I think a few people were on to it awhile ago that Tracy was slow playing the public on his health and wanting to reap the benefit of an early recovery. Maybe he has just made record progress, but I doubt it. However, it seems with the more recent articles, that he may very well try to be ready for the regular season opener, or at least ready to come off the bench and work his way in shape. I don't see him being this verbose at this point, and not being back before late november at the latest. All this makes me think about how this affects DM's strategy. 1) If he planned for an early recovery all along, then I would have to think he would have kept Ron. There was a point before we knew Ariza would play here that we could have probably locked up Ron and we offered basically nothing. Even if Tmac and Ron had personality conflict, with Yao out there would have been touches galore. 2) If he was expecting to get rid of Tracy before this then obviously he found nothing of value out there.? Or was it that he found no value that did not rob him of his flexibility next year? I guess the conclusion is that his albatross contract (while valuable) holds little value until way closer to February. 3) If he was expecting Tracy to recover in Late Dec/Jan/Feb then play a few weeks and deal him (minimizing his total effect on our season while he does play) Then he has a whole new problem. I think he will end up letting Tracy play as early as possible (at this point he is probably rooting for an opening day return) just so he can show the league to what level of play he has returned. Probably taking the best offer he can get. It is a heavy risk to let him play up to the deadline. If Morey was ok to just take the capspace he would have to view McGradys placing early (or whenever) as a positive on the team. We have gone on record as saying this is a year of lowered expectations. That we want to develop our offense, chemistry and young assets. Thats fine, with the hand we have been dealt, its probably smart. But you have to wonder about the damage Tracy could do to all of that by playing. Its going to be about him, his comeback, him showing everyone and getting the last laugh. We need it to be about the team, our young guys, our offense and defense. If Morey thinks that Tracy can take this group and compete in the West than so be it, but I don't think Tracy playing with us for a lengthy time fits what we really want to do. I think the moment he steps on the court, is the moment we ramp up our efforts to get rid of him.
Ahhh, that sinister McGrady. Gaming us and manipulating our minds this whole time. I heard he even consulted with the Freemasons so that he could determine the correct geometrical and solar alignment for broadcasting his comeback announcements.
so another thread with MORE speculation about mcgrady and the team's intentions. hopefully the damn season starts soon so we can get some damn facts. it's like gossip up in here.
With McGrady's past history of injuries and letdowns, many teams will be hesitant to trade for him. I highly doubt that the Rockets can receive anything of equal value. Les said it himself(When Tracy was at his most worthless stage) that he didn't want to get rid of McGrady because of how hard it is to come across a superstar. If Tracy comes back and delivers even 85% of what he used to, I don't see the problem of keeping him. Offer him a smaller contract, and if he refuses, then okay... let him go. Cap room or Retain a superstar at a lower price. Win-win situation. McGrady can truly be a championship asset with the potential group we have now. He's a keeper.
People need to lay off McGrady. Yes, he's been a disappointment for the past year or two, but all indications are he's working hard to get back on the court sooner than later. It's a new season, so we should be wishing nothing but the best for the guy we're looking to lead this team to a successful year this season.
this is the most pathetic blog to date. So what t-mac has trained and is ahead of schedule so it must be a conspiracy?
ROFL, you are a fool. On offense, Tracy has consistently been an unselfish player who makes his teammates better. In the not so distant past when there were talks of swapping him for Kobe, people here overwhelmingly wanted to keep him because he was the much better passer and team player.
I'll put on my flamesuit and go against the grain as well. These are the risks I see of McGrady making any kind of comeback: 1. He isn't good enough, even if he maximizes his recovery, to lead us to a championship. In a best case scenario, he would lead us to mediocrity or being slightly above average, in which case, we would likely just end up with a worse draft pick next year, reducing our chances (no matter how slim they may be) of finding our next franchise player. 2. He'll hinder the implementation of a more Adelman-like, ball-moving, read-and-react type offense. As gifted as McGrady is as an individual player, he is NOT an Adelman type player. Even if he maximizes his recovery, he won't be cutting off the ball the way this type of offense ideally demands and he'll still need the ball in his hands to feel comfortable on the court. No matter how willing he is to change, I think we are going way, way overboard if we expect a fragile body to not only recover from microfracture surgery this quickly but also to change the very nature of his style of play. With Yao out this season, it's the perfect opportunity to develop our younger players in a more up-tempo, movement-based, Adelman offense. Even if we only win 25 games, at least we would be taking steps toward implementing the system for the future while also improving our draft position.
At this point any help would be a welcome sight. His presence shall/will at least boost the chances of the team for a higher seed in the playoffs. Keep the faith!
T-Mac CAN be an Adelman-type of player. Remember the Sacramento days? the team got no defense at all, they thrive on D. Christie's lock down on guards and C. Webb's rebounding. Even the bench did not produce good defensive numbers because they are mostly energy guys. If T-Mac can go back to his 3-point shooting form, then he will be the team's BEST option in the perimeter like Peja. If he will play the team concept, which this time he really has to, then he can play catch-and-shoot and let Brooks and Ariza do the penetrating and running the break. T-Mac will be a contributor, taking off pressure on Brooks and Scola to create shots during crunch time, And I really doesn't see T-Mac getting more isolation plays this time because he now has good finishers around him. He got a great talent on seeing cutters and creating space for others. Let him do those things and the team will be playoff bound. As far as I'm concerned, the only problem lingering on T-Mac is how much of a role he is willing to take for the team. He still got that "ego", an unfinished business that might turn him to the same selfish player that he was. But if He and Adelman is still on the same page, then I just hope that this time Adelman will be the one in charge and not T-Mac. Let's give this final season to T-Mac and let him exit the team as an All-Star once again who have finally gone out of the 1st round playoff slump. In times of crisis we need all that we can get, and if it will come from a healthy T-Mac? then so be it! Rockets 4 life! Red Nation! We R Rockets!
He's a narcissistic locker room cancer and there are plenty of noted examples to prove it. The Rockets will absolutely not re-sign him, under any circumstances, and he'll be traded at the deadline. His new team will bring him off the bench (and Tracy will chatter endlessly about not caring, cause all he wants to do is win). After the season ends, he'll be one of the last players to sign with a new team, and GARM will have roughly two or three news threads a day suggesting we offer him a contract. Eventually, he'll decide to sign in Europe, with a buyout clause, which will lead to approximately 40-50 discussions every Summer about whether we should try to bring him back.
I think the only possible benefit of T-Mac returning is if we can land a nice player through trade. Because continuing the aging, injury-prone T-Mac/Yao duo only makes a worthwhile gamble if we have significant talent(at least all-star caliber) added to the mix. In that case, an 80% T-Mac plus Illgaskus+ v2.0 Yao could work for another 2-3 years. Otherwise, like you said, T-Mac is only going to make this bad Rockets team into a mediocre Rockets team, while offering nothing beyond next year.
That'll happen in your dreams. He may be narcissistic but he aint gotten to the cancer status right now. Every time he got frustrated, he used to take it on himself. Last year and the final year with Orlando he made the mistake to comment about other role players. IMO that is not a good habit and I hope he'll stop that. Other than that, he was a serviceable locker room guy, not a vocal leader though. At this point I don't see him signing in Europe. Dude does not love bball like Jordan or is obsessed as Kobe. He'll just hang up his shoes and call it a day. Eventually he'll start playing baseball.
if ron and tmac had beef, there would be no point in keeping ron, even with Yao out. It looks like it wasnt just on court stuff, but probably some personal beef they had, touches won't fix that. And to maximizie tmac's talents u need him touching the ball some to pass and create, ron would take that away every play with his need to control the ball, yao or no yao... and i think Morey was hesitant to deal tmac because he knew all this that we know now....that tmac wasfinally working out like he should have, that grover was going to get him "fixed" and rehabbed correctly....it would have been stupid for morey to pass on knowing how tmac would come back just to get rid of him....i think its very likely tmac doesn come back to kill opponents, and then you got a very nice trade piece or you got a player you can go after and re-sign for the max
I disagree. He's never been given the opportunity to be one. He's always had to carry the scoring load on every team he's been on, and hasn't been allowed to be a distributor as he wants. I believe he's been quoted as saying he prefers to distribute than score. We know he has great vision and passes great, so I don't see how he wouldn't fit into the new offense we'll have this season. I don't think he'll get to play as much if he doesn't, either.
