McGrady mentioned as antithesis of Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hr hard-worker

Battier has almost always had a postive impact, in terms of on/off court +/- on the offensve end of the ball. Some years, it's actually larger than his defensive impact (possibly due to the fact that he often match minutes with the best offensive wing). He does a good job keeping the offense flowing: taking a shot when it's the best thing to do, going into the post when there's an advantage, but for the most part, he passes the ball to the open man and keep the offense alive. As much as we've criticised players for being "ball stoppers" and notice how much that can kill an offense, Battier's impact on offense should not be ignored.

As far as working on "skills," it seems to be that Battier simply didn't find such an activity to make him more useful as a player. Given his lack of explosiveness, what would, for example, a cross-over dribble do for him? What would he do with a step-back/fadeaway/turnaround J? It's better to leave that kind of stuff to the TMac and Brooks of the world and concentrade on what he does well and spend him time game-planning.

 

nice article.

that's alot of hours considering he doesn't work from Mid-May to June

 

Is DM allowed to comment on active players on other teams? Or is this event exempt from NBA rules?

 

Lol, look who pops in. Take some of your own advice next time.

 

Rep for you! The Battier die hards will never admit that he did anything wrong.

 

He was a better all round player in his early days in Memphis. He started slacking off on offense later on. No one expected him to become McGrady,but he became primarily a one way player. Making excuses for him can't change the truth. The +/- stuff is not perfect by any means.

 

He didn't "slack off," as much as becoming more selective about taking good shots.

His rookie year USG% (measuring tendency to shoot) was by far the highest in his career (18%, with a scoring average of 14.4 per game, also by far the highest in his career), and his efficiency level was by far the lowest (104 pts per 100 possessions). The rest of his career, his usage # was 10 to 15% and his efficiency became much higher (114 to 120 points per 100 possessions). Back when he was playing the "all around" game, he was much less efficient.

He has his limitations on skills and atheleticism and was not going to benefit the team by becoming "more aggresive" or trying to play an "all around" game any more than, say, Aaron Brooks would benefit the team by trying to become a post-player.

 

Stop trying to talk sense to people using evidence. It will only confuse them.

 

Basically, talent by itself doesnt mean anything. Most 'geniuses' in society were just very hard workers. Michael Jordan probably put more than 10,000 hours in the gym, for sure. Kobe too. Lebron? He still doesn't have that post game yet...

 

Is there anything Battier did or did not do that would lead you to criticize him? If so, what? If not, was he just perfect?

 

My own advice? You mean the part about posting elsewhere besides JUST Battier-related threads? How would you know if i have or haven't? It's not like you actually look at any other threads. Feel free to stop by the Logo Tweak Thread and offer some input, like a true Rockets fan would.

Or join me in any of these:

Deron cross over thread.
Rose for Mvp
Dwight for MVP
Morey's dumb wing player
Sloan conference
Twill tweets

and so many others....

I know it's scary to jump into something so new and out of your comfort zone, but I promise it'll get better with time

 

Well, now, if this isn't a fine how-do-you-do...

I wonder how many of these types of commentaries will surface in regards to Tracy McGrady, now that he is officially a failure.....

In his time as coach of the Houston Rockets, Jeff Van Gundy did not receive as much credit for changing the fortunes of the Rockets earlier in the decade that he should have. For all of his dourness and tunnel-vision, Van Gundy proved to me that, as far as the game's Xs and Os were concerned, he was as top-flight a coach as a franchise could ask for.

Daryl Morey is still in the process of creating a suitable legacy to accompany all of his legendary acumen as a general manager.

Both gentleman have always had my utmost respect in regards to their opinions and insights on anything basketball-related.

And I suppose that point would be where their opinions of Tracy McGrady the player would diverge from Tracy McGrady the person.

I find it interesting that so many people could make the same assessment of a player and a man, and how that assessment is in such stark contrast to what they would wish were true.

I have always been largely supportive of McGrady as a player, primarily because of his ability to play the game so well at the highest level. And because, much like Hakeem Olajuwon did for many years as a Houston Rocket himself, McGrady single-handedly legitimized a team that, sans his departure, has struggled to capture any semblance of consistency or identity.

I'm an professional artist (and I use the term "professional" loosely). I like to think that I'm pretty good with paintbrushes and with WACOM tablets. I've built as comfortable a skill level with Photoshop as I have with burlap canvas boards. I can count on one hand the number of times I've drawn or painted anything that did not routinely garner praise from those who do not have the ability I have, even if I felt that my work did not deserve it.

Anyone who knows me would say without hesitation that, somewhere, somehow, because I have not achieved a level of success that is suitable with their appraisal of my talent, I have grossly underachieved.

I should be much better off, with the gifts I've been given, than what I've shown people. I lay down and rise every day with those sentiments ringing in my ears.

I find myself wondering, more often than not, if there isn't something more I could do to elevate myself...something I don't do well enough or don't do enough of or someone I need to emulate. Success is a very fickle state. Achieving "success" in any manner is difficult enough in the natural course of events. I can't imagine what it must be like to not only fail to meet your own standard, but to fail to meet everyone else's either.

Or actually, I can.

I guess I have more in common with Tracy McGrady than I should want to publicly admit. Perhaps, deep down inside, I'm more like him than I am like Hakeem Olajuwon. Maybe the reason why I'm not rich and famous is because I'm soft, or lazy, or insufferable. There has to be some reason why, with all of the favor and fortune a person could ask for bestowed upon me, I'm ultimately nothing more than your average Joe Nobody.

McGrady is more sinner than saint, I'd gather. I haven't heard a flattering thing said about him by anybody, unless it was with the caveat that he had simply done what he was always capable of doing in a game. If McGrady is intimately in tuned with anything, I would guess it would be failure.

No matter how good he is or was, McGrady would do nothing worthwhile, productive, or even decent...as either a player or a person.

McGrady would never amount to anything, because he would never understand what it would cost. Or, if he did understand what it would cost, he certainly wouldn't pay it.

McGrady's failings as a player are largely his own. But only up to the point of how he should have performed when a game is in the balance...the way he performed against San Antonio and snatched certain victory away from them in half a minute.....

..but almost certainly by the time McGrady joined the Rockets, he had proven that, no matter how often the game was in his hands, he would would not seize it in the ways we ascribe to those exceptionally gifted few who could, for however many moments it takes, ignore the rules and do what they want to achieve whatever they desired.

McGrady would not "impose his will" when it was time for him to do so. Because it seems that his will was all too often at odds with what was happening right in front of him. McGrady had become so accustomed to diligently bailing water out of a sinking ship (particularly under Van Gundy), that he seemed oblivious to the waves crashing over his head.

It would be like watching Michael Phelps drowning in the shallow end of a public pool, I guess.

I have tremendous respect and admiration for Hakeem Olajuwon. He accomplished more in his time as a player than I may ever be able to do if I were given a hundred lifetimes to do it. If there was anybody I'd want to be like (instead of Michael Jordan), Hakeem would be my first choice.

Everybody loves a winner.

But the truth is that I have more in common with Tracy McGrady than I do with Hakeem. So I tend to empathize more with McGrady than I tend to sympathize with any measurement of him as a person, no matter how accurate it is.

Us failures gotta stick together....

 

Its pretty much impossible that tmac hasn't practiced 10000 hours.Assuming he has been playing since 5 or 6 that is 22 years. I mean that is 500 hours a year. I know if he played HS basketball or AAU or whatever I mean practics are a few hours, and obviously in the NBA too.

 

That he's not fast like Aaron Brooks, doesn't have good handles like Chris Paul, isn't 7'6'', doesn't jump like Blake Griffin, doesn't have muscles like Shaq, can't shoot like Ray Allen and doesn't have McGrady's court vision?

Battier, like most players, lack plenty of things, but he's managed to be effective in the role he plays. There's a reason why he's gotten substantial minutes during a decade-long career from coaches ranging from Hubie, Fratello, Van Gundy and Adelman. These guys spent long hours studying tapes and making game plans and were not in the business of sabotaging their own team's chances for winning so there would seem to be some reason to believe they had a logical basis for playing him, no?

 

I too wish he would have worked harder on his offense, but to say his lack of offense nullifies what he did for defense is outright wrong. All of us, including Battier, took for granted we'd have have both Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady healthy. Damn that combo could have dominated. Shane hit enough open 3's for me and most of all, didn't TURN THE BALL OVER offensively. That's huge. And he could pass some. Definitely better than Bruce Bowen in terms of offense and arguably better defensively. Look what Bowen did for the Spurs.

 

mcgrady is hardly an active player in the nba. :grin:

 

Pretty much spot on. T-Mac was a freak, no doubt. Just lacked so much heart.

 

This. When the NY Times Magazine ran a profile on Battier Morey pointed out that Shane would never take a half court shot as time expired because he was super conscious about his offensive efficiency.

Battier was also quoted in that article as saying something like "Offense is not the reason I have a job." He knew his role, which was to defer to McGrady and Yao.

 

Tmacs response to JVG and Morey

 

The reason Shane slipped in the draft in 2001 was the question marks regarding his athleticism at the next level. He got by on fundamentals and intelligence in college and he did the same thing in the NBA. A true marvel that someone as untalented as himself to make it in this league.

http://www.thedraftreview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1024