AND A CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM
ORLANDO, Fla. — The numbers say everything about Tracy McGrady’s potential, as well as the kind of player he already is at the tender age of 21.
The Orlando Magic knew they were getting a talented young swingman capable of developing into an All-Star when they agreed to pay him $93 million over seven years. But an impressive training camp and strong regular-season start have shown he’s much more.
He’s been an unselfish scorer, done his fair share of rebounding and been every bit as good on defense as the Magic envisioned. And with Orlando’s other $93 million man, Grant Hill, still hobbling from offseason ankle surgery, McGrady is establishing himself as a team leader, too.
“We’re just out there, feeding off each other, and it’s no jealousy on the team,” the fourth-year pro said. “Whoever gets the hot hand, we’re going to that person. I don’t care if I score. ... I just want to be the guy who can make guys around him better ballplayers.”
McGrady had a career-high 32 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots and a steal, while playing a team-high 46 minutes in Orlando’s season opener. He’s averaging 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists during the Magic’s 4-6 start, but also has found out how difficult it can be to carry a team.
Once he learns how to handle different defensive schemes that teams are throwing at him with Hill out of the lineup, coach Doc Rivers expects McGrady to elevate his game to an even higher level.
“He will be a great player,” Rivers said. “I don’t know if he is yet, but I think he will be.”
The 6-foot-8 swingman played alongside Vince Carter in Toronto the past two seasons, benefiting from the attention one of the league’s top scorers attracted from defenses. A healthy Hill, an All-Star five of his six years with the Detroit Pistons, figures to provide the same kind of help in Orlando.
“It’s a learning experience,” McGrady said of the double teams and other schemes opponents are using to disrupt him and the Magic offense. “I’m going to receive that a lot of nights. The team has to step up. I have to step up.”
McGrady’s statistics have improved every season since he went directly to the NBA from high school as the ninth pick in the 1997 draft. He finished in the top five in voting for the league’s Sixth Man and Most Improved Player Awards last spring, and dismisses the notion that the biggest reason he left the Raptors was he felt restricted by the presence of Carter, a distant relative who’s one of the NBA’s fastest-rising stars.
“I don’t think I was in his shadow. I guess (the media) thought I was, but I didn’t feel that way. I went out and played my game and got noticed a little bit,” said McGrady, who averaged 15.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.91 blocks and 1.14 steals--all career highs--last season.
“Vince is a spectacular ballplayer, and he’s going to give you some spectacular plays every night. He’s a scorer. My game is more defense. I wasn’t in his shadow. I did my own thing. I felt good about my play last year.”
The truth, McGrady said, is he longed to live and play closer to his hometown of Auburndale, about 40 minutes down the road from Orlando. He made up his mind to buy a home in central Florida before talking to the Magic, eventually settling on the $6.6 million mansion owned by the late Payne Stewart.
He was also strongly courted by the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, but insisted he never really considered going anywhere but Orlando--especially after the Magic didn’t snare the biggest free agent prize of all, Tim Duncan.
Orlando only had room under the salary cap to sign two high-profile free agents and stepped up its recruitment of McGrady when Duncan decided to re-sign with the San Antonio Spurs.
McGrady, who believes he someday can average a triple double for an entire season, is confident Hill can help him achieve a goal of becoming a perennial All-Star and one of the league’s best all-around players.
Hill, out indefinitely to rehabilitate the surgically repaired ankle he broke during last season’s playoffs, is just as excited about playing alongside McGrady and watching him blossom.
“It’s scary how good he can become,” Hill said, adding that not many teams can boast of having two players with skills comparable to his and McGrady’s.
“I look at it as a matchup problem for other teams. How are you going to stop us? Teams in the league are very well prepared ... But a bunch of guys who can bring the ball up the court, who can star on defense, who can do different things, that makes it that much more difficult for opposing teams”
But can the Magic, which lack the size and toughness teams usually need to be successful in the playoffs, meet expectations of contending for a championship with Hill out for perhaps as much as two months?
McGrady thinks so, saying he and his teammates have an idea of what it’ll take to stay afloat.
“He has that deep passion for the game and wants to be out there with us. But he’s got to take a seat and just let us take over. Nobody’s going to run away with the Eastern Conference title. The season’s just beginning and he’ll be ready by midseason,” McGrady said.
And the burden of expectations?
“I love it,” he said. “You’ve got to deal with it, not feel pressure about it. ... If we believe in ourselves, we can beat anybody.”
