[PBN] insight into McGrady's desire to "shut it down"

100% agreed. If playing keeps Tracy in shape and doesn't slow his recovery, he needs to keep playing (in a reduced role). When Shane comes back and gets his legs, keep Tracy as a starter and cut his minutes. It could work well for the team if Tracy learns to play within the offense and take fewer shots over an extended period of time.

 

But is that confirmed or is that more speculation on Feigen's part?

 

The thing is, he has gotten progressively worse as the season has gone on. He started the season driving to the basket at will and averaging 8+ FTA's. Now he is not getting to the line, and while his spot-up shooting has been amazing, his overall game just isn't there.

We saw the same thing last year...when he first injured his knee, doctors said that he just needed to play through it despite T-Mac saying he was really hurt. He played through it, re-aggrivated the knee, and was out for nearly a month and played the rest of the season hurt.

Let the man rest, get his mind and body right, and come back with a vengeance.

 

Just want to voice my opinion on the subject. I agree with many posters saying McGrady should just fight it off since many doctors and Adelman believes he should play through it. I believe those doctors and certainly Adelman are right. But i sincerely think that McGrady knows his body more than anyone.

Picture yourself in his shoes. All of us know that this year is pretty much the closest chance Mcgrady has to getting past the first round. I know it, you know it and he definitely knows it. Who cares about the regular season. Battier is back and we have Artest who can substitute for him when he is out. At least he played these 15 games even when he not 100%. He knows seeding is important and that because Battier is out, the team might go in a slump if he does not play. Imagine the hate if he chose not to play these 15 games? he knows his limits and the bbs posters should realize he is not kobe. He knows his skills have declined and judging his way of thinking, he rather save up energy for the playoffs which will decide his fate and legacy. And I was him, I do the same thing.

if the rockets are not going to make the playoffs then we can assess him again but until then, ppl are just hating.

 

He rested all summer, and came into camp out of shape, then skipped the preseason, and is struggling during the regular season.

Now he wants to sit and rest when the problem is his knee is weak because he didn't rehab after minor surgery over 6 months ago?

Fine, let him sit, but WORK HIS ARSE OUT....strengthen that knee, make the rehab so concentrated and mandatory.

Get him healthy....especially between the ears.

And let the rest of the team move on......we can stand to be without him for a while, but not that long, he is a great talent when properly motivated.

DD

 

just something to think about... do you really think that the doctors or the rockets staff would admit that it would be best for t-mac to sit out but that he actually couldn't do that right now because the team needs him to be competitive?


realistically, t-mac's not at 100 % health-wise. that's what we all know for sure. now we also know that the doctors are supposedly saying that this isn't really a problem and he just needs to play through it. i don't think that's a lie. but it's a FACT, though, that "playing through it" can NEVER be the BEST option for t-mac's knee. getting some rest, doing specific workouts and getting some game intensity without playing in actual games is a way better option for sure. but until now, it just wasn't the best option for the rockets, though.

 

Even McGrady at 60% is a must have. He still makes his teammates better and more importantly the defense has to honor him because even hobbled he can bury you if you let him. Its like Texas Tech's run game, they don't dominate with it, they seldom use it, but if the defense refuses to acknowledge it wham, 15yd draw.

 

Do you really believe the Rockets organization would risk their $20 million a year investment to win a few games?

Honestly?

I think they know that Tmac needs to strengthen his knee, and the best way is to work it, not rest it.

That being said....if he has to sit for mental reasons, or whatever...sit him, and work his knee like mad.....get him in some serious rehab.

I would be curious to see how many other NBA players were still experiencing issues on Arthoscopic surgery over 6 months later, recovery time is usually around 12 weeks.

Kobe had it, Brandon Roy had it....who else? Has anyone else taken so long to recover from such minor surgery?

DD

 

He missed over a month of last season with his knee injury, played the entire last month of the season injured with a bum knee and shoulder(shot 35% that month), CARRIED the Rockets to a competitive series against one of the league's hottest teams at the time (Jazz), had TWO surgeries a week afterwards...do you HONESTLY expect him to be going full force in the offseason?

If you read his blog archive, he said he was rehabbing and on the bike everyday, but he wasn't cleared for actual running/agility drills until September, and couldn't participate in contact drills until a few days into training camp.

I still find it hilarious how you think the guy simply slacks off and is lazy about getting himself into shape and treating his injuries. The guy lost 15lbs lost offseason when he didn't have any injuries, and entered last season on fire. This past offseason he had a rash of injuries, the first 2 surgeries of his career, and just came off a season where he played with a ton of injuries yet still helped carry the Rockets to 55 wins and a 6 game series against the Jazz.

On TOP OF ALL THIS, he did what Adelman and the doctors wanted and he has played through these injuries the first month...and he has gotten progressively worse. Do you want him to run himself into the ground like he did after last year's knee injury, or what happens to Yao every year.

Let the man sit.

 

i wouldn't call it a real risk. the doctors said that he has no structural damage and just lacks leg strength. they certainly wouldn't lie about that.

like i said, there is no way that "playing through it" is the best option available. but just getting some rest alone won't get him his strength back, either. it's just that there doesn't happen anything in the games that he couldn't do on his own (especially when he doesn't defend, doesn't jump and just stands around on offense to look for open shots.). that's my point. specific workouts combined with some rest should be a better option for him individually. that should be obvious to everyone.

my opinion: let him take up to 4 weeks off. let him do specific workouts to rebuild the muscles on his leg or get some rest while the team is on the road. let him practice with the team when there are home games. bring him along slowly in limited minutes after his time off.

it'll take him until january but he should be 100 % then.


building muscles and adding strength while playing all the games with not too much rest will be tough. after all, muscles only grow / regenerate when they get enough rest. the (too) long nba season takes a toll on the players' bodies and most players actually loose muscle mass and strength over the course of a season. it's just natural.

so, the bottom line is that i think that t-mac could definitely play through it. but, imho, that wouldn't be the best option available and make it tougher for everyone.

if t-mac has to play the way he's currently playing until next year he'll probably loose all of his confidence in his ability to be a superstar again. that's just the way he is and has to be considered as well.

 

^Nice post. There's no way McGrady can be faulted in what's happened so far.

 

that's just how dadakota is. he has certain images in his mind which can't be destroyed by facts.

so, at least in his world, t-mac is just a lazy p*ssy just like rafer alston is the devil and jvg couldn't coach. but hey, at least v-span is a steve nash in the making.

 

Domanick Davis.....Just saying.

 

DING DING DING. if anything, i don't trust these doctors. tracy knows his body. if he just needs rest to clear his mind and get confidence back mentally with his health, let him do it.

after what the docs did with tracy's knee last yr, i don't think they know much about tracy's health. he needed a witch doctor to cure the back problems, not the team's.

 

he can turn it on. and the team has played with him long enough to know his tendencies.

that's why he knew he had to play to start the season with ron. now ron kinda knows tracy.

 

if it's not hurting him to be out there then i'm for him playing, but i think mentally he doesn't trust the doctors or his own body. He's played through back pain but he's never had major surgery and if he has pain in his knee he may not be too anxious to be out there.

If he needs to be pain-free to be able to comfortably play then let him sit out, but he better be working on cardio and strengthening that leg like nobody's business. I think t-mac gets a bad rap as lazy but he's worked hard to get where he is, he just makes it look easy. I do however feel a bit concerned that he may have slacked slightly due to all the talent we brought around him. if he does miss time, he can't come back being passive, like someone else is going to take care of business for him.

 

I was listening to the Calvin Murphy show and a lady who rode horses for a sport called in. She was talking about how she had the same injury T-Mac has, and that when it was time to rehab the doctors told her that she was going to have to deal with the pain while the cartilage or something else healed, or regrew, or something like that. She also said the doctors advise you go get out there again...and that she is assuming if the doctors say he can go then they are telling him the same things she was told....deal with the pain (for a while) and stop being a broad about it....

I don't know whose side to believe....but I don't see the doc's telling him he can play if he couldn't. maybe if it were football.....

 

I've been saying this since day one for tmac to shut it down till he gets as close to 100% as he can. Tmac is not one of those players who will suck it up and play through the pain every night. He is not like kobe playing through broken ligaments in his finger. His desire to me is not up to par with the greats in our game today like kobe lebron and the others. I'd be lying if i said I was ok with the fact that he is not like them but at the end of the day I just want him to be healthy so he doesn't complain about his injuries and his pain.

 

I think T-Mac has some soul searching to while he sits. He needs to ask himself what he wants to do. Does he want to rehab and get better? Or does he want to just sit and let his team do all the hard work? Those are the questions that T-Mac is going to have to answer. He needs to understand that he is not the same player but can still "impose his will" on games.

We have great talent on our team for us to win without him. There's no questioning about that. The problem is we need him to win in the playoffs. And not jumpshooter T-Mac either. We need him to drive to the basket and draw fouls and dishout.

This next month will tell about how this team is going to go about with this.