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

Did you even follow McGrady's career, rather than just looking at his stat sheet?

His best years were when he was young? No ----. Dude had a bad back, going all the way back to Toronto. That McGrady played at such a high level for so long is an amazing feat, before his other injuries combined to limit him even further.

That's like blaming Sampson, or Walton, or Penny Hardaway, or Yao for that matter, for peaking early, ignoring that their bodies failed them. After all, the "human body doesn't begin" to lose "muscle mass until after 30."

McGrady may have had the DNA of a basketball god, but his body proved ever so mortal.

 

Are you kidding me? Bahahaha.

People are still trolling this thread? Give it up.

 

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Jumping off of his left leg (bad one) in the first dunk, impressive.

 

Where do you folks see McGrady going next year? I don't think the Pistons are going to resign him.

 

He ain't comming back if Kuester stays, that's for sure.

But I can see him going to LA, Orlando, maybe Chicago

 

t-mac finally has his legs now. I cant wait to see how he benefits from having a completely healthy off season to where the knee is no longer a point of concern to rehab.

 

My point was after he peaked at 23, obviously he worked hard to get there…you conveniently continue to overlook my previous statement:
“Obviously the improvement between those Toronto/Orlando days couldn't be denied. It's after that...and especially late Orlando/Houston days. He didn't improve a bit. His shooting wasn't better, he didn't develop any other aspect of his game...”

Riiight, it was just one aspect. Of course you wouldn’t want to talk about that, why not just stick to stats that favor a guy who always has the ball in his hands and ignore his efficiency? Let’s not talk about his slow decline in scoring effectiveness…that doesn’t harm a team in the least bit, especially when he takes the most shots on the team…does it?

Did you also notice his slow drop in rebounding? It’s almost like his FG% and rebounding are related. They both drop pretty proportionally…looking closer his offensive rebounding is what seems to be the biggest drop.

Maybe his increased inability(voluntarily or not) to go to the rim meant he got fewer ORs, which also lowered his FG%...he had to rely on his jumper more…which, of course, he never improved so slowly his scoring declined. He was never an efficient scorer, but as he got worse the team he led would have a worse chance to win. Meh, who knows.

You’ve never seen a feather fall in air? Uh, okay. There might be some upward bounces but the trend is clearly downward. There, better?

Actually, they didn’t did they? His fg%, 3pt%, rebounds, ft%, ppg, blocks, ALL trended downwards starting with his last season with Orlando. He had a little bump up in rebounding and his assists were nice.

This is ridiculous, of course it took effort to get to his level…again, you repeatedly avoid my previous statements, this is getting old. If you can’t see how T-mac was one of the most talented basketball players of all time, I don’t know what to say.

I broke down the first of the 'non-turtle T-mac' and was going to do the others because they all pretty much tell the same story...but I simply don't have the time. He shoots more, a lot more in some cases and is on the floor more often...his efficiency stays about the same, sometimes a bit higher, sometimes lower(sometimes much lower). Closer to the end of his Rocket career they start to decrease even further. Hell I always brought up his 'playoff step up' when I defended him in the past…but I also know why you don’t put up the percentages up there either.

He takes more shots and scores more, at a mid-to-low 40's percentage overall...that's not a good percentage, especially against good playoff teams. He's been able to also rebound and pass this well since 22-23 years old. Except for his passing he's gotten significantly worse only 4-5 years later? Maybe I never realized how much his game was dependent on his athleticism, ala Steve Francis.


You still have avoided my point, why don’t you tell me how he’s improved after his peak during the offseason? Have you seen his game have anything added to it? Post play? Better spot up shooting? Is having 1 season where he averages 1 more assist/game an addition to one's game?

You said even recently he’s done that, right? How so? I hope you aren't going to use stats again. You might want to stick to efficiency with this one...

I still say he didn’t work hard enough in the offseason (the ones after his peak), which is probably a big reason why he only had 2 relatively healthy seasons out of 6 for us.

Still, I'm not going to say he wasn't great, he was a great player...but he'll go down as a great player that never had enough to make the hall of fame and I still say it was because of his lack of commitment to improvement, especially in his later years.

***paragraphs added for your consideration ***

 

I don't think it matters who the coach is, Pistons are in need of massive rebuilding and a 30 year old T-Mac is not going to help. Chicago may pick him up, although they might be looking for more of a spotup shooter. I don't see him going to LA since they have Shannon Brown to backup Kobe. There might still be some resentment between McGrady and the Orlando fanbase, plus they're probably looking for another big or a defender. Maybe Miami would take him as an 8th man to score off the bench? If he can't score a gig here, and he still needs money, I could see him pulling a marbury or iverson and going overseas.

 

6th Man for the Thunder next year.

 

So a "limp feather" falls slowly? Thanks for the clarification... If you read what I wrote, you would see I didn't ignore field goal percentage. His field goal percentage was higher in three out of his first four seasons in Houston than it was in his last season in Orlando.

Limp feathers... Limp...

The fact that you think there are "basketball god" genes is what's ridiculous. Obviously he's talented, I just think you exaggerate his "gifts" or don't understand how hard he had to work to get to the level he reached.

If you can't see that McGrady has improved on the court a great deal compared to last season, then there is really no point in continuing this discussion. Is he an all-star? Hell no, but the improvement is obvious and guess what? That took work.

No, you changed your point after being corrected. Your point was he didn't have the drive and work ethic to get better in the off-season. Looking at his history, he obviously did. When he reached his prime, he maintained it for several seasons. If you don't think his overall game improved over the first decade of his career, I can't help you.

Including percentages in his playoff statistics does what? Did that prove that he crawled into a shell? Nope... His numbers improved in the playoffs.

McGrady was a very good and, at times, great player, but no where near the level of Olajuwon, Jordan, Kobe, etc. While he was motivated, they took it to another level. That doesn't mean McGrady was lazy or lacked drive.

From your earlier post:

I see his history and see proof that he has improved his game in the off-season. With that knowledge, I can see him working hard this off-season and becoming even more productive than he has been over the last two or three months.

 

He has been looking solid lately.

Makes you wonder what a healthy McGrady could have looked like with Kyle Lowry, Kevin Martin and Luis Scola. If only he could have aged like Kobe Bryant, aka work ethic, heart and practice extending his career.

Such a shame...

 

Lets bring back this thread next year and see what happens, whadda say? He should be better than 13/4/5, meh, maybe. But with your knowledge of Tmac and his work habits I'm sure you'll be right...

 

My observation skills vs. your knowledge of would-be basketball-deities and genetics...

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He has 4 steals and 2 blocks allready at the half against Billups

 

I find it laughable that there are ppl who actually THINK that Mcgrady can be the dominating, athletic scorer he was without hard work and practice. Sorry buddy but if any of you guys believe that, i don't think you have ever played pick-up ball in your lives.

There is no doubt though he didn't push himself as hard as he could've been. And really that's on him. It is a hundred percent justifiable to fault him for that. But to call him lazy, well we might as well call battier lazy then for not working on his offensive arsenal. But we don't.

The one thing that tmac haters should stop is comparing everybody's work ethic to kobe's. Kobe's work ethic is unreal. No one works much like he does. So if a player does not shoot target practice after a huge loss, he shouldn't be labelled lazy.

To all mac haters who are sour that mac never got the rockets a championship, feel free to give him hell for that. Just don't call him things he was not.

 

Tracy las looked very POOR his last 2-3 games. I think it is either his legs getting tired or him just deciding on not beoing agressive. Because he has not been agressive AT ALL and he sucks

 

idk. its weird. he has looked good phsyically on the court and i see him showing more effort this time around on defense and any of the little things in basketball. But he just refuses to attack offensively and try to score.

 

Even if he did have the wotk ethic of a Kobe Bryant, dont you think the injuries would have taken him down anyway?

 

Dude, Kobe has suffered vicious injuries that most of us couldn't handle during daily life, much less playing a basketball game at such a high level. I speak of tweaked pinky fingers, bruised egos, the whole nine yards!

Obviously the reason he doesn't go out with injury more often is because of his supreme greatness and iron will.


/sarcasm (yes, I don't love McGrady but I dislike Kobe considerably.)

 

Id like to see him in a sitation where his playmakng skills are maximised. I think he will compliment a scoring 1st type PG really well.

Futhermore Id love to see him with the Clippers. He could make life easier for Gordon and Griffin. He could take off some of the playmaking burdens for Mo Williams and allow him to be more of a scorer. I could see TMAC averaging 10 PPG, 6 APG, 3 RPG in 30 MPG or so.

Just my humble 2 cents.