I think we should change perspective on Macgrady's problems this season and stop all of this Tracy is washed up @ 27 talk which simply is quite ridiculous. Michael Jordon was effective and played like 20 seasons, logged twice as many minutes as Tracy and even broke his leg one season but still manage to come back as the best player ever. What really scares me is T-Mac himself seems to be stuck in this "loser, I am a step slower mentality" When u look at his awkward jumpshots, lack of finish in the paint and horrendous shot selections, T-Mac seems to lost that killer instinct of his. I think the best player to compare T-Mac would be Kobe. Last season, Kobe dropped like 15 lbs because he felt the extra weight he carried previous season hurt him physically and then dropped 81 on raptors last year. We need T-Mac to do the exact same thing!!! He needs to find strength within himself to evolve his game and stop looking like a "Ron-Artest Junior" and be more like T-Mac the Nba scoring champ.
Jordan was an iron man, as durable as a player could get (come to think of it, a lot of superstars from that generation were iron men). I would NEVER compare McGrady's stamina, conditioning, or let alone health to Jordan's. That's a stupid comparison. Kobe, on the other hand, has quite possibly the best endurance of any superstar player in the league, he has a solid build and hasn't had any chronic injuries that have bogged him his entire career. Kobe's body is more comparable to Jordan's, as is Wade's. But DEFINITELY not McGrady, who was cursed with a thin build and can't absorb any serious contact. It has served him well early on in his career when he was still young and playing recklessly, but not anymore. I think his physique has a lot to do with it. He's not nearly as strong as Kobe or Lebron or Wade or any of those guys, and he's been battling a degenerative back condition for years now. BTW, neither Jordan nor Bird or even Magic played anywhere near 20 seasons. Bird himself -- who was a tough SOB -- had a similar back condition that eventually led to his retirement.
And you are...Chris Mullin? Reggie Miller? Mitch Richmond? I'd say anybody who plays basketball regularly knows that it doesn't take a half a year to get your freaking jumpshot back. If you don't have it after about a 1/4 of a season (which we're approaching) then you're probably not getting it back, I'd say. This is more than just being "off".
Oh and also, his shot selection was the same two years ago. it's just that he was making them then and they looked spectacular. his shot selection still isnt awful but I cringe now whenever I see him shoot.
it's all mental for Tracy and maybe a little mechanical. it's like Brad Lidge, you dont go from being a great scorer and being able to light up teams like tmac, even last yr he had a stretch of like 4 or 5 straight 40 pt games, and then just not be able to shoot. It is confidende, and in his head. Just like Lidge, he may have the filthiest stuff in baseball, but he has no confidence. McGrady will be fine, all he needs is one of those signature Mcgrady games, and he'll get the confidence back.
Really? You mean Kobe is not a star? Six out of his ten seasons so far have been at or below 45%, and 45% is his exact career average. McGrady's career average is 44%, and yes that does include his last injury-plagued season. Both players have shot roughly 34% from behind the arc (McGrady holds a very slight edge there). Oh yeah, and the great Allen Iverson has a career FG% average of 42%, while shooting 31% from downtown. Oh yeah, and Paul Pierce has a career FG% of 44%, shooting 35% from downtown. But yes, you're right, none of these guys are "superstars". You simply can NOT compare the shooting percentage of star players to your average everyday NBA scrub. For one thing, most star players take and make their shots over one or more defender in their face at all times, with much of the defense being utilized to limit their effectiveness and force the ball out of their hands. On the other hand, the attention these guys demand makes life so much easier for the role players, who get the luxury of wide open shots or being defended by the 'lesser' defenders. This is precisely why stats don't mean everything and can't be taken out of context. Let me give you a quick example to illustrate my point: While McGrady is shooting 40% from the floor with at least one or multiple defenders on him at all times, Rafer Alston is shooting 38% from the floor with his shots consisting mostly of WIDE OPEN JUMPERS WITH NO ONE WITHIN A MILE OF HIM. Capice?
The funny thing is McGrady, for the season, has been shooting 41%, which is the exact same average for his last two seasons in Houston, including that first fun year he played for the Rockets. His shooting has regressed but it's been roughly the same for the past two seasons and it looks the same this year as well. The only difference this season is that he's taking less shot attempts on average (a lot less) and isn't shooting his FTs as well. Still, come playoff time, McGrady has always, without exception, elevated his game to another level, upped his FG% in a significant way as well as his FT%. Hopefully this season won't be the exception and he will step up big time come playoff time.
Whatever the issues they may have, I just hope that our players, including Tmac, spend longer time to practice shootings. I read again and again that Yao Ming comes to practices early and leaves late. Should not the others do the same to get a better touch?
When T-Mac is off, we need to develop other offensive schemes. Van Gundy's offense is too predictable, and when our 3 point shooting is off, we shoot ourselves out of games. It is either let Yao score or shoot a 3 pointer. Teams can gang up on Yao especially when we are struggling from the 3 point line.
Yeah, kobe and jordan were so much more physically imposing than tmac Kobe has knee problems, has had surgery recently Tmac's poblems now are in his head....not in his body
I said "chronic" injuries, what chronic injuries is Kobe suffering from? I am not calling him an iron man, but he no doubt has a better physique than McGrady does, and will last much longer than McGrady will. Kobe can easily play into his mid-30s and I see him taking the development route that MJ did (as far as becoming a better shooter and much less of a slasher). Kobe is still in his prime, T-Mac isn't.
check again. It was 43% for his first year here. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/tracy_mcgrady/career_stats.html
You're right, my bad, I got the years mixed up. It was his second season in Houston and his last season in Orlando. My point stands.
His knee is chronic Kobe is not prime time, are you kidding me tmac's probs are mental ok laker fan, kobe's perfect
I think it is mental for Tracy McGrady at this point. When someones shot is off, sometimes they need to shoot a few before they get going, sometimes they need a couple games or more, but they get it back. If you have no confidence in your own shot, you can shoot every shot for 82 games and your shot won't come back. It looks like T-Mac needs to stop hesitating when he shoots. If he's going to shoot the ball anyways, he might as well catch and shoot or just go up with confidence. There is no point in hesitating and going "ehhh should I shoot? yeah I guess i should" right before you shoot. You will almost always miss. He doesn't even seem to drive to the hoop with confidence (he doesn't drive to the hoop too much anymore anyways). He may look confident when he shoots 26 jumpers but you can tell there is none in his shot. I guess a painfully injury plagued season and almost 5 months without a regular season game will do that to your confidence... Also, when your shot is off, if you drive in or get to the line, usually your shot will naturally come back. We've seen it happen to McGrady a couple times this season and last season. He drained 3 triples in the last couple minutes and he seemed like the T-Mac we're used to. Then he was so dejected he actually had his head in his lap and looked really depressed. That's either a good thing or a bad thing because we all know he plays bad when depressed but he made a few shots before he got depressed so maybe it's the better type of depression, the type that motivates. I hope we see some new reason in T-Mac against the Cavs. Oh and I'm not basing these observations on the Suns game alone because even when he shot a decent percentage lately you can tell his shot isn't confident. It's more like the ball is doing him a favor by dropping into the net.
