sorry... the back spasms destroyed Tracy's career. He may be somewhat atheletic but before the back problems he was one of the top 5 atheletes in the league. You definately can't say that about him now. He improved his passing since coming to houston but that's really overemphasized by people because the people he passed to in Orlando or either out of the nba or out of rotation. I think He had his most effective years in Houston earlier and mostly Orlando. I just wish alot of people who didn't really watch him that much in Orlando got to see him with all of his atheleticism and his better playmaking now. He still young so he would have still been getting better too. He would have been one of the all time greats if he could have stayed healthy.
He had back spasms well before coming to Houston, and missed games due to it before coming to Houston, and he has not had back problems in a year and a half...his back problems are overstated. He is still a terrific athlete. The thing that has slowed him down a lot more has been the weight he added before the 2005-2006 season. He lost 15lbs this past offseason, and as a result was getting 2 dunks a game at the start of the season, and was giving us the best plays we have seen out of him since 2004-2005. His knee injury and loss of conditioning has killed his stats this season, but he was well on his way to easily his best season as a Rocket before his knee injury. It's not his passing that has gotten better...he has always had that. It's his ability to run a team as a PG/Point-Forward. He now is much better at picking and choosing his own spots, and has become more willing to make the extra pass. He knows how to control the tempo of the game, and hat is something he didn't have in Orlando (specifically before the 2002-2003 season when he was strictly a scorer, even if his assist numbers say otherwise). Depending on what your view of a great player is, he has either become a better overall player or worse as a result of his decreased scoring and increased passing. He is nearing top 50 already...if he puts up a great performance this post season and gets out of the first round, and has a few more 23/6/5 type seasons, he will easily go down as top 40 or so all-time. If he can win a ring or get close, he can even crack top 30.
That would be Norman Smiley. He was a comedic character during the Russo era of WCW, a year or two before the company closed down. He performed a dance after a big move known as the "Big Wiggle." After he joined the "hardcore" division, he was nicknamed "Screamin" Norman Smiley because he was afraid to be hit with weapons. To protect himself, Norman started wearing football helmets and chest protectors and such. Basically, he was a character weird enough to become popular. WCW was so poorly run at the time that wrestlers could pretty much do whatever they wanted. A look at his Wiki tells me Norman has most recently wrestled in Mexico, although the animated .gif above clearly comes from TNA Wrestling...
So, his career is destroyed???? T-Mac has excellent chance of winning a championship in the next two seasons. He's still the best overall player on his team. I dont' know where you guys are getting statement like this one.
Now this is helpful and balanced analysis. Let's make that our aim instead of these blanked overgeneralizations about how T-Mac was a better player in Orlando and his career has been destroyed.
I agree. Of course Tracy's game has changed but damn it went how it usually goes. T-Mac is still of the best guards in the NBA, he is still a superstar. Now he's healthly and he is on the right team, which he can carry. Too bad Yao went down cause now we would have ben real contenders. But this season may also mean something special for him. I really hope he can finally get out of the 1st round this season.
We went from a two-time championship team to being bumped by the hated Jazz. Oops. Keep spinning, AntiMac. It's fun.
Funny how people can only see things the way they want to see them... Hey jackass, while you're trying to get minutes on a Y-League team that scores 20 points in a whole game, McGrady is carrying these Rockets on his back and making big plays in the 4th quarter so that the fans can keep their dreams of success alive THIS season instead of giving up all hope as soon as Ming went down. When you can make a play in the 4th quarter or shut down Nowitzki in a playoff game, maybe then you can talk smack.
yeh - in the same way you 'owned' McGrady by saying that Barkley was playing for a winning Houston franchise (with some Dream guy) while McGrady's career was beginning as a teenager for Toronto. Or the way you owned him by saying that Barkley is a better rebounder than him Or the way you owned him by saying that he guarded Shaq (last I checked McGrady wasn't a post player, so why would he need to man up on Shaq to "prove" himself to you?) 'fraid the belongs to you
definitely, so bring Mike Miller to Houston, thatz the man we need, who is able to make plays for himself and teammates, get the boards and knock down the three. honestly, we dont have a consistent shooter in this team, which hurts our ability to play consistently, you know, we are being stable because of the D not the offense. but when our guys are shooting the ball well on the court, we really beat others with style and look like a real elite team. And if we can play like that consistently, we will shut up every one on this planet. but the thing is we dont have this kind of guy who can shoot consistently, novak does, but he is below average physically. so we need mike miller, who can shoot the ball, defense and rebound. if that happens, and Boby can play like what he did in Sacramento, we can beat anybody. you will see tmac finds open men all night long or beat the his defender on isolation. also, we have the big fellow in the paint.
LMAO i seriously wondering if u seen tmac in orlando.His first step way way faster his jumpers were smooth and his one on one defense was nuts.He is not the same person trust me.He had way more explosion.Just go watch him in 04-05 with the rox(Same form has orlando before injury).He was nuts.
I guess u guys didn't read my previous post.This is how tmac career went. Better player defensive player???LMAO Tmac prime years were 01-05.His back was still a problem those years, but didn't really hinder his play.These days tmac is nowhere near his ol self.He can't finish around the basket like he use to or play defense like he used tn the magics he was a amazing ne on one defender and one year had 100blks and 100 stls.He was a beast.His first year with the roxs (04-05) He was amazing too, but they couldn't get out of the first round even tho in 05 playoffs.Then tmac was hungry for a chip the next season, but back problems made him miss alot of gms.05-06 was a waste and 06-07 he didn't get his back together until the mddle of the season when he visted that doc.He was overweight last season too.This season he loss back the weight got some explosion back and then he had a knee problem.Thats tmac career there
His defense wasn't nuts...it was crap in his Orlando days, specifically as he gained more offensive responsibility around 2002. In Orlando he would easily be beaten off the dribble and get overpowered pretty easily near the rim. Since he joined te Rockets he has done a much better job of not getting beat as easily off the dribble as well as playing better defense around the basket when we put in a small ball lineup and he is forced to play PF's. BTW, his jumpers are still smooth and statistically are roughly as effective as they were in Orlando.
I always thought his numbers went down when he went to Houston because he finally had a legitimate second option in Yao. He no longer had to be the man. This year he started out strong but after comming back from injury he looks a lot slower and his hops are off and on.
No he didn't.He played great one on one defense.LOL Tmac had like 100 blks by a SG/SF is amazing.I think only a few players did that in nba history.He was great.He is still great, but just not has good.
He had only season with more than 1.0BPG with the Magic, and that was his very first season with the Magic when he averaged 1.5BPG (1.0BPG is nothing special from a 6'8'' swingman...at 6'4'' Dwyane Wade, a poor defender, averaged 1.2BPG). Then he still was able to go all-out on defense because he had nothing to do offensively except score. As Armstrong got older, T-mac took on more and more of an important role offensively, and that effort diminished tremendously defensively. He was a poor defender with Orlando, worse than he has been with Houston.
