**Official McGrady/Pistons 2010 Regular Season Thread**

Seems pretty obvious

The pistons officially decided to tank when the starters were sitting during the fourth quarter. Pistons have to mend things with Rip since he's got a long contract, not playing Prince would be ludicrous and draw even more ire. They're just trying to get the young guys and the guys they're stuck with as much playing time as possible.

I think the 'boycott' just provided a good excuse to make the changes.

 

10-16 was the record for January and February in games McGrady played fairly major minutes. Better than earlier in the season but still a losing record.

Anyway, I haven't seen enough Detroit games to have a solid opinion. But if it were a choice of giving Stuckey or McGrady minutes, I wouldn't blame the coach for going with the former.

 

ok i can understand that. And the reason y ben would start over mcgrady is because?? and the reason why will bynum jumps ahead of mcgrady is because? Im still scratching my head as to y mcgrady drops down the depth chart.

 

Y is it that ppl seem to think that all of mcgrady's problems are the results of his actions. I am not saying that mcgrady never does anything wrong, but im just speaking about this situation. Nothing was handed to mcgrady. he accepted the vet min. He isnt given the starting spot heck he isnt even given a significant role when he joined the pistons. So everything out there on the court that mcgrady did he earned. His mins his starting job and the compliments that his coach and his players and even the gm gives him. So if im mcgrady im pissed. Seriously. U did everything right and u hear it from everybody. And yet u dont get an explanation as to y u r not in the rotation anymore. idk im just tired of people saying that mcgrady's behavior has gotten him to where he is. Its not the case this time. he better be back on that court. Thats all i gotta say

 

Feel free to get off his jock at anytime. Where's the 'leave Brittney alone' pic when you need it.

 

Having McGrady and Stuckey in the starting lineup at the same time seems redundant. Both need the ball in their hands to be effective. Gordon hasn't had a great year but is more suited to the SG role for that team.

So why not McGrady as the backup PG? I don't know, but there are many possible reasons. Maybe Bynum has better chemistry with the second unit. Maybe Kuester doesn't like the team slowing down to a half-court when McGrady is at the helm. Maybe they want to go younger instead of relying on a player who won't be with the team in the long term.

Or maybe they gave McGrady playing time in hopes of trading him before the deadline, and now that the deadline has passed, there are fewer reasons to play him.

Who knows, but I don't think he's being singled out for that little boycott.

 

feel free to keep replying to me but i thought i would save u the energy by letting u know I DONT GIVE A DAMN

 

http://www.detnews.com/article/2011...acy-McGrady-frustrated-while-waiting-on-bench

 

Maybe Tracy could donate some money to Detroit to build a Robocop statue and then the organization will have a change of heart toward him.

Hey Joe Dumars! Want to resign Tmac??

Joe Dumars:"I'd buy that for a dollar!"

 

Tracy could probably donate to the TAOJR (tinman association of jockstrap riders)

Joe Dumars: "hey Tracy, we're not gonna re-sign you and that's it."

Tracy: "It's all good, I know tinman will still be on my jock "

 

do you even get the robocop reference?

I know some tracy fans aren't into pop culture.

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/85cL1HisrNc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Where does anyone see T-Mac going next year? The Pistons are in rebuilding mode, but it appears that he can still be a servicable backup for a contender. He has made a lot of money, and unless we're unaware of something, he still has most of it, so he might just retire altogether, but it appears he still wants to play.

 

I am sure Tracy will be back playing like nothing happend next game.

 

"By Patrick Hayes • 12:54 pm • March 8, 2011

By now, most people have read the critical comments about Tracy McGrady‘s practice habits made by his former coach, Jeff Van Gundy, and former GM, Daryl Morey, at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference last weekend.

For those who haven’t, here they are, as reported by SI’s Zach Lowe.

Malcolm Gladwell, the best-selling author, is moderating the first panel, which is about the notion, developed by experts who study talent and discussed in Gladwell’s book “Outliers,” that anyone interested in being truly great at something has to practice for at least 10,000 hours to reach an elite level of greatness. The point of the panel, which features Jeff Van Gundy and Houston Rockets’ GM Daryl Morey, is ostensibly to talk about things like the concept of “natural talent,” the importance of work ethic and how to weigh those variables in the draft and in free agency.

Perhaps it was inevitable with the heavy Rockets flavor on the panel, but the discussion quickly to turned to Tracy McGrady — in an unfavorable way. “Tracy McGrady was 1,000 hours of practice,” Van Gundy said, to some pretty loud laughs. “He should be a Hall of Fame player. His talent was other-worldly. He was given a great leg up in the race against other players. He’s as close as I’ve ever seen to someone with a perfect body and a good mind.”

And here’s Morey on T-Mac:

“McGrady was the most gifted player I’ve ever had on the roster. I do think [his talent] got in the way of Tracy’s development. Much of the game was so, so easy — and you see this in the AAU level, where they have freakishly talented players. When it’s that easy to dominate at that young age, because of your physical tools — his wing span was freakish, his size was enormous, his IQ. But my sense was that all of that did get in the way of Tracy reaching his highest heights.”

And JVG one more time for good measure:

“I like a lot of things about Tracy McGrady. I just wish I could have changed his practice habits and his mentality.”

Those guys worked with McGrady for several seasons and were around him up close, so there’s certainly some merit to what they say. But there’s also some merit to saying that, other than the fragile Yao Ming, the Rockets never assembled a particularly great team around McGrady. There’s plenty of blame to go around for what happened during McGrady’s tenure in Houston, but it’s not as easy as simply saying, "well, the star player didn’t work hard enough." McGrady was a top-three player in the league for several seasons, and the toll of dragging some terrible teams, particularly in Orlando, to modest success impacted his body and ability to stay healthy.

I think the basis of what Van Gundy and Morey were arguing is that, for all his immense physical talents, McGrady never seemed to love and be obsessed with the game in the way that elite, transcendent talents (and McGrady certainly had the skillset to be one of the greatest ever) are.

But you know what? That’s OK. McGrady will still go down as a fantastic player, an MVP-level player at his peak, one of the most popular players of his era and a multiple-time All-Star. He’ll be a fringe Hall of Fame candidate, depending on how much longer he plays and the level of production he sustains.

I’ve made no secret writing for this site that I like McGrady. I actually respect the fact that he doesn’t seem outwardly basketball obsessed, it makes him more interesting. Yes, Kobe Bryant might spend significantly more time in the gym because he’s the Single White Female version of Jordan, and getting rings drives him. That obsession has no doubt made Bryant a more successful player and helped his teams win championships. But while Bryant is winning titles, McGrady is raising awareness about the genocide in Darfur. It boils down to this: what is more honorable bigger picture? Being a legendary basketball player or being a great humanitarian? Is Bill Russell looked at as the most noble figure in the game’s history simply because he won titles? Or is it because he became a leading voice on civil rights, education and other issues that transcended basketball?

The "McGrady doesn’t love the game" meme is a tired one. If he didn’t love the game, he wouldn’t, at age 30 after making millions of dollars, achieving significant stardom and personal accolades, have signed a make-good veteran’s minimum deal with a lousy team in the offseason to try and revive his career. If he didn’t love the game he wouldn’t have gone through the painful rehabilitation process to come back from injuries that have ended the careers of much younger men. He wouldn’t have willingly reinvented his game into a complimentary role player, becoming the lone unselfish player the Pistons put on the court at times this season. McGrady said as much to Vincent Goodwill:

"I worked my ass off and if people don’t believe that, after all the injuries and things I’ve been through, they’re crazy."

McGrady isn’t perfect. Now that he’s been removed from the Pistons rotation, he’s been vocal about his displeasure with that move. He never seemed entirely comfortable with the primary option role his immense talents suggested he should have. But the public questioning of his character as a basketball player by Morey and Van Gundy seems wrong. After all, if the Rockets didn’t win enough games with a talent like McGrady (and Yao), isn’t that at least partially on Morey for not putting pieces around those two that worked? If Van Gundy didn’t believe McGrady practiced hard enough, isn’t that partially on Van Gundy for not getting his message about the importance of better work habits through more clearly?

What makes the NBA great is the fact that it’s a league full of really different people. I enjoy the fact that McGrady devotes time to causes outside of basketball or that Dikembe Mutombo was building hospitals during his playing career or that Steve Nash wore shoes made out of trash or even the fact that LeBron James seems equally interested in being the next Snooki as the next Jordan. Whether you get behind the causes or not, I’d much rather see players who are well-rounded people, who are not afraid to pursue random things outside of basketball that inspire them.

Van Gundy and Morey think McGrady could’ve been one of the best ever, and he won’t live up to that level. But so what? McGrady has had a fantastic career and achieved the means to do positive things in the world. There’s nothing wrong with the obsessive drives to win titles of players like Isiah, Jordan or Bryant. But there’s also nothing wrong with talented basketball players who love the game, but love other things as well."

http://www.pistonpowered.com/2011/03/in-defense-of-tracy-mcgrady/

 

I read that, fairly interesting. The comments below that article are also fairly interesting. Its a fair point to say that at most points in time during his career at the Rockets the team was never a no 1 or 2 team in the league. I couldn't see it getting over say San Antonio or the Suns or something.

His a good basketball player but he could have been the best but you can't fault a guy for not wanting to. His definetely a max contract player during the prime years he was here.

But so is alot of people in this league. Just because he doesn't want to be Kobe doesn't mean he has to. I think this is the problem with this board. If you have a job and you just want to do what is your contract worth then thats fine. Same with McGrady I think he played like a max player (well not for the last year of his contract)

I would say players like Lebron and Wade are UNDERVALUED for their contracts. Look at players like Jarred Jeffries.

 

best post in this entire thread.

 

Mcgrady jock sniffers are covering their eyes and ears and yelling, LALALALALALALA!

 

Obsess much?

 

Hmmm

And what?

This looks really funny

Kobe is rapist, he named Bynum [*******], forced a trade. He destroyed a dynasty team with his ego. Phil already said that he's too selfish and he is ignoring a triangle offense. He wrote in his book about all of his issues. But who cares?

If the dude is healthy and productive, every team in the world would be glad to live with that. Kings are glad to live with Cousins, despite all his off-court and on-court issues, because he could become the best and only true star center in the West next year a the age of 21 and he is a rookie, unproven young player. But Petrie drafted him and let us know: he's OK with that.

If we are talking about unique talent, we are talking about unique talent. And if this talent is crappy one of the court, lazy, stupid etc, but deadly on the court, you would just stfu and watch him play and get some wins for your team. Or say that you didn't know about his attitude when he was traded in this place for Stevie

When McGrady was healthy or partially healthy before MFS, you didn't even care about his bad work-ethic of the court, cause you knew that he was great on the court and you know that Rockets can't get anything better than him

Right now, when he is part of bad, terrible team, it's time to tell how crappy he was. But stop, if I just make a poll: Do you want to see T-Mac of 2004-2008 in Rockets uniform despite his issues?, answer "Yes, of course" would dominate, because you know how trully unique Kobe, Tracy, Dwyane or Lebron are. And you already had a chance to see how trully hard to get a player like him. Morey will tell you how in a heartbeat

That's all. Don't try to fool yourself, especially when your team is desperately need a star, despite all of the issues of Carmelo or smb else.