Would The Raptors Have Won A Championship If T-Mac and Vince Stayed Together in Toronto?
By Walter DubowecThe question that Toronto Raptors fans will forever ask is - "what if"?
As in, "what if T-Mac had decided to remain in Toronto and play along side Vince Carter?", instead of bolting for Orlando and then Houston.
Would the two cousins have provided a solid enough foundation that would have allowed the Raptors to have won an NBA Championship or more?
We will never know the answer. At this juncture all we can do is speculate.
Five years ago, I would have said "Yes" to the question. It was my belief that the Toronto two-some would have become virtually unstoppable. Now, I'm not so sure.
In the May 19th edition of ESPN - the Magazine, there is a ranking of NBA Warriors and a list of the NBA's biggest Wimps.
Guess what? Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter ranked #1 and #2 respectively on the "WIMP" list!
These rankings further reinforces my belief that T-Mac and Wince Carter would never have been good enough to win it all. In the playoffs, there is a need for grit, toughness and persistence. Both McGrady and Carter have proven time and time again that they and their teams fall woefully short in the playoffs.
Tracy McGrady has never won an NBA play-off series and Carter-led squads have mastered the art of the second round knock-out.
When you look at their careers, it is obvious that they are a solid regular season players who fade under the pressure of the play-offs. Even though the Nets defeated the Raptors in 2006-07, Vince Carter could not deal with the constant booing of the Toronto faithful and had mediocre games in the Air Canada Centre.
Rings aren't won by players who only perform well at home in the play-offs. NBA Championships are won by tough-minded superstars who are energized by a hostile road crowd and summon their best to pull out hard fought victories against all odds.
So to answer the question, "would the duo of T-Mac and Vince have won an NBA championship if they had remained together in Toronto?" .......sadly, NO.
Here are the full ESPN lists:
Top Ten NBA Warriors
1. Allen Iverson
2. Deron Willaims
3. Kobe Bryant
4. Kevin Garnett
5. Shaquille O'Neal
6. Gilbert Arenas
7. Grant Hill
8. Dirk Nowitzki
9. Andres Nicioni
10. Steve Nash
Top Five NBA Wimps
1. Tracy McGrady
2. Vince Carter
3. Pau Gasol
4. Sam Cassell
5. Kwame Brown
The list was compiled by ESPN, who polled dozens of NBA players, executives, scouts and trainers to "salute the tough guys and call out the softies".
Tracy McGrady is one of the nba's best players and i highly disagree with him being voted the wimpiest player yet. He does have injuries, but who doesn't? Nobody is superman and even he gets weak at times. But throughout his whole career he carried his team, and even the nba's best(Michael Jordan)wasn't able to accomplish is goals with out help. He had a solid team to help produce the success the bulls had. Tracy McGrady has yet to find his success, but i believe he just has to be patient. I believe that he should stay with the Houston Rockets and try again next season because if he keeps moving around then this will creating less-chemistry from his team, and will take time to develop.
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