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McGrady Courts Success Raptor in Great Form with help from Mentor A mentor hired by the Toronto Raptors to counsel Tracy McGrady is being credited in part for his inspired play this season in the National Basketball Association. The mentor's name is DeNita L. Turner, who is president and chief executive officer of Image Builders, Incorporated, a company based in Laurel, MD., that specializes in personal-enhancement programs for athletes. "I'm his [McGrady's] inner conscience," Turner said yesterday in a telephone interview. "And when we go out on the court it's like, 'okay, buddy, you remember this is what you want. I'm just here for support'." An enhanced image is something the 6-foot-8 McGrady has shown this season and his inspired play of late has vaulted him into serious consideration for the NBA's sixth Man Award. McGrady, who will compete in the NBA all-star game's slam-dunk contest in Oakland next weekend, is averaging 13.9 points a game for the Raptors, more than the five points above his career average. Drafted out of high school as an 18-year-old in 1997, McGrady's development has been an arduous process. "I think there was a period of time where we didn't know if Tracy was going to make it," Raptors head coach Butch Carter conceded last week. But in his third NBA season, the 20-year-old is starting to live up to the huge promise that prompted the Raptors to make him their first-round draft choice, ninth overall, in the draft. Early this season, Carter sold general manager Glen Grunwald on the idea of hiring Turner. The results have been positive. "It was just something that we felt we needed to do and Glen okayed it," Carter said. "And we feel it's been important. And obviously, since she's been working with him, he's really taken it - his play - to another level." When the subject was broached with McGrady yesterday, the normally engaging player offered a "no comment." He has admitted in the past that he's "grown up the past couple of months" and is happier in his role with the Raptors. Turner has worked previously with the Women's National Basketball Association and the NBA, where she was involved in the league's rookie transition program. It was set up about 10 years ago to provide players entering professional ranks with guidance and advice. She said that much of her job involves confidence building and helping set achievable goals. "What we've done, basically, is work in almost a mentor relationship." Turner said about her association with McGrady. Personal and professional goals have been set and methods devised for McGrady to best accomplish them. "His job on the court is, and has been defined, by Butch Carter," she said. "What I do is try to help him figure out what do we need to help him get there. It can be a little bit of everything - from enthusiasm, energy to aggressiveness." Grunwald, who was returning from a scouting trip to Syracuse, N.Y., yesterday, said the Raptors enlisted Turner's expertise "just to provide some extra support or Tracy," something that the Raptors admit was not always forthcoming for their young player. When the Raptors initially drafted the Florida native, former general manager and minority owner Isiah Thomas promised that the organization would do all it could to help ease the teenager's transition into the NBA. He even suggested that McGrady might suit up for home games only to make it easier on him. But the plan wasn't followed up on as the Raptors had plenty of other issues with which to deal. The team won only 16 of 82 games in the 1997-98 season and along the way, Thomas resigned, star player Damon Stoudamire was traded and Darrell Walker quit as head coach to be replaced by Carter. When Walker walked out in February of that season, McGrady was a disillusioned 18-year-old buried deep in the ex-coach's doghouse. Playing little and with his confidence shot, McGrady's fragile psyche took a beating when Walker publicity questioned McGrady's work ethic, claiming the player was "too cool" to work hard. "I think the whole thing was a disaster, including how we dealt with Tracy," Grunwald acknowledged yesterday. McGrady said that some of Walker's criticisms hit him hard. "The first year I kind of had an 'I don't care attitude' because of the things he was saying, I kind of got down on myself," McGrady said. "But then I started to realize once Butch took over I got the opportunity to go out and really gain some confidence and just put those things in my head, what he said, and just really turned it around." |
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