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

It really is like talking to Memento with some of you guys in here.

To recap:

Topic: Why oh why is our Tracy not allowed to play?!

EMJohn:
Kuester's got little man syndrome, and Tracy joining the protest and laughing on the bench landed him in the doghouse. Kuester's made a point to tell the press that he wants an emphasis on defense and minutes earned in practice, and those are two things that have dogged Tracy in the past.

MacFan:
BS! Prove it! There's no link, therefore you made it up!

EMJohn:
Brief rundown of Tracy's history with butting heads with front offices and practice/defense issues, provides a sampling of links

RKReborn:
I will disregard everything you said by tossing in a random accusation with no bearing on anything

_RTM_:
Off topic tangent rant that stars get latitude.

You're right, stars do get latitude. No where in the above post did I burn Doc for giving Tracy latitude on D and practice, in fact, I mentioned that Tracy was carrying a heavy enough load and that as Orlando's one good horse, it was reasonable. When JVG and Morey discussed McGrady's practice habits, they weren't being mean about it - if anything they were giving him credit for being so talented that he could get away with it. Jeff being Jeff, he wouldn't have let Tracy go easy if he had an issue with it. This is that guy that kept Bonzi on an exercise bike an entire training camp.

I've mentioned Barkley a couple times, and think it's a good analogy. Both guys shared the same (subtle) knocks over the years (D, practice habits). Both were so good on the court that you didn't mind.*

Problem for Tracy is, he stopped being that good.

In 2008, Adelman still afforded him major latitude, letting Tracy inform him as a game time decision for the first couple months whether he was playing or not. Not to come off the bench, but to start and be a primary option. Despite disastrous numbers, despite appalling D. Tracy wanted 3 weeks off to work on conditioning and got it. Came back and was back in the lineup.

When he went to Stephen A Smith to announce his surgery instead of telling the team, he crossed that invisible line of star latitude vs star performance. When he tried to dictate the terms of his Nov comeback, something he could have done in 2005, he started hearing an unfamiliar sound of no. He wanted more minutes in Dec, but his performance wasn't enough - his star was dim.

D'Antoni put him back in the star treatment line when he got to NY...and turned off the light after a couple months.

McGrady came into Detroit the right way, clearly worked hard, clearly demonstrated patience and acceptance that Kuester was the guy that was going to give him minutes and a starting spot.

But the star power is gone.

When he joined in the sick out, when he laughed on the bench, when he defiantly told the press that he wasn't going to talk to the coach about it, he stuck his neck out. 2002 McGrady gets away with it. 2011 McGrady doesn't. It doesn't help that his coach gets into petty spats and goes overboard to try and keep control over a team that hates him.

McGrady should get past this, but like the offseason Chicago embarrassment, he should file it away and bear it in mind.

*If you really wanted a sidebar, this would open up debate about how this was a key difference between Jordan/Kobe and Barkley/McGrady

 

Regarding Chicago?

The Bulls made it crystal clear, they made a point in his interview to tell him: we are interested in you only if you can accept a limited role off the bench.

McGrady then went to the media talking about himself as already being a member of the team and made clear he intended to be a starter (after earning it).

Offer yanked.

It was an embarrassing situation for him. I'm not saying he was wrong for wanting to be a starter. I'm not suggesting he couldn't have won the spot. But the front office made it plain they wanted X, and McGrady made it clear that he wasn't on the same page.