http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/1100955840155870.xml McGrady's new identity As a Rocket, he must adapt to playing with Yao Ming, so far with limited success Sunday, November 21, 2004 JIM BESEDA HOUSTON When two-time NBA scoring champion Tracy McGrady joined Yao Ming in Houston this season, the Rockets seemed primed to become one of the NBA's powers. So far, the two haven't meshed, sometimes looking as if they still are trying to figure out whether their games can be complementary. And the Rockets, who make the second stop on a four-game trip today when they face the Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden, have been mediocre at best. That wasn't what the Rockets had in mind when they acquired McGrady four months ago from the Orlando Magic. "I've got a different role, offensively and defensively," McGrady said. "It's a role that is a challenge for me, and it's a different challenge from anything I've taken on in my career." If the 7-foot-6 Yao, 24, is the first option in the Rockets' inside-out offense, then the 6-8 McGrady, 25, is option 1A. "Tracy came from a team last year where everything was run through him, and he realizes how hard that is, and how hard that is to be successful over a period of time," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "It's not about one guy here. Tracy has to be assertive, and he has been. But not at the expense of forgetting Yao." McGrady, who made the jump from high school to the pros eight years ago, never had played alongside a dominant center before this season. He said the best starting centers he played with during his first seven NBA seasons were Antonio Davis in Toronto and Michael Doleac in Orlando, but neither can do what Yao can do around the basket. And McGrady is enjoying playing with Yao. "You know what? It's great," McGrady said. "It's an honor, because he draws so much attention out on the floor. That opens up the perimeter for me and makes the game easier for everybody on our team." McGrady dismisses the comparisons being made between the Rockets' new All-Star tandem and some of the NBA's greatest duos. "Now, we're not going to be the next Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal," McGrady said. "We're not going to be the next Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. Those guys won multiple championships. Neither one of us has been out of the first round yet. "We're just trying to establish our own identity. I think once we gel together, we can be great, but we've still got a long ways to go. Right now, I'm not where I want to be, and I don't think Yao is where he wants to be, but it's only the beginning of the season. It's going to continue to get better." After Thursday's 93-92 loss at home to New York, Yao said it's not only he and McGrady who aren't clicking -- it's everybody on the team. "I don't know," Yao said. "Sometimes in the same game, the first five minutes we look good, and the next five minutes we look like we've never met before. I don't know. That's all I can say." McGrady said: "You don't build a dynasty or a legacy overnight. It's going to take some time." The Rockets are 5-6 after a 91-86 over time win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday. Most of their early-season woes have had more to with shaky defense, careless turnovers, too few rebounds and too many fourth-quarter fouls occurring 94 feet from the basket than potential star power. And it's not one or two players making mistakes. It's everybody, including McGrady and Yao. "Let's face it, I think we have to find out about the personality of our team," Van Gundy said. "Do we have enough fight? Do we have enough fire? That's not them. That's a team thing. Every team has a certain personality. Who we are, I'm not sure. "Our personality is heavily reliant on those two guys. At the same time, that doesn't say that the other guys aren't important. Obviously they are. How they move it, how they screen, how they shoot open shots -- those all are important things." Tough to leave home McGrady said it wasn't easy for him to leave his hometown of Orlando. "Home is always going to be home, no matter what the situation is," said McGrady, who signed a three-year, $63 million contract extension three weeks ago that could keep him with the Rockets through the 2009-10 season. "It was pretty sad when everything went down, but there come times in life when you've got to move on. The change is good for me." Clearly, McGrady had grown disenchanted as the solo act in Orlando. Even after he averaged 28.0 points a game last season to win his second consecutive league scoring title, he wasn't happy with the direction the Magic seemed to be heading after finishing a league-worst 21-61 and missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season. Fearing that McGrady would opt out of his contract after the 2004-05 season, Orlando decided to trade the four-time Eastern Conference All-Star. Apparently, the Magic, unable to get a commitment from McGrady, didn't want to risk losing another star player to free agency as it did when O'Neal left Orlando for the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 1996. So on June 29, the Magic sent McGrady, who still had three years remaining on his contract, to Houston as part of a seven-player deal that brought Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato to Orlando. Former Orlando general manager John Gabriel, who was demoted by the Magic and made a consultant near the end of last season, insists the team was a year away from having enough resources to get the franchise -- with McGrady -- back on its feet. "They elected to go another way, and maybe everybody needed a change of scenery," said Gabriel, now an East Coast scout for the Blazers. "But Tracy, he never stopped giving his all until the last game he played. "Was he disillusioned? I think the losses wore on him. I can see how it would. And did we depend on him beyond reasonable expectations? Probably so. We had run out of rebuilding plans. We were coming into one, but at that point it really wasn't up to me whether he was a part of it. It was up to the current group to decide to do it another way, minus Tracy." One of the league's best Gabriel considers McGrady one of the five best players in the league, putting him in a class with Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Bryant and O'Neal. "If you asked the question, 'Who would you want to start a team with?' I wouldn't have a lot of hesitation," Gabriel said. "Tracy would be my guy. "The Rockets clearly have two of the best young players in the league, and at two of the most integral positions needed on the team. There isn't anybody who wouldn't trade for that. We're all out to find ones that are as good as Mac and as big as Yao." McGrady averaged 28.1 points during his four seasons in Orlando, but the Rockets don't expect him to put up similar numbers for them, because that's not what they want. That's not to say McGrady won't take over a game from time to time, but the Rockets want him to be more of an all-around player, especially on defense. "It's not so much about me going out and trying to put up 40 or 50 points; it's not about that anymore," McGrady said. "I found myself in Orlando getting caught up in becoming an offensive machine, because that's what I had to do. If I didn't go out and score 30 or 40 points, we didn't win. So I got caught up in the scoring offense and relaxing on the defensive end. "That's not going to happen, because we play through Yao here, and there are going to be nights when I'll probably only score about 15 points. But I think it's on the other end -- on defense -- that really counts. That's what is really going to help my team win ballgames." Impact still uncertain Van Gundy scoffs at the rush to judgment. "I know everybody wants to make some type of statement, and it's just impossible right now," Van Gundy said. "Whether it's, 'Who won the trade?' or, 'Who lost the trade?' or, 'Has he bought in?' or, 'Hasn't he bought in?' we all know everybody is getting ready to blame. That's just how it is. But I'm not going to be a part of it, really. I'm just going to take my time. I think he's going to have a great career here, and I'm not going to get into all the hyperbole." Ultimately, the McGrady-Yao union will be judged by how Houston does in the playoffs, assuming the Rockets make it that far. "The one thing I think people do is they try to evaluate Tracy and Yao every day," Van Gundy said. "And that's a part of it, but it's also how the team functions. If Tracy drives and kicks the ball to somebody else and we miss, someone will say, 'Oh, he doesn't want to take a big shot.' Then if he takes the shot when other guys are open, it will be, 'See, he's selfish.' "So, unless we win, we all lose. That's just how it is."
I love Tmac but im still not seeing the hungry Tmac from Orlando of 2-4 yrs ago. Im just not seeing any fire yet from this guy, hopefully it will soon come.