McGrady to Lebron: See ya here Next Year!!

March 1, 2010 1:43 PM
McGrady to LeBron: See ya here next year »
By Frank Isola
Tracy McGrady made yet another reference today about recruiting LeBron James to New York.
McGrady told reporters that after the Knicks traded for him two weeks ago he exchanged text messages with LeBron and told him “I’ll see you here next year.”
It’s wishful thinking to believe that LeBron and T-Mac will be teammates at the Garden. At this rate, the Knicks would gladly take LeBron if it meant they had to fill out the rest of their roster with D-League players.
What you do like about McGrady is that he still considers himself an elite player even though he isn’t at that level yet and there is no guarantee that he will ever be back to that level.
But McGrady also provides a cautionary tale about the dangers of relying on free agency to build a team. Following the 1999-2000 season, McGrady became a free agent and left the Toronto Raptors for Orlando.
The Magic had enough cap space to sign two max free agents and they were recruiting McGrady and Tim Duncan. But when Duncan re-signed with San Antonio, the Magic made a foolish decision and negotiated a sign-and-trade with the Detroit Pistons to acquire Grant Hill, even though Hill was already damaged goods.
Orlando felt that had hit the jackpot. The Magic had two All-Star caliber wing players who would rule the Eastern Conference for a decade. So what happened? Hill was mostly injured during his days in Orlando and McGrady, by himself, could never get the Magic out of the first round.
Meanwhile, one of the players Detroit got back in the deal was an unknown big man named Ben Wallace, who went on to become the starting center for a championship team.
“(Orlando) is where I made a name for myself,’ McGrady said. “It gave me the opportunity to blossom into a superstar in this league. I was expecting to do a lot more there and not just be known as a scorer. But I didn’t have the opportunity to play with Grant Hill because he was dealing with his ankle injury.”Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/knicks/2010/03/mcgrady-to-lebron-see-ya-next.html#ixzz0sgibWFrq