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Originally Posted by BadBaronRudigor
McGrady's history showed nothing of the kind, not in Toronto, not in early Orlando, not even last couple of years in Houston. It shows that he is a great offensive player on a bad team, an inconsistent but talented defender, it MAY show that in future as he matures but not yet.
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It has certainly shown that. Previous to his last few years in Orlando, he was considered an excellent defender. In Houston, he has consistently been very good. His last two or three years in Orlando has created a perception that he takes time off on defense, but he only did it then and only because his team needed him to expend all his effort on offense to keep them in games. One player can impact an offense more than he can impact a defense, so in a situation with one great player and nothing else, there's no other way to play it.
And his top end defense is certainly higher than Erving's, in my opinion. I don't think there's any way Erving could have defended Nowitzki for seven games the way McGrady did.