http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/s****tstoryS0108MAGICNOTES.htm
ORLANDO -- This might not come as a newsflash to Magic fans who endured
last
year's dreadful 21-61 season, but former Orlando guard Tracy McGrady is
admitting now that he didn't always play hard.
In a feature story in this week's S****ts Illustrated, McGrady admitted
that
he was so defeated mentally by the losing that "some nights I did slack
off"
and also "I'm not going to sit here and say I played my hardest every
night." McGrady said he did not trust his teammates on last season's team
and that part of his motivation in leading the NBA in scoring was to
protect
his image as one of the league's elite players.
"Some nights I did slack off -- and I knew that was a terrible thing to
do -- and I still was slacking off," McGrady told SI. "That feels so bad.
And I'm the leader, these guys are following my lead, so the whole team
suffers even worse. That was wrong. Now, I would do it differently. I
learned. I have to bust my butt no matter what. Last year was the worst
experience of my life. And I learned. And believe me, I'm grateful for
this
op****tunity here."
"It's all about how you handle the situation," McGrady said. "Last year I
lead the league in scoring. If I had been on a bad team and had a bad year
statistically, then you would have seen my image collapse. I had to lead
the
league (in scoring)."
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