yao holds onto the ball a lot when he gets his post up, same with artest (who seems to be holding it forever). how come you aren't bringing those up? watch when artest looks to shoot when hes isoed, he holds onto it more than 5-6 seconds. but he's an iso player.
ThaBlackKnight had a post a while back where he laid out why Yao is a little unique when it comes to the motion offense when he posts up low--he's waiting for the defense to collapse on him. On the other hand if you watch him in the high post he never holds onto the ball for long before getting it to somebody. Artest holds onto the ball for too long. There's no question that he plays the role of ball stopper now. But he's new to the team. T-Mac had all of last year with the same system, the same coach and the same personnel. There's no reason whatsoever for him to be regressing in terms of his mastery of the motion offense.
I don't hear that argument when T-Mac has the worst game, but he wasn't the only reason we lost. T-Mac is not playing perfect. But I don't think he'll play like this the whole season. He'll pick it up. By All-Star break we should be (hopefully) fully healthy with some good chemistry. Will he be a shutdown defender? No. But we have two of them, so as long as T-Mac keeps his man in check once he's healthy enough to, we're good. What's our record without him? Enough said. You take him out of the game for 1:40 and a team like Portland can run up a 7 or 8 point lead and build all the momentum in the world. And whoever mentioned the notion that T-Mac was spoiled in Orlando and still likes to show off and hog the ball in the clutch...that's just stupid. T-Mac will make the right play 9 out of 10 times. That doesn't mean his shot will go in, or the person he passes it to will make it, but that's basketball. You make some, you miss some. But you have to play for the best shot. T-Mac does that 9 out of 10 times when it counts. I agree with theory number 1 out of those 3 the most. Anyways, when the playoffs come around, expect T-Mac to be healthy, and even if he isn't, expect him to be at least out there playing his ass off playing better than anyone on this team. If he has help, he will use it. He will let Yao run wild on opponents. He will feed the hot hand. But if no one shows up to play with him, he will go for (what is his career playoff ppg average? 28? 30? It's the 3rd/4th highest in NBA history if i'm not mistaken) 30 and we will lose. He will score 40 in the elimination game but he will have no help. And we will lose. So as fans we better hope the rest of the team is healthy and shows up. Because i'm willing to bet $100 to the tip jar that T-Mac will.
what are you expecting yao to do? he's not gonna do anything there except wanting to pass. that's not his place to score. we have iso players. if they're going to be isoed in their areas, they're going to see what the defense is doing before they pass. watch kobe. watch MJ. watch wade. watch any scorer (not rip or ray who aren't individual scorers). i'm not blaming artest either. he is holding onto the ball b/c he wants to see if the double is coming; how much congesting there is to decide to shoot a J or post up. that's what you get when you get 3 iso players. now go watch how the pistons is different with iverson as compared to billups. if you want more movement, trade all these 3 guys then.
Agreed Thats actually an empty and irrelevant argument...especially since Artest is now on the team. I guess the Portland game was the 1 out of 10 times. Remember his last show at the end of overtime? He's aware that he's not shooting his jumpers well. Nevertheless, he launched a long 2 pointer. He missed badly and that enabled Portland to run a semi-fast break. Terrible decision.
that was. can't defend him there. he should have driven like the last play (where he got landry the dunk). but again, most of the time ,tracy makes the right play. that's why the ball is always in his hands with 5 minutes to go. but it's encouraging to see others picking up the slack when yao or tracy struggle. scola is beasting, same with landry. brooks hopefully can pick it up again. artest is making his 3s, but i need to see him more in the post. we're winning right now purely on talent despite playing zero defense and no effort on the boards. when we fix those things, we should be ready to go.
OK I agree. We haven't seen this new look team without T-Mac. But If people are going to complain that T-Mac is a ballstopper and etc., well they're going to love Artest. He's much more of a ball stopper and he doesn't have the passing ability T-Mac does and he also chucks up some BAD shots. He's definitely a boost, but I still think this team will suffer when T-Mac doesn't play. I also think the shot against Portland (if you're referencing the one I'm thinking of) wasn't that bad a shot. He was iso-ed with Aldridge and he was feeling it. No one else had the hot hand, and the defense would straight up collapse if he drove in. He got a pretty open jumper well within his range it just didn't go in. I still think it was the best shot. At that point, Yao hadn't made any range shots and Artest wasn't playing too well either. Landry doesn't have enough range to spread the D and the only other option was Brooks. I believe McGrady made the right play. The shot just didn't go in.
Unreal. T-Mac was the biggest reason they even had a chance to win that game and this is what you focus on after the game. I'll agree I think he's a better player when he drives to the basket and takes more mid range shots, but this criticism is absurd. People make mistakes, it's called being human. For example, if Roy doesn't hit that shot, he would be criticized for a terrible shooting game. Since he did, it's water under the bridge. Honestly, other than the stretch at the end of last season without Yao, T-Mac is playing some of his best ball this season in a long time. He's attacking the basket much more, and not taking as many difficult shots. That's the T-Mac that I want to see on a nightly basis. Not to mention he's looking to get others going first which is the sign of a great playmaker.
I made this thread not to blame T-Mac at all (he's actually my favorite player) and came up with what I thought were some objective reasons why we come up short when he has good games this season. I figured I'd try to spark some conversation other than TRADE T-MAC, TRADE YAO, etc. but appearently it went over most people's heads as you guys think I am blaming him. I honestly think that if we had Dikembe playing instead of Yao in the two games we lost, we would be 6-0 (I'm sure that comment will drop this to one star). But real talk, had Yao of made his point blank shots, or had he of played better D and rebounded, we would have won. All things Deke would have done. That said, this thread is about Tracy and how his injury has affected his game. Because he's injured he has to pick his spots, choose when to drive and when to rely on the jumper (which makes perfect sense). He takes over when the others are struggling, but the problem is he comes up a little short, because literally no one can help him and he's injured. Those are the reasons why we lose. The reasons why we WIN when he plays poorly, is that he doesn't dominate the offense. He is content jacking up 5 shots instead of 50 and having his stats suffer for the good of the team. If the Overall, I think T-Mac has done a great job given his limitations, but again, this board is so polarizing that they see the title and think I'm blaming McGrady when I'm not. So in conclusion, if the others are on, and his jumper is off, he's content to contribute in other ways, get others going, sit it out, etc. for the good of the team resulting in a win. When everyone else is off, that's when he decides to put his body on the line and go all out. However, noone steps up and helps him (i.e. Yao) and it results in a loss. Finally, this thread is just about the interesting trend in the few games we've played this season and was made as an alternative to "TRADE XXX". Seriously, I'm just trying to have a basketball conversation about the team and players I love. To the "you need to watch more" crowd, I'm a Chicago resident, but have had league pass the past three seasons just for this team and have seen every game, so I don't know what to say. I think I'm done here. 1-star this thread some more, call me a T-Mac hater without reading, bring up seasons past when the thread is regarding this season, etc.
no streets, nobody is calling you a tmac hater. you're just blaming the wrong things. we lost in those 2 games where tmac went off not b/c of offense really, but b/c of defense and rebounding. you're just pointing at the wrong things. scola and brooks went off in those 2 games to help tracy out so he does have help. we're so deep that we don't have to have our big 3 go off for us to win. we should have won those 2 games if we play fundamental rocket basketball: defend and rebound. that's the things i hope we all get. the reasons for our struggle right now is moreso b/c of the defensive end, not the offensive end.
Billups (and let us not forget Prince was part of the deal) would have made the team better. I wonder if we could have suckered the Nuggets into giving us Iverson for McGrady.
pistons lost their first game with iverson. devin harris put up 38 pts on him. tracy is bad on D now, you want iverson to start with rafer? lol, do you even really care for the rockets?
Well considering the only other major events have been the Astros getting rolled in the World Series and Hurricanes Rita and Ike...
Last year was not "Adelman's" offense. It was JVG's offense with one or two Adelman wrinkles (more use of iso's on the elbow for T-Mac, more Yao in the high post). The offense we ran when we were on the 22-game win streak was put T-Mac at the top of the key with the ball in his hands, let him come over the top of a pick and dish out to a 3pt shooter. Right now, with Battier hurt and Alston struggling, and T-Mac's inability to get over picks as quickly, the offense simply can't be the same.
Good post OP. Unselfishness is the key reason why we can win when he's bad. He knows he doesn't have to carry the load anymore. You can see it the way he plays.
For the record, the game against the celtics and the blazers we played alotttttttttttttt better then what we played against the clippers. the only reason we beat the clippers was landry and the clippers are probaly the worst team in the league.
Before offering your input, how about you read the other posts first. That way, you'll know what other people are talking about. I was responding to an assertion that McGrady makes the right decision 9 out of 10 times.
T-Mac and Yao are two great hall of fame players. Do we really need to tear them both apart while on the path to recovery? T-Mac is clearly not right. He is getting NO elevation and has NO lateral quickness. That WILL all change. He is not that bad on defense and when healthy he can be a dominant defender. Don't forget that he shut down Dirk in the playoffs! If we do make it to the finals I have a strong inclination that he will ask to defend KG. Ron does not have the height or length to do this, but McGrady does. Yao is clearly in a bad place mentally. He too will shake off the rust as he maintains his health and gains confidence in this offense and his game. We are a mere six games into the season and you all seem hell bent on criticizing this team, OUR TEAM, for every and any fault. Leave the hating for the critics and our rivals. This is a team that should be embraced by all board members. I don't care if you are a Yao only fan, or a McGrady only fan. This is a team. This is our team. Once we regain our health, and some of our 22 win chemistry, we will take off to newfound heights. Again, this is a VERY special season, so enjoy the process and stop hating on individual players.
