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00:00Right now, we've got a special guest joining us, Tracy McGrady.
00:04Tracy, what's going on, my man?
00:07All good, all good, man.
00:09In the city, just relaxing.
00:10Come on now, man.
00:11I love it.
00:12Now, what city are you in right now?
00:16I'm in Houston.
00:17Oh, you're in the city, city, the one we're in right here.
00:20Well, hey, man.
00:21Hey, good to be across town from you, my brother.
00:24Tracy joins us live today courtesy of the OBL1s Basketball League, of which he himself founded.
00:33And Tracy, I can't wait to dig into this, man.
00:35I'm interested.
00:36You've piqued my interest.
00:37The concept alone has piqued a casual basketball fan's interest.
00:42So, I think that mission is accomplished from that tagline there.
00:47But I do want to – I've got a question for you real quick.
00:51Doing my due diligence here, man.
00:53You won an award, Tracy, in 2001.
00:56You won the NBA's Most Improved Player.
00:59Now, I think all of our listeners out there know who the hell Tracy McGrady is
01:02and all the big-time awards that you won.
01:04What in the hell did you do from 2000 to 2001 to get the NBA's Most Improved Player?
01:15So, I spent three years in Toronto.
01:17And, you know, those first two years was me just trying to figure out what this league was about, trying
01:24to find my way.
01:26My third year there, I kind of, you know, understood who I was as a basketball player and what I
01:32could do.
01:33And I got a little bit more playing time.
01:36My third year, I go to Orlando.
01:39I'm excited about being home, playing in front of my hometown fans and community.
01:45And in that, you know, two-year, three-year span, it was just the work that I put in.
01:52And I went from a 15-point score to a 26-point score over that year.
01:59And that's, you know, why I became Most Improved.
02:02Hey, hard work in the right environment, baby.
02:05And the NBA's Most Improved.
02:07I don't know.
02:08I saw that.
02:08I thought, well, hell, he's probably talked about being an All-NBA and Hall of Famer and this.
02:13And he's probably talked about that a million times.
02:15I'm more interested in the work that he put in to become the Most Improved.
02:18Hell, that's a hell of a title right there, man.
02:20So, hey, but I do – I want to get your take on these Rockets.
02:25I know from a 30,000-foot view, I mean, you're not in it every single day.
02:29But you watch this squad, and it's been a little bit of a struggle this year with Kevin Durant adding
02:35and kind of the change of identity, I guess, is fair to say, with this Rockets team.
02:40What's your thoughts on the Rockets as you've seen them this year with Kevin Durant
02:44and kind of the shift in identity?
02:47Yeah, well, you know, when I first signed on, of course, when you look at what their conference last year,
02:53finishing number two in the Western Conference, you say to yourself, oh, man, you adding Kevin Durant to this team?
03:00Because when you watch the playoffs last year, I just felt like they needed somebody who can alleviate the pressure
03:08off the other guys
03:08in terms of offensive, you know, pressure, closing out games.
03:13That's what they were struggling with last year.
03:15They just needed someone that can close games when it got tight in the fourth quarter.
03:20Well, you added Kevin Durant.
03:21He's one of the best to do that.
03:23But you lose your point guard.
03:25So now it's like you gain something extremely, you know, important and impactful,
03:33but you also lose an impactful player.
03:36And I can't believe, you know, looking at this, that they didn't go out and bring in a point guard.
03:46Now, when you watch them, their offense becomes stagnant late in the fourth quarter.
03:52It goes back to what I've been seeing on Kevin Durant teams.
03:56He stopped trusting his teammates, and he goes and get the ball.
04:00It takes them out of position, takes him out of position of who he is.
04:03He goes and get the ball and try to be the point guard.
04:06They double-team.
04:07You pass it to someone that's not a great decision-maker, and now your offense is just, you know,
04:12there's no structure, there's no consistency, and you find yourself losing ballgames that way.
04:18So if they really can't identify, you know, that point guard situation,
04:24I think it might be an early exit for the Houston Rockets.
04:27Yeah, yeah, I'm with you.
04:29By the way, Tracy, to fanboy real quick,
04:30I bought your T-Mac 1 sneakers when those first came out back in 2002.
04:35Yeah.
04:36I wish I still had those.
04:39You're welcome.
04:39I wish I still had those things.
04:41But anyways, with that said, what you just laid out about the Rockets,
04:46and we were talking about this a little bit earlier, you know, look,
04:48your career changed with a coaching change in Toronto really early on,
04:52but also as you progress throughout your career, you know, to go win playoff games,
04:56you need a T-Mac, and you need a Grant Hill and a Yao Ming and all that sort of
04:59stuff to win those games.
05:00For you, when you look at these Rockets, is it more on Emei and the coaching staff
05:05and the lack of what's being done there, or is it more on that star you brought on in Kevin
05:10Durant
05:10to try to close out these games, and the Rockets just haven't been good enough in that area?
05:14Yeah, I think the blame goes to KD and Emei, because you've got to put KD in a position
05:21into where he can just be himself and be the closer.
05:25I don't need KD trying to be the point guard.
05:27That's not who he is.
05:29That's not what he's scored, you know, five or however many points, he's 32,000 points in his career.
05:37Like, he's not a point guard.
05:40Don't make him a point forward.
05:42Put him on the receiving end of that, and that's, you know, really up to Emei.
05:48Now, in the beginning of the season, because this is what I wanted to see when they added KD,
05:53I wanted to see, because I was critical of them when he went to Phoenix, I was like,
05:58how do you not structure an offense when you got Devin Booker, Bradley Bill, and KD
06:04to where these guys have so much movement, not playing off the ball, not on the ball,
06:10because they're great catch-and-shoot guys.
06:13That's why Steph Curry is hard to guard, guys, because he's not just having a ball in his hand.
06:18No, he's running off the screens, catch-and-shoot, misdirections, and it confuses defense.
06:23Well, they're going to, coming into this season, the Rockets played a certain style of basketball
06:31that they're not playing now, and the way they're playing now is not the way they should be playing.
06:38If you go back and watch how they played at the beginning of the season, that ball was moving.
06:41KD was off the ball.
06:42He was coming off the screens, pin-downs.
06:45Like, it was a lot of action.
06:47There's not a lot of action right now.
06:48It's just, give me the ball.
06:50Let's run a pick-and-roll.
06:51They double-tee, pass the ball.
06:53I don't like the offense.
06:55They've got to sit down and revamp that offense and come up with something that is going to be effective
07:01and efficient.
07:03NBA Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady, former Rocket Tracy McGrady, joins us live today,
07:07courtesy of the OBL, One's Basketball League, of which he himself founded, and we're going to get to that,
07:12but I've got one more question for you before we get to it.
07:14I know you're chomping at the bit to talk about your baby here, what you've got going on,
07:18but you just said something I think is the biggest question here in Houston.
07:22All right, Reed Shepard's coming along.
07:24He seems to be maybe more the guy that should be handled at the point guard position, yada, yada, yada.
07:28But you just said they've got to sit down and revamp some things.
07:33Can they do that at this point in the season and figure things out to give themselves a chance to
07:39play good,
07:41top-tier Rockets basketball in the playoffs, or is that more of an off-season thing that you see working
07:48out?
07:48No, they better.
07:50You watched that lately.
07:51No, they better.
07:52You watched that Lakers game the other night.
07:55You watched that Lakers game.
07:56You watched that second half of that game, man.
08:00And all they did was, Kevin Durant, you're going to try to bring this ball up?
08:04You're going to try to run pick and roll?
08:05We're just going to run two guys at you, right?
08:08We're going to get the ball out of your hands, and you're going to throw it to somebody,
08:10and then that person who they're going to throw it to is going to be unsure where he's supposed to
08:14go with the ball.
08:16I would rather for somebody, Reed Shepard, to have that ball running the pick and roll with Shang-Goon or
08:22whoever and passing the ball to KD.
08:25Let KD be the finisher on that, not you having the ball passing to someone less a player than you.
08:32Because you're 36, 37, I think KD is.
08:38When you initiate, you have the ball, and you give it up, you're not utilizing that energy to go and
08:49chase the ball down.
08:50No, you're going to pass the ball, and you're just going to stand and hope they make the right plays.
08:54We don't want that.
08:55That's not good offense.
08:57We're going to be our best when you are on the receiving end, catching the ball, and making something happen.
09:05All right, Tracy, you've got an open invite, man.
09:07We could push this next break, and we could push it to 4 o'clock, but I know you've got
09:12to get out of here.
09:12Again, you've got an open invitation.
09:15Anytime you're here in Houston and you want to speak to the people, man, you've got an open invitation on
09:18the drive.
09:19We'd love to have you as often as possible.
09:22Today, we've got to talk a little bit about this OBL, man.
09:24I know you are one of the original founders of this league.
09:29It's a premier one-versus-one basketball league, and it's relaunching May of 2026, which is right around the corner,
09:36man.
09:37Tell us a little bit about what you guys got going on.
09:39As I said, man, just the announcement, I think, piques interest.
09:42It's job well done.
09:43Check that box, but tell us a little bit more about it.
09:46Yeah, so I wanted to create a platform and give guys opportunity to live out their dream,
09:51and I just feel like one-on-one is the pure essence of the sport, and if you get it
09:56right in terms of, like, the rules and the structure of the league, of the play,
10:01that it can be, you know, very entertaining.
10:05And if you don't identify how these rules are supposed to be, one-on-one basketball could be sloppy because
10:11the guys are going to get tired,
10:12and you're looking at this like, this is not what I'm here for.
10:15So I think we identified that, but, and on top of that, when you talk about pro sports, whether it's
10:22alternative sports,
10:23whether it's NBA or whatever, I have ownership in the Buffalo Bills,
10:28and it's not a lot of people that look like me have ownership in the NFL or just one of
10:34the three, you know,
10:37prominent sports leagues that we have here in America.
10:42So I wanted to create an opportunity within my league to give guys ownership that looks like me,
10:49and that's, you know, creating a battle of the city.
10:52So I created eight cities, and the importance of that is I want guys to have a community where they
10:59come from,
10:59where they grew up, born and raised, that this community is backing them and supporting them.
11:05So we have Brooklyn, we have Orlando, Raleigh, Chicago, Miami, we have all these cities,
11:12and then I go and get impactful figures from those cities.
11:17So New York City, we have Jadakus, the hip-hop artist.
11:20I gave him ownership in the New York team.
11:24Lorenz Tate is my brother.
11:26He's from Chicago.
11:26He has the Chicago team.
11:28Of course, you know, my cousin Vince Carter from Orlando has that team.
11:32Tim Hardaway Sr. has the Miami team.
11:35My boy John Wall has the Raleigh team.
11:37Quinn Cook in D.C.
11:39So I'm just really, you know, building something and giving out, you know, some equity and some stock
11:48into these teams with these guys that I respect, that I appreciate what they've done,
11:54and I've been a fan of all of these guys.
11:56And this is how we're building this league.
11:58It's a family, man.
11:59I come from Florida.
12:01I'm a Southern boy.
12:03I grew up going to family reunions, and I'm all about family.
12:07And I'm creating, I'm building this league to be, to have everyone a part of this family.
12:12Real quick, Tracy, speaking of family, man, got to check in and see how your boy's doing up at Oral
12:16Roberts, man.
12:17How's he doing?
12:19He red-shirted this year.
12:21I wanted him to, you know how tough it is for these high school kids to come in college,
12:25you know, with the portal and these, you're playing against grown men now.
12:29So I needed for him to sit down and watch the game up close and personal, get bigger and stronger,
12:35and have an understanding what he needs to do for next year.
12:39So we're just looking at, you know, how, we're looking at how we're going to train this offseason
12:45and be better coming into our freshman year.
12:48That's Tracy McGrady, NBA Hall of Famer.
12:50Tracy, man, good luck with the OBL.
12:52Good luck with Lehman and the family.
12:54And it's good to have you on, brother.
12:57We greatly appreciate you.
12:58Yes, sir, man.
12:59Appreciate you.
13:01You got it, man.
13:01Tracy joins us live, courtesy of the OBL, One's Basketball League.
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