McGrady blasts 'unfair' Chinese league

Qingdao (China), Feb 20 (IANS) Ex-NBA superstar Tracy McGrady has expressed his unhappiness over the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) stating that he would skip the league’s All-Star game because of family issues.

“I think all teams should be treated fairly and this isn’t how they should run their league,” said the 33-year-old guard, who formerly played for Houston Rockets alongside Chinese centre Yao Ming, reports Xinhua.

“Fans paid to see the players, so it should let players indeed take the outcome and let the better team win,” he added. McGrady, also known as T-Mac, just finished his first CBA season with Qingdao Eagles, who lost their last regular season match away to league leaders Guangzhou Sunday, failing to grab a playoff berth.

The American announced Monday that he won’t show up at this weekend’s CBA All-Star game despite being voted to lead the North District squad.

“My grandmother has been sick for a couple of weeks and I have to go home to see her. Therefore, I can’t show up in the All-Star game,” he said. Reviewing his four-month CBA journey, McGrady said the only thing that made him uncomfortable were the secrets which go on with the CBA.

“Fairness is the major issue on which CBA should improve and it’s beneficial for players.”

He even warned those “gold-diggers” from NBA to CBA that rules could be different across the ocean.

“If any NBA player wants to come to CBA, he should be a team player, a leader and a teacher,” he said.

The unfairness McGrady referred to was that the CBA referees didn’t give a shot-clock violation penalty to the home team in key time during the match between Qingdao and Bayi Jan 9. He called the referees “blind mice”, resulting in his ban for one match.

McGrady averaged 25 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in his first CBA season, despite Qingdao Eagles finishing the season as the bottom team.

“At the beginning of the season, it looked like I was such a big icon over there, all my teammates wanted me to come to save the day and they just sat back and watched T-Mac to do the magnificence. It’s not the case,” the seven-time NBA All-Star said. The Eagles suffered 12 straight losses at the very beginning, and McGrady said it was really tough for him.

“But these guys made great progression and got back to their normal way of playing. The transformation is good and it’s good to see their growth,” McGrady said.

“I told them if you don’t play well, use that as a motivation and come back. Don’t walk around with head down and feel sorry for yourself because you are going to play and not going to be sorry for in next game,” he said.

Another tough thing for McGrady was being away from his family.

“It is tough for me leaving four young kids at home and letting my wife take care of all of them. My wife was able to come here during Christmas but the time was not right for my kids. I haven’t seen my kids for four and half months,” he said.

Asked whether he will stay in CBA next season, McGrady said: “I can go back to NBA or stay in CBA and I also can just sit home and watch basketball, staying with my family and coming to China to do some business.”

McGrady said it was the passionate Chinese fans who made his CBA journey worthwhile.

“I am really grateful for them. I am very humble for the love and appreciation Chinese fans show to me. I couldn’t believe it, it’s just overwhelming. To all T-Mac fans in China, I just want to say thank you and I love you. You guys are with me for so long, and the support you give me is unbelievable and you guys are the best fans in the world,” he signed off.