Tag: Tracy McGrady

Scottie Pippen was almost traded to the Boston Celtics in 1997

“The Last Dance” could have had a very different story arc had a proposed deal to send Scottie Pippen to the Boston Celtics panned out.

The Boston Celtics have not been the most prominent opponent in the new ESPN Michael Jordan documentary “The Last Dance”, but there have been a few interesting ties between that era of the Chicago Bulls and the Massachusetts franchise.

One resurfaced in a conversation between “The Jordan Rules” biographer of Sir Airness himself Sam Smith and Boston Globe veteran reporter Bob Ryan as the pair discussed a trade for Bulls forward Scottie Pippen that could have changed the history of the league — and very nearly went down.

Speaking on “The Ryan and Goodman Podcast”, Smith set the scene leading up to the aborted trade.

M.L. Carr had just passed the torch as general manager of the Celtics to prodigal son Rick Pitino, who took over as coach and G.M. in the summer of 1997 with two lottery picks gifted him from Carr and the miserable, 15-win season of 1996-97, the worst in Boston’s storied history.

“M.L. Carr loses every game that season so Boston could get Tim Duncan … they get three in the lottery,” Smith begins.

“So now Pitino comes in, he’s not coaching [whoever is taken with] No. 3 in the [lottery],” exclaimed Smith, “so he reaches out to the Bulls for [Scotty] Pippin. They should have made this deal!”

Originally reported in the New York Times that summer, McGrady himself actually brought this deal up himself appearing on ESPN’s “The Jump”.

“What a lot of people don’t know about that night is that Jerry Krause was actually trying to make a trade for me and Scottie Pippen, and MJ called and axed that whole deal,” related the Hall of Famer on how he was nearly a Bull.

RELATED: Ex-Celtic Dana Barros shares how he was almost drafted by the Bulls

“They would have had [Tracy] McGrady, who again [was] a small college guy that Jerry [Reinsdorf] had found [who he] was pursuing for years,” continued Smith.

“They would have also had three [and] six with the Boston picks and a veteran; I don’t know which veteran it was. So, were they to get that, they probably win the next season with with that plus [Dennis] Rodman, [Michael] Jordan and the team they had. And then they get McGrady going forward, then they don’t have to go back to the bottom like they did.”

“But Reinsdorf even though Jerry [Krause] kind of greased the deal with Boston, Reinsdorf says, ‘No, we have a chance to win next season we’re going to keep it together,'” finished the Jordan biographer.

“So, he — like all owners — he’s got the last veto,” related Smith.

It’s hard to say whether such a move would have worked out for the Celtics; in a  roundabout way, contracts added to the roster through dealing the players Boston would draft No. 3 and 6 (Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer) would bring back some of the players dealt to assemble the Banner 17 team.

Pippen was past his prime, but still a good player — would adding his name have provided enough wins to take the pressure off Pitino?

The world will never know, but in a time without basketball, at least it gives us something to ponder.

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VOTE: What was the best individual season in Houston Rockets history?

Houston’s three MVPs in James Harden, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Moses Malone are among the top candidates. Which season is best, though?

First round: ’15 Harden vs. ’05 McGrady / ’93 Olajuwon vs. ’01 Francis / ’18 Harden vs. ’89 Olajuwon / ’82 Malone vs. ’74 Tomjanovich / ’19 Harden vs. ’13 Harden / ’17 Harden vs. ’14 Harden / ’94 Olajuwon vs. ’16 Harden / ’79 Malone vs. ’81 Malone

Over their 53 years in existence, the Rockets are among the NBA’s most successful franchises by nearly any metric.

Houston ranks in the league’s all-time Top 10 in wins and winning percentage by franchise. They’ve won the NBA Finals on multiple occasions (1994, 1995) and the Western Conference four different times, along with seven division titles and 33 total playoff appearances.

Individual greatness has largely driven their team success. The Rockets have had three players win MVP in a Houston uniform (Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, James Harden), and they’ve had 62 total All-Star selections. They have six retired numbers, with Olajuwon and Malone joined by Calvin Murphy, Rudy Tomjanovich, Clyde Drexler, and Yao Ming.

All are among the 12 Hall of Famers to have played for the Rockets, and recent stars such as Harden, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, and Dwight Howard will further add to that list in the years ahead. But of all those NBA legends, who has had the greatest individual season of all? Rockets Wire aims to answer that question, with your help.

Methodology: In an effort to be as neutral as possible, the 16 seedings are ranked by Win Shares, as listed on Basketball Reference. These Win Shares are based on statistics during each regular season, rather than the playoffs. However, if you’d like to add playoff performance in that year to your criteria, that’s absolutely your prerogative! The suspended 2019-20 season is not included, as we hope it resumes at some point.

Without further delay, let the balloting begin. First-round voting will continue until Wednesday night. Vote early and often!

First round: 2014-15 James Harden vs. 2004-05 Tracy McGrady

No. 1 seed: 2014-15 James Harden: 27.4 points (44.0% FG, 37.5% 3-pointers), 7.0 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 1.9 steals per game

Harden’s 2014-15 season is perhaps best remembered for how he picked up the slack for issues around him. Co-star Dwight Howard missed 41 games in the regular season, and starters Pat Beverley and Donatas Motiejunas each had their seasons end early due to injury. Veteran castoffs like Pablo Prigioni and Jason Terry were thrust into key roles.

Nonetheless, largely due to Harden’s leadership, the often shorthanded Rockets still went 56-26 in the regular season and earned the No. 2 seed in the West. They won Houston’s first division title in 21 years, and then advanced in the playoffs to the franchise’s first Western Conference Finals in 18 years. Harden posted 4.2 defensive win shares that year, which remains the most of his career, and his 61.8% true shooting percentage is the second-highest of Harden’s eight seasons in Houston.

After the 2014-15 season concluded, “The Beard” was voted by fellow NBA players as the league’s MVP.

Photo by Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

No. 16 seed: 2004-05 Tracy McGrady: 25.7 points (43.1% FG, 32.6% 3-pointers), 6.2 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.7 steals per game

Considering that back and knee issues limited McGrady’s prime, it probably isn’t a surprise that McGrady’s best year in Houston was his first one. McGrady’s 78 games played were by far the most of any of his six seasons played in Houston, and his scoring average and efficiency marks were at or near the top of his Houston tenure, too.

Led by McGrady, the Rockets improved by six games (45-37 to 51-31) in the Western Conference standings and moved up from the No. 7 seed to No. 5. They lost in seven games in the first round to rival Dallas.

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

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Today in 2005: Tracy McGrady has epic dunk, game winner in Dallas

In the same 2005 playoff game,, Rockets star Tracy McGrady had an epic dunk over Dallas center Shawn Bradley and the game-winning shot.Ho

According to the legendary call by TNT announcer Kevin Harlan, Houston Rockets star Tracy McGrady “sucked the gravity right out of the building” with his Game 2 dunk over 7-foot-6 Dallas center Shawn Bradley in the first round of the 2005 NBA playoffs.

Later in that same game on April 25, 2005, McGrady hit the game-winning shot with two seconds left to give Houston a 2-0 lead in the series.

McGrady finished with 28 points (52.6% FG) and 10 assists, while All-Star center Yao Ming had 33 points on an astonishing 13-of-14 shooting (92.9%). It led to a thrilling 113-111 road win (box score) by the Rockets.

Unfortunately for the Rockets, Dirk Nowitzki’s Mavericks rallied to win each of the next two games in Houston. That put the Western Conference’s No. 4 and No. 5 seeds back on level footing, and Dallas won at home in Game 5 and Game 7 to ultimately advance.

Nonetheless, that Game 2 was among the highest points of the McGrady-Yao partnership — and a reminder of what possibly could have been in future years, had the All-Stars been able to stay healthy.

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Today in Rockets history: Tracy McGrady scores 40 on Ron Artest

Rockets guard Tracy McGrady had 40 points (50% FG), 10 assists, and eight rebounds in a key April 2007 victory at Sacramento.

On April 8, 2007, future Hall of Fame guard Tracy McGrady led the Houston Rockets with 40 points and 10 assists in a 112-106 road victory (box score) over the Sacramento Kings.

McGrady, who shot 50% from the field and on 3-pointers against the Kings (31-45), also grabbed eight rebounds — which means he came up just two boards shy of a 40-point triple-double.

Even Sacramento’s Ron Artest — a future Rocket, and one of the NBA’s elite defenders at the time — was no match for McGrady on that night. Perhaps fatigued from chasing around McGrady (or from being hounded by Shane Battier), Artest shot just 2-of-14 (14.3%) on offense.

Houston (48-29) needed all of McGrady’s scoring punch, since only two other players (Yao Ming, Luther Head) on head coach Jeff Van Gundy’s roster scored in double figures. The Kings were led by 24 points (50% FG) from guard Kevin Martin, who was actually traded to the Rockets in a deal involving McGrady less than three years later.

Houston snapped a three-game losing streak and overcame a seven-point halftime deficit by scoring 62 points in the second half (recap).

It was an important late-season game for the Rockets, who were in a battle with the Jazz for home-court advantage in the first round of the 2007 NBA playoffs. Ultimately, Houston held off Utah by one game.

Unfortunately for McGrady and the Rockets (52-30), though, the Jazz (51-31) still overcame the odds to win that series — punctuated by a Game 7 win at Toyota Center. It was the second time in three years that Houston lost in the first round after taking a 2-0 lead to begin the series.

In 2009, with McGrady sidelined by injury and the newly acquired Artest as one of the team’s focal points, that era’s Rockets finally advanced out of the first round with a 4-2 series win over Portland.

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Today in Warriors history: Baron Davis and Tracy McGrady each drop 40 in 2005 duel

in 2005, Tracy McGrady and Baron Davis put on a show to remember.

While the NBA season is on hold with 17 games remaining, Warriors Wire is looking back into Golden State’s history to highlight standout performances of the past.

Before James Harden and Stephen Curry battled in the Western Conference playoffs, another pair of guards from the Rockets and Warriors went toe-to-toe in Oracle Arena.

April 5, 2005

With seven games remaining in the season, the Houston Rockets were vying for playoff position, while the Warriors were looking to build momentum into the offseason.

After acquiring Baron Davis from the Charlotte Hornets in February, the new point guard was putting the finishing touches on a memorable first impression in Golden State.

When the Rockets rolled into Oakland, Davis cemented himself as the Warriors’ new leader of the future. The UCLA product dropped a career-high 40 points with 13 assists and five rebounds. Davis added 15 points on his 16 trips to the free-throw line against Houston.

Tracy McGrady matched Davis’ performance with 44 points on 18-of-34 shooting with seven assists and five rebounds, but it wasn’t enough. Golden State cruised to a 122-117 victory to extend their late-season winning streak to six games.

Watch highlights from the “We Believe” legend’s career night against McGrady on Youtube:

Today in Rockets history: Yao Ming holds off Kobe, Lakers at Staples

In the No. 3 scoring game of his career, Yao Ming had 39 points, 11 rebounds, and four blocks in a road win over Kobe Bryant’s Lakers.

In an epic battle of future Hall of Famers, Yao Ming and the visiting Houston Rockets held off Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in a 107-104 overtime win (box score) on March 30, 2007 at Staples Center.

Bryant scored a game-high 53 points, though it took him 44 shots to get there. (He made 19 of them for a respectable 43.2% shooting clip.) While Rockets guard and fellow Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady did score 30 points, Bryant’s defense helped limit him to just 29.2% shooting.

McGrady did have 10 assists, as compared to just two assists by Bryant. “I was fine with our defense on Bryant,” Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said postgame (game recap). “I didn’t have much problem with that. He’s a great player. He took a ton of shots. There’s only so much you can do.”

The real difference between the teams was inside, where Yao scored 39 points on just 18 shots, making 11 (61.1%). He also grabbed 11 rebounds, blocked four shots, and shot 21 free throws, making 17 of them (81.0%). It was the third-highest scoring game of Yao’s NBA career.

It all proved to be too much for the Lakers and Kwame Brown, who had 15 points and seven rebounds in 40 minutes. Brown and Yao were selected No. 1 overall in the 2001 NBA Draft and in 2002, respectively.

“Obviously Tracy was struggling from the floor,” Van Gundy said postgame. “Yao came through in a big way.” The 7-foot-5 center finished the 2006-07 season averaging 25.0 points per game, which was the highest single-season total of Yao’s eight-year NBA career.

The win improved Houston to 47-26 and dropped the Lakers to 38-34. The two sides finished fifth and seventh in the 2007 Western Conference standings, with each losing in the first round of the 2007 NBA playoffs.

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Warriors rookie Eric Paschall names his all-time favorite NBA players

Instead of picking his five all-time greatest, Eric Paschall named off his personal favorite NBA players.

With no basketball on the schedule, players are turning to social media to entertain themselves. A popular time-filler online has been interactive Q&A sessions with the players and fans.

“Who are your top-five players of all-time?” is a common question circulating for many players on social media. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Trae Young and Juan Toscano-Anderson were all asked similar questions.

Next up is Eric Paschall. In a Q&A on the Warriors Twitter account, Golden State’s rookie was asked to name his top-five NBA players of all-time. According to Paschall, narrowing down his top-five would be too hard. Instead, the Villanova product pivoted to sharing his personal favorite players.

The rookie named off a group of Hall of Famers, mixed with three current players — including one of his teammates.

Via @Warriors on Twitter:

I’m not going to name my top-five of all-time because that’s too hard. I’ll pick my favorite players of all-time. Tracy McGrady is definitely up there in terms of one of my favorites. LeBron [James], Kobe [Bryant], [Michael] Jordan, you can go with Shaq [O’Neil], you can go with Steph [Curry], you can go with Kevin Durant. There are too many players to just name five because there are players that are great for different reasons. I’m just going to go with my favorites with that.

After averaging 14 points on 49.7 % shooting from the field in his first NBA season, there’s a chance Paschall is already starting to catch the eye of some of his favorite players in the NBA.

Once the game action returns to the court, Golden State’s second-round pick will have 17 games to finish out an impressive rookie campaign.

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Today in Rockets history: Red-hot Tracy McGrady drops 44 in Utah

On March 28, 2005, McGrady scored 44 points on 71.4% shooting, and he also had five steals as Houston routed its longtime rival on the road.

On this day 15 years ago, Rockets star and future Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady dropped 44 points on 15-of-21 shooting (71.4%) in Salt Lake City. It all led to a 99-85 Houston win (box score) on March 28, 2005.

The victory improved the Rockets to 43-28. Houston ultimately finished the season at 51-31 and as the Western Conference’s No. 5 playoff seed before losing in the first round to No. 4 Dallas (58-24) in seven games.

On that March 28 night in Utah, with the Rockets in the middle of a playoff push late in the regular season, McGrady scored an astonishing 30 points during the first half alone on 11-of-13 shooting (84.6%).

The Houston Chronicle‘s Jonathan Feigen sets the scene:

When he nailed his last shot of the first half from deep in the corner, with Gordan Giricek close enough to smell McGrady’s antiperspirant, the Jazz fans could not help but cheer.

“How often do they see something like that?” McGrady said. “Not saying that their guys don’t do that, but it’s very rare that a guy comes in and puts up 22 points in a quarter. Ever since I had the game (against) Cleveland (scoring 31 last week), I’ve been in a zone like I was when I averaged 32 points in this league. I just felt like everything is just clicking for me offensively. My overall game is there for me.

“I don’t know what sparked that, but I’m to that point right now. It’s probably just confidence, but I feel like I’m in that zone. My defender is basically at my mercy all night.”

Then 25 years old, the Rockets had acquired McGrady before the 2004-05 season as part of a blockbuster trade with the Orlando Magic. That initial year was McGrady’s best as a scorer over his six seasons in Houston, with per-game averages of 25.7 points on 43.1% shooting.

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1997 NBA re-draft: The way it should have been

The 1997 draft had an all-time great in Tim Duncan, a Hall of Fame swingman in Tracy McGrady and a Finals MVP in Chauncey Billups, but there was not an awful lot after that.

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The 1997 draft had an all-time great in Tim Duncan, a Hall of Fame swingman in Tracy McGrady and a Finals MVP in Chauncey Billups, but there was not an awful lot after that.

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Tracy McGrady calls Grizzlies’ Ja Morant a future MVP in the NBA

The Hall of Famer had high praise for Morant after his 26-point performance against James Harden and the Rockets on Tuesday night.

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Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady is among those impressed by Ja Morant.

The seven-time NBA All-Star checked in on ESPN’s “The Jump” on Wednesday to discuss Morant’s recent performances and spoke very highly of the second overall pick.

Morant is coming off of a 26-point, eight-assist performance against James Harden and the Houston Rockets on Tuesday in which he became the first rookie in NBA history to reach those numbers and shoot 90% in a game.

McGrady had high praise for Morant.

“Ja Morant, I’m saying this right now, is going to be an MVP in this league,” McGrady said. “He is going to be an MVP in this league and he is going to be arguably the best player in the game. I’m going on the record to say that right now.”

Morant leads all rookies in points (18), assists (6.9) and is second in field goals made (237). As a result, Morant is the frontrunner for the Rookie of the Year award as he has turned into a walking highlight-reel each time he steps onto the court.

If his first 35 games are any indication, the NBA could be in trouble for years to come…

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