No more jet for T-Mac

Beyond his stats and what you read in his website, there’s a lot more to know about Houston Rockets star and recent Manila visitor Tracy McGrady.

Here are some little-known facts about T-Mac:

• He’s the first National Basketball Association (NBA) player to own a jet. Over a year ago, T-Mac bought an 11-seat white Falcon 2000 plane with T1 MAC painted on the side. His VIP seat was the first on the right side of the cabin and was equipped with an armrest that controlled a surround sound system, a DVD player and an air-conditioner.

"We’re actually saving money by having the plane," said T-Mac’s business manager Gustavson Bass, quoted by Karl Taro Greenfeld in Sports Illustrated. "With the depreciation schedule and being able to lease it out, this will pay for itself."

T-Mac, however, has sold the plane.

• McGrady’s first pro contract was a $4.68 million three-year deal with Toronto. When he was traded to Orlando, McGrady signed a $92.8 million seven-year pact. In 2004, McGrady moved to Houston and inked a three-year extension up to 2010, guaranteeing a $110 million salary in the last six years of his contract.

Last season, McGrady earned a salary of $15.7 million plus $7 million from his lifetime contract with adidas and an endorsement deal with Pepsico.

With his first year’s paycheck, McGrady bought a $50,000 Lexus Landcruiser, a 1995 Mercedes, a $16,000 Rolex watch, a three-bedroom house for his grandmother in Winter Haven, Florida, a house for his father Tracy, Sr., a car and a condo for his mother and a set of diamond earrings. And more importantly, he donated $300,000 to his high school alma mater Mt. Zion Christian Academy in North Carolina.

• McGrady lives in a 250,000 square foot mansion in Sugar Land, a suburb of Houston, with his fiancee ClaRenda Harris and their two children, 2-year-old Layla Clarice and Laymen Lamar who was born last December. T-Mac bought the house from former Houston Astros pitcher Shane Reynolds. He also has a home in Florida.

When McGrady was a high school senior, he would stroll by the Lexus showroom in Raleigh and wave to the pretty salesgirl. He swore to someday buy the Lexus SUV on display and win the salesgirl’s heart, too. The salesgirl was Harris.

Aside from a Lexus, McGrady now owns a BMW, a Bentley and a Maybach.

• The tattoo on T-Mac’s right shoulder reads: "And every tongue that shall rise up against Thee in judgment shall be condemned – Isaiah 54:17."

• McGrady was kicked out of the Aurburndale High School varsity as a junior because of an attitude problem. He had a reputation as a lazy student who was habitually late for class. His exit from the team was a wake-up call.

Luckily, his Amateur Athletic Union coach Alvis Smith didn’t lose hope. Smith invited McGrady to play at the adidas ABCD summer camp in New Jersey in 2005 and that turned out to be his ticket to stardom.

T-Mac shone at the camp and was recruited to play his final year of high school basketball at Mt. Zion. The Mighty Warriors coach Joel Hopkins was known as "the black Bobby Knight," a strict and hot-tempered disciplinarian. Hopkins embraced T-Mac like a son.

T-Mac did everything that Hopkins told him to do at practice. A typical day started with a 4:30 a.m. run up the steps of the football stadium at neighboring Duke University. After breakfast, McGrady attended classes wearing a coat and tie. He went to church meetings, ate lunch, practiced basketball and headed back to Hopkins’ home.

Hopkins and T-Mac spent nights watching NBA games together. On the floor, McGrady blossomed and averaged nearly a triple double, playing all five positions as Hopkins’ do-it-all leader.

Close to the end of the season, T-Mac’s attitude problem resurfaced. At practice one day, Hopkins and T-Mac got into a heated argument that almost led to a fistfight. The flare-up was another wake-up call for McGrady who bounced back from the crisis a mature young man waiting to knock on the NBA’s door.

McGrady averaged 27.5 points, 8.7 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 2.8 steals a game at Mt. Zion. His performance convinced NBA scout Marty Blake he was ready for the pros.

T-Mac will always be grateful to Hopkins for setting him straight.

"I wasn’t bad because I’ve never been in trouble with the law," said T-Mac, quoted by Mike Monroe in the book "Rookie Experience." "But I didn’t have respect for people. I didn’t have respect for anyone until I met coach Hopkins. He’s the main reason why my dream of playing in the NBA is being fulfilled. Coach Hopkins is my backbone. He’s behind me, 100 percent. If it wasn’t for coach Hopkins and God, this wouldn’t be possible."

O McGrady is the second youngest player in NBA history to score 10,000 points after Kobe Bryant.

In his rookie season, McGrady had dinner with Bryant – whom he considers to be like a big brother – before their teams faced off in Toronto.

"I told him he’s got to keep working hard," said Bryant. "You can’t let the things that are going on around you or other people get in the way of working hard and improving your game."

T-Mac took Bryant’s advice to heart, said Monroe.

McGrady, 27, is entering his 10th NBA season as a two-time scoring champion, a six-time All-Star, a five-time All-NBA selection and the Most Improved Player in 2001.