TMac and Rafer have the same tendency. When they talk about shortcomings, weakness, things to be desired, or bad games, they always put team first - we did this or that, we should have done this or that. Yao on the other hand, is always a me-first player when it comes to criticism.
So should Yao do that as well? Or is it more admirable of him to say he messed up even on his good nights??
I haven't read entire the thread so I'm sorry if this is repetition. Artest's statement was right on. He knows defense and if anyone can call out the "best" player on a team, Jordan, Kobe, himself in Sacramento, it's Artest. The same can be said about McGrady saying Ron talks too much because T-Mac's an expert at that. In this case I'm glad Artest said what he said.
I also agreed that Artest did the right thing by calling out the guy that is responsible for all the weakness in defense. We all know Artest is not an issue when its comes to defense, and we all know defense plays with team of 5 and not one person. This has been well known to all of us fans what has been going with the Rockets this season. Tmac always talked about team this and team that, and yet we don't see a consistent Tmac on the court. instead of the talking tmac needs to prove us wrong on the court. great callout by Artest!
Wow McGrady said the exact right thing (which was truthful), and he still gets criticism from this board. Ron was wrong for directing a comment at a teammate. McGrady was right in saying, well...all that he did. It does starts with the team, not one guy. The defensive deficiencies for each of our players is such a long list. That's why you have team D. I'm no pro and analyst, but I like to think I'm pretty observational. To me...McGrady's D is a lot less to be concerned about when looking at Artest's D, Yao's D, and our general PnR D. I will agree, McGrady doesn't give all every defensive possession, but he does give effort many possessions. many speak as if he NEVER gives effort on that side of the floor, and that's just wrong. I should also say, I'm not defending McGrady. I'm plenty disappointed in his play this season, but I am basically saying there's no room to point fingers. Almost everyone on the team has played subpar this year. Most of all, those calling others out are the worst of the bunch.
T-Mac was right when he said Artest shouldn't have called him out. The conversation should not have taken place in public. That being said Artest, arguably the best wing defender in the NBA, is qualified to make that judgment call. Yeah, everyone needs to work on defense, its a team game, etc. but he isn't calling out Brent Barry, he's calling out McGrady. This is right before he states that it starts with Jordan, Kobe, himself in Sacramento. Hakeem was the center piece on D, KG the emotional leader of the Celtics elevates that entire teams defense. Lebron learned the importance of D from Kobe in the Olympics. The best player needs to lead on D if he is capable, and T-Mac is more than capable of being a great defender. I understand he's an offensive weapon but this season more than ever he's got help on that side. T-Mac needs to play defense, not be stagnant in the offensive, and make smart decisions with the ball. He can do all of those to an extremely high level and when he isn't it's disappointing. I'm sure Adelman is on him about offense and I have no doubt he'll get there given time. Defense on the other hand is about desire and Artest calling him out is totally legit. It shouldn't have been made public but it's Artest, we're lucky he didn't rap about it.
deficiency and willingness are total different things. tmac doesn't have a deficiency in his D. if you insist he has, the deficiency is in his mind. we really don't know why ron went to public. either ron could be a big mouth or he couldn't get his message through tmac head in the locker room so he chosed to say in public. seriously, on this team, no one including ra, besides ron, is brave enough to get tmac attention.
another possibility could be ron wants the negative attention on tracy instead so it won't be focused on him, his bad play, esp. since he's in his contract year and he's not playing up to his potential.
I got a chance to see maybe 5 minutes of the Twolves game on the NBA TV and I agree with Ron, Shemac is loafing on the court. He was 2 steps away from a long rebound and didn't make an attempt. I like Ron calling him out and others should take the opportunity to do the same. Earn your $21 mln homeboy or keep it moving out of Htown.
I wish McGrady would just shut up. All he ever does is talk about how he's hurting, or how he's trying or how he's "BACK!". Now he's talking about others talking?? jeez
at least he's talking about himself. he's not dissing other teammates. you ever hear tracy dissing rafer in the past for sucking beyond suckage? you ever hear him dissing luther head? or yao for getting destroyed by boozer?
You sure you watched the same game as us did? The big hole was created by Yao Soft Ming. After a short bench time, Yao put himself together finally. Dont blame Tmac for everything, haters.
you are still not getting what difference btw deficiency and willingness are. ppl tried hard and couldn't get job done coz deficiency or weakness. you don't call them out. ppl didn't get job done coz they chosed not to. those ppl need to be called out.
Funny thing is up to this point in every interview T-mac has said Artest was unselfish and wasn't a bad teammate.
