I'm not sure why you keep bringing up Wafer? Wafer is a one-trick pony and a great guy to give you a spark off the bench, but how does resigning him (and Artest) somehow preclude keeping TMac? Wafer can give you 10-15 great minutes at times, but he's never going to be a consistent player, and he has too many other liabilties to be anything more than a good reserve. He's a better version of Luther Head. Artest's efficiency was awful in the post-season was horrible, matched only by his terrible decision-making. As much as I like the toughness he brings, if I had to pick between a reasonably healthy McGrady and Artest, I'd pick McGrady. However, I'd keep both if possible. Let McGrady create shots for Artest and great things can happen.
Wafer had the best starters efficiency at the SG position out of all the players that played there this year. For people to say that he is done or it is all he would ever be is mind boggling. The guy is growing, and is very talented, let's give him some time to see what he can be before we label him. He scored 10ppg in about 18mpg.....that is DANGED good...especially his efficiency.....which was staggering compared to most Rocket wing players. DD
<br> I honestly don't believe that you think Ron Artest was shooting better than McGrady the last 20 games of this season.
<br> His defense was vastly overrated. Shane Battier and Chuck Hayes covered up most of his lapses. You say wafer was, "sent to his room" whilst defending the king of controversy in the post Dennis Rodman NBA era.... <br> At this point Wafer has more upside. Plus, defense really is something that can be taught through hard work and dedication. It seems that Wafer is a big boy and understands that he is finally getting a shot at contributing something and making a name for himself. That should be enough motivation for him to correct some of his flaws. Plus, he already has made great strides this year and he's about 5 years younger than Artest.
When McGrady was "only" dealing with his back, he was able to consistently draw double teams. Yes, he was a volume shooter and not efficient in that respect, his 3 point shooting in particular being of the Maxwell variety... when he was hot, he was smokin', when he wasn't it was literally hit and miss, but he (Tracy) was hot often enough to never be left at the 3 point line, or left anywhere else. The resulting double teams made everyone else more efficient, even if McGrady technically was not. They helped Yao, our other guy drawing double teams, along with everyone else, with opponents left picking their poison. The difference today? Everyone else on the team (excepting Cook, Dorsey) is head and shoulders above the fellows Tracy and Yao had available to make those double teams a high price to pay for the other team. One has to wonder what record we'd have had, and the shooting percentages McGrady might have had, with the current squad, instead of castoffs from the Knicks and various other players close to the end of their careers, outright scrubs, or players dealing with their own chronic injuries. We'll obviously never know what this current team could have accomplished with a reasonably healthy Tracy McGrady but, in my opinion, it would have been a hell of a team. The big question is what McGrady we'll get if he's with the Rockets next season. Personally, I think Morey will move him in a huge deal for ???, unless the offers are just not worth tossing away the cap space we'll get with the end of Tracy's contract. If the latter is the case, we better hope McGrady makes a quick recovery, so he can at least return to the level that still drew the double team, even if it's not close to the superstar he was earlier in his career. If he can do that, we now have the ability to just kill the other team when he's left, and when Yao's left in single coverage. I made my post deliberately ignoring the actions McGrady took after his injury ended his season, actions that pissed off every sane Rockets fan and even large numbers of those who are mad as a hatter. Anyway, that's my take, larded, of course, with lots of speculation on all the unknowns we're having to confront this offseason. It should be one of the most interesting offseasons in many years. Even though I'm very depressed that we didn't advance, I'm proud as hell of this team, who were simply amazing and just wouldn't quit. A bit of tweaking, a healthy Yao, and something really good from a MacGrady deal (again, I think he'll be dealt, despite my speculation), or the return of a reasonably healthy Tracy should make the Rockets a force again. Another season under the belt of our young players is going to have a huge impact. We've got a LOT to look forward to. Great topic, Clutch, as usual, and terrific job keeping this place together during a wild ride and record traffic here at ClutchFans. Kudos!
I agree with your point about Tmac needing the ball to be effective. But he is more than willing to go to Yao and actually get Yao the ball, who is our best player. Sure AB, Scola, and Artest can create their own shots. But the problem is they aren't good enough to do it every night. Scola, I wouldn't say so much so, he's very crafty around the bucket. But Brooks is still way too turnover prone and passes up on wide open shots when he should take it, and Artest settles for way too many contested jumpers. Tmac was quite good at finding Scola and Landry on cuts to the basket in 07-08 season. He's always ran the pick n' roll well with Yao and can get him the ball easily in the post. If you think about it, if the ball is not in Yao's hands, it should be in Tmac's hands more often than not. I'm not saying we should ignore our other options, because Tmac has his off shooting nights, and sometimes teams will over play Yao and Tmac. However, when you have players that good, they need to have the ball in their hands, because they are playmakers. Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Steve Nash, Brandon Roy, Paul Pierce (b4 KG and Ray Allen), Lebron, Dwade, and Kevin Durant are all dominant with the ball on their teams. Kobe was after Shaq left and before Gasol came along, but he works in an offense which utilizes his off the ball ability. Brandon Roy did have the ball a lot in his hands in our series this year. He had to do everything for them as far as creating shots. He only averaged 2.8 assists, where as Tmac has averaged 6-8 assists per game as a Rocket. I'm not taking anything away from Roy, because he had a fabulous shooting series, but he just didn't have enough help outside of Aldridge. I do agree he isn't as good as Kobe, Lebron, Wade, and certainly not MJ. He does have a similar skillset though and a similar level of talent. With that being said, the ball needs to be in the hands of our best creators, Yao and Tmac. Then if needed, Scola, Brooks, Artest etc. My point is, with good perimeter players, they need to have the ball to be effective. Sure Lebron and Dwade are better at cutting to the basket, but the ball is still in their hands 85-90 % of the time when they are in the game. Its still not like teams don't respect Tmac. Teams are still reluctant to front and double team Yao with Tmac in the game, because he can beat a scrambling defense. He can knock down an open 3 (although his % has dropped), and he is a very good rebounder for a guard. He can also finish at the rim.
Yeah, Wafer is good at scoring. Please enlighten me as to what else he's good at. Defense? No Decision-making? No Passing? HELL No Great attitude? No Play-making? No I've NEVER seen a player worth damn get sent to the locker room by his coach in a crucial game. The way Adelman uses Wafer is absolutely right. Guess we should be happy he is efficient though, right?
Thank you!! Somebody finally sees that Wafer was cut by so many teams for a reason. He's a good scorer and he's fearless, I'll give him that. But basketball takes intelligence also. His IQ was beyond horrible...he made Ron Artest look like John Stockton at times in that department. He also got punked by Vujacic of all people, he's mentally weak. He thinks he's somebody, when in fact he's a nobody in the NBA. I would not resign Wafer for more than 2 million per year. Lets not forget, he has a back injury now, which will effect his athleticism. At 6'4-6'5, he needs that athleticism to be an effective scorer. He's a one-dimensional basketball player right now. If he hasn't learned the game after being cut for 4 years, then he may not ever learn.
To be fair, his sole job was to score early and often off the bench. It's not like we actually know his ceiling as a ballplayer at this point, right?
Replacing Rafer definitely helped. He was such a low percentage player when he penetrated, his teardrop floater made me cringe knowing that it was so likely to brick every time. I think your "good argument" needs to look to the Rockets' ability to win minus McGrady over the years. I don't remember the number, but I know it's pretty pitiful. Are this year's Rockets' numbers sustainable over the course of next year, minus TMac? The Rockets don't need an alpha-male for the offense. That said, I think McGrady has the skillset (again, if healthy) to adapt his game to a number of roles. He can be the #1 weapon, as he was in Orlando and here when Yao's been out. He can be our #2, as he has been increasingly in Houston. He's an able and willing passer, a good post entry guy, and he still commands alot more attention from the defense than anyone on our roster not named Yao Ming. It's been said by others besides me, but Wafer isn't someone you count on. He's a terrible defender, doesn't pass, doesn't rebound, he basically just scores the ball. And apparently, he's got an attitude that rubs coach Adelman the wrong way. I don't think his bench production has one iota of effect on what the Rockets choose to do with their offseason. If he's back, great, but he's not someone you build around. I think the Rockets in 2009-10 are a team that needs to find consistant offense. I know you cited percentages, but the fronting defense on Yao looks to be a big problem for the future, especially in a playoff scenario. McGrady helps fix that problem and makes Yao more effective with his entry passes. We also might need to take some of the pressure off of Yao Ming in terms of reduced minutes. And, of course, the big guy remains an injury risk every season. In any situation where Yao isn't in the game, be it rest or injury, we've got to have better scoring options than I saw in Game 7. Unless Aaron Brooks is the real deal and can give us 17 - 20 points per game at a high percentage, you need a creator out there. Artest isn't it (and I love Ron).
Their all-time record without him is only indicative of a team with a $20M hole in the roster and really doesn't matter unless the plan is to waive him.
It's simple. If we even had the T-Mac of last year in the playoffs on this team with Yao out, we'd actually be competitive on the road against the Lakers. No 40 point blowouts. Even a gimpy T-Mac would've improved our road performance. That should tell you something. T-Mac isn't just a luxury. We NEED Tracy McGrady to win it all. I thought Wafer whined to Adelman about playing time with tremendous efficiency.
people continue to overlook the road record. there's a reason our road record is better with tracy (a relatively healthy one) 04-05 - 25-16 05-06 - 19-22 (injuries) 06-07 - 24-17 07-08 - 24-17 08-09 - 20-21 (12-11 with tracy on the road). again, people can look at that stat differently. but what it tells me is we don't know what to do on the road or have a guy who can execute in hostile environment (games 5 and 7 v. the lakers show that also). so if we do trade tracy, getting a playmaker is HUGE/VITAL.
