didn't we have this discussion at the beginning of LAST YEAR when everyone and himself thought he lost 2-3 steps and will never be great again? but oh, what happened when he kinda got in shape last yr? what happened when he was in shape to start THIS YEAR? oh, he was dominant as ever again. it's the damn injuries. that's why the rest from the ASB will be crucial. some of you need to look at tmac objectively for god sakes. i remember some ppl saying dwade was done when he struggled for 20 games after coming back from his shoulder injuries this yr. but oh, it's b/c of the INJURIES.
I think Tracy has one of the most unique bodies in the NBA. A 6'9'' guard that could move like McGrady did in Orlando is RARE. Never seen a player that tall with such athletic ability. Maybe Magic? That being said, it must take more of a toll on his knees to keep trying to make that body cut around defenses than let's say a 6'5" guard. I don't know , just my theory.
Maybe I missed something, but didn't he have 9 asst? I mean if the guy shot isn't falling, at least he does other things. Isn't that what good players do?
Man,life is getting tough here. Not only fans are easy to get mad at players, they also get heat up quickly over any issue among themselve. OP just stats his opinion, and I see he was trying to be carful in wording not to get flamed yet he get this. Other than the "cartlidge" thing, I do not see much wrong with his post. I would not give it a 5 stars, but I think it is above average. It is true "Both, along with the rest of the team, have to change their game to fit together. It's not just a quick one man fix and an automatic bid to the finals". But the key here is more about Tmac changing his play and fitting into the system, not the other way around.
McGrady doesnt turn 29 until end of May. So we're not celebrating his birthday during the season. How come Luther doesn't get bashed for holding onto the ball like he ALWAYS does? McGrady himself does need to move better without the ball, instead of all other players moving around for him. I dont think he's entitled to "move around effortlessly" and be granted a "superstar swagger". He should involve himself physically like everyone else does. But its not like Kobe or Lebron as soon as they catch the ball it takes .2 seconds to start dribbling and they make a play with the ball within 2.7 seconds.
That was supposed to be a little joke. Seriously, somebody told me that they heard someone chewing ice right behind them. Then they turned around and realized it was just T-Mac walking past them in the hall. See, the bones in his knees were rubbing against each other and...ah, never mind. /joke I don't think T-Mac has reached the Chris Webber stage but I'd be willing to bet Vegas dollars that he does have less cartilage in his knees than a normal 29 year old. I also think it's undeniable that he's reached the point in his life where his physical gifts start to diminish. Hell, he probably hit that mark a year or two ago. When the physical game starts to diminish it has to be replaced by something, it has to be compensated by something else. What can that be except for intelligence, craftiness, whatever you want to call it? T-Mac could prolong his career by changing his game. I'm not the only poster here to wonder if he's in denial about what he can do now. As it stands now it doesn't look to me like he's aging gracefully. He's more Bette Davis now than Katherine Hepburn.
Players can lose two or three steps and still be great. How many great players do you know who stayed in the league until they were in their thirties and still had a huge impact on the game? But it's undeniable that T-Mac has lost that two or three steps. He's been in the league for a long time now and his body's got a lot of wear and tear on it. His injuries are just the symptoms of that underlying problem. The injuries will get better but the wear and tear is forever, at least until someone pioneers total joint replacement surgery for athletes. My point would be that T-Mac isn't going anywhere. I don't think he's going to be traded by the deadline. There's a good chance that he'll still be in Houston next year. I think he would help himself and his team immeasurably by making the small changes that great athletes do when they realize they're getting older and they need to compensate for the diminishment of their physical gifts. Because when I look at him play I wonder sometimes if he's not trying to prove to himself that he can still ball like he did when he was 22.
Asking to play at a high level every night while nursing a sore knee won't do him any good especially now that he's coming off the bench. Yes he shows glimps of his old self...only when he needs to. Can't stand YOF making these kind of thread ...funny that it happens right after Yao having a bad game, coincidence? Likewise for the TOF too.
Jordan, Shaq (till recently), Kidd, Duncan, Ginobili, etc , etc. I can do more research later on but too lazy for right now.
And Yao had 12 rebounds this game too, according to you is this also what good players do? Oh wait, no, you said he sucked against Foster. Well at least Tmac played defense...no wait he didn't he gave up more open looks than anyone, took a face poke as an eye poke and reacted like a pansy allowing his many to break away for the score. Did you even watch the games? or is Tmac's nutsac that far down your throat? Face it, both our stars were underwhelming tonight. One has been a consistent problem to our chemistry all season, and that's the one you're defending at all costs. Do you even care about the team? Why don't you just wait until we play the Suns again, so you can come and bash Yao for not being like a prime Shaq and putting up 36 and 19.
I rewatched yesterday's game, and it looked to me like McGrady was playing within the offense pretty well. He was attacking more than he did against Utah, and giving up the ball quickly for side-to-side ball movement. He didn't have a great shooting game, but I thought we were running our offense with him on the court about as well as can be expected. He's not an elite finisher around the basket. He doesn't have the explosiveness off the dribble that a Kobe or LeBron has, and he doesn't change directions with ball like them either. I think we just have to accept him for what he is. I mean, the guy is still pretty good.
I'd agree. The whole reason I started this thread is I went back and rewatched the game on FF. It looked to me like T-Mac was doing a pretty good job of playing within the offense. And he still went 6 of 19. He jacked up his normal quota of contested jumpers, but a lot of his shots involved open looks at the basket. The knees aren't there. I hate to state the obvious, but he needs to move closer to the damn rim.
If ur going to quote me,get it right. I said yao and tracy played substandard,but the team won. Unlike some of you that judge a player by pts, I look a the whole game. Yao played ok, but how many offensive rebounds did foster beat yao to? That's why I said he was below par. Tracy was sub par also with his lack of defense till the end. The rox won, so it doesn't matter. I didn't start a thread about a player. Get ur facts together 1st.
Actually he was well below his quota. He took 3 maybe 4, and usually he takes 7 or 8. Wonder if mixing it up more with the drives and J's would make the defense tougher on him. He seems to be a bit predictable. Its like, he is more likely to do what he did last time. If he drove last time, he is more likely to drive this time. If he shot a J last time, he is more likely to shoot a J this time.
I think he needs to turn into a scoring machine, and to do that he needs to be closer to the basket. Let Alston run the offense and let T-Mac sink bucket after bucket after bucket. Not only is it an easier jump shot but starting a drive from 15 feet out gives the defense almost no time to react and collapse. I'm getting a wee bit tired of seeing him get it out past the three point line all the time. Let's see that 6 of 19 turn into 12 of 19.
i think u forget that how tough it takes to score. when tmac was healthy earlier in the season, he was the scoring machine and was the ONLY guy running the adelman's system. he rarely held the ball, came off screens, iso at the triple threat -> we saw more dunks in the first 7 games than the past 2 years combined. tracy's injured right now. his knees have limited what he can do. when he feels around 85-90%, he'll score much much better. he just needs to get healthy. that's the main thing with tracy. if he's healthy (at least 90%), he's as good as there is outside of kobe and lebron in terms of perimeter players.
