Is T-Mac the biggest NBA failure in the history of the league?

[SilkkTheShocker]

That was crazy how artest and yao made it out the first round when t-mac sat it out due to injury.

How was it crazy? Yao was healthy and absolutely shit all over Greg Oden.

[ShaqAttack3234]

T-Mac is no more of a "failure" than Grant Hill who rarely gets that label compared to T-Mac. Both had their primes cut short due to injuries, both played on bad teams for most of their prime and both failed to get out of the 1st round with the exception of Hill doing it once in 2010 as a role player.

T-Mac was drafted out of high school, was a solid player by his 3rd year and starting coming into his own in his 4th year at 21 years old, similar to many players drafted out of high school including Kobe. As everyone knows, Orlando signed Grant Hill the same time they signed T-Mac and their team was supposed to be built around those two, but with Grant Hill unable to play virtually the entire time T-Mac was with Orlando, they not only missed the talent that team desperately needed, but didn't have the cap space to build a good team around T-Mac. To make matters worse, T-Mac was good enough to drag that team to the playoffs and prevent them from getting lottery picks.

He gets to Houston, has a great first year there and for the most part, had a great series leading his 51 win Rockets to a 7th game vs the 58 win Mavs who had finished the season 16-2 under Avery Johnson. T-Mac was easily the best player in the series, and it wasn't even close, but Dallas was deeper.

That was pretty much the end of his prime. Past his prime after age 25 due to injuries. The only season he was at a level close to his prime after that was 2007, and that was a missed opportunity. That was the one series he "should have won." But even that was vs a good Utah team that had match up advantages. Yao couldn't guard Okur because he was a 3 point shooter, and ended up guarding Boozer who was too quick and dominated the series. T-Mac did settle offensively, I remember him having advantages throughout the series, particularly when Fisher guarded him, though T-Mac did do a great job as a facilitator and had a solid game 7.

T-Mac declined more in 2008, and despite winning roughly half of those 22 consecutive games without Yao, I didn't expect them to beat Utah without him. It was clear Houston wasn't going far once Yao went down for the season. That was the last year T-Mac was relevant, at age 28.

The 1st round thing with context is pointless for a player who spent almost all of his short prime on bad teams, was past his prime after age 25 and irrelevant after age 28 due to injuries. How much more should he have accomplished from a team standpoint during that time?

As far as his individual play, that shouldn't even be a question. As it is, nobody expected T-Mac to become the offensive force he was. Even during his last year in Toronto, nobody thought he'd become the offensive player Vince Carter was, much less right on par with Kobe from 2002-2005.

[GreatGreg]

Well, He's not that different from Lebron, except he didn't go join 2 other all stars.

Pull the cactus out of your ass and unclamp that lobster that's on your p[COLOR="Black"]u[/COLOR]ssy, f[COLOR="Black"]ag[/COLOR]got.

[Legends66NBA7]

Unluckiest player in NBA history maybe.

No, he isn't, although you did say maybe... Unlucky would be someone who had a much shorter career because of injury, when they were starting to hit their prime. I consider Brandon Roy more unlucky in that case.

He made his own choice and left Toronto because he didn't want to be in Vince Carter's shadow. He wanted to be the man on his own team and he thought he had a healthy Grant Hill.

When he asked if he considered to come back to Toronto again as a more polished player and reunite with Carter his answer was this:

"Asked if he would consider signing with Toronto if he opts out of his contract next year, McGrady said: "It's too cold outside here for me."" - Decemeber

Just can't respect the man for that. He had better teams in Houston with and without Yao Ming, but still couldn't got out of the first round. Now, is he the biggest failure in the history of the league ? Not even close.

There are far worse #1 overall picks (there's one in Toronto right now), disappointing hyped up players, etc... His teams lost because they lost, regardless if it was his fault or not.

[elementally morale]

Not a real failure.

He was a first class talent with second class work ethic and third class leadership skills. Coupled with some bad luck. Still a very good NBA player, on his best years arguably the best but at worst a top 2 wingman and a top 5 player in the league. It lasted only 2-3 years but he was very very good in that span.

He was too good a player to be considered a second option and he wasn't good enough a leader to be a first option. This plus injuries. Still not bad, not even close to the biggest disappointment unless you thought he would become the best SG ever. He sure had the natural talent to.

[pegasus]

Very smart of you to repeat it, as if we wouldn't have laughed hard enough the first time due to us not having read your witty remark.

Leave the triple retard alone!

[CavaliersFTW]

By far the biggest failure in NBA history. He is going to be one of those guys that gets overrated after retirement. But the truth is he was always a heartless player. People can pull the injury excuses out (and they are legit) but the guy never had the fire to take his teams far. He wasn't a leader by any means.

Whenever you call other people failures (particularly multi-millionare pro athletes like T-Mac), I find it incredibly funny. Especially after you went public with your underwear incident

[Legends66NBA7]

He was too good a player to be considered a second option and he wasn't good enough a leader to be a first option. This plus injuries. Still not bad, not even close to the biggest disappointment unless you thought he would become the best SG ever. He sure had the natural talent to.

Bill Walton thought he had a chance to become the greatest player ever.

[ShaqAttack3234]

Bill Walton thought he had a chance to become the greatest player ever.

Yeah, and Bill Walton tended to see a variety of objects and colors that weren't actually there.

[Legends66NBA7]

Yeah, and Bill Walton tended to see a variety of objects and colors that weren't actually there.

My thoughts, exactly.

[elementally morale]

Bill Walton thought he had a chance to become the greatest player ever.

He and Vince Carter were amongst the most talented players I've seen entering the NBA since 1980. If I have to give you a top 5:

McGrady
Shaq
Carter
Jordan
LeBron

McGrady and Vince Carter are disapponintments in comparison with what they could have been, but I'd call neither of them failures. Both are a bit lame, especaially Vince. But failures? Not at all.

Darius Miles is a failure. Kwame. Olowokandi. Those guys are failures. McGrady? He isn't. He was a top 5 player for several years. How many people are there in the world who would loooooove to fail their way up there?

[NumberSix]

I usually don't like to rank guys based on team success, but this is just a little too much to overlook. I mean, you couldn't lead your team to win 1 single series? In either conference?

[ImmortalNemesis]

No

[ImmortalNemesis]

T-Mac is no more of a "failure" than Grant Hill who rarely gets that label compared to T-Mac. Both had their primes cut short due to injuries, both played on bad teams for most of their prime and both failed to get out of the 1st round with the exception of Hill doing it once in 2010 as a role player.

T-Mac was drafted out of high school, was a solid player by his 3rd year and starting coming into his own in his 4th year at 21 years old, similar to many players drafted out of high school including Kobe. As everyone knows, Orlando signed Grant Hill the same time they signed T-Mac and their team was supposed to be built around those two, but with Grant Hill unable to play virtually the entire time T-Mac was with Orlando, they not only missed the talent that team desperately needed, but didn't have the cap space to build a good team around T-Mac. To make matters worse, T-Mac was good enough to drag that team to the playoffs and prevent them from getting lottery picks.

He gets to Houston, has a great first year there and for the most part, had a great series leading his 51 win Rockets to a 7th game vs the 58 win Mavs who had finished the season 16-2 under Avery Johnson. T-Mac was easily the best player in the series, and it wasn't even close, but Dallas was deeper.

That was pretty much the end of his prime. Past his prime after age 25 due to injuries. The only season he was at a level close to his prime after that was 2007, and that was a missed opportunity. That was the one series he "should have won." But even that was vs a good Utah team that had match up advantages. Yao couldn't guard Okur because he was a 3 point shooter, and ended up guarding Boozer who was too quick and dominated the series. T-Mac did settle offensively, I remember him having advantages throughout the series, particularly when Fisher guarded him, though T-Mac did do a great job as a facilitator and had a solid game 7.

T-Mac declined more in 2008, and despite winning roughly half of those 22 consecutive games without Yao, I didn't expect them to beat Utah without him. It was clear Houston wasn't going far once Yao went down for the season. That was the last year T-Mac was relevant, at age 28.

The 1st round thing with context is pointless for a player who spent almost all of his short prime on bad teams, was past his prime after age 25 and irrelevant after age 28 due to injuries. How much more should he have accomplished from a team standpoint during that time?

As far as his individual play, that shouldn't even be a question. As it is, nobody expected T-Mac to become the offensive force he was. Even during his last year in Toronto, nobody thought he'd become the offensive player Vince Carter was, much less right on par with Kobe from 2002-2005.

[icewill36]

his body broke down, hes not a failure.