It's insulting to the rockets and their fans to have such low standards. That dude didn't even play more than 20 playoff games. As far as I'm concerned it's an insult to hakeem and moses and calvin etc who were truly synonymous with rockets greatness
I will say this. If we are talking strictly on court basketball accomplishments in the NBA, Yao has no business having his number retired by the Rockets anymore than T-Mac does. And for the record, I don't think he did enough, meaning playoffs, to have his number retired. If Les chooses to do it for his body of work as a Rocket, then so be it. I view that as one of those things that we sometimes get in life that we don't deserve. The bad things happen to good people or good things happen to bad people rule. Same with Yao. He's undeserving of having that 11 retired in my opinion. Max did more for the Rockets in that number than Yao.
The worst part of The Toronto Game wasn't the fact that T-Mac mailed it in. The worst part and hardest thing to watch was when you see his 4 comrades still fighting and sacrificing the body when the scoreboard was lopsided. And the fact that his comrades would hustle for an offensive rebound and pass it back to T-Mac having faith in their "leader" to bring them back.
Not surprising considering these are the same comrades he would throw under the bus regularly while drooling over "what could have been if I played on team x with player y".
Not surprising that you are salty about something that happened 7 or 8 years ago. And he was not 100 percent and not a leader.
He was an allstar who led the league in scoring at one point. They got him cause they believed he was a major piece to a championship calibur team. Well, they were wrong.
I liked T-Mac. Especially in his first year or two here in Houston. The idea of him and Yao playing together for years to come was exciting and seemed to be very promising. His 13 points in 33 seconds was one of the most exciting games I can remember watching. Then injuries happened. Then there was the stark contrast of Yao fighting and clawing his way through injuries desperate to help our team and T-Mac seemingly doing whatever he could to stay off the court. It was like the longer it went on with him on our team the worse the relationship became. I could make a case for Yao having his jersey retired. As much as I like Otis Thorpe and Kenny Smith, I wouldn't want their jerseys retired but I could at least understand if they were. Mutombo, for as great as a player and person he was and as much as I loved having him on the Rockets, he played with us on the tail end of his career and well after his prime. He definitely could have his jersey retired but I don't think it should be with the Rockets. T-Mac- no way. He was talented. He had some good moments. But there was no way he deserves to have his number retired. No way.
Yao also had mandatory Olympics training for China in the off season, so he was playing hoops all year round. Other pluses for yao is that is he a pure rocket. Drafted by the rockets and ended his career as rocket. He never played for another nba team or publicly fantasized about it like tmac
Chill guys, I just wanted to see people's reaction I didn't mean basically anything I said. This was just for fun. I am fully aware that the organization is not stupid enough to put themselves down to such low standards and retire the jersey of a player who despite being an amazing player, accomplished nothing with a Rockets jersey and "quit" on his team. Plus if the Rockets were dumb enough to retire his jersey the fans would be outraged, you can tell by the responses to this thread. I respect T-Mac and I like him as a player, but I know he is not deserving of such a great honor in basketball. As for the people who said I wasn't a "true" Rockets fan; I want to let you know that I am and I have been ever since the early 2000's. I started rooting for the Rockets in 2001-02 season, not a very good place to start, but I remember Cuttino Mobley, Steve Francis and Kenny Thomas. I am fairly new to this forum and I have only been on here for like 3 months. So GOMD...
McGrady was a good player, but he didn't accomplish enough to even be in the discussion for jersey retirement. Unlike some of the other people on this thread I see where you are coming from, and also unlike some other people here I am not gonna be rude, although I can see their frustration. It's the same situation with Vince Carter and the Raptors. He played well, put up big numbers, had a little success in the playoffs a lot more than McGrady though and just like McGrady he left on bad terms. I don't think it'll neither do I think it should.
This thread is about someone that was here 7-8 years ago. Duh! Not the first time thread title has given you a hard time. O Really? Were you there when the Rockets discussed McGrady acquisition internally? Besides, not throwing your current teammates under the bus regularly is not a leadership trait. Its called common sense.
daywalker is a tof. 'something that happened 7 years ago' well, duh, if you are getting your number considered for retirement people have to remember what you did for them. 20 playoff games. no series victories. but he's probably a better person to hang out with than jeremy lin doesn't get you there with Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, Drexler, Calvin Murphy, Rudy T
I never understood the whole he faked an injury not to get traded. He had micro fracture surgery. He was just breaking down.
