His reply... Very simple....when there is a bigger lineup and T-Mac is only the 2nd best player on the team, other teams can afford to put a Derek Fisher or Jason Kidd on T-Mac. T-Mac struggled against both last year, especially Fisher in the playoffs. When RJ went on T-Mac, he did very well. When AK-47 was on T-Mac, T-mac ripped him apart with his driving. But with smaller, quicker player, T-Mac cannot drive around them. And since JVG didn't post T-Mac up a lot, he forced up bad shots against players he should have dominated.
That still has nothing to do with his position, teams gaurd Tmac with whoever they want whether hes a SF or a SG. The Jazz series proved this,Im not disputing that D-Fish had more success gaurding Mac than AK but that had nothing to do with what position Tmac plays. Its like teams say hey Tmac is a SF now, Fisher get off him and let AK gaurd him now. Positions are meaningless, only roles matter.
This is a very well thoughout post. in orlando tracy could just focus on scoring without having to worry to do the playmaking duties as well. hopefully under adelman he will alot more easier shots off the ball. more cutting off the ball.
My two cents....Tmac playing the SF or the SG doesnt change anything in his game. But what does change is if you got Tmac as a SF that means he is playing with a shooting guard(which means you got two SG's on the court because Tmacs game is that of a SG)Thats why I think it is absolutely crucial that Battier looks to become more involved in the offense and not just a mere spot up shooter/role player.If the other team has to worry about the "other SG", that could affect who they decide to put on Tmac. After reading what I wrote I dont know if Im making any sense at all.But I think this a great thread so I threw in my 2 cents anyways As for the friend in the original post, He definetely should join Clutchfans, cuz I agree with everything he said, so he has to be right
The difference btw TMac in Orlando and TMac in Houston has nothing to do with Darrell Armstrong or Rafer Alston. It has alot more to do with the offensive system and personnel. JVG's offense was and is very systematic. It gave very little room for creativity/improv. TMac had a role on the offense, and it was not to post up on the low block. plus, when mcgrady did get the ball 18 ft away from the basket, he didnt get to post up and use a vast array of moves in his arsenal. Instead, he had to run that high pick/roll with Yao or Chuck or whoever and he often settled for that midrange jumper, cuz yao sucks at pick/roll. Also, Orlando did not have a dominant post player. If i can remember correctly, I believe their posts were drew gooden, pat garrity, and tony battie?? Also, i believe tmac played 2 at the time, so it would make sense to put mcgrady on the block to take advantage of the mismatch on a smaller defender.
It was Andrew Declerq for a good 2-3 years there. And a dinosaur Patrick Ewing. I agree with what the topic creator said. But there're some good points by the rest too. Fact is, positions don't matter. Tmac was listed at SG in Orlando, but it's still a wash between him and Mike Miller and Gordan Giricek about who was the SG and who was the SF. Both were shooters and gunners. Same with Shane Battier, he's a shooter too. But the difference lies in that Shane is not a gunner, and in JVG's offense, all Shane did was sit in the corner and wait for the kick-out, which is fine, but it doesn't put any pressure on the defense cause they always know Shane is going to float back there, whereas Giricek and Mike Miller were constantly on the move and relocating, albeit still around the arc. The one thing that I'd like to see Adelman do in that respect would be to use Shane more like how Coach K used him at Duke, run him around off screens and MAKE him look for his shot more, because Shane IS a fine shooter. What's spot on is Tmac's effectiveness on the floor. Even if you roughly make a mental chart of Tmac's makes and misses based on where he is on the floor, it should come as no surprise that most of Tracy's best moves come when he's iso'd on the wing 18-20 feet out on either side. That was the key difference in Doc Rivers' offensive scheme vs JVG's. Both essentially let Tmac freelance and create, but under JVG, about half the time, it was a Tmac-Yao high-screen at the top of the key. This ties in with the misconception that Tmac is a speed demon. This is NOT true. Tmac is fast, but in short bursts. His great first step is what gets him by most defenders, not his overall speed. So I personally believe if you iso him about 18 feet out where he can get to the rim in 1-2 dribbles, he can be much more effective at attacking the basket than if you run a pick-and-roll where he has to take 4 or more dribbles and turn a hard corner to get there. While he's probably one of the premier playmakers off the pick-and-roll, it's just not as effective. Regardless, Adelman runs a more complicated offensive scheme than either Rivers and JVG. But as far as I recall, he never had Peja, who was the Kings' first perimeter threat at that time, iso'd much either. There were more shots off picks and backdoor cuts than anything, so we'll see how that plays out with the Rockets this coming season. It should be fun to watch.
as long as we don't run the pick and roll 1000x a game, tmac will be better. as long as tmac does not start most of his offense at the top of the key, tmac will be better. as long as the team can spread the floor for him, tmac will be better. it's not whether tmac plays off the ball more or not, he's arguably just as good as kobe off the dribble if you iso him where phil jackson isos kobe => the high mid-post. when u put tmac at the high-mid post, he can go baseline (and most defenders give the baseline) or he can go to the middle. when tmac is at the middle of the key, the defense can basically zone on tracy so easily. that's all there is to it. as long as tracy has the spacing necessary to do what he does, he will return to becoming the top 2 offensive player in the league. outside of kobe, NO ONE has the offensive arsenal that tracy has. he, along w/ kobe, is the ONLY one who can get 30 pts w/o going to the line much, if at all. that's how good his perimeter game is. so if tracy averages 24.6 ppg in just 35 mins in one of the most systematic offenses in the league. imagine tracy at around 37-38 mins in the most creative offenses in the league and where he'll play at a much higher efficiency since he'll take shots that he wants. again, i expect tracy to EXPLODE next yr. 30ppg is not out of the question if the other guys spread the floor w/ their shooting.
Do any of you guys think Tracy would of noticed this himself and played the RIGHT way so he could make baskets. I don't think he's just going to tell himself "this is a different system, so I am going to take bad shots and let my FG% go lower".
As i said before, Adelman is gonna put a real emphasis on getting tracy better shots without the ball. we'll see alot more creative offense. so it's not out of the realm of possibility tracy's offensive numbers will go up. people need to understand that wing players have allways had low numbers under gundy. it goes back to the days of allan houston and even spree.
no. look at how kobe played when phil jackson left. then look at how kobe plays when phil jackson returns. look at how mike bibby plays now. look at how bibby played when adelman was there. JVG has a system. it's a systematic system. tmac is more of a facilitator in this offense to get yao the easiest shots as possible along w/ creating for others. it's not for tmac to get his each and everytime. there's a reason THE PICK AND ROLL IS CALLED ALL THE DAMN TIME. u don't think tmac knows he's doubled off of that play every time? u think he wants to be doubled every time? i don't think so. tmac is so good he can play in JVG's system. imagine, he scored 25ppg when he also had to facilitate and do all of that in a system where possessions are limited and our turnover rate is high. so yes, tmac probably wanted to freelance more, but he couldn't. he had to follow JVG, who understood the limitations of the other players.
and allan and spree never faced the defenses tmac has to face and they never had to create for their teammates remotely as much as tracy. and tracy still avg way more than them at their best. tracy is THAT good. i think the best kobe can do in this JVG system is 28ppg b/c kobe is more efficient than tracy is right now.
As a basketball player, you have to play within the system. He was the leader on the team, and if speaks up against the coaches philosophy, it challenges JVG's authority and this would have been detrimental to the team. He plays within the system bc if he does, everyone else on the team will buy into it.
Sorry for a bit of derail, but you couldn't have picked a more confusing moniker. There is a member here, with an incept date of September, 1999, named MadMax, who literally has around 35,000 posts. Before you get more than a couple of dozen, you might ponder that. Just a thought. Adelman says he's going to make the game easier for McGrady. If what the thread starter's friend says is on the level, Adelman will take advantage of it. We'll actually have a bench this year and several more options to both handle the ball and score, besides Rafer. That'll relieve Tracy of a lot of pressure to feel like he has to do everything except Yao's job. Gotta be good for the Rocks.
Statistical point of view, here are the % of jumpshots that accounted for his fg/a and his efficiency scoring on the inside JUMPSHOTS 02-03: 74% (MVP SEASON) 03-04: 80% (LOTTERY SEASON) 04-05: 77% (1st Year in H-Town) 05-06: 80% (Broke Back Year) 06-07: 80% eFG for INSIDE SHOTS/BLK'd% 02-03: .587 / 7% 03-04: .575 / 12% 04-05: .575 / 7% 05-06: .567 / 10% 06-07: .567 / 10% Dunk Rating DUNKFG%/PTS/BLK'd% 02-03: .952/ 2.1Pts / 4% 03-04: .930 /1.6Pts / 12% 04-05: .899 / 1.6Pts / 7% 05-06: .933 / 1.2Pts / 10% 06-07: .939 / 0.9Pts / 3% His 1st season in Houston he made a more concentrated effort to attack the basket and I think its fairly obvious that he cant finish at the rim the way he used to. And while he could stand to attack the rim more I dont think its his biggest problem. I like him shooting jumpers because hes very efficient with it, but if he could just stop shooting those insane 3pters and stick to the midrange area where hes money, he would be much more effective. One thing did hold true though, Tmac looked to score alot more in the paint and shot at a higher rate come playoff time each year hes been in the playoffs.
I agree with all but still I think T-Mac doesn't care about PPG and he's worried about team winning so maybe in top 10 in scoring but behind lonely Kobe no.Arenas,Anthony,LeBron,Wade or even Yao.
it was never about bad point guards last year. all you rafer haters can bash him all you want for any reason but at least you have to accept the fact that rafer is one of the best players in the nba in bringing the ball up the court fast and safe. that's basically his real and probably only strength but you can't deny that. t-mac getting the ball as soon as rafer dribbled past half court has nothing to do with that. neither has it to do with t-mac taking to many jumpers. of course, here and there t-mac could force his shots a little less and improve his shot selection. but this is t-mac we're talking about. he always played this way. it's not about taking fewer jump shots. he did what was the right thing. he knows his body and he knows that he can't take the beating on a consistent basis over 80+ games a year. all i hear is "take it more to the rack, t-mac!" or "stop being a jump shooter, be more aggressive!". that's just nonsense. if he did that from the first game of last season his season would have been over by the all star break. one thing is on t-mac, though: not making jump shots. his jump shot was off from the first game of last season and he never found it again. i don't know what happened. maybe it was because he couldn't practice enough after his injuries the year before. or maybe it was about self confidence. who knows? but the bottom line is that he wasn't making his shots. we all know t-mac and so we know that he could go 2 of 10 in the first half only to come back and score 10 straight points to finish with a solid percentage. this didn't happen too often last year. when t-mac was cold he stayed cold. now t-mac's smart and he realized his problems. so being a superstar he tweaked his game a little and used his second great strength (playmaking) more than usual. he was awesome overall but the bottomline was that the rockets didn't have enough offensively to really be an elite team. so it was never about jvg or adelman or something. it always was about the roster and t-mac himself. the roster was tweaked this offseason. the rockets have a lot more firepower now. but still, it's all about t-mac. has he gotten his shot back? if not, adelman's system will be pretty useless for t-mac (not for the team as a whole). when he can't make his shots and isn't supposed to use his 2nd biggest strength that much anymore, what's left? i hope you don't expect that t-mac will become the nba's top scorer just by taking easier shots within the princeton offense. because it won't happen this way. the most important thing is that t-mac starts making his jump shots again.
DO you really think Tracy was a playmaker because he wanted it? Did you see any of Rockets'a games last season? How can you say that it's not about JVG - IT IS. JVG didn't care about offense he just let Tracy play what he wanted. Tracy had to make plays he had to make game easier for his temmates and he had to score his points too...Don't you think that too much for one player? He shouldn't think about playmakin' he should just get his position and try to score points. Rafer Alston maybe is a good PG (he's very quick and has a great dribbling) but he didn't do his job last year. Rockets got him to have a player who can make game easier for T-Mac and Yao. But Rafer thought he is a shooter and he was just waitin' for open opsitions for 3 which were terrible finished. He didn't even use his quickness... And that's on Rafer and JVG, sorry I agree that T-Mac couldn't find his shoot last season. He is a jump shooter. He can drive it more but the most important thing for him is to get his jump shoots goin'. But it could be cause lat offseason. Tracy was just sittin' and eatin'...He wasn't trainin' cause we all know he wanted to be healthly. Now the situation is completly different, McGrady has his whole offseason to work hard not only on his jump shoots. But I can't agree he couldn't find his shoots whole season. Do you remeber his rythm when Yao was out...? And now I'm sure Tracy will be another, better player next season under coach Adelman. You'll see
None of this changes the fact Tmac has a weak player mentality…. Going into his 11th year in the league…if Tmac dosent know or realize he is doing anything wrong… then he will never get it… Tmac said it himself… he feels old and is ready to retire…the sooner we stop going back to his glory days in Orlando the better… A older Tmac needs to play smarter… he needs to pick and choose when he shoots, and when he passes… but he wont.... he will still jack up those 22 foot off balance shots....with a defender on him... because he needs to get into rhythm ...
Maybe not 30 but a lot more than 24,6. Why? -Cause he's healthly -He won't be a playmaker -He'll play like a scorer (off the ball) -Adelman wanna use him more and more
