yao has been improving every year and playing less games every year. he still hasn't shown he can be the main guy and he's already in his prime. he probably peaked offensively 2 years ago in '06. and it's hard for a big man to improve other parts of his game at this stage, esp. a guy who is 7'6. so yes, we would be rebuilding if we trade tmac. i have no problem trading tmac. but if we're going to trade him, we might as well trade yao and get as much back right now and just straight up rebuild. we have some good young pieces in landry and brooks.
Someone's thinking...i've been saying this forever. Tmac is worth much more to us here than if we traded him. These next 2 years he'll be much better than anyone we get back for atleast 2 years. Basically, if he plays well and we want to keep him, we can. If we continue to fail his expiring contract can be traded for something sizable. It was never a good idea to trade him ahead of time.
Not really. I don't see what Steve Francis has to do with the Rockets current stagnation, but he and Yao made the playoffs their second year together (the first year, two Eastern Conference teams made the playoffs despite having a worse record than the Rockets) and were promptly torn apart. We've had four years of Yao-McGrady already and have yet to advance past that milestone.
Tmac has his faults, but coasting through the regular season is not one of them. He's not a workhorse anymore, so he needs to save his energy for the playoffs. I'm all for his coasting, more power to it, I say. Hell, I'd get pissed off if he stopped coasting. The regular season is all about entertainment anyway, that's why there's 82 games of it. Win enough to secure home court and stay healthy, that's the way to do it.
Its just that so many people- myself included wanted his butt shipped out earlier on. But he is worth more with us than without us, I'm actually sure several teams would want to package a deal of young players to us in exchange for T-Mac this upcoming season, just cos of his contract. The only thing is that we are not in full tank/rebuilding mode, and we would not be able to get full value for him
I have been a proponent of trading T-Mac for the last 3 years, but only for the right deal. No one should ever be off-limits. It is stupid to be so emotionally attached to a player that you won't even listen to offers. That being said, T-Mac is a great player and we can win a championship with him, if we get a suitable back-up for him and Yao. Maggette and a decent backup for Yao would be perfect. On the other hand, if someone made an offer that would give you a better chance to win a championship, of course you jump on it. If we keep the T-Mac/Yao tandem we have to limit their minutes.
You shouldn't be surprised. A large number of the younger members here form there decisions about Tmac based on his youtube videos. Tmac is injury prone. Their response: 13 in 35 Tmac doesn't play defense. Their response: he was a defensive stopper in Toronto Tmac gets tired: Their response. He had some sweet dunks in Orlando Tmac whines to much in the media. Their response: He dunked on Shawn Bradly It's all on youtube!!! So you see, what Tmac does or does not do on the court (or in a suit on Injured Reserve) means little if he has enough career highlights to put on youtube with a lame rap song (or a Bon Jovi one).
I really don't have to quote my old age or years as a rocket fan to disprove your opinion on youtube. Some people just make antagonistic comments and there is nothing you can do about that. If you read my original post, you would understand what i said. Inasmuch as i am a Rockets staunch fan, i am also an NBA fan, and i have always liked TMAC even when he was Orlando. Since he came here, obviously things haven't worked out like everyone hoped. We haven't still advanced past first round and neither has he. The videos that i mentioned only goes to show that half of what T-Mac CAN do on any given, CANNOT be done by atleast 90% of people in the league. Obviously he has underachieved, but take a moment to sit back and view this from another view as opposed to an angry fan and you would see that he doesn't have that much worth as a trade bait. He is worth more as a contract commodity, ala- when he get him off the books. Until then, its only fair to surround him with good talents at those positions that need to be upgraded, so that at the end of his contract when we let him go, the Management knows that they owe him nothing. It takes a special kind of superstar to play around Yao, and T-Mac is perfect for it, it would be hard to find guys who can score in bunches like that that would take 2nd roles especially when they used to be the "Man" in another team. Not saying you wouldn't find someone, but they are rare in Tmac quality.
I guess I've been watching a different T-Mac but I don't understand why everyone says he hasn't been in his prime since he left Orlando. He was spectacular his first season here, had the nagging back the next but was just a good in 06-07, started off a career high month in 07 but got nagged by multitude of injuries that slowed him. T-Mac is not over the hill, maybe not as great as his first season here, but lets not keep up this notion that he's been average since coming from Orlando (don't let this season blind you). You can't trade him nor should you cause we won't get fair value back. You guys underestimate his value.
His Next Contract .. if he gets another will not be 20 million so Someone will be willing to 'rent' him for a year Rocket River
Thats what a lot of people are forgetting that befroe Tracy had an injure he was playing like the Tracy of old.
people forgot he got off to a career-best start in the first month of this year. injuries just got into it. he still has it. just hope he doesn't have any knee or back injuries and he'll be fine.
The question in my mind is not whether McGrady can still play like "T-Mac," if you get my drift, but whether his body will hold up to allow him to do so. Clearly the beginning of the season showed that McGrady could still ball at an extraordinarily high level, but as the injuries accumulated his performance declined through the season, which made his "flipping the switch," in the playoffs that much more remarkable. Still, I think his wearing out by the 4th quarter in several of the games vs. the Jazz, was indicative that he was pushing himself as hard as he could, but his body could only respond so much. As I recall, I don't believe conditioning has ever been an issue with McGrady. So, will he hold up next season? Will Yao? One can only hope, but if they can, the NBA will be on notice, that's for sure.
his season was going fine until freak injuries happened. i mean, who can predict your elbow getting twisted like that? someone bumping into your knee (it happened to a young player like landry and it took him a while to even return back to 75%)? just hope all the gods will be on our side, tmac, yao, and the rest of the team will remain healthy for ONE YEAR. if we don't accomplish anythingi n that one year with a healthy team, it will be much EASIER to break up the core.
My feeling is that it is very rare for a team to win it all without several seasons' tough losses deep in the playoff series. Look at Bulls, Spurs, Lakers, and the previous Rockets team. Heats a couple of years ago was a rare exception. So even with a very healthy Yao and T-Mac next season, I am not that confident that they will win it all. Win it all needs a lot of experience, which you just can't get through first round. 2-3 years' (or maybe a little more) tough losses deep in the playoff will give you enough experience. Then you need toughness and talent on top of that. So when we have been consistently loosing in the first round, the goal should be 2-3 years from now, instead of "win it all" next year.
