It's fun seeing these guys try to debate you. In their haste to find something to make you look stupid, they wind up completely lost, out of their depth, and on fruitless tangents.
Throw me in with the people that have had enough of the excuses, injuries, whinging and stuff and think its time for T mac to put up or shut up. Our team has a history of players who weren't meant to do anything, they weren't even meant to make the final roster, and they pushed themselves beyond their ability, played with heart and did more than they ever had any right to do. You can tell a true Rockets fan by the way they look at second round draft picks and wonder if this is going to be the next guy to come out of no where and play like a star for us. In comparison, T Mac has it all. Size, speed, athleticism. He has a great supporting cast, he has had the coaches, he has had the owners willing to do what it takes to win. T Mac has been that great NBA player that everyone has waited for to be great. Players with less ability have been put in worse situations and got the job done, and after all these years, this coming season is make or break for T macs entire career. To people that want to defend him, ask yourself this. What more does he need? What more can any club possibly do to give a player the chance to show he is a real winner? As Rockets fans we like to get on the case of our rivals in the Western Conference. We will talk trash about others players when we see the need. But the fact is some opposition players who's name is dirt have proven they can lead a team better than T Mac. I hate that fact, especially for the Rockets! We're the club that wins on the back of hard work and in the fact of a national media that never believes we have what it takes. The sad fact is that up until now, the media has been spot on. Sure, there is plenty of blame to go around, but you tell me how many star players who can put up 25+ppg would honestly say they just haven't had the right opportunity to win on a team like T Mac has been a part of. There are lesser players around the league right now who fully expect to advance past the first round of the playoffs next season. Its time for T Mac to put up or shut up. If he cant get it done this season, ship his ar$e to Memphis where he can throw up great stats and be a non factor for the rest of his career.
I get the frustration. But what annoys me is this presumption that if the Rockets aren't successful in the playoffs, it has to be T-Mac's fault. Should we expect him to "get it done" if Battier never recovers from his ankle problems, if Yao gets injured again for half a season, and/or Artest completely flakes out? Isn't it possible that T-Mac does his job, but some others do not, and that's why we fail this year? I don't have a problem with pinning some blame on McGrady. But responsibility/blame should be in proportion to how each player underperforms what he is expected to bring. Instead, what I see too often is all the blame is given to McGrady with little mention of anyone else. That, to me, is simply not fair.
What are you talking about? You can only blame T-Mac for one serious and thats the 06/07 against the Jazz. In Toronto he wasn't even the best player yet , In Orlando are you for real? His supporting cast was , starters:Jacque Vaughn , Andrew Declerq , rookies Drew Gooder and Gordan Giricek. Off the bench they had , washed up Armstrong and Kemp , Steven Hunter , Pat Burke and Jeryl Sasser. Against Dallas we were missing Howard who was our starting pg , Yao still wasn't as good as he is now and we had bull**** refs. Also that Dallas team was just better. Last year we were missing Yao , our starting pg missed half of the series , and our 2 important guards off the bench shot below 20% from the floor together. It's reasonable to balme him for the 06/07 series , even though Head and Howard gave us zero production off the bench , we had a game were only 4 players scored. If T-Mac shot a higher % maybe we would have won , he was very good but not great like we needed him to. If you blame him for that series I understand , blaming him for any other series is idiotic imo.
The "no excuses" attitude some fans have really get on my nerves. They have an urge to assign blame, but they are unwilling to really examine things closely and understand what went wrong. You forgot to mention, for last year, that McGrady and others had to have surgery immediately after the playoffs. That team had no business playing competitively against the Jazz.
Fairness is over. Fairness ended years ago for T Mac. You can go on and on about this player being injured, that player not being at his best.....the fact is..... Look, Allan Iverson took the 76ers to the NBA finals with a supporting cast that couldn't beat a high school team! Under sized, having to be the scorer and the play maker, in a market that hates the team even when they love it, playing with team mates who all went on to become bench warmers......he carried that team. What does T Mac need? Its not just here in Houston, this is a career thing. This isn't a slump or a statistical anomaly, this is a marker for his entire career. The fact that the only guy anyone can even compare him to is SAR say it all. SAR put up nice numbers, ended up being a so-so player and only late in his career did he actually win in the playoffs. T Mac is ten steps up the ladder from SAR and yet he has achieved even less with better teams around him! So you can talk about injuries and poor team mates and stuff, but the fact is superstars dont win first round playoff series with an all star supporting cast, all of whom are healthy and all of whom are scoring 30ppg. If T Mac needs someone to carry his sorry ar$e to a win, then trade him now. I'll take my chances with Yao, Artest and anyone willing to play through a few aches and pains.
Tell me one great player in the NBA who has achieved with their slogan being "Excuses....I come with a list".
How about health of the other key players. If Yao goes down in the playoffs again (God forbid!) will you still blame TMac for not getting it done again? Honestly, do you really think it was TMac's fault that we couldn't beat the Jazz last time?
Dude, we're not even talking about championships... just give us a second round appearance for Pete's sake.
You answer my question first: if McGrady does his job, but other guys on the team do not, is he to blame if we can't get past the first round? If your respond "Yes", then we're so far apart on this issue no further discussion is necessary.
From what i saw nitro gave him an ass whooping for the ages. he stopped replying to him after he got put into his place. and you're a sadistic clown.
if we do not get out of the frst round this year, tmac MUST go, moreso for the change. hell, if we're healthy and we don't get to the WCF, i'll look to trade tmac too. but the funny thing is: yao is only a year younger than tracy. he hasn't even dominated ONE playoff series or a stretch of playoff games. he hasn't looked superhumn in any playoff game he has played in. and yet, nobody is saying anything. and he's the one supposed to be on the upside. and yet, most analysts still believe we go as far as tracy will take us, even with yao healthy and artest here. again, i have ZERO problems with guys like tinman criticizing tracy b/c his criticisms are valid. tmac has not won or done much in the playoffs in terms of wins. but at least he admits tmac doesn't "suck" or "doesn't try" in the playoffs like antisonic claims.
The thing is tracy is the best player on our team., he is the most talented and is the best. so people will allways be more critical on him then on yao. but the hippocracy by yao only fand like wekko is staggaring.
Hey,if I do not lose memory,I think that year Iverson had the Bset coach Larry Brown ,Defensive Player of the Year All-Defensive (1st) All-NBA (2nd) Mutombo (13.9pts + 13.7reb +3.1blk in playoffs)( who we all have seen in forty years old he could do what and t-mac with him could do what when Jan 07,no Yao ),the best sixth man of the Year Aaron McKie (14.6pts + 5.2reb + 5.3ast +1.5stl in playoffs) ,and Eric Snow (9.7pts + 3.7reb + 4.5ast +1.2stl in playoffs) etc..I'm not to say Iverson had a good team but just to say his team that year wasn't that "scrubs" that couldn't beat a high school team. Even I'm a Iverson fan,I never say this! For the peoples who are use to blame all on one man,then they certainly tend to over glorify one guy and forget all others right? P.Personal heroism.
