CHRON: DWade understands what Tracy is going through!

Perhaps you have heard this story.

The NBA star who played when he was injured.

He played on a bad knee that needed surgery. He played with an injured shoulder that needed surgery.

He put those off to help his team make a playoff run. It lost in the first round.

After the playoff defeat, he had the surgeries. His shoulder was still sore sometimes and his knee wasn’t ready when the next training camp began five months later.

When doctors cleared him to play, he was in and out of the lineup. He couldn’t commit to practice — he basically sat out every practice in December — let alone games. He struggled to make it to back-to-back games.

His mind wrote checks that his body couldn’t cash. The lightness in his feet was there some nights; he was grounded on others.

He should have shut it down — as in stop playing in NBA games, not stop working out — to get healthy. That’s what Tracy McGrady is doing.

But that story isn’t just McGrady’s, it is also Dwyane Wade’s, who a year ago was in the situation McGrady is in now.

Eventually, the dynamic Heat guard did shut it down in 2008 – for the season (in March).

“I definitely would have done it differently now,” Wade said after the Heat finished practice Friday at Toyota Center. “But that’s what we all say in life, right?”

Indeed.

In town to take on the Rockets tonight, Wade said he understands what McGrady is going through.

“It’s very frustrating,” he said. “It’s very hard, first of all, to rehab two different injuries at once like that, and get your body ready for an NBA season and what you have to put your body through.

“Especially when you have the talent of a guy like Tracy, who knows his talents, who even though he’s hurt can still come out some games and score 20-something (points).”

Wade, who had surgery on a dislocated shoulder and left knee (tendinitis) in May 2007, said those good nights are misleading.

“He’ll then have maybe a quarter, maybe a half, when he doesn’t have that strength in his knee,” Wade said. “Mentally it’s very tough.”

Like Wade, McGrady, who had surgery in May on a torn labrum in his left shoulder and to remove loose bodies from his left knee, was given a six-month timetable for rehabilitation of the knee.

Like Wade, McGrady has admitted the mental wear of not knowing when or if the knee would respond has taken its toll.

“When T-Mac is healthy he is one of the most talented players in the league, there’s no secret about it,” Wade said. “You never want to see guys — I know I don’t — out there playing when they’re not healthy, because you know their ability.”

Wade, who led the Heat to the NBA title in 2006, had his doubters. Not about his toughness, but about whether he would return to form.

A column last season in the Miami Herald began with a line that included the phrase: “Dwyane Wade is broken in a way that makes you wonder if he will ever be like he was.”

After sitting out the final month of the season, Wade went to work to strengthen his knee.

By August he was perhaps the most impressive player on the gold-medal Team USA at the Beijing Olympics.

No credible discussion about the league’s Most Valuable Player honor can be had without Wade’s name being mentioned. He leads the league in scoring at 28.8 points per game, adding 7.3 assists, five rebounds and 2.3 steals per contest.

“I’m me again,” said Wade, 27.

Wade was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for December, and the Heat (21-17) are only two games out of fourth place in the East.

This time a year ago, Miami was in the middle of a 15-game losing streak.

In many ways, 2007-08 was a wasted season for Wade and the Heat, who finished with the worst record in the NBA.

Wade said things might have turned out differently had he done what McGrady is doing.

“It’s hard as a competitor — when you know your teams needs you and you want to be out there for your team — it’s hard to sit down,” Wade said. “But I think the right thing to do, now that I look back on it, is just to get healthy, instead of coming in and out (of the lineup).

“Just make sure you take the time to get healthy. Once you do that you’ll mean more to your team in the end than you would by being in there sparingly.”

Maybe McGrady should have called Wade before the season began.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6216295.html

it's obvious tracy could have done his rehab differently/better. but seeing how wade perceives the entire situation really put a light on what tracy has gone through.

 

i don't know if wade had the same surgery as tracy's. but like tracy, both had shoulder and knee surgery at the same time. and wade admitted you simply CANNOT rehab both at the same time.

with this team, tracy doesn't have to be "great" all the time so maybe he can just get his knee to where he can tolerate it enough and perform well (20, 5, 5) in the playoffs.

but it could be possible that tracy won't really fully recover until next season (and not coincidentally his contract year).

i think with wade's situation last yr, his team sucked. so his play and going in/out of hte lineup really didn't matter to the team b/c they sucked. with us, we have a great team. with tracy going in and out of the lineup..., it messes with the flow of the team and things like that.

but all this will be resolved when tracy returns. we'll see how he plays.

 

i'll give you that wade had work ethic. but really that much more that it took him that long to recover to his original form?

leadership? his team was the worse last yr in the L (ala tmac's) and his team is barely afloat in the east (ala tmac's magic teams)

tracy doesn't have confidence in himself (if you mean his game), then he would be the player he is today. he would be gone from the L when his coach criticized him that he was a 3yr player in the NBA

yes, question tracy's desire last yr when he did this:
Perhaps you have heard this story.

The NBA star who played when he was injured.

He played on a bad knee that needed surgery. He played with an injured shoulder that needed surgery.

He put those off to help his team make a playoff run. It lost in the first round.

really?

 

if tracy had the same thinking as wade, tracy would have shut it down LAST YEAR when yao went down thinking the year is done and there's no point in him playing and rest up for next season.

instead what did he do? how easy do people forget?

 

i was agreeing with you. i was just saying how quickly people forgot what courage it took for tracy to play through those injuries last yr and now they say he doesn't even love basketball anymore?

if he didn't have the desire to play the game, last yr would have been it.