It would be a similar situation to Nomar being traded from Boston the year they won the title. He didn't have anything to do with their postseason run, but he was there for half the regular season and had an integral role in making Boston competitive the 5 years building up to that championship title. I say Tracy and Rafer definitely share in the fate of this team for this year. But thankfully for us, we won't have to live with any of the consequences of their play on the court when it counts.
I guess I don't fully understand ALL the hatred still going on about tslack in the playoffs. Regardless if he had or hadn't make it out the first round, he comes out to play. He has never been surrounded by any talent, and the first time he hadone guy to help out the jazz exploited the teams weakness. For all his faults u can't blame him for the playoff failures, he has almost lead teams out the 1st by himself. Now I'm not a tmac only fan, more of a rocket fan. I admit to wanting to trade tmac, bc of how he was treating his team and bc i'm always willing to make the team better. However, as fans we have mistreated tmac as a rockets player. We accuse hiim being a ballstopper, well....we brought him him in to handle most of the scoring, bc that's what he has always done, now we r asking him to stop playing like that and move without the ball, exactly the type of player he is not. Tmac is the type of player that has to have confidence in his game, has to have the ball in his hands and make some shots to do so. Well the injury has taken the toll on his body, and doesn't no how to react. And instead of understanding this, we have criticized his play. Now, the going out and telling the press what he did before the rox org, I believe he felt they had done that to him first. Remember he has always been coveted and being the man, and I honestly believe he wants to stay in htown. Now, next yr we trade tmac, that's fine if we make the team better. We can't just trade tmac just to trade him, he's gone through big changes this yr and does need sometime. Is excellent playoff performance is undeniable. (LOL however the team is playing better without him ) I just hope we do make it out the 1st.
Obviously he wont get any credit and he will remain a guy who never got out of the first round. He wont even be on the playoff roster or play a single minute in the playoffs. Rafer gets no credit what happens with the Rockets. He gets credit for what happens with the Magic. If the Rockets win the title, Rafer wont get a ring. If the Magic wins a title this year, Rafer gets a ring.
Who cares about T-Mac's ego as long as a we advance? I'm more concerned about shedding this 'playoff monkey' for Yao's sake so he feels like he's part of a committed, winning cause that will give him all the more incentive to stick around post-2010.
What are the chances that Tmac shows his face in Toyota center again this season, even as a cheerleader? I say no way.
technically he'll be credited as member of the team that advances but no one (the fans, and especially the media) will say he is part of the team. In fact the media would start to rub it into tmac's face that the team he is on will never advance and once he is out they are into the 2nd round. So we better get there!!
I can imagine how the Tmac-only-fans will feel if we pass the first round... It must've hurt like hell
He'd get crucified even worse if the Rockets somehow make it to Round 2 without him. Bill Simmons would start busting out the Ewing\Barber Theory without mercy.
I think that much is already crystal clear, but all the excuses used in the past would look so much sillier.
you know what? TMedicalCenter wants to play the off-games and he will and probably will do well. Much better way to prove his personal glory than sweating blood thru 82 games to prove stupidity. Sadly, Les believes in this BS.
Judging by your sig I'll bet you agree with me that Ron is going to be solid in the playoffs. There's a difference - a reputedly tough torchbearer that the team never had. Also, we just traded our long-time PG named Rafer Alston away. He proved to be at least a modest factor in 2008's playoffs. We have a new starter, a speedy youngen named Aaron Brooks, backed up by a sparkplug defensive PG named Kyle Lowry. They replace a long line of unimpressive PG's who couldn't score by themselves, prominently Mike James, Rafer Alston and Moochie Norris. Our big man, Yao Ming, is present and accounted for. Last season he battled lower body injuries that forced him to miss the playoffs, in which McGrady performed well enough to deflect criticism. (Although he opened his mouth too much). All of this is under a new coach named Rick Adelman who had an entirely different set of pieces last season at the same time. Before that, we were lead by a disciplinarian coach named Jeff Van Gundy and his assistant, Tom Thibodeaux, in a tight system that produced some of the best defensive teams in the league but with a notorious lack of creativity on offense. Around McGrady was the future hall-of-fame lineup of Howard, Bowen, Wesley, Padgett, etc, who managed to blow a game 7 in a game in which McGrady scored over half of the team's points, by allowing the Mavericks to score on just about every possession. I know that you know all of this. The only points I can concede off the top of my head is that McGrady plays a methodical half-court style rather than the teams current mixed style, and that he runs his mouth too much. It is only crystal clear if you want it to be.
EDIT: I'm also willing to concede that McGrady was unimpressive in fourth quarters, and that "being tired" is a bull**** excuse for a professional athlete. Still, I dont buy into the fact that its his fault. People here are just frustrated with our lack of success (rightfully), and NEED someone to pin it on. Need a scapegoat. Who better than the overpaid oft-injured former-star of the team.
That's ridiculous. THE reason? Whatever happened to this being a team sport? I'd say maybe one time where his team should've actually advanced. When I look at 0-7, the 7 stands out more to me than anything. Some of those teams people thought shouldn't even belong in the playoffs.
