Casual fans of the game aren’t the only ones to struggle with understanding the poor decisions made by young twenty-somethings with enough physical skills and talent to earn multiple NBA contracts.
Go ahead and count Tracy McGrady in that same group as the rest of us.
McGrady will likely make the basketball Hall of Fame at some point, but he believes the game has changed since the prime of his playing days. He laments the number of “knuckleheads” who don’t appreciate the talent they’ve been blessed with or the opportunity that they’ve been given, and doesn’t get why players in the league would risk it all over some off-the-court nonsense.
From Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star:
Again, join the club.
No one will ever understand why a player with Beasley’s talent and upside makes the decisions that he does, or why he would choose to play with a level of apathy that would seem unconscionable to those outside of the professional basketball circles.
McGrady may come off to some as a crotchety old man here, but former players know better than anyone the gifts that are given to professional athletes. And throwing those away, no matter the reason, will continue to perplex those of us on the outside looking in -- and even some on the inside, as well.