re: Bill Simmons on Tracy McGrady

this argument is why i think TMac's brilliance over a 5-7 year period has been somewhat forgotten/ignored

quote:

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T-Mac's brilliance was never infectious like that. He always looked half-asleep. He didn't have a nasty streak. He wasn't larger than life. He was just really, really, really great at playing basketball. That's it. If you want to pick McGrady's career apart historically, or even make the case that he's not a Hall of Famer, this is the easiest argument to make against him. When you're playing with a superduperstar, you should be heading to practice every day thinking, I can't let this guy down.

McGrady never made anyone feel that way. We spent the past decade wondering if Kobe was too tough on his teammates, if he pushed them too far, if he called them out too much, if he was so overwhelmingly competitive that it actually worked against him sometimes. (And it probably did.) McGrady sits on the other side of the spectrum. In that respect, he was the anti-Kobe. His teammates played with him; they didn't go to war for him. Maybe that was the difference. Or maybe not everyone's meant to lead a team that way, and that's OK, too.

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the american public just does NOT like guys who are so good they don't have to try hard to be great

we even invent this narrative for guys who do bust their arse, like lebron

we love "blue collar" types who "leave it all on the floor" and compete like their life depended on it. when you combine this with great talent, you get an MJ or Kobe. when it comes too easy, people turn you into a TMac. i'm so glad people have started leaving this argument behind with Lebron, b/c he busts his arse