this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2023
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I've heard the exact same thing said about TMac over the years. I don't know whether it's true or not, and the only ones who can actually answer that is themselves. I will say though, when it comes to pure talent, TMac and Vince are easily up there for players who didn't live up to their potential, which is pretty crazy considering how good their careers were.
If Tmac hadn't been such a bitch and stayed in Toronto , they would have won at least 1 championship with him and Vince.
Instead they have 0 and the Raptors have 1.
Crazy that they are cousins.
Lol this discourse is always funny because players like T-Mac and Vince definitely put in more work than 90% of the population at their respective occupations
Just that we have people like Kobe that set the precedent of Mamba Mentality and never taking a second of the day off to the point where he’s getting 4 hours of sleep
I mean the results showed, but 99.9% of people are not working that hard
Which doesn’t make them lazy either, they’re just not batshit crazy like Bean
I don't think the discourse was ever meant as disrespect to either, but that their potential was so insanely high that even with above average effort even by NBA standards, they couldn't reach it. That's more of a testament to how insanely talented they were.
T-Mac was arguably the best player in the world at 23 years old. 23. He was averaging 32, 6, 5, 2 and 1 in a god awful Orlando team that opposing teams could guard by just.... doubling T-Mac. The same T-Mac who still scored 32 a game.
His true peak, barring injuries, would've probably been 2/3 years after that. He was absolutely unreal. Especially for a league that scored much less than nowadays.
VC apparently (i believe i've heard him himself say it before) was a bit of a victim of getting too much hype, too early, and kinda coasted on his natural talent the first few years of his career. Which makes it absolutely insane that he put up the numbers that he did.
I honestly think the two are the single most naturally talented players (Behind LBJ) to ever enter the League, both had really fantastic careers and were amongst the top five players in the league for a bit (T-Mac was definitely THE best for a minute) but their careers could've been that much better if injuries weren't a thing and if they had the work ethic someone like Kobe had (Again, not meant as a knock to them, but funnily enough when you're that talented you have to put in even more effort to reach your full potential).
Not saying he didn't work hard, but folks gotta also realize a lot of that is marketing and hype and narratives built around people. We didn't hear about "mamba mentality" when kobe was trying to rap and shit.
When ever someone boast about being sleep deprived because he works too hard he's bullshiting, especially for athletes. How you gonna train hard if you don't give your body proper rest to recover.
Yep, Shohei ohtani says he sleeps like 9 hours a day and take naps during the afternoon to keep his performance at a high standard. And he's probably the greatest two way baseball player ever at this point with no exaggeration.
There's a correlation between lack of sleep and cancer. I've always found it odd people boast about no sleep and able to work.
Sure you can get tons of shit done but when is over get ready for the diseases that will ravage your body when you retire.
Aren't they related too?
Cousins
Very distant cousins though. Like it took Tracy's grandmother to recognise a very distant familial connection that technically meant they're related.
No one is interested in whether they put in more work than some random at Taco Bell or some booze hound faking his hours to get more beer money.
What’s the point in even considering that?
If someone is blessed by genetics with a level of physical talent that outpaces 99.9% of the general populace is everyone supposed to be impressed that they beat out 99.9% of the general populace by basically not doing drugs to the point of ruining themselves or not committing a crime that got them put in the system?
Being born talented and not fucking it up isn’t a positive it’s just not a negative.
If a guy born into the 99.9% of athletes decides to coast I won’t say he shouldn’t do that but I also wont lie and say he didn’t coast or couldn’t have been better.
Kobe wanted to meet his max potential, approximate quote was he wanted to squeeze out all of the juice he had.
If Vince wanted to be elite while putting in professional level of effort but not give 90 hrs on an expected 40 hr work week it doesn’t make him bad. But let’s not pretend it isn’t what it is and compare him to “90% of the population”.
Also stupid of a McGrady and Carter not to have Shaq as teammate. They didn't want it enough
TMac had some dope kicks though. In middle school in the early 00s, I had a pair of TMac 2.0s in white and blue.
The GOAT shoes and it’s not close.
That’s a BOLD statement lol
My buddy gave me his pair of Tmac 1. I have wide feet and those fuckers hurt. I wore the fuck out of them things.
Those were dope AF at the time. Definitely the coolest shoe when they came out
Everyone forgets about Rockets T-Mac. There was a few seasons in Houston where there was a legit conversation as to whether he or Kobe was the best 2 in the league.
TMac's peak was much higher than Carter's, he just had lots of injuries.
Even crazier that they are actually second cousins: https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2023/03/11/vince-carter-tracy-mcgrady-hilarious-story-cousins-family-reunion
Imagine if they both lived up to their potential and stayed in Toronto together? Raptors would have won multiple titles. Heck, just having T-Mac stay in Toronto would have made them a contender while Vince was there.
Look at this shit
Does this look like a guy ready to play a Game 7 series clincher in a few hours?
I think graduating is a pretty big deal. You probably don’t know the feeling
He still would have graduated without the ceremony....
And its a big deal to most because it's the point in their life when they're about about get into the real world and do something with the degree they just earned.
None of that applies to him.
I’m sure if he asked they would have let him attend a ceremony on a future date.
No, I've had to make that choice; many people do. I was fortunate to get work in my field of study and would not have jeopardized that for vanity. I made the adult choice and compromised. Rescheduled where I could.
Unlike Vince, I was not in a position of leadership, nor was I getting paid tens of millions, nor did the livelihoods of my peers depend on me, neither were the hopes of a country hung on my shoulders. It shouldn't have been a hard choice.
He was given a private jet to attend his ceremony for a whole 20 minutes. The NBA, even then, had a lot of data about short haul flights increasing injury risk and impeding performance and it was reflected in their scheduling. There's a reason why athletes don't fly the same day they play. Playing an early game is bad enough on it's own - adding two flights on top of that is a significant handicap - and it showed during the game.
The only reason TMac didn't leave up to his career was injuries. Dude was an absolute monster and much better than Vince in his absolute prime.
We definitely did see T-Mac close to his full potential in the 2003 seasons, it's just that it didn't last long due to injuries