Could Tracy McGrady come back next year...as our starting Point Guard?

Your complicated thesis intrigues me. Tell me more.

 

Magic Johnson was 6'9".

But TMAC is no Magic Johnson.

 

Your right Shaud one of the best point guards ever was 6'9....his name is Magic.

 

Exactly

And Shaun Livington was a PG and he's 6'8. Injuries has kept us from seeing how good he would have been though.

 

Just because he plays PGs, does not necessarily mean he has to guard PGs. How hard is it to see that? Brooks can continue to guard PGs and T-Mac can guard guys his size. Of course, this is assuming T-Mac plays point so Brooks can be more of a scorer. I'm not advocating for T-Mac to start at PG, but PGs dominate the ball, and so does T-Mac. PGs get a lot of "home run" assists that that T-Mac does and fans murder T-Mac for getting those type of assists.

 

Flash backs to his wide open failed attempt on an alley-oop still gives me nightmares. Even if he does come back, I don't think he should play. But if he does, it's better for him to come off the bench rather than starting.

 

If he guards a SG/SF and is guarded by a SG/SF, then would he really be playing PG or just running the offense from a different position? Isn't TMAC running the offense as a SG largely what we've been doing for the past few years?

The lineup the OP suggested doesn't have PG of any kind in it.

 

only if you're playing NBA 2k10

 

Some folk have not realized that Tracy is done as a Rocket, Have they?

 

With a big lineup as described, Battier would be guarding the likes of CP3, DWill, and Tony Parker. That would leave Artest and McGrady guarding the wings with McGrady taking the easiest defensive matchup. Against San Antonio for instance, you would have McGrady on Bowen/Finley while Artest chased Ginobilli and Battier took Parker. Against NO, they don't have much threat outside of CP3 and DWest offensively. Against Utah, with Battier on DWill, you would have McGrady likely on Miles and Artest on Brewer.

This lineup may work for stints but you can see with, say, the Jazz lineup where our 3 guys are too big to effectively guard a 3 guard combo on the perimeter. With that lineup, the Jazz go uptempo and we could not stop them in full court action. They would be much quicker at all three perimeter positions.

Of course, in a half court game, I would think those long arms would really help with a zone defense, especially with Battier and Artest out there with quicker feet. So, it may work for certain game situations on both ends of the court to push out the jump shooters. But I doubt it would be effective for major minutes as teams would exploit their speed against 5 slugs.

 

Could he? Technically - yes.

Will he? No chance in hades.

DD

 

LOL winner

 

He is not THAT fast, he is after all 6 9" 230-240 lbs, come on.... He will get eaten alive by almost every single guard in this league. While on the offensive end he will get doubled as he always has been throughout his career.

 

I think it would be somewhat different. As a PG or Point Foward, his main job would be to get his teammates the ball. As a SG, sure he did do some Point stuff but we needed him to take on the scoring load too. Now the real question would be, would you rather have T-Mac distribute or score buckets?

Most people here don't think he's a good scorer anymore so why not let him focus on getting guys the ball? He has one year left with us, lets make use of him. His court vision is better than some of the real PGs in the NBA and arguably has the best court vision on the team. I think him playing PG would be a great way to reinvent his career. No long would we have a T-Mac looking to score 30, but now a T-Mac that looks to get Yao or Artest 30 points.

Again, I'm not saying this is what we should do with Mac. Just merely playing along with the thread. I will say I don't think its an absurd idea.

 

Look, unless he can shoot 43% or better or 40+% from 3pt land, he is not all that valuable to us.

Teams realize what is going on, and that he is in serious decline.

If he can come back strong, attack the basket and play within the system, then fine....

But if he comes back as the same old inefficient chucker...do not want.

DD

 

where has the OP been all this time? this topic has been discussed ever since tmac arrived in houston. it was annoying then, but at least he was playing so it wasn't completely irrelevant. look, tmac is done for the season and he may be done as a rocket for all we know. please make it stop, please make it stop.

 

The premise is completely absurd. When I see guys like Chucky Atkins and Bobby Jackson regularly blowing by Kobe, I know that there's no chance that an SG/SF will ever guard a point guard. Just because Marion can bother a quicker guard every once in a while doesn't mean it'll work for more than a few possessions in a row.

 

I just think its way too far down the road. I had my hopes up about francis and that turned to dust.

Not saying T-mac will too. But let's see how he progressives. He's got a long road and next year is speculation. Pure speculation. It's just a big ? when it comes to T-mac. Perhaps his nickname should be "the question". Just kidding.

But more focused on this season. These guys are playing their hearts out and let's see what wall they run into or how far they go before we address what we need. We got the team chemistry for sure - it's just a matter of how good we really are. Only the playoffs will expose that.

I do hope we are able to resign Wafer. I think he will be better next year...as will Brooks and Landry. And Lowry.

 

this thread wins at failing

 

The OP made it clear that Tracy would be a true PG and have defensive responsibility against opposing points. What you're describing is, more or less, what the Rockets have always done. Tracy is nominally a SG, but he basically runs the offense.