All-Star weekend coinciding with T-Mac's personal crisis

This is what I don't like about the situation.

TMAC says that he needs to get away and deal with his personal problems. SO GO DO IT!!! Now is the time. You have 5 days to get away on this break. I think rockets fans would rather have him miss the all star game than any potential real games after the break when we are trying to make a push for the playoffs. At least a true rocket's fan would. The only reason he attended the media day was the threat looming of being pulled from the all star game. Again, who cares if the all star game is in houston. No excuse though to play in the all star game and then take a couple of games off after the break. That would be selfish. Now if he has to miss the all star and a couple of games, so be it. But he better not play in the all star game and then take a few days off. If he did, I would lose respect for him.

 

Exactly.

I dont think anyone would blame him (atleast I know I wouldn't) if he requested a week or so off.

But if he going to play then suck it up and stop making excuses.

 

Everyone does not know what is Tmac is going through and he still has gone to work when this could be something so bad we could not imagine. Have some compassion on the man he is human and yes i know he gets payed millions but how would you react when maybe your wife has left you, or is on the verge of dying or that your child is dying or has some incureable disease, I can see people say get over and get back to work. Again we don't know what the problem(s) are, and so what if he told the press, I am sure when the press is always hounding you to why he had a bad game he gave them an honest answer but kept his issues to himself. I love watching Tmac play and think he is a joy to watch but give him sometime and show some humanity for goodness sakes.

 

I think he is trying to, that's why he's at the All-Star game. He is trying to have fun there and get this behind him. It takes time. If he did find out his son is not really his, that can be comparable to his new son dying (along with betrayal). He's not airing everything out in the open, but he wants people to know that his game is off for a good reason. He is hurting.

 

I don't agree. If an all-star game can give him some fun and put everything bothering him behind him, but he cannot deal with it when he played real tough and very important games, I guess the game is just not important enough for him, not as important as an all-star game. If all-star game can cure everything, then nothing is really that serious, it looks more like an excuse to me. We don't know what's happening. If TMac wants to keep it by himself, we respect that, he doens't need to mention it at all. If he wants to take games off, so be it, nobody will really blame him. The problem with the current situation is, he kept telling you that there is problem, and kept telling it's private, and even said he need to take games off, maybe. What does that give your teammates? They see you as a leader, you gave them a muddy picture. You tell them, you can't be 100% with those problems, and you will leave them at any time, just don't know when. Teammates want to understand you, but you need to make yourself clear.

The issues bothering him could be very very serious. Even if he needs the whole season, I cannot blame him, because it's his personal choice. But I do have a problem with that attitude: I come to play today, but I won't be 100%, because I still have that problem, and I don't know whether I will be 100% tomorrow, I don't even know I will even be here tomorrow. That sucks.

We all saw how you guys judge Artest when he said where his focus is. TMac's situation is nowhere near Artest's case, but he needs to do himself a favour, to be more direct.

 

I agree with DaDakota. If there is something in his personal life that serious to the extent that it is affecting his desire to represent the team or play in general then go take care of it. I am sure if he had a valid reason as of why he needs his personal space and time, the Rockets organization would surely give it to him. But from what it seems like, JVG believes that he is still capable of performing and just needs to stop making excuses. Tmac made a very expensive commitment to the organization and his fans. If he doesn't want to be labelled as a quiter then he needs to just suck it up and not make comments to the public about his lack of desire to lace up and play. He is supposed to be our leader and a comment about quiting like that I'm sure affects the entire team's psyche. There isn't a single person in the world who doesn't have personal issues, but most of us learn to rise from them and fulfill our responsibilities. Heck I remember Kobe Bryant also having very tough issues a couple seasons ago but he sucked it up and performed. His problems were also made for the public's viewing and there probably wasn't a single place where he could find peace. If anyone had a reason to run and hide to a place where no one could find him it was him. It's time for TMac to stop with the excuses. We brought him here with the hopes that he could lead us to a Championship. Heck we believed in him so much, we gave him a superstar's and leader's paycheck.

 

I agree with DaDakota. If there is something in his personal life that serious to the extent that it is affecting his desire to represent the team or play in general then go take care of it. I am sure if he had a valid reason as of why he needs his personal space and time, the Rockets organization would surely give it to him. But from what it seems like, JVG believes that he is still capable of performing and just needs to stop making excuses. Tmac made a very expensive commitment to the organization and his fans. If he doesn't want to be labelled as a quiter then he needs to just suck it up and not make comments to the public about his lack of desire to lace up and play. He is supposed to be our leader and a comment about quiting like that I'm sure affects the entire team's psyche. There isn't a single person in the world who doesn't have personal issues, but most of us learn to rise from them and fulfill our responsibilities. Heck I remember Kobe Bryant also having very tough issues a couple seasons ago but he sucked it up and performed. His problems were also made for the public's viewing and there probably wasn't a single place where he could find peace. If anyone had a reason to run and hide to a place where no one could find him it was him. It's time for TMac to stop with the excuses. We brought him here with the hopes that he could lead us to a Championship. Heck we believed in him so much, we gave him a superstar's and leader's paycheck.

 

I am telling you guys, it is most likely not a family member getting sick or dying or something like that again, or McGrady would have said so (there is no reason to keep this secretive). I am leaning more towards a major 'shock' to him in his relationship with his fiance (whatever it is: cheating, new baby not his, something twisted like that).

Why else would he be so secretive about it? I think he's hiding something that might 'shame' him or his family in the public eye, so he's forced to keep it behind closed doors.

As for having fun, he's forced to be at the All-Star events or otherwise the league will punish him, and add to that the fact the ASG is in Houston, and it's not like he has much choice there but to participate.

He might as well try to have fun, I think he's just down from something that hurt him deeply, but he will recover, he'll be alright.