Farewell Tracy Mcgrady

After many highlights and failures 7 time all-star Tracy Mcgrady has announced his retirement from the game of basketball. Mcgrady’s career for as great as it was remains equally disappointing. A lot of “What Ifs” are going to be asked when speaking about his legacy in basketball but Tracy Mcgrady possessed great talent and was arguably the best player in the league at one point. I was going to write a long post just like the Allen Iverson one earlier in the week but I don’t think that’s needed here, just enjoy the video up top. The video up top illustrates his career pretty well.

• 18,381 Points
• 2-time scoring champion
• 7 time All-Star
• 2000-2001 Most Improved Player

Congratulations to Tracy Mcgrady on a fantastic career!

Kawhi Leonard: All-Star In The Making

The Career and situation of Kawhi Leonard is an interesting one at the fresh young age of 21 Leonard has earned rave reviews from players and coaches around the league. In his 1^st season in the NBA he became a reliable starting small forward that played a good amount of minutes on a team that went to the western conference finals. For all the accomplishments and accolades Kawhi has earned so far none maybe as important as what coach Popovich has said regarding his career.

“I think he’s going to be a star. And as time goes on, he’ll be the face of the Spurs, I think. At both ends of the court, he is really a special player. And what makes me be so confident about him is that he wants it so badly. He wants to be a good player, I mean a great player. He comes early, he stays late, and he’s coach able, he’s just like a sponge. When you consider he’s only had (two years) of College and no training camp yet, you can see that he’s going to be something else.” - Greg Popovich

Coach Popovich makes a lot sufficient points in that quote. Kawhi is a very good player at both ends of the floor in only his 2^nd season in the league he is regarded as one of the best all- around defenders in the league whether its man to man, zone defense or perimeter defense Leonard excels highly at all of them. The best example of Kawhi's defense would force you to look no further then last nights game 2 of the NBA Finals. Although the stat isn't 100% factual at this present moment checkout the job Leonard has been doing defensively on Lebron James in the tweet below.

LeBron James is 1-of-4 shooting in the 1st half when guarded by Kawhi Leonard, and 3-of-12 against him in the series.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 10, 2013

Obviously you aren't going to completely stop Lebron James but Kawhi has done a great job guarding the best player on the plant which is a testament to his defensive ability.

Then you have to look at Leonard on the offensive end. From his rookie season to his sophomore season he has increased his scoring average a whole 4 points from 7.9 to 11.9 Points per game as basically the 3^rd option in the Spurs offense behind Tony Parker and Tim Duncan. Those guys along with Manu Ginobli aren't getting any younger so you have to believe that as Leonard matures that he will grow into becoming the leader of the San Antonio Spurs.

Here is an interesting stat I came across after doing a little research. Of the 14 other starting small forwards in the western conference Kawhi Lenoard's Player efficeny rating is 16.46 which is higher then 9 of them. The 9 guys he is higher then are as folllows (Harrison Barnes-12.48, Caron Butler, 12.50, Metta World Peace,-12.55, Michael Beasley-10.91, Chandler Parsons-15.33, Tayshaun Prince, Al Faraqu Aminu-15.76, Nicholas Batum-15.76, Demarre Carroll-15.56). Pretty impressive for a guy who is the 3^rd and sometimes 4^th option on offense all depending on how Danny green is shooting the ball.

So lets put those numbers in perspective Kawhi Leonard’s Player efficiency rating is the 5^th highest of starting small forwards in the western conference. The only guys with higher ratings with him are as follows ( Tyreke Evans-18.16, Shawn Marion-18.02, Andre Kirlenko-17.67 and Kevin Durant-28.35). So all the guys that are higher then him are the 1st or second options on offense for their respective teams and one of them is an MVP Canidate. That’s pretty Impressive stuff from the second year man out of San Diego State.

If you look at just Kawhi the person and his demeanor you will see that he really has no change of demeanor. He is even keel which is what you want from a team leader. When you win you never want to get too excited but when you lose you don't want feel to down it's just good to stay in the middle and Kawhi does a great job of that. He posses a few quality's that current teammate and future hall of famer Tim Duncan has such as a calm demeanor, productivity, hunger towards success and quite frankly he is a guy most don't people pay attention to.

I think in due time we will see Kawhi Leonard mature into an all-star and leader for the San Antonio Spurs. He is in a great situation at 21 years old getting to be around guys like Greg Popovich, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, Tracy Mcgrady. That’s a lot of greatness surrounding a guy who is very young, plays the game the right way and seems to have his head on straight. As long as he continues to work and soak in as much info as possible then the sky is the limit for Kahwhi Leonard.

Throwback Thursday: Vince Carter 2000 Dunk Contest

Just wanted to wish everybody a Happy Throwback Thursday it's been awhile since I did this but the time was right. With All-Star Weekend coming up next Saturday many people have begin the yearly talks of greatest Dunks ofAll-time mainly Michael Jordans Free Throw Line dunk in his bout with Dominique Wilkins at Chicago Stadium 25 years ago but today We will flashback to the One man spectacle known as “Half man Half man Amazing” Vince Carter in 2000 at the arena in Oakland.

When I was little I used to play NBA Live 2005 a lot and in Dunk Contest mode when your dunk was on point the sideline would go crazy with NBA players jumping up and down with Camcorders. I always wondered when I was younger if that really happened and where EA Sports got that from. When you watch this Dunk Contest you know where that comes from.

The term “Set the tone” seemed appropriate when speaking about Vince Carters reverse 360 dunk which may be the best dunk in the history of the contest. The way he just seemed to hang in the air for so many seconds, spin around, Cock the ball back and throw it down with so much authority all in one motion was beyond ridiculous.

We all knew something special was in the works that night in Oakland. Vince added to his legend on his 3^rd dunk where then Toronto Teammate Tracy Mcgrady threw him an alley where Vinsanity then proceeded to put the ball between his legs and then Jam it home like the rim owed him Money. Kenny Smith as we all Know shouted through the TNT airwaves “ITS OVER” We were watching History. Vince obviously won the Contest by a landslide.

This years Dunk Contest features Eric Bledsoe, James White, Kenneth Fareid, Terrence Ross, Gerald Green and Jeremy Evans. If any of these guys give us top 10 material thats anywhere near Vince or Jordan level we are in for a treat this year. I'm looking at my guy Bledsoe to give us something to talk about this year.

Watch the video down below to relive the Vin-Sanity of the dunk contest in 2000!

Throwback Thursday: NBA Street

Its Thursday so you already know I don’t got to tell you what time it is but I will anyway, It’s Throwback Thursday. Just want too say thanks to everybody that read the Joe Namath Article last Thursday if you Haven’t make sure you do so. Today for throwback Thursday we are changing the pace rather then talking about a legendary athelete we are going to talk about a classic throwback video game near and dear to my and a lot of other peoples hearts. I’m talking about the Classic NBA Street.

Released way back in the Great year of 2001 My Dad and I were just paying a visit to a local Target on a Thursday afternoon. As I was looking at the video games a cover caught my eye. It was a tall dark afrocentric guy with an afro Dunking a basketball the title read “NBA Street”. My father purchased the game for Playstation 2 for 25.19$. The game was amazingly fun and unrealistic at the same time. You play 3 on 3 Basketball with some of your favorite NBA players on Blacktops in various areas such as South Beach, Route 66, Home Rucker Park and you rather then set pick and rolls and play fundamental basketball just rack up trick points by crossing over opposing players and breaking ankels. The game features Players such as Steve Francis, Reggie Miller, Tracy Mcgrady, Vince Carter, Gary Payton, Baron Davis, Chris Webber, Alonzo Mourning, Eddie Jones, Afro Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Michael Jordan and Vitaly Potapenko. All the then 29 team are featured and 5 players are available from each of the franchises. In city circuit mode which is my personal favorite you pick NBA team and play other NBA teams in various venues and once you beat them you can have them on your team, so usually after getting far enough in city circuit I would pick the Charlotte Hornets and once I beat the Heat and 76ers I would pick up Allen Iverson and Eddie Jones and I would have them play alongside Baron Davis. Another cool thing about City circuit mode is when you beat the NBA teams in a venue you got too play the boss of that stage which are all fictional Streetballers like Stretch (the guy on the cover) once you beat them you automatically get them on your team. NBA Street is a classic you can play it right now in 2012 and you will still have a blast playing it just like I did for 6 hours yesterday. The game was well received and was certified as one of Playstation’s greatest hits. It was a pioneer that spawned 2 more NBA Street games an NFL and FIFA version as well. If you have never played this game then you are missing out, I highly suggest that if you still own a Playstation 2 that you go out and buy the game. All I know is that every time I pick up a controller to play I don’t put it down for hours. Maybe it’s the rim shattering dunks to end the games that I perform with guys like Keyon Martin and Jermaine O’neal. Maybe it’s the Challenge of beating Stretch, Bonafide and Biggs.  Maybe it’s the way Joe “The show” blurts out “HELLO OPERATA”! from his megaphone every time I shoot a 3 pointer. Maybe it’s the sounds of Real Hip-hop in the back round when I’m Crossing someone over with Brevin Knight. No matter how you look at it NBA Street left an untouchable legacy which is hard for any sports game to live up too.