Rockets Legend Pinpoints Major Flaw with Today's Era

When athletes retire, they oftentimes become critical of the next era of the sport. They begin to vocalize how much differently the game is played, in comparison to how it was played during their time.

Former Houston Rockets forward Charles Barkley is a great example of this. He's constantly on the front line complaining about teams shooting too many 3-pointers and not playing through the post enough.

He also struggles with the concept of spacing and utilizing small ball bigs. 

Times change. The game evolves. 

Tracy McGrady, another NBA legend and former Rockets star, is an additional example. He played in a different era, in which the mid-range shot was encouraged more than it is today.

McGrady joined Gil's Arena and shared his thoughts on today's game, when asked which current player reminds him most of himself. 

"In today's game? I don't see nobody. 

The younger guys? I don't see nobody, bro. I don't. 

I think it's gonna be hard, because I took midranges. Alot of these guys [don't]. Like, if [Jayson] Tatum was a guy that took those midranges, I would say Tatum.

Not the fluidity, or how I moved. I was fast, bro. If he played that in between game, like that, yeah."

McGrady mentioned Kevin Durant and Paul George as players with similar playing styles, but didn't include them in his assessment because they're older players at this point of their respective careers.

McGrady's point about the midrange being a lost art was best illustrated by Tatum's Boston Celtics this season, as they were seemingly only interested in launching an avalanche of threes, to the tune of 3,955 long-range attempts -- and NBA record. That amounts to 48 threes per game.

To put that in perspective, the Rockets led the league in 3-point attempts in each of Mike D'Antoni's four seasons, yet never shot that many.

McGrady is easily one of the game's smoothest, most fluid scorers, from a historical standpoint. 

Of today's players, the most common McGrady comparison has been George, which makes sense. He was a high-flyer, who could get buckets from any level of the floor.

And both players were of the 6-foot-8 frame. 

George even stated that he modeled his game after McGrady, while appearing on the Knuckleheads podcast several years ago.

"I felt like I related to T-Mac the most because I was a tall, lanky kid. I was playing the point all the way through my years growing up, and I was always like a foot taller than every kid growing up, so I felt like I related to T-Mac the most.”