Why a Not-So-Fast Impasse Could Keep Tracy McGrady in Houston

"Name another player with his abilities who blew a 3-1 series lead, a 2-0 lead without homecourt advantage, and a 2-0 lead with it."

Kobe Bryant Lakers blew a 3-1 lead to the Suns in 06'.

Dirk Nowitski's Mavericks with homecourt advantage blew a 2-0 series lead in 06' NBA Finals.

Name a Tracy Mcgrady team that's been above the 5th seed?

 

while i respect Clutch's Op-Ed piece, I will now look at 4/30/09 as the true day "T-Mac lost the city of Houston"

 

Not a big fan of bleacherreport. GARM has more to offer. Didn't someone already point out that this is a Baylor student's blog or something? We've better on the Rockets than that.

 

the challenge was to name a player who blew THREE SERIES.

not just one of the criteria

 

This is a good one. However, I disagree that this will last into April.

TMac needs playing time to show he can contribute to earn a contract that maybe his last one. It won't benefit for both sides if he stays in here. There is no opportunity for TMac to play in this team again like 20 minutes a game. What could he do then if he still wear the rockets jersey? If he got 7 minutes, he won't get any contract he want in next season. He has to move on to find and play for his next team, and do it quickly.

Rockets has nothing to lose except the chance of geting valuable return which is almost impossible in the current situation. In another hand, TMac would not like to stay here any longer because he still has his ego, and most importantly, he has the emergency to find playing time for a contract next season. There is an opportunity that he might plan for a small short contract for another team in next one or two seasons to showcase himself. Considering his past healthy issue, I think that would be unrealistic and too risky for him.

If there is no suitable trade available for rockets, the only option would be a buyout eventually when TMac would be willing to take payroll cut, which I believe he would.

 

this is where the writer could be waaay off.

3 and 4 team deals have been done before... no reason to think we can't do that now... lots of players want to be moved.

tmac will be traded i think.

 

Good find and good post.

 

...it steps out of the shadows.

 

Very true. This isn't a done deal, but I trust Morey to do the right thing.

 

I would if I could.. nice read.

 

Is it possible to land

Monta Ellis
Randolph
Magette

for

McGrady and Brooks.

This rids GS of Magette's horrible contract and Randolph. This also alleviates Monta long term deal.

This gives us some serioud length with Randlolph and ability to run with Monta and Magette off the bench for Shane.

 

the author had me until this part:

Yao Ming provides a late game option

I thought he just got fronted and vanished in the 4th?

 

+1 rep for the myriad American Idol references. If you could have found an article with Sanjaya (or however the hell you spell it), then plus infinity. =(

 

i don't understand why all those losses are t-macs fault... i just don't get it

 

I'm happy as long as he keeps away from the team. We're trying to win as many as we can and develop the young players. Sure we're not championship contenders but even with TMac today, we still won't be. TMac cares more about his goals rather than the team goals.

Today he says he wants more than 8 minutes. Once we play him 10-15 minutes, he will demand more. So it's not really the coaches running the team, but TMac. That's what he wants.

After last year, we're not going down that road again. I thank Coach Adelman for standing up to him.

 

there not, when you have refs cheating you in 2005 and the crappy role players/bench we had outside of yao/mcgrady i'd expect to lose in first round like we did before we actually established a good group of role players.

but mcgrady gone so whatever

 

How men and women consistently fail to remember that fact is beyond my wisdom.

 

Adelman foolishly agreed to let T-Mac guard Carmelo Anthony in a game at Denver. 'Melo started the contest 1-of-6. In the few minutes McGrady spent on him, Anthony heated up en route to 38 points and a Nuggets victory.


In this unfair and inaccurate statement, the author reveals his true agenda

 

I can think of one guy who comes close, he just doesn't have a 3-1 series lead and then lose it, but then his never had a 3-1 series loss he won the last years playoff. His name is Yao Ming and the only reason why i bring this up is because I can't believe you can possibly attribute a 2-0 lead both home and away without blaming Yao and Mcgrady equally

 

Bingo! This is a good article and supports what I think is Morey's ultimate end game - a buyout. Get TMac to waive about $3.5 million of his salary in a buyout, and it gets the Rockets under the luxury tax threshold. This in turn would save the Rockets millions: $7 million in salary plus tax penalty, plus a rebate of several million more when you factor they will become eligible for the proportionate redistribution of the luxury tax revenues the league makes to teams under the threshold.

Come February, right after the trade deadline passes, when TMac is itching to play so that he will have a shot at earning another contract, he will accept a buyout at a reduced salary. It will be a win/win for the Rockets and TMac.