Tracy McGrady was a star athlete in every sport he played growing up in Auburndale, Florida, and when he joined Carton & Roberts on WFAN Thursday, he revealed that he felt he was actually best at baseball and could’ve made the Majors as a pitcher – but one basketball experience changed his life forever.
I was throwing 90 and had scouts coming my sophomore and junior years, but I fell in love with hoops as I got older, and I felt the opportunity and exposure was bigger and better,” McGrady told Craig & Evan. “I got the chance to go to Adidas camp and play on a nationally ranked platform, and that changed my life over that summer.”
The camp gave T-Mac a chance to play some of the best in the nation, an opportunity he didn’t have in central Florida, and showed him a path to where he is now.
“I was recruited, but on a much lower scale than I felt I could’ve been. When I held my own with those guys and ended up being the No. 1 player – nothing changed for me as a player, I just got on a ranking system,” McGrady said.
That is part of what he’s trying to do with his new Ones Basketball League, a pilot program T-Mac created to try to find some “untapped talent” like the Adidas camp did for him back in the late-1990s.
“There’s a lot of untapped talent out there, guys who aren’t in the NBA but with skill sets on par with KD and Kyrie and Harden,” T-Mac said. “There are underground 1-on-1 leagues all over, so I know there’s a pool of highly skilled guys, and I wanted to create a platform for them, because they deserve to be seen and have their stories told, and get an opportunity.”
McGrady’s OBL comes to Brooklyn this weekend, with the winner of this weekend’s regional tournament winning $10,000. The top three finishers from this and the other six regionals move on to the national tournament, where they’ll have a 1-in-21 chance to take home $250K.
Nice chunk of change to start, but what the Hall of Famer is really trying to build with the OBL is that platform where players can show their skills to maybe get a pro chance.
“I’m building a ranking system that will be so valuable to these guys so you’ll be able to identify who those guys are,” McGrady said. “Not everyone can play in the NBA, but I’ve played with some guys that were really talented offensively, but were put in a role where they were limited – and because they couldn’t be themselves and couldn’t adapt to being a role player, they got frustrated and end up out of the league. This platform is tailor-made for them – there are no coaches, you set your own rule and release your skill set to the world.”
Or, perhaps, those who star can make some more coin as a face of the OBL?
“Yeah, maybe the guys stay in the league, get endorsement deals and get good money and be a star for our league,” McGrady said. “This year is a pilot, a proof of concept to show we can make it happen. We have the model and we’re ironing things out.”
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You can only see the OBL in person or on their website (www.oblhoops.com), with some play streamed live on McGrady’s Instagram. And while you won’t see the 43-year-old Hall of Famer try his hand in the league – “I can’t move like that!” he laughed – he will credit his own one-one-one experience as a rookie in Toronto for helping him develop into a player worthy of a bust in Springfield, Mass.
“When I got drafted to Toronto, one of my teammates was Doug Christie, who was one of the best perimeter players in the NBA, and I took it upon myself to play him 1-on-1 after every practice,” McGrady said. “I knew if I could get my shot off on him and figure him out, I could do that against anyone in the league. One-on-one gets labeled as street ball, but it’s so much broader; it enhances your skill set and mindset, because you have to strategize and figure out how to get your shot off.”
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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