Rumors

Solomon Hill: he could have a point, back when tracy played, there was so much talent, that he couldn’t get out the first round.

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Tracy McGrady: “We don't have the talent to be trying to start two more teams… Now, can we take two teams away and add two teams? To still stay at 30. I'm saying keep it at 30.” Vince Carter: “I'm all for it, honestly. I feel like if we do that, it can go back to the old NBA where you don't get to click up because now you can take a superstar and kind of spread them to their own squad and you hold it down like we had to do. I like that. Here is my question. [The superstars] want to team up. Here is an opportunity to fix that while this is happening. The league right now needs to be restructured. The introduction of two new teams can fix some of that. Sit downs need to happen, regardless, to change a lot of things. We talked about the 65 game rule, but I feel like back in the day when you had a team, you felt a responsibility to carry the magic on your back because you were the guy.”

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Vince Carter: I remember you saying ‘Oh, man. At 50 something… man, he just need to play three quarters and sit down.’ I'm over there like: ‘Nah, man, you need to see if you can get it.’ All of a sudden, it's just like the light came on with him… Give him the ball… We turned into real fans. Did you see maybe Devin Booker 71 or Luka’s 73…Now 80. I was a fan, man. It was just fun to watch and I know a lot of people had some things to say about it.” Tracy McGrady: “The thing is, teammates have just been giving [BAM] the ball and let the player go and have a historic night... That is what we do in this league.”

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“You look at what Tim Duncan did. I’m not comparing Cameron to Tim Duncan, but he was another guy that wasn’t [athletically] a Kevin Garnett or a Tracy McGrady or a Kobe Bryant or Shaquille O’Neal. But you know what he did? He won five championships in that era [against] those players — the Kobes and the Shaqs, because of his IQ, because of his skill set, and because his team would follow him. “That is who Cameron is. He’s a modern-day version of that. People are going to follow him because of what he gives to the team and what he gives to the game. That translates into winning. So. if you want to win, you pick Cameron. And I’m going to tell you this: The GMs that don’t pick Cam, they’re going to regret that 15 years from now.”

Andscape

“There are not that many guys that can be an 18-year-old on the biggest stage in college basketball like Duke basketball — [and] with what comes with that — and the entire team will follow him,” Carlos Boozer said. “You know why they do that with Cameron? Because he gives so much to the game. He gives so much to his team. Whatever it takes, he’s an unselfish superstar, and that translates to the NBA. “You look at what Tim Duncan did. I’m not comparing Cameron to Tim Duncan, but he was another guy that wasn’t [athletically] a Kevin Garnett or a Tracy McGrady or a Kobe Bryant or Shaquille O’Neal. But you know what he did? He won five championships in that era [against] those players — the Kobes and the Shaqs, because of his IQ, because of his skill set, and because his team would follow him. “That is who Cameron is. He’s a modern-day version of that. People are going to follow him because of what he gives to the team and what he gives to the game. That translates into winning. So. if you want to win, you pick Cameron. And I’m going to tell you this: The GMs that don’t pick Cam, they’re going to regret that 15 years from now.”

Andscape

Tracy McGrady: Talk to us about you reaching out to me coming to the house. What was your mindset like? What made you do that? Jaylen Brown: Right around that time after that season that we lost in a second round to the Bucks. I came right after that to Houston to get some work in. And I'm so grateful for that time and I'm I'm grateful to this day for you opening up your crib to me and just coming to be able to kick it with the fam and just ask questions and get some good advice about how I should look at the next couple years and how I should think about and where my mind should be at at the time. And you told me the potential that I have and what I needed to do if I needed to make it work and I followed those instructions to achieve and fast forward I became an NBA champion. (…) Coming and sitting down with T-Mac. We spent a couple days just working out and talking, having some food, and he's telling me like, I'm thinking like one thing and he's thinking like, nah, you need to stay, it's going to be you. He's telling me all the stuff that all just manifested itself. So, I can't even like, it’s crazy looking back on it now. 

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ESPN Insights: Desmond Bane is the third different player in Magic history with 35 points, 5 assists and 0 turnovers in a game 🪄 He joins Tracy McGrady (3 times, last in 2003) and Shaquille O'Neal (1994) 🗒️

Twitter

Jaylen Brown on wanting Tracy McGrady to be his mentor: “TMAC is my inspiration — one of my favorite players of all time. I think I tagged him, and he responded. In that response, I remember he put: Remember humble and hungry. You probably can still find that tweet somewhere. Later, I played in my first All-Star game in 2020 or 2021. I had Adidas put that on the shoes, “Remember Humble and Hungry.” I wore the TMACs because I remember watching the All-Star game when Mac was wearing one red shoe, one blue shoe; how iconic that was.

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Lamar Odom tells story on Kobe Byrant saying he was better than Michael Jordan: Odom: He on a streak he had like 9 game winners, walk offs. His 9th one were in Milwaukee, you know how your adrenaline is still pumping after the game? He’s talking to him, this n**** is murmuring to him ‘I’m better than Mike.’ That’s where he was trynna go Tracy McGrady: I told this exact story when we were younger and When I used to stay with him at his house, he was saying the exact same thing. I’m looking at home like ‘Yo you buggin.’ At 19 years old he was saying the exact same thing

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Ron Harper: Kobe Bryant is about as close to Michael Jordan as you’re ever going to have. Like, real close... like AA and AB. Tracy McGrady: We all say that. Harper: When I first came to Los Angeles in 2000 and saw this kid play, he’d already been in the league for two, three years, just watching him, that was his way. And every day he talked about MJ, asking me, “What did MJ do? How did MJ handle this?” He’s asking a million questions, wants to know everything. I’m like, “Relax, dude. You’re okay. You’re working.” And he worked extremely hard. McGrady: That’s what Kobe was about. You give him information, he wants all the information he can get on players who can make him better or players he wants to gain an advantage on. He wants all of that information.

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How do you and Vince compare and contrast? McGrady: I’m a little bit more edgy and raw, and I take the chances that he won’t take. I take those chances, but I’m trying to get him to take a little bit of those chances sometimes. But for me, it’s like we complement each other well, because he comes from an educated background. Mom’s extremely educated. He’s educated going to UNC and graduated from UNC. I’m straight out of the gutter. Highest education in my household was high school. Mine was high school. I never went to college, so to end up in this at the same finish line with the Hall of Fame. Both of us had amazing careers in basketball. Now we’re both on NBC. It really doesn’t matter your background and where you come from. We contrast each other really well.

athlonsports.com

Who was your inspiration growing up? And is there anyone you modeled your game after? Matas Buzelis: Inspiration growing up… I modeled my game probably after Tracy McGrady.

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Perhaps inspired by listening to Naismith Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar deliver a talk the night before, VJ Edgecombe took the game seriously Friday and won MVP for Vince Carter's team at Intuit Dome. He clinched the final with two free throws to get his team to the target score of 25, edging out Carmelo Anthony's team. Earlier in the semifinal game, Edgecombe scored the final 10 points to help defeat the team selected by Tracy McGrady, finishing with 17 of his team's 41 points. Edgecombe was all smiles afterward, but he was serious with his approach. "[Vince] told us, 'Why not just play hard?' Earlier today, after practice we all decided, man, we're just going to compete," Edgecombe said. "Vince, he just wanted me to be aggressive."

ESPN

Vince Carter: Do you remember… Tracy McGrady: The million dollars? Yeah. Carter: The phone call. McGrady: For sure. Carter: They wanted me, you, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James for sure for a million dollars. And I said, ‘I’m in if everybody else is in.’ And then… McGrady: ‘No, no, no. I'm good. I'm good.’ Carter: I felt like at the end of the day, I would love to get a confirmation, but I felt like I was the only one that said yes. McGrady: That was the problem.

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