Tracy McGrady belongs in the NBA Hall of Fame. Just ask Tracy McGrady.
McGrady told CSNHouston.com he thought his 15-year career was sufficient to get him into basketball's house of elite.
"I think my numbers match up with some of the guys that are in the Hall of Fame," McGrady said. "Whether or not I get in or not, it really doesn't matter to me. I'm a guy from Auburndale, Florida (with) a population of 10,000 people, grew up in a pretty bad neighborhood, so to me, I'm Hall of Fame just by making it through my career. That's Hall of Fame to me."
USA TODAY Sports reported that if McGrady fails to get into the Hall of Fame, he would become the first scoring champion in the history of American professional basketball to be denied entrance.
McGrady won scoring titles during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons with the Orlando Magic, averaging 32.1 points during his first run and 28.0 points during his encore scoring-title season. He averaged 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game during his career.
The biggest knock on McGrady is that his teams never advanced out of the first round of the NBA playoffs. He did average more than 30 points four times during a five-year period. He did it during his last three years with the Magic from 2001-03, and then two years later in 2005 with the Houston Rockets (his first season since being traded from Orlando).
Ironically, McGrady came within an eyelash of winning his first NBA title this past season as a late pickup of the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs were within seconds of beating the Miami Heat for the 2013 championship in Game 6 before the Heat made a remarkable comeback.
And though McGrady is retiring from the NBA, he reiterated that playing overseas is a realistic option.
"I'm retiring from the NBA," McGrady told CSNHouston.com. "My options are still open - going back to China. I mean, my brand is so huge over there, so I might continue to expand on that."
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