**Official McGrady/Pistons 2010 Regular Season Thread**

It was a bad fit as well. McGrady can't run and Knicks' offense is all about running.

 

He's classic halfcourt player, run'n'gun is **** for him. He played pick'n'rolls with Lee and David looked like a happiest bigman in da game

 

I think his best fit would be with the Spurs.

A lot of veterans. Slow paced system

 

Yeah, a draft pick we can trade down for!

 

This is what boggles my mind. T-mac is only taking 4 shots a game. He's not scoring because his role is not to score. How can you say he can't score when that's not what he is asked to do?

And Martin's 44% is not what I'd call a pretty high percentage. It's not bad. It's not great. Martin gets you to the ft line, that's his advantage...where he shoots 90%.

I will give that Martin is a better scorer, but T-mac can easily get you double digits if you give him 8-10 shots a game. But T-mac will also give you more assists, and double the steals, blocks, and rebounds. I mean, that plus Carl Landry?

I think it was a good trade for all parties involved. But to say today we are a better team now than if we hadn't pull the trigger? no, I disagree. But time will bear that out. I think T-mac will continue to get better now that he is healthy;

 

There's no comparison whatsoever between Martin's efficiency and McGrady's. FG%, in this case, is a very misleading stat to look at. Its not just free throws, its also 3-point shooting. Martin is in the top 20 in true shooting% while McGrady is in the bottom 20.

If McGrady wants to get more shots, he could run harder in transition. All year, he's taken only 3 shots in transition. He's supposed to be a dynamic wing who really wants to prove to people that "he's back", and he's not going to run the floor to help get his team some easy buckets?

 

Telling.

 

If Kevin Martin had to play Tracy McGrady every game, KMart would be Nordstrom's. He'd probably drop 70 points on McGrady.

 

McGrady will never score over 30 points in a game with how bad his confidence is right now.

Can he man up and play harder? His knee seems fine but he looks like too big of a wuss and is trying too hard to avoid injury.

 

Sure, but why is it that Martin seems to struggle so much in the 4th qtr while guys like McGrady shine?

I'll totally agree that Martin is a more efficient score with a far better jump shot than T-mac.

But T-mac has and always will be a half-court player. That hasn't been his game even in his best Houston years. So why expect him to do that now?

Martin is a very good player, and straight up I would not say T-mac is better than Martin, only that Martin is a far more efficient scorer over the course of 4 quarters. No doubt about that. But he struggles to get his shot off in crunch time for whatever reasons, and T-mac does not. And T-mac brings you something that Martin can not - the passing.

I am not sure if Tmac has lost too much speed and explosiveness that he can't dribble penetrate like he used to - but I suspect it's still there from the way I see he moves.

Regardless, I don't think Hill has the mentality needed for him to develop into a Carl Landry, and so that definitely was the downside of the trade.

We are better off with Martin if and only if you can pair him with a crunch time player / playmaker and those are very rare.

 

He's a professional with natural talent to play the game whether he practices or not. If Tracy is truly healthy how can he be such garbage? Did he forget how to play altogether?

 

That's his problem. If you're a role player, and the only way you know how to get shots is if you're dominating the ball in a half-court setting, that's not going to work.

The question, then, is whether McGrady is good enough to be anything more than a role player at this stage on a winning team? I really don't think so. In which case, he needs to adapt his game and learn how to get shots within the flow of a team offense. That means putting more effort into running the floor, improving your spot-up jump shot, moving without the ball, activity on the offensive glass. You don't have to be a young, super-athletic player to do those things. Even Shane Battier does it more than Mcgrady. All it requires is the will to do it, and McGrady always likes to talk about "imposing his will". Well then, show it.

And if he can't do that or is unwilling to do that, I'm sure there are some teams in China that would pay for him to be "T-Mac".

 

To be honest, T-Mac can not run the pick and roll anymore. He can't even get around the PF or C that is setting the screen, he just runs back and passes it, am I right?

 

Its pretty easy to guard him on a pick and roll. Stay to his left, because he can't drive right anymore. You can also go behind the pick on him, because he's lost all confidence in his 3-point shot.

 

Have you actually seen the games Tracy has played? This season, I have seen numerous times on the pick and roll teams have to double team him to him in check. Maybe you know something those players and coaches don't. I know Tracy isn't the quickest around, but he is still very effective in a pick and roll situation.

 

I just can't see him doing that. Some people are wired a certain way and it's not a matter of willingness even. It's just who he is. Some people are adaptable and some are not. T-mac is not.

 

Then he needs to stop complaining (and he does it seemingly every year) about teams not catering to him enough. If he can't adapt his play to what the team needs, its his own fault. Adapting and finding a way to help your team win is part of being a team player. McGrady long ago lost the right to expect special treatment.

 

A double team can be especially effective against McGrady on pick and rolls. Not because he's an especially potent threat on the drive, but because its a good way to disrupt the flow of the offense -- McGrady tends to hold on to the ball a tad longer than others on pick and rolls and he picks up his dribble a lot too. If you trap him on the left hand side, there's a good chance you squash the play because he is so reluctant to drive right.

That said, I'll check to see how effective he's been in pick and rolls this season and post what I find here.

 

I have seen numerous occasions this season on the P&R that he was able to dish it over the double team and dump it into the paint for an easy basket.

 

He's a good passer.

But his scoring ability is completely gone imo.