The Tracy McGrady All Stars: The NBA's Biggest Disappointments of the Decade

Earlier tonight, it was reported that Tracy McGrady has asked to be traded from the Rockets after struggling to earn playing time since recovering from knee surgery.  The seventh-place Rockets have performed surprisingly well without McGrady and injured Yao Ming, and the team that once belonged to McGrady has seemingly have moved on.  And so the latest stop—like both of those before it—in McGrady's 13-year career comes to an unceremonious end.  Which got me thinking:  Has McGrady's rocky career been the most disappointing in the NBA this decade?  For reasons I'll explain below, I think it has. But more importantly, in honor of T-Mac's latest departure, I decided to compile the decade's all-disappointment team.  

The team is composed of "disappointments," not "busts," which means that the players on it must have shown actual promise in the NBA yet somehow failed to achieve meaningful success in their careers.   The rules are simple, and the judging is arbitrary:  To be eligible a player must have made at least one All-Star team in the 2000s, and success (or lack thereof) is determined mostly by team success in the playoffs.  The team is compiled like any other, with two guards, two forwards, and a center.  And for good measure I'll throw in a full slate of reserves who just missed the cut.  Together, they proudly are the Tracy McGrady All Stars.  Before you judge too harshly, just think  how unstoppable this squad would have been in, say, NBA Live 2004.  

Point Guard, Stephon Marbury:  The most disappointing part of Stephon Marbury's career is how much of a joke everyone assumes it was.  Prompted by his fallout with the New York Knicks, Marbury's decline has been so steep and so spectacular that people seem to forget that when he arrived in New York Marbury was one of the NBA's best guards.  When he got to New York, Marbury was the only player in NBA history other than Oscar Robertson to have averaged over 20 points and 8 assists a game for his career—and this was over 8 seasons in.  And currently at 19.3 and 7.6, if it weren't for his paltry numbers with the Celtics over the past two seasons, Marbury would still hold that distinction.

But Marbury's career will always be gauged by his time with the Knicks.  In his first full season with the Knicks (2004–05), Marbury averaged 21.7 and 8.1, but the Knicks finished last in their division, and somehow Marbury caught much of the blame as too "selfish" of a player.   From there Marbury's career went on a consistent decline.  Over the next three seasons in New York, Marbury never averaged over 17 points a game, and his assist rate dropped each year.  The team failed to reach the playoffs and became the laughing stock of the league.  After feuding with Isiah Thomas and becoming embroiled in Thomas's messy sexual harrassment lawsuit, Marbury's time in New York was capped by a being banned from the team by new coach Mike Dantoni.  Upon his exit from the Knicks, Marbury was relegated to a minimal supporting role with the Celtics, playing only 12 minutes a game and averaging less than 5 points and 2 assists.   Marbury's playing time is up a little this year, but his production isn't, and at 32 years old, the two-time All NBA guard is but a shell of his former self.  In the end, Marbury made the playoffs only four times with teams on which he played a significant role—and none of them escaped the first round.  Somehow he will end his career with only two All-Star appearances and will be better remembered for buying a ticket to see his own team play and giving us the world's best basketball sneakers than for anything he ever did on the court.

Shooting Guard, Vince Carter: Carter came into the 2000s as the NBA's reigning Rookie of the Year, and heir-apparent to the high-flying UNC legacy of Air Jordan.  But despite some of the greatest offensive talent of any player this decade, Carter has come up miserably short in terms of team success.  He's played in eight All-Star games, twice been named to All-NBA teams, won the NBA Dunk Contest in spectacular fashion, won an Olympic gold medal, and delivered the best in-game dunk of the decade.  But Carter has only been to the NBA playoffs 5 times in his 11 seasons, and he has never made it past the second round.  For someone as individually accomplished—and as roundly celebrated—as Carter, that is embarrassing.  Through it all, Carter has received somewhat the opposite of the Marbury treatment; whether because of his entertaining playing style or otherwise, Carter's lack of team success is largely glossed over in the media, and he will surely go down as one of the decade's greatest players.  But behind all the highlights and personal trophies, Carter's still the guy who helped kill the Raptors by running off little cousin McGrady and who couldn't get it done with Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson in a weak Eastern Conference.  At almost 33 years old, Carter has remained productive—he averaged over 20 points for each of his five seasons in New Jersey—but his time is running short.  Maybe he'll pull a Ray Allen/Kevin Garnett by jumping ship to Orlando this season, and in the end he'll finally get what has eluded him for over a decade.  Or maybe for all his talent, Carter is just a disappointment, and he'll never lead a team to the glory that he should.  For my money, I'll bet on the latter.

Small Forward, Team Captain, Tracy McGrady:  By all measures, McGrady began this decade as one of the most promising players the NBA has seen in quite some time.  After escaping Carter's shadow in Toronto, McGrady averaged nearly 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists a game, and was named the NBA's Most-Improved Player in his first year with Orlando—at 21-years old.  Over the next 8 seasons, McGrady went to 7 All Star Games, was named to 7 All-NBA teams (including two first teams), and twice won the NBA scoring title (and became the youngest player ever to do so at 23 years old).  McGrady is probably the most individually decorated starter on his eponymous team.  But he has never played in the second round of the NBA playoffs.  More than any other player on this team, McGrady's career is seemingly snake bitten.  Though like all stars he demands playing time and the ball in his hands, McGrady is not an especially selfish player, and he certainly doesn't collapse in the playoffs.  Over his career, T-Mac has averaged nearly 29 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists per-game in the post-season, yet he has never escaped the first round in 7 attempts.  Three times he has played in a Game 7 (twice while averaging over 30 points in the series), but he's never prevailed in one.  Even worse, with McGrady out for the playoffs due to knee surgery last season, somehow the Rockets advanced to the second round, and very nearly knocked off eventual champions L.A. Lakers in a seven-game series.  Now McGrady is again at the end of his rope with a team that for long stretches he carried all on his own.  Increasingly frail, McGrady may never play a full season or a starring role in the NBA again, and unless the Rockets somehow unload his massive contract on a competitive team, the 30 year-old may somehow retire one of the greatest disappointments the NBA has seen.  T-Mac's had his prima donna moments, and I suspect he isn't always the greatest teammate, but  that would still be a shame for a guy who is as dedicated and competitive as anyone in the playoffs.

Power Forward, Jermaine O'Neal:  O'Neal has had, without question, the most playoff success of any starter on this team, but considering where his career was headed just four years ago, his resulting downfall has been a huge disappointment.  Before the famed brawl at Auburn Hills, then-26 year old Jermaine O'Neal had just come off of back-to-back 20 & 10 seasons, three-straight All-NBA and All-Star Game campaigns, and a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals.  In his suspension-shortened 2004–05, O'Neal averaged a career-high 24 points a game, but he struggled in the playoffs and the blunted Pacers barely scraped their way to the second round of the playoffs.  Despite making two more All Star teams, O'Neal's production gradually slipped over the following five seasons, and, like McGrady, injuries became a constant in his career.  Since 2004, O'Neal has failed to play 70 games in any season.  Outside those '04 and '05 seasons, O'Neal has never played a significant role on a team that has made it past the first round of the playoffs.  Over the past two years, O'Neal has managed just over 50 total appearances for the underachieving Heat, and has put up only 14 points and 6 rebounds a game.  At 31 years-old, the late-blooming O'Neal is supposed to be in the prime of his career.  Instead he is an overpaid afterthought on a middling team in the East—third on his team in scoring, and behind Udonis Haslem in rebounding.  Playing only 30 minutes a game and biding his time until his next injury, it's hard to believe just 5 years later, but O'Neal is now little more than one of the many basketball casualties of that bizarre night in Detroit.

Center, Yao Ming:  McGrady's running mate has maybe the most potential for success of any player on this list.  But he is also the most injury-riddled.  Yao is no first-pick bust; the seven-time All Star and 5-time All-NBA selection can certainly play.  At nearly 20 & 10 for his career, Yao is easily one of the decade's best centers.  But since 2005, Yao has remained healthy for an entire season only once, and other than last season's first-round defeat of the Trail Blazers, he has never won a playoff series.  Even last season, Yao sat out the last four games of the Rockets' seven-game loss to the Lakers.  And now he is missing an entire season to recover from foot surgery.  It's rare to find a center as talented as Yao with so little playoff success, but it's also rare to find one as fragile as he is.  At 29 years old, Yao should have a fair window left to redeem his career and find some meaningful success in the playoffs.  But with his recent history of injuries, and McGrady's impending departure from Houston, Yao may never get over the post-season hump.  And that's too bad—after watching the last year's Rockets dismantle Portland in Round 1 and very nearly knock off the Lakers in the second round, it's clear that Yao and this Houston team have so much more to offer.

Reserves:  Guards—Steve Francis.  Even more than Stephon Marbury, it's easy to forget that Steve Francis was a 3-time NBA All Star.  (Sidenote: How the hell did Francis make more All-Star Games than Marbury?)  Despite an auspicious start to his career and the decade, Francis has been to the playoffs only once in his career, and since 2005 he's been little more than a mediocre chucker; Gilbert Arenas.  Arenas is a 3-time All Star and All-NBA member and a famed blogger, but he's only played in 20 playoff games in his 10-year career.  But he's something of a late-bloomer for this list, and at 28 years old, he has plenty of time to escape Washington and reverse his fortune; Allen Iverson.  Iverson singlehandedly carried the Sixers to the Finals and has had some moderate playoff success, but a player of his caliber should have made it out of the first round far more than three times this decade.; Forwards—Chris Webber.  Webber's prime extends several years before 2000, but he was an All Star and All-NBA selection from 2000–2004, and his Kings opened the decade as one of the league's most promising teams.  But other than a 2002 trip to the Western Conference Finals, those Kings could never quite put it together, and since microfracture surgery in 2004, Webber has not been the dominant low-post scorer that he began the decade as, and his teams have never been the threat that they once were.; Grant Hill.  In 2000, Hill was as big of a name as anyone in the NBA, coming off four straight 1st or 2nd team All-NBA selections. But after the 1999-2000 season, Hill's career came crashing down with a slew of ankle injuries. Over the next six seasons, Hill would play only 125 games in the NBA. Despite All-Star selections in 2001 (out of pity) and 2005 (out of nostalgia), Hill was never the same player, and the guy who began the decade as the NBA's next Scottie Pippen is now thankful to even play a supporting role. Since 1999, Hill has appeared in only 8 playoff games.; Elton Brand.  Brand has only been to two All-Star Games, but that is largely because he is consistently underrated.   Averaging 20 & 10 for his career, Brand has been one of the decade's most consistent stars, yet stuck in the Clippers vortex since he was drafted, Brand has been to the playoffs only once.; Dirk Nowitzki.  Former-MVP Nowitzki has played in every post-season since 2001, has twice been to the conference finals, and once to the NBA Finals.  But for all that success, the four-time All-NBA first teamer has fallen far short of where he should be, most notably in the Mavericks' back-to-back collapses to the Heat in the 2006 Finals and the Warriors in the '07 first round.  Since 1980, Nowitzki, Jason Kidd (who we'll call an honorable mention 13th man), Karl Malone, and Charles Barkley are the only players to be named to four All-NBA first teams without winning a championship.