BTW, he was 12-29 that game....he took 29 shots....that is one of the biggest reasons he has to go, he shoots WAY too much, the team doesn't need that.....Tracy is the definition of an inefficient high volume scorer. He has got to go. DD
Jesus. Tmac trains with Grover /thread part 2. Any apparent reason why you would make this thread? Can we like, not mention this guy? At all until the season starts?
It's too bad we can't have a moratorium on T-mac discussions. Like some kind of truce for the summer. It's like Hamas versus the Settlers. Rocket's fan pitted against Rocket's fan. Brother against brother, ripping the fabric of Clutchfandom apart right at the seams. The next thing there will be riots. And then, civil war. North vs. South. The Great Rockets Civil War. Except it will be T-mac haters versus T-mac fans. This is going to be a very, very very long off-season.
So what exactly IS the point of reliving McGrady's best years (which were actually in Orlando)? What's also the point of saying that Kobe can't guard a "healthy" TMac? No one is HATING McGrady here. We're just trying to find the silver lining in trying to glorify a player who's prime has been long gone and who's "13 in 33" has been one of the (if not ONLY) fondest memory as a Houston Rocket, a game which had zero playoff implications.
I was just about to mention that...I saw a graphic come up on the screen that said "FGs 10 of 27". Ouch. Efficiency.
'um, stupid question, when could Kobe guard anyone? KB24 is the poster boy for offense only player. Why do you think we play Shane on Kobe? Shane Battier literally came out and said Kobe doesn't guard him. Tracy dropping 100 pt's on Kobe still isn't much of an achievement. Lemme ask you, if Tmac dropped 100 pt's during a practice scrimmage, would you care? The issue with Tracy isn't that he can't score, it's that he chooses when he wants to score. Tracy is identical to Kobe in the sense that when he dominates a game he doesn't always help his team. The difference between the two is Kobe had Shaq early on in his career which sort of humbled him, and he realized there's a delicate margin (28~45 points) where if Kobe can score that amount in minimal shots it's enough for his team, emphasis on minimal shots, they win. Tracy, really didn't have a dominate right hand man (Vince Carter is NOT dominant) and so he chucks up shots like its shoot around. Hell, you put me at the three point line with enough shots I'll put up 50 regardless of the defense. Tracy has problems with this team because he's a volume shooter, not an accurate one. If he takes enough shots he'll develop a rhythm and score at will. He would fit with a run and gun team. We are a half court set slow down team. That means fewer possessions per game. Kobe would fit well in our system because he can just turn on his shooting ability at will (for the most part). The issue with mac isn't injury, it's the fact his mindset, his attitude, his personality does not fit with this team. Period.
I find this to be a very good point you've made here, friend. I don't, however, necessarily believe McGrady has problems with the TEAM per se, as much as he does with HOW he must play on a team with a more balanced offensive attack. Stay with me a minute...I'm going somewhere with this... I believe that McGrady has as high a basketball I.Q. as anybody in the league. He understands how to play, and all the little on-court nuances that go along with that. But since he left Toronto, McGrady has been more or less forced into a one-dimensional player, by circumstance and his own ego. When Jeff Van Gundy was here, he reshaped the Rockets on the fly after trading for McGrady. He got players like Bob Sura, David Wesley and Jon Barry who were competitive, mature and could hit an open shot. All McGrady had to focus on at that time was scoring on one end, and defending on the other. The highlight of McGrady's Houston career, for me, was in that 2005 playoff against Dallas. He was the consummate player—scoring almost at will on offense, and giving Dirk Nowitski fits on the defensive end. He was exactly what he should have been, in my opinion, Pizza_Da_Hut—the round chambered in the gun, not necessarily the weapon itself. That's the difference between Kobe Bryant and McGrady most of the time, for me. McGrady's more of the guard dog you put on patrol and train to go for an intruder's throat, where Kobe is the Head of Security. So anyway, instead of finding guys to play point and shooting guard, Van Gundy decides that he doesn't need anybody to do that when he's got Tracy McGrady. He changes McGrady's role from hired gun to steady ranch hand. Bad, bad move. Whatever you think of McGrady as a person or player, you don't expand the role of your best players. You refine those roles. There have been too many times where, over the last few seasons, that the only player capable of doing ANYTHING offensively over any extended period of time, Yao Ming or no Yao Ming, has been McGrady. He had the responsibility of scoring, and creating, and assisting, and playmaking... almost like it would have been asking too much to give any of those things to do to somebody else. Bob Sura wasn't a classic point guard. But he manned the spot well and gave the Rockets athleticism, defense, and opportunistic scoring. He was the leader of that team, to me, Pizza_Da_Hut. And the Rockets crumbled when he couldn't overcome his back injury. Depending on teammates is not something McGrady is used to. It's actually not something he's been encouraged to do before now. Everywhere you look, McGrady is expected to lead. McGrady is expected to score. He's expected to score efficiently. He's expected to make the best play. He's expected to compete. He's expected to play hard. He's expected to win. Fine. But nobody else was expected to do anything more than dress out for more than a few years. No way that any type of strategy like that was supposed to work. I don't mind anybody holding McGrady to a high standard. I don't mind anybody holding McGrady to a HIGHER standard, actually. Your best players have to play their best. No if, ands or buts about it. But, people are holding this year's team up as the same team that's been trotting out onto the court for the past five years. It doesn't make sense to me to praise what this year's team has done without McGrady, and excuse the ones in the past that couldn't win one game out of four when he was out. But you're right, Pizza_Da_Hut. People are who they are. Leopards don't change their spots. All McGrady's done is be a one-man show. All McGrady's done is disappoint and quit and mudsling and fail. No real reason to think that any of that should change, if McGrady comes back healthy or not. People don't change. Right up until the moment they do change. And that's why I "apologize" for McGrady so often, I guess. I've seen this movie a few hundred thousand times play itself out over a lot of different teams. High-profile player struggles on bad team. High-profile player has an epiphany (injury, scandal, etc.), and team has to find ways to win without him. Team improves, high-profile player returns, everybody gets along, and they all go out for ice cream at the end of the day. Roll credits. It's very probable that won't happen here, though, Pizza_Da_Hut. McGrady's done. He's finished. And even if he isn't, nobody in their right mind would want him around here. Gotta admit, though...I didn't sse this ending coming....
DaDa... we also haven't had a team filled with pretty hungry and skilled role players until now. We moved Tmac to the three that year and we had guys like Jon Barry who shot an amazing percentage at the three that first year. Sura and Wesley were also just great. After that season I honestly think talent wise including t-mac just went downhill. Battier was a great addition but compared to his first year his three point percentage went down as well. I don't know if it's the food we have in Houston or the water but there is definitely something affecting their skills.
Boy, I had a nice laugh when I seen the title of this thread, and laughed even harder when I seen the youtube videos....lol, terrible
