This was blog was written last week, but I don't think it was posted here. It's looking at a number of different players who were injury prone like McGrady to see what history tells us about his future. http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=1314 It's not pretty, but that should come to no surprise for most of us. This is his conclusion, after sifting through the data: [rquoter] So, what can we learn about T-Mac from these (mostly) tragic tales? Unfortunately, we see that players who have sat out the amount of time that McGrady will have missed come next season almost never return to full form. Additionally, oft-injured players like this tend to stay oft-injured for the rest of their careers — their durability problems only get worse, not better. Finally, we observe that while some try to press on as shells of their former selves, many of these players’ careers are essentially over after being shelved for so long. The only good news for McGrady is that he’s only 29 years old, so there’s still some time left for him to possibly get back to his old self. But it seems like a long shot at this point. Another year, another injury for T-Mac… but this could be the one that places his career in real jeopardy. [/rquoter]
His career after surgery could go either like Anfernee Hardaway or Grant Hill (even though Grant's injury was ankle issues, it still was a long recovery back). Can he adjust not being super athletic anymore if that is the case.
I think its over for Tracy. I mean if I was him, I would get the surgery and rehab for the quality of life issues more so than hoops. Its a long,patient process and regardless, he's getting paid 23m next year. If this had happened 5 yrs ago, then that's a different story or if he played another position, ok, but he's playing against the most athletic players in the league. The one thing he does have is a high bbiq, a good passer, and he's long. If he loses his athleticism , yet can move pain free with good lateral movement, he can still be a ok player in the league, but I think its too much work. I think I'm a hard worker and if I was in his situation, I would just rehab, see how it feels and if it didn't feel right, just retire. Allan Houston was a or so older when he had it and he didn't make it back. Kidd made it back and he was older. No one will ever confuse Tracy's drive for the game on par with Kidd.
Can T-Mac Bounce Back? Of course, yes. There is a thing so called "you never say never", but a chance of this is real not high based on the data from other players.
The odds are staked against him. Even though he is 29, he has spent 11 years in the NBA. He has a body of a 33 year old, which is when most athletes start to significantly lose speed. Very few athletes can come back from that type of surgery with that type of wear on their body. As part of the rehab he would have to exercise real hard, which he has not been known to do in the past. If he does come back, he would have to come back as a 3rd option or a role player like Bob McAdoo did. Unfortunately, I don't think that he has the ego to be a role player.
yes he can. but who cares. he won't play another game for this team. if the locker room isssues are true that everyone is pissed at tmac, then how would management risk ripping into the chemistry once again.
He can and I hope he does, houston rocket or not. But I don't think he's mentally tough enough to do it. But anythings possible...
He's going to Francis out. I can't say I blame him, as rich as he's getting. I just don't think his heart's in it to the NBA Championship level.
The chances are slim.... 30 years old having microfracture surgery... It will be great if he can bounce back, but I highly doubt it.
doc said his knee is in "great shape" and the area is not weight bearing so yea, he'll be back by the start of next year i actually worry about yao more than tmac
Depends on how bad he wants the money. Money that will never equal what he could have made if he had stayed healthy and productive.
oh come on, people act as if microfracture surgery is the same as having your leg amputated. that's just nonsense. microfracture surgery is a pretty non-invasive and minor surgery done in maybe 1 h. also, microfracture surgery is just a surgery method. the chances of him coming back have nothing to do with this medical term. his chances are determined by other factors like where the damage is located and how big the damage is. t-mac's cartilage damage is small and on a non weight-bearing part of the knee. that's why he could still play with it. if this wasn't the case he couldn't have played. so, basically, this surgery is about getting t-mac's knee back to the point where he doesn't feel any pain anymore and can start to trust it again. it's not about getting him back to the level of athleticism he had in his orlando days. still, you have to be realistic about it. the chances that t-mac can come back and play some good basketball again are as high as they could be in this situation. but he definitely won't be the athletically gifted t-mac he was maybe 5 - 6 years ago. but then again he already wasn't on the same level athletically for the last couple of seasons. imho, worst case for t-mac is that his knee won't feel better at all when he tries his comeback. then he either gets used to it and continues to play like he did this season or he'll just retire after his contract expires (which would be likely). a realistic scenario would be him getting back to last season's level. remember, he wasn't able to do too much athletically in the second half of last season either. but he still was pretty effective as a basketball player, especially in the playoffs. and the best case scenario for t-mac would be him getting back to the form of the beginning of last season. everybody could see he had lost half a step but he was still able to dunk and block shots in typical t-mac fashion.
