Comparing/Contrasting the offense with and without T-Mac

It's hard to say. We have only really started to look good in the last few games as far as running the offense for the whole game. There have been plenty of games where our offense looked horrible while Tracy was on the bench resting, so it isn't simply a Tracy playing or Tracy not playing thing. Also our rotation has significantly morphed from the start of the season. Players like james and francis have gone from major minutes, to completely out of the rotation. Our schedule also was the toughest in the league opening up and the entire team has had time to learn the offense which presumably they get more familiar with each game.

I agree that it is silly for anyone to say we are better off just getting rid of Tmac, but if the right trade offer came along we might be better off with who ever we got back in that trade.

 

Basically bottom line is that tmac and Yao do not fit together. To maximise their abilities you have to build a team around them. unfortunately the best team to build around them is completely different.

Yao needs cutters and shooters, look at san antonio for a team that is built around a player like yao.

Tracy on the other hand needs rebounders/garbage man/defenders. Look at the iverson sixers that went to the finals and the knicks built around houston and sprewell as a guide to the team Tmac needs around him.

They need completely different teams around them to make them most effective.

The comparison to draw is dallas with nash and nowitzki, since they seperated, they have both become much better players than they were together because their teams basically built the team around their strengths.

 

if that really was the offer on the table, i'd take that in a heartbeat.

and you almost never get equal value in return when you trade a superstar, historically. so that is not a consideration. the real question is - are we ready to shop him? based on what i've read, the answer is (unfortunately) a nay.

 

We need T-Mac plain and simple. You know you have problems scoring when Rafer Alston of all people scored the most points in the game.

 

The thing is that right now, w/o Tracy, we have about 20 million wasting away on the bench. Even if he returns, he is just one man and one man is easy to gameplan for. If we could turn that 20 mil into someone like Mike miller and a few other high profile complementary role players (think ben gordon, deng, joe smith, jason richardson, hinrich, and etc), then Im certain that our team would be better than it is w/ Tmac.

 

We need Tmac...the team is much better with him than without him.

Especially if he buys into this team ball concept.

DD

 

Seriously... the guy is coming off a year where he was perhaps our best playmaker (and probably second to Steve Nash, in terms of finding the open man)... and you guys think he doesn't buy into the team concept?

T-mac gets double almost every possesion... almost every possesion, he finds the open man... and on this team, that's not anywhere close to being a guaranteed bucket (unless its Battier in the corner).

Game 5 against Utah was not that long ago... the one we had no chance of winning if T-mac wasn't the one getting the ball to the guys where they needed it.

Not to mention that he's still the only player we have that can get his own shot whenever he wants it, the only player that you can't design a defense to shut down, and the only player that can probably play every position on the floor and not lose all that much in the process.

Has he been frustrated this year? Yes. Does he have reason to be because the team is nowhere near where the lesser talented last year's team was? Yes. Has Yao been frustrated this year? Yes. Has Yao regressed in his overall low-post game? Yes. Has T-mac regressed in his overall game due to the transition? Yes. Has the Rockets offense regressed in terms of a cohesive unit? Yes. Has the defense regressed? Yes (and most certainly won't be coming back on a consistent basis).

Talent? No... this team doesn't have all that much talent. It has a bunch of role players, one good player (Yao) and one injured playmaker (T-mac). That's it... and compared to other contenders... or even compared to Golden State... its not enough.

 

Good post. I think one thing you halfway mention but kind of leave behind at the end is how the other players step up when McGrady is out. I think they also could step up with McGrady on the court, like in 04-05. But somehow Tracy seems to have dampened the mood since that first season. He dominates the team, but not with the aggressive play of a Nash or Kobe. Those guys make their teammates step up with their own enthusiasm. This team, in contrast, almost seems liberated from McGrady when he is out.

I agree that if McGrady can come back and mesh into this newer style and not dampen the play of others, the Rockets will be dangerous. But we can't go back to the days of McGrady iso half court.

 

wtf are you talking about man ? of course guys are going to step up with mcgrady out, they have no choice, they get more minutes and touches so its only natural their numbers would go up. none of the guys we have now were even on the team in 04-05. was mcgrady "dampening the mood" last year when the rockets were one of the top 3 point shooting teams in the league ?
it is not mcgrady's fault the guys havent stepped up this year and really dont see how he is getting the blame for this. nash and kobe dont make players step up, their players are just more talented and consistent than ours. that is pretty much the bottomline. people keep talking about "heart" and "intensity" and all that BS, but its really all about consistency. i dont see tim duncan playing with very much intensity, but the guy sure is consistent, as are most of his teammates, which is why they are one of the top teams every year.

 

It is much different to find an open guy when double teamed with the ball in yoru hands than moving without the ball and creating an open target for your teamates.

From what I have seen this year the team struggles when Tmac is dominating the ball, by buying into the system, I want to see him move wthout the ball and have the ball END up in his hands rather than start there.

It is much more of an "everyone" touches it system than a Tmac dominates it.....

That is what I am talking about...and it is the same thing Magic Johnson was referencing.

DD

 

WTF I am talking about is: T-Mac doesn't play hard.

 

If you mean "with and without T-Mac on the payroll" that's one thing. If you mean "with and without T-Mac starting and finishing games" that's something else.

T-Mac has played in 211/271 games as a Rocket (78%). So your analysis of "Rox with T-Mac" does not apply to 22% of Rockets games. Don't subtract 22% off his salary, mind you. Just remember that talking about "Rox with T-Mac" ignores 22% of the games going back to 04-05. I'm not saying T-Mac is a bad person. I'm just saying that he's a player whose injuries limit his impact. (In case you're curious, Yao has played in 85% of games during the same period.)

 

So, Yao has only played in 7% more games than T-mac... while the team performs far worse with just him, than with just T-mac.

Not a great point.

 

I see no reason why t-mac has to be on the court even when he is struggling, if he is not shooting well, bench him, and let the team go into the no-t-mac offense, depending on the flow of the game, if the team starts losing, bring him back in, a different look, a new approach.

 

now lets make a topic comparing/contrasting the offense with and without Yao but with T-Mac

 

this was really dumb to say the man has averaged double figure scorig the last 4 seasons people act like he is ryan bowen and he cant make baskets