Ex-Raptors GM admits Darrell Walker erred in handling T-Mac in Toronto: 'Maybe that wasn't the right approach for players like Tracy'

Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady is one of the biggest "what ifs" in the history of the Toronto Raptors franchise. Straight out of high school, "T-Mac" was the Raptors' 9th overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft, the third lottery pick ever for Toronto.

Considering that the team traded its first two lottery picks—Damon Stoudamire and Marcus Camby during Mac's rookie season, he was supposed to be the next man in line to be their franchise player. 

McGrady was only 18 when then-GM Isiah Thomas drafted him. As such, not only was Mac a raw talent, but he also wasn't mature enough to become the main man in Toronto. The Raptors, a new franchise back then, also did not know how to handle a young prospect like him.

"He needed a lot of support; maybe we didn't give him as much support," former Raptors GM Glen Grunwald said in the Sportsnet documentary "Raptors Delight" about the birth of the franchise. "He was young, immature perhaps."

Teenage rookie and first-year head coach

McGrady was just the sixth player in history to make it to the NBA straight out of high school. Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby did it in 1975. Kevin Garnett made the leap in 1995 and he was followed by Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal in 1996.

When "T-Mac" arrived in the league, KG was only starting to show promise. Kobe and J.O. were still struggling to find their strides. So, it was expected that McGrady would have a tough time, too. It did not help that during Mac's rookie year, Toronto also had an inexperienced head coach in Darrell Walker.

"Darrell was a rookie head coach, so he was maybe a little old-school in terms of his approach to yelling at players and things like that," Grunwald added. "And maybe that wasn't the right approach for some players like Tracy."

Walker and McGrady never clicked

Walker took over from Brendan Malone in 1996. He went 30-52 in 1996-97 and then got McGrady from the Draft. For some reason, they never clicked. Walker demanded better work habits from the 18-year-old. McGrady felt that Walker did not give him the chance to prove himself.

"He probably hated me, and I didn't care. I could care less about players hating me, my job was trying to win basketball games," Walker said to Sportsnet. "Did you see flashes that he could do some things? Yeah, but he still was an 18-year-old kid trying to figure out the NBA."

The problem was Toronto started that year with a 2-22 record. By the time they got to 11-39, Walker was out as head coach. Assistant coach Butch Carter took over and McGrady began to emerge. That was short-lived, though. Citing internal issues within the organization, "T-Mac" left for Orlando in the 2000 free agency. Not surprisingly, he became a star as soon as he got out of Toronto.