SPRINGFIELD -- The significance of being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame isn't lost on former NBA star Tracy McGrady
"Social media can give a lot of people voices these days, and the first thing they say is 'No rings, no rings,'" McGrady said on Friday, in an appearance at the Hall of Fame's 60 Days of Summer Program. "You have to have a great team and some luck to get a ring, right? Unfortunately, I wasn't blessed with that. But I go back at them with this: Anybody can win a championship. Everybody can't get in the Hall of Fame."
McGrady will be officially inducted on September 8, alongside Bill Self, Muffet McGraw, Rebecca Lobo and others.
On Friday, McGrady spoke in front of an enormous group of kids and fans -- one Hall of Fame employee said it was the biggest crowd he could remember for the program. He discussed his signature off-the-backboard dunk, as well as his decision to forego college (a $12 million offer from Adidas as part of a shoe contract helped dissuade him from attending the University of Kentucky). He described his draft-night experience, and getting a promise from then-Toronto Raptors executive Isiah Thomas, as well as playing with future Hall of Famer Vince Carter, as well as Class of 2016 inductee Yao Ming.
"People that do my marketing told me the other day that my Q-rating in China is higher than the president's," McGrady said. "That's all because of Yao. He elevated that. Being around him and seeing the weight that he has to carry, I have a great fanbase, huge fanbase, but this guy has a whole continent he has to carry. The way he handles all that, it was great to see somebody at 7-5, the way he moves, left hand, right hand, one of the best jump shooters we had on our team, the best foul shooter we had on our team. It was a pleasure to play with Yao Ming."
For a short stretch, McGrady was one of the best wings in the game -- an unstoppable scoring force who led the league in points per game in back-to-back years. In 2002-03, he put up a staggering 32.1 points per game while burying 38 percent of his 3-pointers and getting to the line nearly 10 times per game.
But McGrady's stats only tell part of the story. He was a freak athlete who sometimes let his explosiveness show in full, while also moving with an unmatchable fluidity.
McGrady may not have a ring, but he was perhaps the best player in the NBA for a short stretch of time in the early 2000s, and at his peak, he was a must-watch basketball event. It's not hard to see what the Hall of Fame voters saw when they decided to induct him this year.
"It's such a surreal feeling," McGrady said. "Before coming to the NBA, I didn't know anything about the Hall of Fame. It wasn't like a goal of mine. I just loved to play the game of basketball, and whatever accomplishments I got after that, obviously I'd be thrilled. This right here, this is awesome. The Hall? Really? From my story, where I came from, if I'd known that I'd be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, it really doesn't get better than that."