Watch out Sonics: The next Jordan is in town

By Rich Myhre

Herald Writer

SEATTLE – Michael Jordan is back, but the brilliance he displayed during six NBA championship seasons is not. Which leaves basketball fans hungering to know: Who is the game’s next “Air” apparent?

There are candidates, of course.

The folks in California think their man, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, is the obvious choice. They will get an argument from backers of Vince Carter, who does his thing for the Toronto Raptors. Both are superb young players who can dominate a game from anywhere on the court – and particularly in the space above the rim.

There is a third contender, though, and many NBA observers are wondering if this fellow might be as good or even better than Bryant and Carter. And if not today, than certainly in the years to come.

His name is Tracy McGrady – T-Mac to his friends – and he makes his one Seattle appearance of the season tonight as the SuperSonics host the Orlando Magic in a 6 p.m. contest at KeyArena.

Numbers pretty much tell the story about McGrady. A year ago, he averaged 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists to earn the league’s Most Improved Player award and a spot on the All-NBA second team. This season is more of the same. McGrady, a 6-foot-8 shooting guard, was averaging 26.5 points a game (third-best in the NBA), 7.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists heading into Saturday night’s game against Portland. Over his five previous games (heading into Saturday’s contest), he had averaged 36.0 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists. That includes a game of 47 points, 11 rebounds and four assists against the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night.

What makes these statistics even more astounding is that McGrady is just 22 years old. He is in his fifth NBA season, having turned pro right out of Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham, N.C. Had he opted for four years of college, this would be his NBA rookie season.

“He’s a phenomenal young player,” said Seattle’s Brent Barry, one of the players who will try to defend McGrady tonight. “And he’s really a complete player. In baseball, they call someone a five-tool player. Well, in basketball he’s the same way. There really are no weaknesses.

“And he’s 22,” Barry said with a wry grin. “That’s unbelievable.”

When he arrived in Orlando last season after three years in Toronto, McGrady was supposed to be one of two bright lights for the Magic, along with six-time NBA All-Star Grant Hill. Instead, a foot injury kept Hill on the sidelines for all but four games a year ago, and he has appeared in just 16 games this season. Hill is currently on the injured list and will miss tonight’s game.

In his absence, McGrady has pretty much been the show. Darrell Armstrong is a decent point guard and Mike Miller (last season’s NBA Rookie of the Year) is another promising player, but this is unquestionably McGrady’s team. Even his teammates are sometimes in awe. Despite his 47 points game against the Clippers, Orlando still lost 100-92 – largely because the other Magic players were too wide-eyed to play well.

“Tracy played a great game,” coach Doc Rivers told the Orlando Sentinel, “but we didn’t execute offensively. It’s the damnedest thing when a guy gets hot like that. Everyone wants to watch, including his own teammates.”

Added LA’s Jeff McInnis after the game: “Nobody in this league can stop Tracy McGrady from scoring.”

Tonight, the Sonics will do their best by using an array of defensive sets and a rotation of fresh defenders. The idea is not so much to keep McGrady from scoring, but to make him struggle for every point that he does score.

McGrady “has the potential to be great,” said Seattle coach Nate McMillan. “You have to put him right there with Kobe. He also has that killer instinct where he wants to dominate, he wants to be the best. And he has all the tools to do it.”

“It really will be an interesting argument over the next few years about who’s better, Kobe or Tracy,” Barry said. “I don’t know (the answer). One guy has hardware (Bryant has two NBA championship trophies), so the argument becomes a little weighted, but as far as individual players and the skills they bring to the table, boy, those two guys certainly have it all together.

“And that’s leaving Vince Carter out of the equation. It’s good for the league to have young guys who can play that way and can remind all of us of some of the guys who carried the torch for so long. With young guys like that, it’s very promising for the NBA.”