T-Mac Goes to China

Should we care that Tracy McGrady is taking his talents to China? 

AFTER 15 YEARS of failing to make it past the first round of every playoff game he ever played, T-Mac swallows his pride, accepts a measly $1M, and is now all set to follow the footsteps of Stephon Marbury -- to play in front of 3,000 peasants in windswept desert towns in central China and hopefully sell a lot of cheap sneakers.

T-Mac is moving to China not because he loves the Chinese people and is honored to play there. Nah, that's a load of BS on a cold plate. The fact of the matter is no NBA team has decided to take him on. He worked out for the Knicks and the Spurs over this summer but no deal was inked. Not even bottom-feeders like tbe Cavs and the Kings could be persuaded to add him to their roster. And, baby, when basement-dwelling NBA teams like the Cavaliers say no to you, it's time to pack your bags. And not necessarily to play in Europe either. Frequently, China is the last destination for washed-out NBA home-boys like T-Mac, Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury.

Rare action: taking the ball to the rack was far
and between during T-Mac's years in Houston.

In his glory days with the Magic in early 2000, T-Mac averaged 32 points per game. In his wretched tenure with the Hawks last year, he only chalked 5 points per game. And based on this brain-numbing performance he wanted a guaranteed contract from  either the Spurs or the Knicks. No surprise both teams declined.

T-Mac is only 33 but he can no longer grab rebounds and run with the young guns today. Not that he ever was a great rebounder or a better defender. He was one of those guys you wanted when your team was winning but absolutely hated when your team was in the doldrums.

He was my favorite object of derision when he was with the Rockets playing with Yao Ming. I mean, think about it: here he was playing with Yao -- one of the tallest, most dominant centers in the NBA. And what did he do? He was throwing 3-pointers at every possession when he and Yao should have been crashing the boards. No knock to Yao but when your power-forward elected to shoot on the perimeter each time the ball was in his hands, no good thing could possibly come out of it.

AND SO I bid T-Mac adieu and hope he can sell a lot of sneakers in China. Let's not bother talking about basketball because this clearly was not a decision based on his purported talents on the hard-court. This was a business decision, pure and simple, and so should be viewed that way.