“I don’t know how he gets back into the line-up?” – Adelman

How do you know it wasn't followed up on? That quote taken alone could mean different things. It could also mean, I don't know how he works back into the line up because he's not playing full practices yet even. It doesn't mean he doesn't want him in the line up eventually.

 

I know it's not just a regular surgery, but micro-fracture surgery, but still remember what he, himself said in his blog a few days ago.

I'm a real big fan of his, so if he says he's ready, i believe him. I just hope he won't dissapoint me, and all the others who believe in him.

 

You guys are worse than insecure high school girls when it comes to reading into what people say. Could it be that Adelman is unsure of how to alter the rotation once McGrady gets back? No, Adelman obviously just hates Tmac and they've had issues for years. Yeah, that's it.

 

Just curious - how does Toronto manage this trade and (a) keep their roster at, or under, 15? and (b) how does Toronto manage this trade and keep their fan base???

 

I'd do Bidriens and Monta for TMc (in a NY minute), but I assume it would have to include SJax and Landry. I still do it - then immediately pass SJax over to Bobcats or Mavs for straight cap relief.

 

This is what makes sense to me. I doubt he meant it to sound like he didnt want him back.

 

And even more that i dont understand why some assumed a healthy aka coming-back-from-injury T-Mac would make sure a 6-8 seed of playoffs, regardless which rox minutes would be replaced and how the team chemistry would be changed. I just have to say his comeback will make more unpredictable, it could be better or worse. I think Adelman and Morey both dont like that if that's not a part of the long term plan

I think everyone is learning except T-Mac (which is so bad, sorry). what did Bush say before? something like fool once.. fool twice...

 

This is exactly my thought. I think you people are reading too much into this. What Rick Adelman probably meant was that he is progressing well with the rehab, but he isn't sure how well that is going to translate into the actual game play.

 

Not really, if He take most of Battier minutes (Who is not one of our future young players) and a few minutes from Kyle at the two (Who is not out future SG) will not stop the development of the other players. While showcasing him to other teams.

 

Let's catch the good news. Reporter said he is 'comming along'

 

Thanks!! Finally some positivity!!

 

(c) how do we trade Scola and then re-sign him?

 

Fixed for you.

I agree with this very much. Obviously AB's confidence grew immensely in the playoffs and it has helped him this year in coming in as the on the floor leader.

Going to the playoffs will only help them gain more confidence going into next year. While we may not contend next year (no one knows) we will have more depth as these players will be better suited to help take more pressure off Yao because they then know "Hey we can do it ourselves".

As for the OP I will take this as a rumor and take it with a grain of salt.

Tracy can help us and yes it will take some deference (sp) on his part. But there are certain times even now where the lineups could use TMac on the floor. When we are relying on Kyle going recklessly to the hole hoping to draw a foul as our sole source of offense.

And as "washed" up as some around here may feel, Tracy will still, at least initially, draw attention to himself and that will open up even more shots for AB and Trevor and Shane and even Luis.

As evidenced by the D that Dallas played where they packed the paint and let us go at it from the outside and our offense just stalled. Tmac can be that calming force on offense and RA is not that oblivious to not know that.

 

Good question. Welcome to fantasy land!

 

Tmac for Kevin Martin and Kenny Thomas(aka Emeka Okafor)...


Morey is certainly busy. Tracy McGrady does not mesh with this style of play...

 

Mmmmmm.......

...this is tasty, zaam.

Mind if I have some?

You know, I remember a lot of the Boston media having some of the same reservations regarding Paul Pierce, when Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were acquired. For years, Paul Pierce was the be-all and end-all for the Celtics. If the team won, it was because Pierce played well. if the team lost, it was because Pierce played terrible. Nobody thought that the team was as bad as it was. Just that Pierce wasn't good enough to win with what he had.

This kind of critique, for a guy who nearly died in a stabbing incident months before in one offseason, and was able to come back and play at a high level and keep a terrible Celtics team afloat, zaam.

Very few players at this level don't want to play with other good players, even if it means that their roles and responsibilities will change, because the chances of winning will increase. If you really want to win, then you do what's necessary in order to achieve that.

For me, it's a lot like picking arbitrary stats (like, saying Allen Iverson's career assist totals are better than Tracy McGrady's, so McGrady must not be a good passer or more selfish than Iverson), which is an obvious attempt to discredit McGrady.

As you've said, zaam, McGrady seems to function better as a team's offensive focal point. Often times (especially over the past few seasons with he Rockets), McGrady has been the trigger of the Rockets' offense. As such, there will be times where (especially in a half-court setting), McGrady's pass won't directly lead to an assist for him because of how the defense is guarding him (usually with double-teams). McGrady would get what's called a "hockey assist" (the-pass-that-leads-to-the-pass-that-gets-the score). No way to chart or track that outside of watching the games, zaam, but I would venture a guess that that happens more often than not with McGrady.

You'd also have to look at a team's offensive pace and tempo (where a faster pace leads to more passes in transition and more fast-break opportunities, hence Aaron Brooks' higher assist numbers this season), but why anybody would factor in the whole team's performance and game strategy into one player's performance is beyond me.....

...but again, it's tough to look at the whole picture with McGrady, because he does such a good job of getting in front of the camera, especially for people who don't need any more reasons to dislike him.

To answer your question about McGrady taking credit for how the team plays when and if he returns, zaam....well, if they could stomach Ron Artest for a season, I'm sure they could weather McGrady's toxic attitude and ball-stopping play and inefficient scoring long enough to cut bait....

All this talk and guesswork about getting something for Tracy McGrady doesn't hold water for me for one simple reason....this is a business. It's not management's job to get something for McGrady if he's not worth anything, zaam. Fans have said McGrady's not worth anything. GM's around the league have said that McGrady's not worth anything unless he's healthy. Everybody reads between the lines and knows that our own coach and GM regard McGrady somewhere just above dirt and just beneath a sea slug.

All of McGrady's "value" is in the nature of his contract. So move the blamed contract, get whatever the hell it is you can get for it, and stop this garbage about getting the most you can for him. McGrady is a piece of trash. He's a distraction and a drama queen. To top it off, he's a terrible basketball player, too. The fan base has risen en masse against him. There is NO reason to keep McGrady around, zaam.

Right?

So get rid of him. It's not management's job to get a favorable return on McGrady or his contract. They need to do what's best for the team. If McGrady in any way hinders or obstructs that, you get him out of the way. McGrady's contract (this one or the next one) is McGrady's business. So let McGrady go somewhere else and earn it already. Management and coaching have done an excellent job of revamping the entire roster in shorter order than I thought possible, zaam.

It's still very early in the season, zaam, but the 2005-2006 season the Rockets played almost entirely without Yao or McGrady is more of a litmus test for what this staff has accomplished with this team than any time in the Yao/McGrady "era". The '05-06 Rockets were a lottery team without Yao or McGrady, and lost 2 out of every three games they played that season. I'm sure that that had nothing to do with the players, though.

What you suggest about the situations from game to game, where the Rockets would need a great individual player in order to get a good shot, zaam, is exactly what the Rockets need McGrady (or anybody else) for. And you are also exactly right when you say that the Rockets can't afford to play every game, every possession, with that mindset and approach.

Isn't that what's been said for the longest time around here? That the Rockets don't score enough in transition? That they've had ZERO fast-break points in some seasons? That nobody outside of Yao or McGrady could consistently hit water falling out of a fishing boat out past the three-mile marker in the Gulf?

That the Rockets have been TOO dependent on ONE way to score, or ONE person to score, zaam?

Please, stop me if I'm missing something here....

I know McGrady is a joke. We all know he's a sheep in wolf's clothing. He'd risk a career-ending surgery just to undermine a trade (the physical of which he would have had to pass in order for the trade to go through...McGrady would have failed, and THAT would have been orchestrated by McGrady, too, somehow)...

McGrady quits and he finger-points and he's lazy. He makes little children cry.

Why the devil do the Rockets put up with him? NOBODY is worth this much trouble, people. NOBODY.

To hell with McGrady's contract or his trade value. He's keeping a championship team from winning. Has been for a long time now. Get a couple of D-Leaguers and some extra costumes for Clutch for McGrady, and I'd say we win out.....

The thing Rick Adelman isn't quite sure about (other than if McGrady is healthy enough to play and depend on every night, like he did during that winning streak that nobody remembers, because we've got to be careful not to give McGrady too much credit fro anything decent, just in case somebody's listening), is what role McGrady should play for this team. If McGrady's healthy, he's good enough to do whatever you need him to do for your team. Adelman just has to decide what that is. Other guys can score and finish now. There are more than warm bodies filling uniforms now. Guys who not only say that they want to win, but can make enough plays to back that up?

Adding McGrady to this just creates problems, right, zaam?

Then don't add him at all. Let McGrady go and sign with somebody else. Eat the frickin' contract, and all of this circus around what to do with it. We're doing more with less anyway. We don't need a star player as much as we need a player (or two).....

Asset Management? Coachspeak? GM chess games? Not upsetting an employee with a company decision?

Seriously?

Jesus H. Christ.

 

Adelman says "I dont know" and "I think" quite a bit when he talks. Its caught me off guard, too. It either comes across like he's being indecisive when you want concrete answers, or just straight dismissive.

While his comment is not an endorsement of McGrady, I think he just cares about preparing the team TODAY, and will deal with McGrady when it comes about (keeping some of McGrady's past history in mind). I'm sure Adelman remembers unprepared team distraction McGrady and 22 game win streak McGrady like we do.

I think Adelman will look at it fair and objectively. It doesnt seem to me Adelman's forcing any transactions, just dealing with the cards he's dealt. I dont think Adelman will go to the front office and say get this clown out of here. But I think he'll Von Wafer McGrady if he has to. If he thinks McGrady gives his team the best chance to win, he'll play him. If McGrady is best served as a 10th man on his team, thats what Adelman will do regardless of how McGrady feels.

 

Exactly, Shroopy2.

Had Adelman been this decisive with Tracy McGrady last season (ESPECIALLY in regards to playing a guy injured, and letting that guy play Russian roulette with the lineups, whatever McGrady's intentions).....

...none of this would even be an issue.

Rick Adelman will do what's best for the Rockets. I know that not so much how he deals or doesn't deal with Tracy McGrady, as I do with how he deals with the rest of the team.

As in, improving the level of play from other players, for starters.

For me, again, it's not that difficult to make a business decision. If the risk outweighs the reward, you don't take the risk. And if you have a toxic "asset", you just dump the "asset". Stop trying to get something for nothing. Stop even suggesting it.

Suggesting something other than that is ridiculous, and doesn't even make sense on a fan internet board....

 

I COMPLETELY agree with your assessment that The Chronicle is a weak media source... Houston sports media in general is weak. If you ever listen to Richard Justice on 1560, pay attention, a lot of what he says can't be proven and would seem fabricated. Its borderline yellow journalism... and I believe he is our "head journalist"... and then John McClain is too busy calling folks "a punk, a loser, and a jerk" to be concerned about doing real footwork for a decent scoop (although he is football related)... I don't think Feigen is that bad but he doesn't seem to grind like Mark Berman. I think a lazy precedent has been set at The Chronicle, brought on by their leadership (RJ)... I actually thought Dale Robertson was really good when he covered major sports. His writing style more than anything... for some reason he does tennis now.

 

i wish adelman would be as decisive last season and benched mcgrady early in the season.