I think we are better talent wise w/out mac simply b/c when he is on the court, in the starting lineup the players defer so much to him that their level of talent and effectiveness diminishes greatly. They are simply out there to get mac an assist or set a pic for him or pass to him as they eat popcorn and watch him play. That won't get it done. Will mac get healthy, will he stay healthy, will he be mentally-able to drive to the cup, will he just settle for crappy jumpers, will he move without the ball, will he play consistent D, will he gear up for the crappy-yet athletetic and young teams, will he complain about how he's being used etc etc
I'm just trying to figure out how the hell some of you think getting microfracture surgery will some how make a guy suddenly become 7 years younger, change his style of play and make him a hard worker. I just thought it was a knee operation. The player Tmac was/might be when he comes back is a broken down, ball-stopping, jump shooting, non-defending guy who thinks the only offense that works is when he handles the ball at the top of the key and decides whether he should take a 20 foot jumper or start to penetrate and then throw it to a team mate who was forced to camp out behind the 3 point line while McGrady dribbled around for 18 seconds. Guess what? That offense actually works in the regular season when you have a couple of guys who can shoot the 3, a hellish defensive mentality and a bunch of blue collar guys to do the dirty work. It doesn't work in the playoffs. Team ball, where everyone is a potential threat seems to work much better.
which is why I don't think tmac will work out on this team. I think we will develop a closing mentality by whomever is hot--sometimes yao, sometimes brooks, sometimes landry, sometimes wafer, scola etc. They can make plays that help you close out a game, but I think teams that need a player to get d-whistle-like calls from the refs to takeover the game for the W are weaker teams. Thats why I like our chances against LA. Who do we get for tmac and when?
I don't want that guy back. I kind of like team ball, more than 2 Rockets in double figures, Von Wafer's aggressiveness, Kyle Lowry's hard-nosed drives to the basket and a team where all the guys genuinely like each other. Just to name a few things.
that's fine. i never said you want him back. i never said the rockets want him back. i just said there's a chance he can still regain his 07-08 form. personally, i've said a thousand times he most likely won't be back.
Would you not want Brandon Roy? Cause Portland has him playing just like that. If someone wanted to step their game up, like Alston did last year, they could do it regardless of Tmac's presence.
Whenever I see a thread full of T-Mac bashing going on like this one, this YouTube video always comes to mind when then Orlando Magic GM John Weisbrod (at the 3:45 mark) goes to discussing that trade five years ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sxa0mLPRhk I think that even though John Weisbrod is no longer their GM, after seeing how T-Mac hasn't been the same player here in Houston like he was in Orlando due to all the injuries plaguing him and causing him to miss too many games over these past five seasons, he still must feel like a genius even though the Magic got hardly nothing in return. Heck, I think that if this season, John Weisbrod ever got to see all these threads of negativity in this forum concerning T-Mac, he would probably feel more like a genius than ever about trading T-Mac away, period.
exactly. tmac does allow his teammates to step up, but are they good enough. alston, head, bobby jackson aren't. there's a reason why courtney lee is earning just as many minutes as alston in orlando. did roy get his teammates any easy shots? he scored for himself, but i don't recall him being a playmaker at all and that was one of the reasons they lost. roy is a good playmaker but he let blake do a lot of the playmaking while he mostly just became a scorer. i guess portland would love to trade brandon roy then
His knee was hurting, yes....but I also know that he didn't do the rehab last year, came to camp fat and out of shape, and his knee got worse. And, also, Microfracture is not successful in all cases..... I actually believe more in the doctors ability to get it right, than I do in Tmac's resolve to do all the work necessary to get back. That...I do NOT believe in. DD
That's true. Brandon Roy is a phenomenal talent and a great young player in the L, but McMillan did the same mistake JVG had done with Houston. We could see, their gameplan was pretty easy. McMillan put the ball in Brandon's hands and asked him to make plays, to put the ball into the basket either himself or giving his teammates positions to score. That is not a good option. 1) His teammates couldn't hit shots to save their life, the only help he got was Aldridge (still, he wasn't consistent) and Rundy had only 1 good game. 2) Brondon is a great scorer but he is not that great at playmaking and making his teammates better. Defense just pays so much attention to him which sometimes leaves his teammates open. Maybe Roy is just too young and not ready yet, maybe they don't have enough weapons.
Ron & Tracy play the same roles on the court. Artest is thriving now because he's taken over Tracy's role. They have different strength and weaknesses but they're also the same player on the court. Keeping both is a mistake.
Ding ding ding....there is a reason that Francis and Marbury didn't work out....this is almost the same thing. DD
Artest is tougher minded, but he lacks the physical skills that Tmac has to break down the defense. He also doesn't pass as well as Tmac. Artest's role when Tmac was still playing was being a 3rd reliable scorer and DEFENSE.
Please forgive me for butting in, DD. You're an elder statesman around here. And you've got as interesting a point of view as anybody else... I'd just like to know how you figure that McGrady didn't rehab the way he was supposed to last season? Because doctors say that the procedure McGrady underwent on his knee is largely routine and "minor"? We all got a pretty good idea that McGrady doesn't "heal" or get better as fast as we'd like. But suppose that McGrady had rehabbed as hard as you think he should have and the knee problem still persisted. When exactly should Rick Adelman have had McGrady sit down? I mean, if McGrady is such a cancerous leech, (and for all his Wile E. Coyote-ness and cunning in his schemes to bring the Rockets down), wouldn't McGrady showing up at training camp not ready to go be the smoking gun he needed to get rid of him? He certainly would have had public sentiment on his side. He could have had McGrady run out of town on the back of a goose for that move. Every honest, decent, hard-working player on the team would have jumped on him and called him out. I don't read between the lines as well as you do. I'm sure there's some fascinating machinations involved in all this that I'm just not smart enough to see, and I'd like you to show me what I'm missing. I got nothing better to do today...
Pros/Cons on T-Mac: Pro: - He shares the ball well, makes others better. - He gets double teamed, opening it up for others - He is good in the locker room - When he gets hot he can carry a team. Cons: - He's lost a major step or two in his game, - He avoids contact - He's become a jump shooter w/ low FG % - His attitude ("it's all on me" "me me me me me me") - $22 million for what he brings to the table - Still thinks he's a superstar - Wilts under pressure (playoffs) - Microfracture surgery at age 29 ................seems lie he's breaking down, physically. He's not a good investment. Both sides need to move on.......
actually, brandon roy wasn't much of a playmaker at all. when he got the ball, he was mostly in scoring mode, hence the 2.8apg for the series, which is EXTREMELY low for a wing who played 40 mpg. his team shot 45% for the series, which is pretty good so it wasn't like his teammates weren't knocking down shots. for roy to reach that next level, he has to be a better playmaker. he did have scorers on his team but rudy only got 5 shots per game in 27 mpg (way too low for his caliber).
Other than these two general misconceptions I agree with you. My response to both of those two bolded points: Its a T.E.A.M game
