Tracy McGrady makes Hall of Fame on April Fool's Day (Rudy snubbed again)

I honestly feel, and I think I speak for the majority on this board, that you are not as true a Rockets fan as you lead others to believe. I think you are what we call a selective fan. You will always have an asterisk next to that bc your hatred of Tracy McGrady is beyond normal. This is not news. Everyone who has spent any time on this board knows it. You're no longer known as a 99er. What most people know you as is a Tracy McGrady Hater. And now, you're trying this obvious backflip in providing a modicum of praise for him.

This is what happens when you have a monomaniacal dislike of a player that makes little to no sense. No one questions anyone's hatred of Scottie Pippen. Many question and mock yours. You used to be known as one of the best Rockets fans on this board. You lost that a long time ago, which is sad. Roger Chillingworth would be proud.

 

Is Clutch a hater too?

Failure is failure

http://www.clutchfans.net/news/1545/the_day_t-mac_lost_houston/

The Day T-Mac Lost The City of Houston

After debacle in Toronto, Rockets star is going to have to win back Houston fans



MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2009 12:34 PM CST

By Clutch
Copyright 2009 ClutchFans.net

Tracy McGrady had diehard Rockets fans at "hello" when the team acquired him from the Orlando Magic in 2004, and by the summer of 2005 he could have run for public office in the city and won by a landslide.
The 6-foot-8 wing was loaded with natural scoring talent, but his high basketball IQ and innate passing ability brought together a ragtag group of teammates and won over the masses in the city.

13 points in 33 seconds. "The Dunk" over Shawn Bradley. We're talking true Superstarville. Bringing the entire package at just 25 years old and gracing the court alongside Yao Ming, McGrady looked poised to deliver on the "big things" he promised in Houston.

So how exactly, in the span of a Presidential term, have things gone so horribly wrong for McGrady in Houston?

After the Rockets 40-point loss in Dallas in Game 7 in 2005, McGrady said, “I’m 25 years old and I’ve got a lot more years in this league, and I will be back next year. I will be back next year.”

I believed him. We believed him. Only, he wasn’t back the next year. While McGrady sat out some games with a legitimate back injury, the 2005-06 lottery season saw him miss many others for mysterious reasons.

McGrady returned strong the next season and played very well for much of the first half of 2007-08, but he still managed to feed his critics by how he responded when there was an uphill battle to climb. There was that game against Golden State. There was that game in Philadelphia. There were several games he just decided not to play in the final hour. While naysayers mocked McGrady’s "It's On Me" declaration (followed by "It Wasn't Really On Me"), this was something far more concerning. There was a growing sentiment that McGrady, while gloriously talented, was not the guy you wanted next to you in the foxhole if things started to go south.

Yet, while this voice of frustration was starting to build in the city towards McGrady, his rare talent and critical importance to the team drowned it out. He still had the support of the majority of the fans.

Then Toronto happened.


January 2, 2009. The Rockets are in Toronto to face the Raptors. The team and McGrady had just established that T-Mac would only play one game of back-to-backs, and with Atlanta to follow the next night, Toronto was chosen as the game T-Mac would play.

Or so we thought. T-Mac was badly off, shooting 2-9 from the floor to go with a pair of assists and turnovers. His body language was bad. With the game slipping in the third quarter, it went from bad to downright terrible.

The Rockets were down 17 and had the ball with 1:30 left in the quarter. Carl Landry gets the ball in the post, turns to score and hits a wall of two defenders in his grill. Why does he have two guys on him? Because there’s a Rocket player not in the play… not even in a panned camera view.

McGrady is standing a few feet from the halfcourt line.

Landry tries to pass to the only open guy by throwing a risky 30-foot laser. Like a safety, Raptors forward Jamario Moon swoops in to intercept and is taking it to the house. McGrady, because he was out of the play to begin with, has a good 5+ feet on Moon almost the entire way back down, but as they get to the basket, T-Mac plays the matador, letting Moon go right by him for an easy dunk.

The next play was much more damning.

Rafer Alston, Ron Artest, Luis Scola and Landry are all running a play. They’re all hustling. They’re all trying to make something happen. However, it takes five, baby.

McGrady is not in the play. Again. He’s standing just inside the halfcourt line. Again. When Scola gets an offensive rebound, he gets the ball back up top to McGrady, who has no interest, playing hot potato with it immediately.

By now it was evident. This wasn’t an injury. This was showing apathy. This was pouting. This was quitting.

McGrady confessed after the game he was a "little frustrated", but his source wasn’t an injury -- "It's kind of hard to get in the groove when you're only touching the ball once every five minutes," said McGrady.

And there you go. The effort qualified as both the straw that broke the camel's back for many Houston fans and the smoking gun for his critics.

From there, McGrady and the team went in opposite directions.

T-Mac took two weeks off to get in shape, proclaimed that he was now back to his normal self, then two weeks later announced on his own through ESPN, without so much as a Post-It note to the Rockets organization, that he was shutting it down to undergo microfracture surgery. When McGrady did show up at the arena, he was booed regularly by the Houston faithful.

Meanwhile, the team won 22 of their final 30 games, broke the first round playoff curse, pushed the eventual champions to 7 games and endeared themselves to the city by establishing an identity as a fearless, hard-working squad that never surrenders.

Now, just 6 months later, this same franchise is supposed to trumpet the return of the anti-Cal Ripken, the embodiment of apathy, excess and entitlement, as their offensive leader -- a forced marriage that now seems a painfully awkward fit.

This shouldn't be about hate, love, payback, insurance or rehab. It's also not about his talent, which isn't in question. It's about being confronted with the reality of what last season confirmed. It's about having a clear knowledge now that McGrady is not a guy you can count on. We know this now – we’ve put it to the test.

I've been a diehard Rockets fan for as long as I can remember, and I've often said I would EBay my soul for a few extra 'W's. As fate would have it, that's exactly what it would feel like I'd be doing by welcoming back McGrady with open arms and pretending the Toronto game just never happened.

 

That's actually an apt comparison. Another self-centered me-player that has been incredibly short in terms of team success.

What is Melo's playoff record?

One somewhat saving grace for Melo is that he led his team to a NCAA championship while at Syracuse, but in the pros this guy is the definition of a selfish loser.

 

Clutch is not obsessed with his hatred of McGrady. Clutch has praised McGrady plenty of times, and he has criticized him like we all have.

You just don't understand your obsessiveness on this. Even now, you can't stop making other threads that are really about slamming McGrady. It is not just a typical "disappointed in McGrady"- it is a fanaticism with you, and you won't admit it, so there's no arguing with you.

 

Great post
From one of the best real rockets fan here

 

I'm happy Tracy is enjoying his hall of fame induction and his teaming up with fellow analyst Scottie Pippen on ESPN

 

What are a lot of Rockets fans? Give a clear definition please.

Are the folks that frequent this board a lot or the majority of Rockets fans?

What about the lurkers, posters that never post, and above all fans that never have come to this board and are still Rockets fans?

You can only speak for people that regularly post here and about 50%-60% do still hold a grudge, maybe more, maybe 'a lot' less. And those who have 'forgiven' him.

Overall including the ones that never frequent CF it might not be A LOT.

 

So any signs he is holding on to his grudge or has he had a change of heart?

That article is from 09 and we write 2017.

Disappointment was warranted at that time. No problem understanding it.

Yet we are talking about a career here not a couple of games when he wasn't himself and decided to ease up.

 

To take it further, Vernon has apologized for what he did on several occasions and owned up to it. Publicly.

Has McGrady ever owned up to his quitting and his antics? I have missed it if he has.

 

Vernon had the guilt build up in him, he avoided Houston for many years.
The guilt showed that he actually cared about the way he left Houston, because he loved the city and his teammates and the fans.

Tmac? He's always talking about what if he never left Toronto etc.
http://www.slamonline.com/nba/tracy...d-have-stayed-in-toronto/#I6XTIxyGJPzWUtgZ.97

Tracy McGrady Says He Should Have Stayed in Toronto


September 14, 2013

88 Comments

By SLAM Staff


retired and reflecting openly on his career, T-Mac says he regrets his decision to take his talents to Orlando in 2000. Per the Toronto Star: “More than 13 years later, in the days since he announced his retirement from the NBA last month at age 34, McGrady has been looking back fondly on his time in the NBA’s Canadian outpost. ‘In hindsight, looking back, obviously I wish I had stayed in Toronto,’ McGrady was saying in a recent telephone interview from his home in the Houston area. ‘There’s no doubt we could have contended for a championship. I think about that often. But if ‘if’ was a fifth, you know?'”


Read more at http://www.slamonline.com/nba/tracy...d-have-stayed-in-toronto/#UWT1Tt7mbWK0of0o.99

 

This means a lot coming from Francis, who is always high.

 

So did Harden have to apologize for every Turnover, for every defensive play in the past he missed?

So do you feel like your kindergarten antics have warranted apologies?

I guess not. That is what I thought.

 

He should get in. Does not mean Tmac should not be in. That is not mutually exclusive.

 

Harden has already taken the Rockets past the first round and into WCF and he has plenty of years ahead of him.

Like I said, Carmelo Anthony is a better comparison to McGrady's failures.

If Harden was a fail like McGrady had been, and more importantly if he had carried on with the drama, selfishness, petulance. he would have come under same criticism. You seem to forget the heat that Harden took from his fans for last year.

BTW, I like how you brought up kindergarten antics in a McGrady discussion. I agree. He truly was a pampered brat. I wish Gundy had been tougher with him. Adelman was, and he couldn't take the heat. Mentally weak.

 

Of course Rudy should get in. As should McGrady for the reasons I have stated previously.

 

See, if you want people to apologize to you on a regular basis, you would live in Canada. Americans do not tend to apologize as often.

Tmac is more likely to say sorry to the Raptors because that is a Canadian thing to do.

It would be good if he apologized elsewhere too but it is not an obligation. Most of the time he played his best.

Carmelo also did make the WCF with Denver if you forgot. Carmelo was the better 3pt shooter but not a creative passer, facilitator.

 

Thank you for a lesson in American culture. LOL!

Wow. Even Carmelo has McGrady beat.



tsk tsk

 

Harden came here when he was 23 you forgot. McGrady was already 25 when he was traded here.

 

So Harden was able to accomplish what McGrady never has at such a young age!

Kudos to Harden then!

I agree with you. Harden is better.