i agree with everything you said and my attitude towards t-mac is going the same direction yours is. interesting and well written article though. the fg% vs. % of shots taken comparisons are pretty glaring.
Well, he is sorta the problem with the offense in a way. Because most of the time, he is the offense. Take him away and suddenly the starting 5 and the other players that have been with him the longest are like chicken without heads. Battier definitely feeds off of TMac. Same with Rafer, same with Hayes. Bonzi isn't as affected cause he can create his own shots, Scola he's too new to be used to TMac's tendencies. I was hoping this team would become more fluid and players just cut and react, everybody knows what do and where to be at on offense under Adelman. Obviously that isn't happening. I blame the other players for not picking up the offense fast enough therefore TMac still thinks he has to create and improvise his won shots at times, and I blame TMac for trying to do too much resulting in bad shots and others not getting involved (yeah its an unfair blame). Yao, I blame him for missing too many gimmies and fumbling the ball too many times.
agree w/ the article completely. tracy has the 2nd highest usage rate when he should be working off the ball instead playing one on one all the time
That had to be one of the worst posts i have ever read.. Have you played in a basketball team?.. Ok let me rephrase that.. When you're at the State Championship & National Championship game - you do not rebel when a bench player is brought in. You do not bully and treat the guy on a scholarship who you're unfamiliar with, just because he isn't the usual face you see running the lanes with you. In EVERY circumstance, when the game is in the balance and a substitution is made - you don't hang your head and dread the new guy coming in. Because - if you have any bit of intelligence (which from your post proves you dont) you realise this guy must be good. So a good player, with fresh legs - is coming in to HELP US.. ... Have you ever thought, it's because Mike James HASNT HELPED - that he's on the bench? And not some McGrady+Ming lead conspiracy?.. Heck - he helped us get through the 05 season and to game 7 against Dallas.. So what if he had a few run ins with guys? I have played for 7 straight years with a person i absolutely loath - we both are the same height, he is a shooting guard while i play the point - he wants EVERY shot, but doesn't want me dribbling the ball and distributing it to him. We hate each other. But we keep our mouth shut on the court and we make it work. It's what teams do.. Your conspiracy theory is utter lunacy and i think i become dumber even reading it through
I can't believe people are knocking his FG %, yet using a guy like Kobe as a person that is what he should be like...people, T-Mac is shooting only 1 % less from the field and 1% less from 3. Bron is shooting only 2% better from the field, and 2% worse from 3. Then they forget about guys like AI, who brought his team to the Finals while dominating the ball even more than T-Mac and shooting 40% or below. People, T-Mac is shooting by far his best FG % since joining the Rockets, and best 3pt % as well. He already had 3 40pt games on the season, and could easily have 4-6 (he only had 3 all last year). The guy had his first triple double as a Rocket this year. The team, despite the toughest record in the league, road games and a new coach, is 12-9 with T-Mac in the lineup, and probably would be a better record if he played those games vs SA and LA, which were both very winnable. The team won 52 games last year with him having the highest usage rating in the league and being the guy to run the offense and be the #1 scorer. Lay off T-Mac already.
Excellent article. Very true too. We have all sorts of people who say that with TMac, you take the bad with the good. I say (along with a lot of other posters), why not teach TMac not to chuck, no to settle for bad shots. If TMac gets his shooting percentage to something closer to 50% and not shoot quite as much (as in not early in the shot clock but work the offense a little), then we are a much better team. Many, including TMac, don't understand that. It is just simple math and simple basketball.
All about how Adelman uses him. When you run him off the high pick and roll and make him take the ball up the floor, that gives him less driving lanes and promotes bad shots. When you put him on the wing in an iso/postup, he has been impossible to guard when not doubled. That positiong is the main reason why his FG % is the best since joining the Rockets, as JVG rarely used him there.
Tracy, just like everybody else, is having to learn Adelman's offense. Adelman's offense is predicated on 5 guys all trusting each other to continue to move and to continue to move the basketball. McGrady has NEVER had that in his career. He's always had to be the guy to start and finish everything. His basketball mentality is wrapped up in thinking he's either got to make THE SHOT or THE PASS. That is the part of his game that has got to go. That is what causes the 6 second hesitation with 4 up fakes and pivot spins before he takes off and tries to do something with the ball. He has had 8 years of having to make the play. McGrady and mates all have to go to the next level in ball sharing, passing, and moving. When McGrady and the other 4 guys on the floor commit to that, our offense is gonna sing, big time. My only worry is how long is it going to take and how porous is our defense going to become.
It's amazing to me. I've had a chance to watch a few of the games this year and one thing seems clear. When Tracy and Yao receive the ball, the rest of the team seems to stand back and watch as their defender moves over to help out against these two. Almost as if their at home watching TV. This reminds me of the early years with Akeem. When two and three people are standing in front of you with their hands outstretched, it's hard to find an open guy. Basketball 101: when your man leaves you alone, you either cut to the basket, or find an open spot for your teammates to find you with a pass. I rarely see a Rocket left open cut to the basket. Yes, Tracy is a streak shooter not a pure shooter. There are only a few of these such talented players in the NBA. Tracy's assist ratio would be higher if the players he passed to hit their shots. The only difference in the game where Tracy had a triple double and the other games were players hitting their shots and actually moving around....motion. It actually seemed to become contagious (sic). The players actually looked like they were having a good time. It amazes me that this organizations management have known they've needed a (pure) shooter for years to make players pay for double teams. But they continue to pick up marginal shooters, who when they miss a few shots, get gun shy. It's not Tracy's or Yao's fault that their team-mates stand around....neither is it the coaches job to motivate. Those high dollar contracts should be motivation enough. In the end, this team is still and has been another player away from being able to contend with the Spurs and Suns. Unfortunately Van Gundy bought into the "We have to win this year" mentality, and we squandered a few very good first round draft positions to get "Role Players".
Some of it rings true to me, but I'm far more optimistic. We can make some progress this year if we buckle down and work at it
You said nothing significance or importance.It's not a conspiracy it's a condition it's habits that these guys have to break. Their minds are geared to play a certain way and they have to unlearn these methods inorder to adopt a new philosophy to grow as players and as a Team.
Good article. JVG definitely emphasize that last year by asking Tmac to run offense more than scoring. It was inside-out, PnR, screen. Unfortunately we didn't have Bonzi, Scola, or anyone can step up consistently. For us to go far this year, this team has to find ways to get other players involve more on offense consistently. Lesson from last year was it takes 5 to win against good team.
If TMac could limit himself to just 15 shots a game so we can get just one other guy (Bonzi, Francis, or whoever) 13-14 shots a game, this team would be a lot better. We don't need a balanced scoring attack or a smooth offense. We just need 3 guys who can score consistently. As long as TMac is jacking up 20 shots, we'll never get that much coveted 'third' guy.
A perfect example of why T-Mac pisses me off to no end, is the shot he took wednesday night when it was 79-77. Detroit was in the bonus and he settles for an open 18-20 foot jumper(not bad but a shot he can get anytime he wants), instead of using his athletic ability and smarts to attack the rim and get a foul from an official which he could definitely draw.
according to what? LeBron's proven it by his stats. LeBron's teammates suck 10 times worst than the Rockets supporting cast. You mean to tell me if it was Tmac last year on that Cleveland team, they would have gotten past Detroit???? what if LeBron was on that JVG team last year??? I know Lebron would grabbed a board or steal or done something else besides jacking up shots to help his team.
