NBA Greats And Their NBA Debuts On Halloween

Today is the anniversary of the NBA debuts of a few legends, including the greatest "power forward" ever, two of greatest scorers ever, and a 2nd-round pick that will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Nowadays, people are quick to label players a "bust" or "the next MJ" after their first 40 minutes in an NBA uniform. It's silly because countless players started strong and were out of the league in a few years.

Remember when Michael Carter-Williams flirted with a quadruple-double in his first game, won Rookie Of The Year, and bounced around to six teams in five years? Then you have the guys who got off to a rough start and ended their careers as a legend. One of those guys is...

TRACY MCGRADY

• YEAR: 1997
• STATS: 0 PTS (0/0 FG), 1 REB, 1 TO
• STARTING LINEUP: Damon Stoudamire, Doug Christie, Marcus Camby, Walt Williams, Zan Tabak

27 years ago today, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER was the highest grossing movie of the week. Elton John's CANDLE IN THE WIND and Usher's YOU MAKE ME WANNA were the top songs on the Billboard 100. Actress Letitia Wright was celebrating her 3rd birthday, and 18-year-old Toronto Raptors Rookie Tracy McGrady put up a donut in his NBA debut.

The fresh-out-of-high school T-Mac didn't even attempt a shot during his first game, and that's because Coach Darrell Walker only played him a total of six minutes off the bench. Those starting minutes mainly went to Doug Christie, Walt "Wizards" Williams, and John Wallace. Each one of them scored in double-figures, but none were exceptional in the loss to the Miami Heat.

Despite scoring 8 points in his second game, McGrady's next 12 games included 7 DNPs and three more donuts. Coach Walker was so unimpressed by the rookie that he said McGrady would be out of the league in three seasons. Well, he ended up playing 15 seasons and scoring 18,381 points on his way to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

"You Gave It To All The Greats" | Shaq & D-Wade Give Tracy McGrady His Roses | NBA on TNT

TIM DUNCAN

• YEAR: 1997
• STATS: 15 PTS (6/9 FG), 10 REB, 2 BLK, 2 AST, 4 TO
• STARTING LINEUP: Duncan, Avery Johnson, David Robinson, Sean Elliot, Vinny Del Negro.

The greatest "power forward" ever also debuted on Halloween of 1997. Unlike McGrady, the player the Spurs tanked for so they could draft him with the first pick in the 1997 NBA Draft, had no problems getting playing time. Starting alongside his twin tower teammate David Robinson, Duncan recorded the first of many double-doubles during his Rookie Of The Year campaign. He didn't just lead all rookies in double-doubles; he led the league in that category.

Duncan's first game was against one of the worst teams of the 90s (the Nuggets finished with an 11-71 record), but he was dominant from day 1 and went on to have one of the greatest rookie seasons in NBA history:

• Rookie Of The Month x6
• All-NBA 1st Team
• All-Defense 2nd Team
• All-Star
• Rookie Of the Year
• Double-Double Leader
• 5th in MVP voting

As for his career, he's considered by many to be the greatest "power forward" ever and often makes appearances on Top 10 GOAT lists (which I hate).

Tim Duncan's ROOKIE SEASON Might Just Be The BEST EVER!

KEVIN DURANT

• YEAR: 2007
• STATS: 18 PTS (7/22 FG), 5 REB, 3 STL, 2 3PT, 2 TO
• STARTING LINEUP: KD, Damien Wilkins, Nick Collison, Chris Wilcox, Earl Watson.

Ten years after Tim Duncan and Tracy McGrady made their NBA debuts, Kevin Durant, the Seattle SuperSonics' No. 2 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, made his. Like Duncan, KD's debut came against the Denver Nuggets. Unlike Duncan, the Nuggets KD faced were good: Allen Iverson, Kenyon Martin, Marcus Camby, and Carmelo Anthony.

During an appearance on THE KNUCKLEHEADS PODCAST, KD was asked who was the first person to bust his ass. His answer was Melo: "He was just physical. He would duck you in the paint and hit you with the shoulder. Then he'd take you out. Jab, jab, pull over top of you. He would have me thinking too much on defense. We had a back-to-back that night. I got on the plane confused."

Melo welcomed KD to the league by outscoring him 32-18. As shocking as that 18 sounds, KD scored less than 20 points in 8 of his first 13 games. But it was only a short time until he started putting up 30, as we are used to seeing, before collecting the Rookie Of The Year trophy. He's put up so many 30-point games that earlier this week, he became the 8th player in the history of the NBA to score 29,000 career points.

If you were wondering what the most popular song in America was when KD debuted, it was Soulja Boy's CRANK THAT.

I also remember KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS premiering on E! a few weeks earlier and wondering, "Who wants to keep up with these sisters?" That statement aged as poorly as the Blazers saying, "Why would we take Durant over Greg Oden?"

Kevin Durant Remembers ‘FIRST’ NBA Game Against Carmelo Anthony!

DRAYMOND GREEN

• YEAR: 2012
• STATS: 0 PTS (0/0 FG), 1 REB, 1 PF
• STARTING LINEUP: Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, David Lee, Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut

When 2nd round pick Draymond Green made his scoreless NBA debut for the Golden State Warriors in 2012, the term "Splash Brothers" wasn't even a thing. And since Draymond isn't the son of an NBA legend (insert your own Draymond and LeBron joke here), nobody cared about his stats because nobody expects anything from a 2nd round pick. Nobody even cared that Draymond put up a donut in 6 of his next 7 games.

Warriors fans did care about Steph Curry that day. He signed a 4-year, $44M extension in the morning and then started the game by missing his first ten shots. If that wasn't bad enough, he missed two free throws in the final 4 seconds. Thankfully for him, Bassy failed to get a shot off, and the Warriors came out with an 87-85 victory.

The day most basketball fans probably took notice of Draymond was Game 7 of the Warriors playoff series vs the Nuggets. He scored a career-high 16 points to go with 10 rebounds and a big three in the 4th quarter of the win. The 5 x 5 threat went on to have a lot more playoff success (4 NBA Championships) and when he retires, he will join the short list of 2nd round picks to make the Hall of Fame.

Considering what we know now, it's amusing that the first bucket of his career was a three-pointer followed by a taunting technical.

Draymond Green Scores FIRST NBA basket then IMMEDIATELY gets FIRST NBA Technical Foul

OTHER NOTABLE HALLOWEEN DEBUTS

• Chauncey Billups (2007): 15 PTS, 4 AST (6/12 FG)
• Tyson Chandler (2001): 1 PT, 1 TO (0/2 FG)
• Anthony Davis (2012): 21 PTS, 7 REB (6/12 FG)
• Dame Lillard (20212): 23 PTS, 11 AST (7/17 FG)
• Dennis Rodman (1986): 0 PTS, 2 REB (0/6 FG)