At the 15:15 mark of the podcast they start to discuss about trading McGrady. Bill Simmons thinks the Rockets will move McGrady. Both Ric Bucher and Marc Stein disagree saying the Rockets won't break up this team up or make a major move in mid-season. They eventually go on to this: http://podloc.andomedia.com/dloadTr...gin/mp3/espnradio/sportsguy/simmons090107.mp3 7 January I wonder how relevant that is to the current drama surrounding the team?
You've got it all backwards. National perception of the Rockets is on avg. 0.7-1 years lagging behind the actual nature of the team. They have nothing new to tell us. None of those three pays any real attention to the Rockets, and any one of us could tell you more about what is going on in that clubhouse than they could.
Umm, it's Ric Bucher. He loves Yao and hates McGrady. I wouldn't have expected anything less from him. I'll give him points for consistency though. Honestly, putting work ethic aside, at this point Yao is no more a winner than McGrady. I'm sick of McGrady moping around, but I'm equally sick of hearing Yao say, "I've got to do better," whenever he comes up short. That said, I still believe that McGrady will come around and Yao will be a true monster in the playoffs this year.
Bucher's claim is allegedly coming from Rockets players. When he authored Yao's biography you'd have to think he's established relationships/sources within the Rockets organization while researching that.
But that WAS the point he was making. He was saying you can't lead with a crummy work ethic, and Yao shouldn't be lumped with McGrady (and Artest?) in that regard.
McGrady is considered a loser primarily because he can't get out of the first round. It's silly to think that McGrady has no work ethic--you can't turn into the player he became without working on it. Nobody in the NBA has a work ethic like Yao, and that's commendable, but again, Yao is no more a winner at this point than McGrady. I don't think either guy has a loser mentality, otherwise I wouldn't cheer for them.
Ron Artest doesn't get nearly the flack McGrady does with his in and out of the lineup situation. There are a lot of things I don't like about McGrady but I think he gets killed for the same intentions Artest exhibits. Another thing, I don't remember where I heard it but it was mentioned that Ron Artest shows up at times 45 minutes before a game and that the coaches have had to had to scratch whole game plans right before a game because of those two showing up on game day and only then notifying them that they weren't going to play. I agree with JVG .. you could make an argument that we overachieved. Anyway, none of our star players are perfect and they all don't always react the right way. Edit: The podcast had some pretty good discussion.
What? Isn't Artest one of the most competitive and hardest working guys in the league? Since when people started calling him a loser?
Re-read it. Bucher mentions Artest's failings but all the loser talk is reserved for McGrady. I think the main issue with Artest now is that he tends to throw coach's offense out the window by trying to play 1 vs 5 on offense at times. In doing so he's not showing his teammates trust.
But McGrady's work ethic is only as strong as the a$$-kicking he's getting. I did some reading up on him to confirm---he's always been lazy, lazy, lazy, and only works as hard as the coach who's kicking his butt to perform. As we know, this isn't Adelman's style, nor should it be. A player with that kind of talent and money shouldn't have such a loser mentality, but Tracy McGrady does. "Well, I want to coast this year, I'll use the surgery as an excuse, I'm so tired of basketball," is written all over him.
I think he has a lazy demeanor, and it's clear he is only mildly interested in the regular season, even JVG mentioned that last year. But JVG never kicked TMac's ass and he played well under him. If anything most people would accuse JVG of coddling TMac. If you'll forgive the animal analogy: To me, TMac is like a thoroughbred, he's tempermental and moody, but can be stunning with lots of TLC and a bit of careful discipline. But he doesn't give a damn what you think and he's aggravating as hell. Yao is like Clydesdale. He'll never stop working, but he's not flashy. He just wants to get the job done. Ron, well, Ron is like a horse with rabies (can they even get rabies?). Scary.
I try to avoid piling on...but you could also say he's like a diva: he's a hell of a performer, but if the slightest thing irks him he's off the stage.
I've defended Tracy in the past but its to the point where his act is wearing then. Its becoming painfully obvious we are a better team without him this year. Its simply because we have a better chane to win with Wafer busting it than with McGrady on the court half assing it through the game. The games in the last week were great examples with the rockets getting smashed in Toronto with shemac and then playing their hearts out in Atlanta. The same thing happened this week, they play like crap with McGrady in Philly then play their hearts out and pull out a win vs Boston. If this is how the season is going to be played out he needs to go asap.
Throwing Artest in there is unfounded. He's only missed games with a legit injury that the staff recognizes and plays with intensity every time. T-Mac is cleared to play but decides on his own when he feels up to it. And when he does play, he's not going all out.
Ric Bucher is right in my view. I mean I was so hype for the season to start and Tmac poke a hole in my hype bag and let all the air out.
The biggest thing to me is that if he was producing I wouldn't care(nor would probably anyone else) about his lackluster play so far this year.
