Tracy McGrady Says Steph Was Unanimous MVP Because The League Is Watered Down

“For him to be the first player to get this unanimously, it just tells you how watered down our league is,” he said. “Think about when (Michael Jordan) played, Shaq, I mean, those guys really played against top-notch competition, more superstars I think on more teams than I think in our league today.”

Instead of watered down, here’s a thought, maybe, just maybe, it shows that Steph Curry literally had a record breaking season and was significantly better than some all time great players for 82 games. He and his team did things we have never seen before, that’s not opinion, that’s fact. He was the first guy in the history of the game to average 30 points while averaging less than 35 minutes a game. Just look at these numbers.

And who did he beat out? Lebron James who will go down as a top 5 player. Kawhi Leonard who is an incredible future Hall of Famer. Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and Chris Paul all future Hall of Famers. In 2004 Jermaine O’Neal and Peja Stojakovic finished 3rd and 4th respectively. In 97 the 3-5 vote getters for MVP were Grant Hill, Tim Hardaway and Glen Rice. No knock on any of those guys, all good players, but don’t tell me the league is watered down. There are bad teams like any other era but it isn’t watered down. It’s actually stronger in terms of star power than it has been since the mid 90’s. I don’t know when Tracy McGrady became an old man yelling at a cloud but we’re there and it’s sad to see. Just accept that the NBA has evolved and that Steph is incredible, then sit back and enjoy the show.

Also for my own curiosity I looked up some All Star Teams from T-Mac’s heyday. I mean come on, this year’s West team is all Hall of Famers. The only name that I don’t think I’ll remember as great in 20 years is Kyle Lowry.

2004 had Ben Wallace, Jermaine O’Neal (who was good in his prime), Steve Fancis, and Yao Ming. None of those guys were all time “great”

2000’s West team was stacked but the East had Eddie Jones and Grant Hill.

My point is you can go through any era and nitpick but you can’t look at this era and say it’s watered down. That’s just patently false.