Bout time we get an article on T-mac

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4022603.html
T-Mac back, pain free so far


By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

SUGAR LAND - Tracy McGrady made his way from his state-of-the-art weight room to his cathedral of a gym, where his new signature basketball shoes had been waiting unattended and unneeded for several months.
He had finished 40 minutes in the weight room. This was the fourth day — with exercises for his shoulders and biceps — in a five-day training rotation. But McGrady had been in the weight room for more than a month. This would be different. This would be special.

Switching from running shoes to high tops didn't make him nervous. He was far more excited, curious and determined for a summer day running basketball drills on the court just off his home kitchen.

For the first time since his season ended due to a back injury in March, McGrady was back on the court Monday, sprinting into 3-pointers and running through curls and step-back jumpers.

After 45 minutes darting around his parquet floor, he was breathing hard but smiling as if he had just dropped 13 points in 35 seconds for the Rockets against the Spurs.

"This is a great feeling," McGrady said. "I've been off for three or four months. Just to be back on the court knowing my back is not giving me any problems on the first day I actually worked out — that gives me confidence to know I'm back."


More drills in August
McGrady's started offseason lifting in June and moved to lifting and basketball drills in July.

He will go through lifting, drills and track conditioning beginning in August. He began running on a treadmill last month and has been getting treatments for the back for months.

Usually after the first day of shooting, McGrady said, the back is sore and stiff. But on Monday, he was pain free.

"It just feels good," he said. "I can't believe I'm back on the court. Usually when I first get started working out, my back tightens up. My body tries to adjust to the pounding.

"I don't feel anything. The only thing is I was fatigued, so I'm way ahead of schedule. This will probably be my best summer yet.

"I'm motivated. I realize you have to fall sometimes. It's how you pick yourself up. I had a down season last year. But I'm going to bounce back."

To make sure he was motivated, McGrady immersed himself in the playoffs. When that was not enough, he studied tapes of the 2005 playoff series between the Rockets and Mavericks.

All the while, he was barred from taking the court that just was a few feet from his television.

If that were not enough, he has kept a collection of doubts about him. McGrady once hung a poster of criticisms in the weight room near his All-Star uniform and the autographed uniforms given to him by Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jordan.

"I was just watching the playoffs and knowing that's where I want to be," McGrady said. "With all the negative things that were said about me and the team — that I'm finished because everybody thinks my body is going to be a problem — I just had a bad year last season. It was due to injury.

"To have people writing me off like my career is pretty much over, that motivates me. I'm back, and I'm busting my (butt) every day. I can't wait to get back in that uniform and get back on the court because it's going to be a hell of a season."


Problems started early
McGrady's season went wrong beginning with the first regular-season practice when he left the Toyota Center practice court in agony with back spasms. He had another flare-up in front of a stunned home crowd that heard McGrady shout in pain Jan. 8.

His injury on March 3 was not a spasm because of his bulging disk. Rather, it came the fall he took that night.

The idea this year is to shore up his muscles.

"We've kept his back and abs strong," said McGrady's strength coach, Wayne Hall. "Every year, they get his back checked, and it hasn't gotten worse and actually has gotten better. The scar tissue has dissipated. The doctors always say with the back condition he has, it's supposed to progressively get worse. It hasn't.

"The Vax-D treatment (a decompression back treatment) gave him relief. We feel the problems are over. Last year was a rough year. It's not going to happen again."

By the end of this month, McGrady will follow his 40 minutes in the weight room with 75 minutes on the court. In August and September, he will add 75 minutes on the track.

He said the same program last season put him in the best shape of his life. But that only made his frustration much more painful.

"It was very disappointing, because I knew how hard I worked, and I knew it was going to be a great season because it was my best preseason ever," said McGrady, who played in just 47 games last season. "I was efficient. I was strong. For it to go down right after the first game was very frustrating. I wasn't right ever since.

"I went through a lot last season, not just the back but personal things. It was a brutal season, man. I was frustrated and discouraged the whole season. Now, I'm more motivated than I've ever been. That's in the past. I'm looking forward to October and coming back even stronger."


Impressed with Yao
McGrady said Yao Ming's growth was impressive, so it was "good that I went out." He said the addition of Shane Battier will be "a smart move." He said he planned to add his voice to the recruiting efforts to bring back Mike James.

But for now, he was just happy to be sprinting between 3-pointers, with each rainbow pointing to his road back.

"He pushes it to the limit," childhood friend and workout partner Ira Seright said. "It was hard to get back into it. (McGrady) is going to take it easy, but it's still hard even when he's taking it easy. I'm stronger than he is. In the weight room, I don't think he can mess with me. But when we're on the court, he's king, and this is his kingdom."

jonathan.feigen@chron.com