{"id":80166,"date":"2024-06-04T00:11:48","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T04:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=80166"},"modified":"2024-06-04T00:11:48","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T04:11:48","slug":"nba-tracy-mcgrady-right-snub-stephen-curry-top-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/04\/nba-tracy-mcgrady-right-snub-stephen-curry-top-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Was NBA Legend Right to Omit Multi-Time MVP From Top-10?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Golden State Warriors guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/curryst01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Curry<\/a> is largely considered to be the greatest shooter in NBA history.<\/p>\n<p>Leading the league in career 3s with 3,747, he\u2019s transformed the way the game has been played. Hoopers around the world want to emulate his prowess from beyond the arc, the range and touch he\u2019s displayed for well over a decade. However, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/08\/charles-barkley-would-choose-2x-champion-over-stephen-curry-isiah-thomas\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">not everyone thinks he\u2019s entered<\/a>\u00a0the inner sanctuary of greatness.<\/p>\n<h2>Was Tracy McGrady Right to Omit Stephen Curry From Top-10?<\/h2>\n<p>Like many of his contemporaries, Hall of Fame wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mcgratr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tracy McGrady<\/a> is outspoken. But when his latest comments made the rounds, people couldn\u2019t believe what they were hearing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, you trippin on that,\u201d McGrady says, responding to a tweet stating Curry was a top-five NBA player of all-time. \u201cHe hasn\u2019t cracked my top-10 yet. He just hasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Steph has had a phenomenal career\u2026 Four championships, two league MVPs, he has a Finals MVP,\u201d he continues.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Steph is easily the greatest shooter of all time but he\u2019s not in my top 5\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/yfvHrbvGSM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/yfvHrbvGSM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 T Mac (@Tmac_213) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Tmac_213\/status\/1797367550423998611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 2, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut if you go back in his career and if you look at when Draymond (Green) is out of the lineup for the season. If you look at (when) Klay Thompson has missed a season or half of that season.<\/p>\n<p>To me, if you\u2019re that great \u2014if you\u2019re going to be a top-five (player) \u2014and one of your guys are missing and you can\u2019t make the playoffs, I can\u2019t put you in the top-five or top-10. I just can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201c&#8230; Greatness to me,\u201d McGrady explains, \u201cis when if one of yours guys are out, you still gotta elevate your team, at least to the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>He Has A Point Though, Right?<\/h3>\n<p>McGrady makes a point, or so it seems.<\/p>\n<p>In the two seasons that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thompkl01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Klay Thompson<\/a> missed with his ACL and Achilles injuries, the Warriors won 54 games combined. Golden State also failed to clinch a playoff spot this season, due in no small part to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greendr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Draymond Green<\/a> missing 27 games. The Warriors went 33-22 with Green in the lineup, a win percentage (.600) good enough for sixth in Western Conference.<\/p>\n<p>But of consensus top-five players (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jordami01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Jordan<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/abdulka01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kareem Abdul-Jabbar<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/russebi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bill Russell<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsma02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Magic Johnson<\/a>), there are three who didn\u2019t make the playoffs every season.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan didn\u2019t make the playoffs in either of his final two seasons despite having a 20-point scorer alongside him in both. In the last six seasons, James has missed the playoffs twice. Abdul-Jabbar\u2019s teams failed to reach the playoffs twice while he was in his prime.<\/p>\n<p>Russell and Johnson\u2019s teams clinched postseason berths in every season they played though. The same can be said of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/ervinju01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Julius Erving<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/stockjo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John Stockton<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/malonka01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Karl Malone<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/drexlcl01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clyde Drexler<\/a>. If taking McGrady\u2019s criteria to be absolute, perhaps the real top-five should be Russell, Johnson, Erving, Malone, and Stockton. But of course, that isn\u2019t sensible in reality.<\/p>\n<h3>A Better Top-Five Filter<\/h3>\n<p>Curry may not be top-five if considering that he\u2019s only won one Finals MVP award either. If looking at players to have won multiple league and Finals MVPs, the list features Jordan, James, Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/birdla01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Larry Bird<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bryanko01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kobe Bryant<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/onealsh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shaquille O\u2019Neal<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duncati01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tim Duncan<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/leonaka01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kawhi Leonard<\/a>. There were no Finals MVPs when Russell was winning titles, but he may have won several if there was.<\/p>\n<p>With that being said, that\u2019s a reasonable top-10, though Leonard sticks out like a sore thumb. If replacing him, Curry is a solid choice. Erving, with four MVPs and a championship, is as well.<\/p>\n<p>Frankly, as McGrady says, \u201cTop-five? No chance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Top-10 though? Potentially.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry is largely considered to be the greatest shooter in NBA history. Leading the league in career 3s with 3,747, he\u2019s transformed the way the game has been played. Hoopers around the world want to emulate his prowess from beyond the arc, the range and touch he\u2019s displayed for well [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":80191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,1608,9,27,26,62,13,23,34,24],"tags":[48,1199],"class_list":["post-80166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-warriors","category-basketball","category-cavaliers","category-clippers","category-lakers","category-nba","category-76ers","category-trailblazers","category-spurs","category-jazz","tag-stephen-curry","tag-tracy-mcgrady"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}