Tracy McGrady’s Last Game with the Toronto Raptors | Full Highlights

#tracymcgrady #tmac
Thanks for watching!
Like, comment, share if you enjoyed.
-
Tracy McGrady Full Highlights
2000 NBA Playoffs
Eastern Conference First Round
Toronto Raptors vs NY Knicks
Game 3 - April 30, 2000
Air Canada Centre
- 12 pts, 5a, 4r, 1s / 5-14 fg, 0-3 3pt, 2-2 ft
Selected 9th overall by the Toronto Raptors in 1997, Tracy McGrady became just the 6th player in NBA history drafted straight out of high school. Like the five before him, McGrady experienced minimal opportunity as an 18 year old rookie in a league with an average player age of 27.7 (1997-98). Seeing the court in 64 games, he averaged 7.0 pts in 18 mpg. His sophomore campaign included the arrival of his cousin, UNC’s Vince Carter. An instant sensation, Carter led all rookies in scoring at 18.3 en route to being named 1998-99 Rookie of the Year.
Midway through the 1999-00 season, Tracy earned consistent playing time as a starter. He posted 17.4 pts, 8.3 reb, and 4.2 ast in the team’s final 30 games, starting in every one of them and proving himself to be a valuable playmaker. On the season, T-Mac averaged 15.4 pts and 6.3 reb on 45% while helping the Raptors franchise to their first ever playoff appearance.
In June of 1999, Orlando Magic General Manager John Gabriel made his first move in what would be a historically busy summer, hiring former leaguer Doc Rivers as the team’s new head coach. Though the Magic were on the heals of an excellent 33-17 lockout shortened 50-game season, Gabriel saw the following year’s offseason (2000) as an opportunity to pursue upcoming free agents like Tim Duncan and Grant Hill. Intent on dismantling and revamping, Gabriel moved on 7 trades through the end of August, involving a total of 23 players and 6 future draft picks. Among those shipped out of Orlando were three of their best - Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson, and Horace Grant.
With tons of cap space cleared, a rookie head coach, and a roster full of role guys and young hopefuls, the 1999-00 Magic were expected by most to be league bottom dwellers. What ultimately transpired differed greatly from these early-season expectations. “Heart and hustle” was the motto. Doc’s methods maximized the talent (or lack of) that he’d been presented. Rivers’ confidence in his squad was undeniable. He managed to get the most out of his players each and every night. 4 of their starters - Darrell Armstrong, Ben Wallace, Bo Outlaw, and John Amaechi - were undrafted. The team’s reserves accounted for 48% of their scoring and led the Association in bench points per game. Placing 9th in the Eastern Conference at 41-41, the Magic missed the playoffs by just one game. Doc was voted Coach of the Year for his efforts. He became the first in NBA history to obtain the award without reaching the postseason. John Gabriel was named Executive of the Year for hiring Rivers, reconstructing the team, and consequently positioning them to strike heavy during summer 2000’s free agency.
Having impressed the basketball world, Orlando was able to grab All-Star point-forward Grant Hill off the free agent market. Joining him was the 21 year old McGrady, ready to make waves as a top-tier perimeter player. Both were acquired via sign-and-trade, both inking 7-year, $92.8M deals.
The most notable recent instance similar to T-Mac’s would probably be James Harden in 2012, who also saw limited playing time in his first few seasons. Like Tracy, Harden didn’t exhibit signs of his true worth until year three when he was named 6th Man of the Year. But who wouldn’t want to maximize their potential as a franchise player given the opportunity? Both guys knew they were capable, both guys knew they’d likely be second (or third) fiddle and unable to fully blossom in their respective situations - Tracy with Vince, and Harden with Durant and Westbrook. Kyrie Irving’s situation in Cleveland held some similarities. Although he and LeBron James had already won a championship together, Irving thought his career going forward would be better served away from LeBron. I’m not sure that’s worked out as expected.
God bless those who read my essay-length description here.
Notes:
2:28 Bill knows a thing or two about injuries
4:34 That half spin
7:37 The Clippers
9:37 Harsh but true
-
My channel has monetization benefits, but I do not utilize them. The league has copyright claimed most of my videos. If you were forced to watch an ad before or during this video, pardon the inconvenience. The league is responsible.
All footage is property of the National Basketball Association (NBA). No copyright infringement is intended.

[@dcshow]

Summer 2000 effect in the ensuing 5 years: Vince has his best season in 2000-01, but Toronto loses in the 2nd round, they miss the playoffs in 2003 and 2004, Vince is traded during the 2004-05 season Tracy becomes a superstar, but Grant Hill’s numerous injuries prevent Orlando from making deep playoff runs, McGrady is traded before the 2004-05 season Tim Duncan wins back to back MVP’s as San Antonio’s franchise player, and collects 2 more Finals MVP’s as part of Spurs championship teams in 2003 and 2005 “What ifs”: Tracy stayed in Toronto with Vince Grant Hill stayed healthy in Orlando with Tracy Tim Duncan joined T-Mac and Grant in Orlando

[@MorseCodeMC]

If only he stayed 😞

[@inexpugnabilis]

4:00 In your video description you asked for the song in the background. It's Sonique It feels so good.

[@dcshow]

Just seen this, thanks man

[@inexpugnabilis]

@@dcshow You’re welcome! 👍🏼

[@perejovanov]

Hi, a new subscriber here. Awesome content Sir. May I ask you please if you could upload this game in full length? I've been looking for it for so long as this is the only one I'm missing of Raptors' 2000 and 2001 Playoff run. Thanks so much.

[@hellabreeshhh]

Pure heat 🔥🔥🐐🐐🔥🔥🔥🔥 this channel goated 🔥

[@jiyang2014]

more tmac games thx bro

[@chrisuncleahmad]

Everyone forgets the 2000 Knicks actually had a decent run the year after making the Finals

[@Sheboygan.]

Great work dom! This departure made me wonder if there are All-Star perimeter players who get the ball a lot that succeeded as teammates. At the moment, I can think of recent superteams (and a borderline superteam in the Cavs): the Heat w/ LeBron & Wade, the Cavs w/ LeBron & Kyrie and the Warriors w/ Steph, KD & Klay. I think T-Mac and VC could've had similar success as teammates. But I think the pace of play and notions of what was a good shot back then would've made it tricky, along with the ego aspect.

[@dcshow]

Glad to hear from you dude, and you make good points. Tracy and vince at their peaks may have been too similar to coexist. Freak athletes, shoot first type guys, guess thats where the ego comes in, but more so on tracy’s end because ultimately he’s the one who left. Like vince said, “he wanted the ball all the time” But just imagining that is crazy. Today’s league players move around so much that all-star pairings are insignificant. Early 2000’s tmac and vince, or kobe and iverson, or kobe and tmac together, 2 superstar level scorers paired together on the perimeter back then would have been unreal to see.

[@Sheboygan.]

@@dcshow Thanks a lot man! And it definitely would've been unreal. Those sort of pairings would've deviated so much from the norm that it could've taken a while for opponents to figure out how to contend with them. Kind of like how it took a while for teams to adapt to what Golden State was doing at the start of their run.

[@dcshow]

@@Sheboygan. True. However the flip to that is recent history has shown that two similar guys especially score first wouldnt have been most effective. When teams have won, its because sacrifices were made by players capable of adjusting their games to best fit the team. For instance wade took that step back in miami, and while irving was a straight bucket getter, lebron was more playmaker. And thompson curry durant all had the ability and willingness to play the beneficiary role when one of them had it going, especially thompson. If 60 points on 11 dribbles doesn’t scream “beneficiary” then i dont know what does. But we are seeing the down effects of this 2 superstar guard front right now with james and westbrook. They are too similar a player to coexist, they have similar deficiencies which compounds each other… ball dominant, high usage, high turnover, below average free throw shooters. You can have one or the other, but not both. Because the players around them need to make up for their defects. The guys around them need to be low usage, smart, turnover free snipers so that theres a balance. Theyve tried to adjust westbrook into a wade or irving for lebron but he is not the scorer those guys were. It was a bad mix from the start. Even when the trade happened, it was so obvious. Maybe pelinka and lebron were convinced they could change westbrook into a more efficient player

[@Sheboygan.]

@@dcshow You're right, LeBron and Westbrook were a bad pairing from the jump because of the deficiencies they share. If LeBron and Pelinka thought they could change Westbrook, I'm not sure why. He hasn't adjusted his game much at all in his career and he's bristled publicly when asked if he'd do so. The trade to me seemed like a move to load up on talent to counter what Brooklyn had built, with any doubts about fit either ignored or underestimated. I think Tracy and Vince would've had more potential to work because their offensive skillsets would've allowed one of them to play off the ball and still be effective. But it would've taken adjustment and sacrifice from each of them for sure. In terms of modern parallels, I'm interested to see how things go for Boston with Tatum and Brown, and for the Clippers with Kawhi and PG. I'd like to see both duos succeed.

[@dcshow]

Good point on them trying to match up with brooklyn’s firepower at the time. And the tatum brown dynamic is interesting. It be great to see them play together for a long time, looking back at curry and thompson, seemed doubtful before kerr got there. I remember a trade for kevin love almost happened with thompson. I dont watch many current nba games at all. But tuned into last few lakers, i think a great pairing with lebron right now would be 2018 rockets chris paul. He almost looked like kyrie irving out there at times next to harden. Replace westbrook with 2018 paul this laker team would look very different. I make sure to tell people that paul’s highest turnovers per game 3.0 in 2009 is lower than westbrook’s lowest tpg 3.3 in 09, 10 and 13

[@nomorephones]

Only by watching this game, you'd know he'd be top 100 players ever... shame he didn't stay

[@andresdelportillo9917]

LJ’s last game as a hornet