Mcgrady and the questions around him

IF he can come back and mesh, the sky's the limit. We have to give it a chance. He would never get traded until after the season.

 

You know there is something to be said when a member since 2005 has just finally posted his 2nd message on clutchfans. Damn T-mac trade rumors really gets to the heart of some people. Maybe even T-mac

 

I just don't understand why in the hell is Tmac getting blamed for all these problems. The difference in todays rockets and the earlier season rockets is the fact that they are hitting shots when they are open and also the fact that we are now playing more eastern conference teams. so what it comes down to is our schedule has become softer plus rafer and head are playing out of there minds. also even yao is hitting shots that he wasn't hitting earlier this year he is dunking shots that he would normally try and layup. what it comes down to is the fact we as a team are playing better at all postions except for small forward which brings me to my next point. shane is the person that needs to be traded for another wing man who can create his own shot and that doesn't rely on tracy and yao to create a shot for him.
LEAVE TRACY HERE AND GET ANOTHER WING PLEASE I BEG.

mike miller
corey maggete
richard jefferson
ron artest
cuttino mobley

these are a few guys i feel we need to pursue while keeping t mac. if trading shane brings us anyone of these i say do it (except for cuttino). believe it or not this will help the team more than ever just because you do not have people just standing around waiting for tmac and yao to draw a double team

 

Drich can you honestly tell me T-mac doesn't have some major flaws? Maybe you are too young to remember when the Rockets had a true leader that defined who they are? Hakeem we miss you.

 

Shane is the best defensive player in this team. So far, our defense is not as good as last year, but still pretty good. Trading him will leave a huge hole in the defensive end.

 

hope you are still on the board tested911 because i do remember hakeem days do you remember hakeem days before we won the titles they were talking about trading him O YEAH they kept him and won two titles so before you talk or should i say write think about it first because there was talk of him being traded at one time and hakeem had flaws also we just put the right people around him FINALLY

 

shane gets his asss torched more than people see. but i will say this he is our best defensive player but saying that he hurts us more on the offensive end best case scenario for shan is he needs to come of the bench for a team he is not a starter. the only way we can get something back worth anything is letting shane go i really don't think it will hurt us on the defensive as everyone thinks not saying he won't be missed we just are not a good team with him as a starter. artest and maggete play defense so does mike miller

 

Don't talk T-Mac's talent everyday,it's bull****.
Just tell me what he can do,what he is most good at with the most salary.
only sucking jump-shooting?
have no passion to win
bull**** defense
on court ,Rafer has to pass the ball to him ,then everyone be his fans to watch him sole play? it just makes his teammates nothing,he never has Nash's magic

Forget about T ,at least now,OK?

 

I reckon tmac will mesh with the team although many people forgot how unselfish he was and he also handed out many game winning assists and THATS FROM YOUR STAR so he's a smart player. Also this season he really didn't pass because many players werent shooting a high % so he was kinda forced to shoot them

 

Yes, let's keep tmac, he can mesh.

 

"...he (T-Mac) left a certain team and he's coming back to a totally different team...the need for him to take over games on a consistent basis won't be as necessary as it has been in the past. I think he really has to learn to trust the other guys now, that they can get the job done...Whereas in the past he's had to take the team on his back and get the win now he can rely on his teammates to deliver, make plays and get things done..."

--Don Chaney after the Knicks game.

The new team isn't just hitting open shots and playing weaker opposition. This is a different team.

Look, obviously it's not just people on this message board wondering if T-Mac can fit in. Don Chaney is talking about it. Fran Blinebury is talking about it. Pretty much every sports writer in Houston who covers basketball is talking about it. It's a legitimate issue.

 

Dikembe is our best defensive player. Toss up between Battier and Yao for 2nd best defensive player. Not that Yao is a particularly talented defender, but 7'5" is hard to shoot over.

 

we have championship caliber talent. problem is when tmac is playing the whole offense stops and watches, so it negates all the individual talent out there on the court. it's not that players couldn't make shots in the past when tmac wasn't injured, it's just that with the "black hole" known as tmac on offense, none of our players could get rhythm shots. with the exception of maybe shane battier, all of our outside shooters and rhythm shooters.

now with tmac out, everybody is moving around the perimeter, cutting to the basket, and when they do they get the ball in their hands, they're perfectly set up for an in-stride jumper or a drive to the hoop. with tmac in the offense, players would just camp on the perimeter, feet planted, hands out, waiting for the pass to come. all of our players with the exceptions of shane and novak are not spot up shooters.

if only tmac would realize this and set his ego aside and accept a peja stojakovic like role can the rockets fulfill their potential. it's unfortunate that when a player of his immense talent would never minimize portions of his game to benefit his team. i'm not blaming tmac for this. it's strictly human nature to feel this way. no superstar, not even kobe would take parts away from his game to help his team succeed. tmac has seen that he can lead the lowly magic to the playoffs, so he's gonna build from the experience and feel that he can do the same with this rockets team. problem is we have a big man named yao ming and other players that can get it done.

best way for the rockets to win a championship is to suck it up and endure the subsequent PR outcry and trade tmac for a second tier player like a michael redd. it's time to borrow a chapter from the spurs and surround our superstar, yao ming, with players that buy into the system. championships are won with a collective effort not two superstars each jockeying for the ball. kobe was not the same player he was during their dynasty. he was option 2 to shaq's option 1. kobe wasn't a superstar yet when shaq arrived. problem with houston is that tmac is option 1 and yao is option 1a. if we had tmac from his raptors days, we would've gotten past utah.

 

And until T-Mac comes back in and we see the result over a multiple game period nobody will know for sure. Everyone points to the selfishness of T-Mac but from what I recall, except the slacking the last year in Orlando he has always been a team guy. The "its on me" was his attempt to take pressure off the Alston's, Head's, and Howard's of the Rockets. It didnt work, because they still couldnt hit a shot to save their life.

What evidence do we have of T-Mac playing in this Adelman offense. The 6-1 start looked awfully new a majority of the time(compared to the JVG offense). Sure, they were unsure, and it looked a bit slow at times, but heck, they were doing stuff that was foreign to them. But, just because they throw it to Yao in the low post doesnt mean they are running JVG's offense. Its a solid strategy so why wouldn't Adelman make use of that. Yao in the high post is an Adelman thing. How many times did T-Mac get dunks last year?? He almost equaled that during the 6-1 start.

During the losing streak when guys couldnt hit the side of a barn(sound familiar) Adelman went to something more familiar for the guys, and it featured a lot of the T-Mac Iso stuff coupled with the Yao post feeds. That WAS the offense for several games. Then the team would go up and down, win some, lose some and Adelman started integrating it back in. Then T-mac hurts his knee and starts to miss more time all the while Adelman is putting his stuff into the offense.

It all comes together against Denver when T-Mac is out. The team starts to get it, and pushes the Nuggets(who are above them in the standings) to double overtime, including a 7 point final minute to tie the game. T-Mac comes back in against Chicago and the team has their best offensive output of the season, scoring 30 points in each of the last 3 quarters.


Thats the best evidence we have with T-Mac in this offense. I dont know why folks seem to assume that T-Mac wont be able to fit in. Its a question, to which the answer is another question:


Why not??

 

Not for 5'9" Nate Robinson.

 

I do feel that T-Mac is slow to change and has the potential for not changing, but in this case I think he is going to realize, probably already has realized, that this is going to make he game easier for him. Once that settles in and goes into effect, the offense can really be humming.

Yao wants to throw down dunks now. Bonzi and Scola and Hayes and Battier all play physical. Rafer is getting some bite to his game. Head plays full on and Brooks is a cool competitor. Even Mike James has got a good meanness to him. This can be a team that imposes its will on other teams, if T-Mac can fit in. It can win a playoff series, if it gets to the playoffs.

 

I agree with you a 100% I see we trully have some of the dumbest fans in basketball..I am one of the ones who was mad at t mac when we started to lose, but it had nothing to do with him being a sellfish player.t mac is the most unselfish superstar in the leauge if you ask me.the problem I had with t mac is missing freethrows,taking thoes dumb jumpshots in the 4th quarter, not driving to the hole, and also not running the floor on rebounds...I don't understand where this sellfish stuff came from.



the change I notice in the rockets is out is our help defense is better,they are moving the ball around, but they move it to get a lay up instead of open threes all the time.we have a decent back up point guard nowrafer is finsihing thoes tear drops and taking the ball to the hole more.

 

Remember his knee was a lingering issue the last few games he played, then it was aggravated in Detroit on a dunk. His FG% from inside the 3 line is actually pretty good, and with proper elevation he will be hitting more of those when his knee is good.

 

I'm hoping that T-Mac does come back and plug into the system. In fact, I predicted (a little optimistically) that he would and the Rockets will go on a tear. T-Mac isn't coming back to a team where he's got to be part of the difficult process of figuring the system out and getting it to work. There's a system in place, and hopefully he can just plug into it. There have certainly been games this season where the Rockets ran Adelman's offense with T-Mac beautifully (Denver and Chicago) so there's a precedent. Also, I don't care what anyone says, but it sure sounds to me like Alston was sending a not so subtle hint to T-Mac that when he gets back he's going to have to play team ball. I'm guessing that he's going to face a lot of pressure from his teammates to play within the system or face being iso'd.

But I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't sweating a little bit. Charles Barkley, of all people, talked about how in some games the Yao/T-Mac duo looked so good that it was scary. The real tragedy of the Rockets has been that they've only been able to show flashes of being scary good across all the years that Yao and T-Mac have been together. Right now I'm thinking that Adelman and his motion offense, with its emphasis on sharing the ball, represents the best chance for Yao and T-Mac to be that good on a consistent basis and take their teammates along with them for the ride. It looks to me like Yao is playing in the flow of the offense for the first time in his career, and the benefits to team chemistry and morale have been amazing. If T-Mac refuses to play in the system that's it. The Rockets aren't going to get out of the first round, assuming that they can even make the playoffs and T-Mac will be shipped out.

A long time ago Magic said that sometimes Yao and T-Mac reminded him of himself and Kareem. There is that potential. What a huge waste it will be if they never get there and just retire as losers. What a complete waste of potential.