Snyder will surely help. He seems to be one of those significant pieces to a championship level team--a valuable role player who can defend, shoot some and provide versatility. I don't think he'll be a game-changing difference-maker but I do think he'll be an instrumental cog to any success we might have this season.
So, being two hours behind everyone else, I was sitting around late last night watching a rerun of the Vegas League between NOK and somebody. Out there running around the court was our man Kirk. Here's what I saw... Strange at the freethrow line: He steps up to the line and then takes a step back so that he's about a foot behind the line when he shoots. The whole process sort of reminded me of the way NFL kickers get set. Anyway, he made all but one... and on the one he missed, he beat everyone down the lane and crammed it home. Easily his most spectacular play of the stretch I watched. I saw him lose his man on a pick. I saw him come out of nowhere to pick off a pass, streak down court, and get fouled on the shot. "Fouled" kind of undertstates it. He got knocked into the stands, came up limping, but shook it off and made his free throws. I saw him pass an open shot to feed the post for an easier two. It was a nice little bounce pass right around a defender and perfectly delivered. I saw him run the floor well. I saw him stand around a bit on offense. In his defense, the point guard he was playing with liked to go deep on the left wing and Kirk had to provide some balance for transition D. I saw him blow by his man on the left wing, juke another defender, take it to the hole strong, and get blocked from behind at the rim. I saw him drive from the right wing to the middle of the lane and put up an off-balance shot that clanged into the arms of his teammate for an easy jumper. It looked like he was fouled. I saw him protesting to the Ref after the above play. I saw him win a tip with a much taller opponent. I did not see him take a jumper, and the only chance he really had was when he passed in to the post. I guess he had other "chances," but they were not good shots, though some in the game would have taken them. After seeing all this, I think JVG can make him into a more than decent defensive player, especially with Yao behind him, Battier playing his man tight and Tmac working the passing lanes. I think he might surprise some folks with his passing ability... he's not going to be Magic, but he does seem to have the ability to make the right pass well and if he makes 2-3 of those nice entry passes each game, we'll all be happy. He's not afraid to take it to the rack. He's seems tough enough. He can jump. He appears to be judicious in his shot attempts. I don't think he's going to be a "playmaker" for himself or the rest of the team, but I do think he can play off of the other guys. If he accepts his role and dedicates himself to that role, he could play it very well.
"JUST A THOUGHT." Speaking of trades. I hate to say this but, do you guys think we need to trade Tracy for Allen Iverson????? I mean with Tracy's bad back and all. I know he says that the pain is gone and he is fully recovered but I don't understand how can a back injury that he said he has played with his entire career be suddenly gone. This back injury is becoming a major problem with Tracy. Now understand that I am a true McGrady fan but, if this same back injury occurs again we may need to get rid of him while he still has high value. But on the other hand we can stick with him and he will continue to do great things for this organization if he is healthy. But its just a thought, What do you guys think ??????
I still have hope in Tmac *sigh.. I still remember how ridiculously happy I was the day I found out Tmac got traded to Houston.. While it has been relatively disappointing so far, I didn't give up yet.
I don't see why anyone would trade Tracy because of worries about his health only to get the 31 year old Iverson, the worries about whose health and age is just as great, if not greater than the worries about Tracy. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/allen_iverson/ http://www.nba.com/playerfile/tracy_mcgrady/index.html
???? THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS...TRACY PROVED HE CAN PLAY WITH YAO..NO REASON TO MESS THAT CHEMISTRY....REGARDING HE'S HEALTH, IT'S A RISK WORTH TAKING. HE'S ONLY 27. (IVERSON IS A TOUGH 31 BUT ANY FREAK ACCIDENT COULD CRIPPLE ANYBODY. IF TMAC GIVES US 1 CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE NEXT 4 YEARS (THE REST OF HIS CONTRACT) THEN IT'S WORTH IT! WE JUST NEED TO MOVE J-HO OUT OF HOUSTON BEFORE HE CRIPPLES YAO AND T-MAC. WEIRD FACT: LOTS OF SUPERSTARTS THAT PLAYED/TRADED WITH/FOR J-HO GOT CRIPPLED...I.E. PENNY HARDAWAY, GRANT HILL, J-STACK C-WEBB, AND OTHERS, OK..I JUST READ THIS SOMEWHERE AND IT'S "COINCIDENTALLY" FUNNY HOW TRUE IT WAS...CAN'T FIND ARCHIVE ANYMORE...... MCYAO007
wow i hope Rockets dont trade tmac We got ourselves a SELFLESS superstar. one that is very explosive. and he may take the ball to the rack not as much as kobe or lebron or wade. but he does make his jump shots (not counting last year). he's clutch.. what else could we want NOT IVERSON NOT EVEN KOBE
Oh my goodness.... lay off the CAPS, it hurts my eyes, and kills any credibility in what your saying.
Ok ok guys the Tracy McGrady trade was just a thought that ran threw my head. But look at it this way. Lets say the back injury that he has been so troubled with threw out his career doesn't go away and only gets worse than what we saw last year in which he wasn't able to play a substantial portion of the season. Then it makes sense to go ahead and trade him now while he still has high value before the injury brings his value down, right?? Or he can just continue as a rocket. But keep this in mind, Tracy is in a position to make or break this franchise depending on his lower back. And I don't like the team's fate pending on that. And yeah we got Yao, but you know he can't do it by himself. Yall know that a great team has a least 2 superstars and one of ours is pending. But I hope he really is ready to play. What do you guys think ?????
If AI came to the Rox, Yao better get use to standing around and watching him take all the shots. There is no way you give up Tmac for Iverson. People need to stop stressing about the back. Other then last year tmac did not miss more then 15 games in a season since 1999. And other then when he did miss the 15, he never missed more then 7. It was a bad injury but until he misses another huge chunk of games this year we gotta assume he will be better.
Iverson is a very controversial player in terms of being able to build around. If you see that Philadelphia 76ers Eastern Conference Champions teams, you'll see why. Everyone, except for Iverson, in their rotation were hard-nosed, high IQ, unselfish, defensive minded. If I had to build a team around Iverson, and you ask me what you need to put around him, in my opinion it's this in terms of rotation(by minutes and position). First, if Ben indeed got traded to Philadelphia instead of signing with Chicago, that would've altered everything, it wouldv'e really propelled Philly because that's the type of player they need. C- Ben Wallace-35/Mihm-13 PF- Kurt Thomas-32/Mihm-16 SF- Shane Battier-26/Eddie Jones-22 SG- Iverson-40/Eddie Jones-8 PG- Earl Watson-28/Eric Snow-20 This team has 2 premiere role players. At the time, Eric Snow was considered an elite role player, Ben Wallace DPOY, that was thier Deke. Mihm serves as thier big man from the bench for defensive purposes. Eddie Jones can kind of be thier Aaron Mckie, some ball-handling, very good defense, and perimeter shooting. Everyone's role can be accompished if AI gets his 30ppg. Everyone can play to their strength. AI can say he wants to be a 2nd option, this or that, but fact is when he's in the game, for his team he's the most aggressive and toughest working soul on the court to always attack, and always fight which makes him virtually impossible to build around(this team to accomplish is right about impossible) The IQ of this team is sensational, the defense is top 3, the rebounding is up there, the depth and expierence is there too. That is why I am not too fond of Iverson.
T-Mac for Iverson would only be convincing if philly threw in Igudala or somebody of that nature. Yes T-Mac's back is probably never going to be the same, but here are a few BIG reasons why Iverson is not needed here. 1) He has health issues also. not just one, NUMEROUS! Please tell me you've seen his reebok commercial of the numerous injuries he's experienced. He's a little guy at 31....we cannot take the risk. 2) He jacks up too many shots and has a HORRIBLE shooting percentage. (way more than tmac) 3) Why pick up a game that says "WHO NEEDS PRACTICE." He hates it and do you think him and JVG would be the best of friends? I think not. Your thought about this trade should have never been thought about it. If we got Iguadala out of it though, then....sadly BYE T-MAC. haha
The Rockets should never trade Tracy for AI . If ever, Tracy Mc Grady should only be traded for multiple young talent od high IQ and/or picks. It would be at a time when JVG is gone and the young players would once again be welcomed to our Roster.
Well actually this year, Iverson shot a respectable 45%, better than T-Mac this year and last year, and Iverson is still going to drive to the basketball and get to the charity stripe. I just don't know if he knows how to control a game and win it, T-Mac can do that I'm sure.
