff seasons with Orlando, McGrady had 32.0/6.5/5.9/1.5/1.2 with 44/31% splits and in three playoff seasons with Houston he had 27.7/7.0/7.0/1.3/1.1 with 42/29% splits. There was also that one Toronto year when he threw up 16/7, and then two more with SA and Atlanta where he didn’t really play. What I’m trying to say is I’m not sure the way people use his playoff failures as a knock against him makes sense. If a guy is absolutely ridiculous in the playoffs, and his team doesn’t win, that doesn’t make his postseason performance any less impressive. This is lame argument but I think it fits. Robert Horry has 7 rings, so is he more HOF worthy than McGrady? I say no. There are plenty of current guys in the HOF who didn’t win, and while championships are important sure, there are plenty of players that are going to be HOFers that would still be HOFers even without the ring, and this is not debatable.

That’s the other area that I think helps explain why McGrady was deserving, and why those who cry titles might feel weird very soon. See guys like Steve Nash, Allen Iverson, Vince Carter, and even more recent guys like Chris Paul, Melo, Dwight Howard, (maybe) Westbrook etc, will all find themselves in a similar position. Hall Of Fame careers without a title. You wouldn’t keep any of those guys out right? Now some are more accomplished like Nash with his two MVPs, but we are going to start to see a trend of players get into the Hall that don’t have the postseason resume of a Kobe or Jordan or Duncan or Shaq or Russell. So when you factor in this list of players that is about to get in, McGrady 100% belongs with that group in my mind.

So when it comes to Tracy McGrady, given what the Basketball HOF is, I say is deserving. What say you?

P.S.

Obligatory McGrady clip that must be shown whenever talking about him in any context

Absolutely insane