Dear Tracy,

Things've been rough for you. I understand.

It's been a turbulent, twisted, tragic twelve year journey through the NBA for you since you boldly peaced the high school scene and set out to make a name for yourself among the World's best; chasing the Dream. You were young; confident, indestructible, in your mind too talented to play second fiddle to your cousin Vince. So you abandoned the team that took a chance on you with the seventh pick back when kids without college were as hard-pressed for jobs in the League as they were on Wall Street; signed elsewhere without giving them the chance to get anything in return...the fuck with the dream of winning a championship, being a vital part of a winning team, you wanted to be the man.

And you were.

You faced a setback early when Grant Hill's ankle exploded, but when you donned that Magic uniform back in 2000, your game took off: you asserted yourself, won the MIP and made the Raptors really sweat your absence. Things got better. You led the league in scoring, became a perennial All-Star starter, dunked on everybody and their grandma. Some people went as far as to say the Raps should've traded Vince instead: you proved to be a legitimately elite player, earning that Max contract money. But you weren't winning anything. Sure you were the team's unquestioned leader, nobody was sharing your spotlight, but season after season you'd carry your squad to the middle of the Eastern Conference and be unceremoniously dismissed in the first round. You called out teammates in public, prematurely prophecised your second-round match-ups and had your leadership skills called into qustion. You were getting frustrated, and who wouldn't?

The Dream wasn't turning out like it was supposed to, at least not in Orlando.

Change came again after four years; the Magic were as phased by the playoff disappointment as you were and shipped you to Houston. You had a chance to start fresh; forget your bittersweet past and build towards something better. The pieces were all in place; you were entering the prime of your career, teamed with the Ming Dynasty to lead a cohesive and talented team. But shit never plays out like it should. Injuries hit. Hard. Seeing you and Yao play together was like a Dwight Howard 3-Pointer. Every season was the same story: "Houston's healthy this year and primed to challenge for the crown out West"..something along those lines...and every year the same result; a timely injury led to a first-round exit. You still busted your ass, put up the usual stellar numbers and made the requisite All-Star appearances. You were living the Dream, but still chasing it at the same time.

More than a decade into your much celebrated career, you've s till done very little of the celebrating you really care about deep down inside. You've been a perennial playoff doormat through the better years of an injury-plagued career whose window may be closing. But like I said, it's been rough, I get it. You've played hurt, drowned in the shallowness of your surroundings and always gone down swinging. You've been a phenomenal player, which is why I'm asking you, for your sake, to wake the fuck up. You're currently surrounded by what's far and away the most talented team you've played on; the most legitimate backup to the Rockets' preseason ambition. Your response has been to regress; sliding on and off the inactive list while putting up numbers you did in Raptors threads and hitting 38% from the field. You've been taking questionable shots and have your fellow stars putting you on blast. Your team's stuck in the middle of the Conference, exactly where you've grown disturbingly comfortable. If ever a chance to conquer your past was staring you in the face, it's right now, but instead you're acting like you're still as ready to lead a winner as you were when you left Toronto.

So get it together man, take care of your ailing body and get on the same page as the rest of your team. As you (allegedly) return healthy to the Rockets' lineup again, make the most of it. Your brilliance aside, your career's been marked by disappointment and regret. Which isn't what the Dream's all about.