Since the start of the off-season, the Knicks have been recruiting veteran free agents, some of them fairly old by N.B.A. standards. The latest to get a look is 33-year-old Tracy McGrady, a seven-time All-Star who is not as old as some of the other players the Knicks have signed but who has had significant injuries during his career.
McGrady worked out for the Knicks on Thursday at their Greenburgh, N.Y., practice gym, just a few days after he reportedly worked out with the San Antonio Spurs.
The decision to have McGrady go through drills as training camp draws closer is yet another sign that the Knicks are looking to create a sizable group of savvy players — albeit past their primes — to help Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler and Amar’e Stoudemire contend for an N.B.A. title.
Anthony, Chandler and Stoudemire are under contract for the next three years, giving the Knicks a heightened urgency to do something now. So Jason Kidd (age 39), Kurt Thomas (39) and Marcus Camby (38) have been added to the roster since the season ended with a first-round playoff loss to the Miami Heat, the eventual champion.
The Knicks have also signed the Argentine point guard Pablo Prigini, who will be an N.B.A. rookie at age 36. When the season starts Nov. 1, Chandler will be 30.
The Knicks still have an available spot on their 20-man training camp roster. If McGrady ends up in camp, he will most likely compete with Chris Copeland, Mychel Thompson and three other rookie free agents, all of whom are younger than McGrady, for a spot on the regular-season roster.
In his 15-year career, McGrady has led the league in scoring twice, both times with the Orlando Magic, but he has been repeatedly hampered by injuries. Last season with the Atlanta Hawks, he averaged 5.2 points and 2.9 rebounds while playing 16 minutes per game.
McGrady played for the Knicks once before, in 2010, when they acquired him and his expiring contract in a trade with the Houston Rockets that was largely used to free cap space with the hope of signing LeBron James, Chris Bosh or Dwyane Wade. But the Knicks did not attract any of those star free agents that summer, and the Rockets received the Knicks’ 2012 first-round pick.
In 24 games with the Knicks that season, McGrady averaged 9.4 points. He has not scored that many points per game since he left New York.
Now McGrady is hoping the Knicks will see him as an asset, as one of a number of players with enough left to make a difference now, even though teams like the Heat, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Chicago Bulls are standing in the way.
WRITTEN BY NATE TAYLOR & FULL STORY HERE
