:::: HANDLE ISSUE 008 COVER STORY: Tracy McGrady FEATURES: Paul Henare & Aaron Olson, Marianna Tolo, Opals reign in Brazil, NBL import spotlight PLUS: Mike "Ghost" Zanidean, Shoenanigans and more!

TRACY McGRADY: EDITORIAL

It is an understatement to say that T-Mac has a lot to prove this season. Capability-wise, everyone already knows what he can do, but health-wise, all eyes will be focussed on the much publicised chronic back problem that sidelined him for a large portion of last season.

When healthy, no one is as smooth or as versatile as Tracy McGrady. He is an impossible match-up and easily one of the top three players in the NBA. A certified All-Star, McGrady can break down just about any defender and score at will. However, T-Mac hasn’t been healthy – really healthy – in a long time. Hampered by ongoing back injuries, his problems came to a crescendo last season, and he ended up lying half-crippled at half-court before being taken off the floor on a stretcher. More worryingly, team doctors still can’t find the cause of the problem.

2006-07 was a horrific year for the Houston Rockets. The team finished with 48 losses, an extremely disappointing result after the buoyant 51-win season the year before. McGrady was especially disappointing on-court as he put up some of the lowest numbers of his career, and Yao Ming’s development was surely hampered by McGrady’s invisible performances.

His talents have been witnessed by all and, ever since his stunning showing at the Adidas ABCD camp in 1997, McGrady has wowed fans with his explosive athleticism and silky George Gervin-esque moves.

But, for the 27-year-old McGrady, the 2006-07 NBA season represents – despite his relative youth – one of his last opportunities to put it all together before he is metaphorically put out to pasture with the likes of damaged superstars Grant Hill and Penny Hardaway.

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