I have given tracy respect for what he is doing in darfur, but if we come back to BASKETBALL as we usually do, his dedication is lackluster. And as you mentioned the reason that he receives so much criticism and hate is because so much is expected of him and the teams that he is on. Why? Because he was thought to be one of the top three players in the league 3-4 years ago, but what has he accomplished. Why is his dedication come in question? Because in the last 4 years, when has he showed up to training camp in shape instead of overweight (which may be a reason leading to many of his injuries). Tracy Mcgrady is putting a lot of effort to try to help Darfur, and is doing A LOT to try to convince other NBA players to join him in trying to make the world a better place. And for this I really do commend him, and I am not out to hate or criticize him, its just I believe that he can achieve so much more if he would be more dedicated.
Bigreg, Thanks for post re: McGrady and earning his salary. I honestly think people forget exactly what he has meant to this team pre-2008. Rmoreno: The man was injured last year! What would you have him do to earn his salary last year??? Such is the reality of guaranteed contracts. If someone is hurt, they still get paid, no matter if it's $2.30 or $23,000,000. Also, McGrady gets McGrady money because he has more often than not performed at a max level performance. Deke, fwiw, got some pretty large contracts in his career. For a guy who never had any semblance of an offensive game, I'd say he did pretty damn well.
Glad to know that it is not hate but what you see as a dedication problem. While I agree that we all do our jobs better when we are fully dedicated sometimes when we are blessed with a God Given ability, we turn it on and off be cause we don't have to try as much as the next person to give a good looking effort. When we are at our optimal best it comes easy but if we are not feeling our best we kinda drag. I'm not making excuses for Tracy but maybe the injuries have taken a bigger toll than any of us know. I just know that there is so much more that he could achieve. You think it's a dedication issue, I feel it's the injuries. It could be both, it may not be either, none of us really know. But whatever it is, I like you, hope it is not something that will prevent Tracy from achieving so much more this year.
Sweet Video, this make me want old TMAC back..... ..btw a couple of those moves they showed were from this past season
I don't recall Tracy showing up to camp out of shape with the exception of last year. He had knee surgery and shoulder surgery in one offseason. It was close to impossible for him to show up in game shape from day one. The mistake he made was suiting up when he wasn't ready to play. That was a huge mistake and it probably cost him the whole season. If he wasn't dedicated, he wouldn't have gone through with another major surgery so that he can return to the court as the real TMAC. All indications are he is training his ass off this summer and he's already hitting the floor and doing drills, but of course people are going to try to say he's only motivated because it's his contract year. McGrady is already set financially. He's one of the highest paid players in the history of the game. Why would he put himself through another grueling rehab that has such high risk just to make a few extra million when he already has everything money can buy. I think he's motivated to show people what kind of ball player he is. He wants to prove that he can carry a team again. He's done it before even when not completely healthy(2007). Injuries have set him back, but he hasn't quit, and I wouldn't sleep on him next year.
You have to understand that it's not just the money that he is putting down, he actually went to darfur and helped the people out. It's easy to just drop money at the orginization and never see them again (not ensuing that Deke or Yao are doing) to change peoples lives you actually have to give a damn and take time out of your life. Your 'just sayin' post results to be very ignorant.
A stupid post post since your basing one game to his whole career. I could easily say: Remember? When he took the gravity right out of the building when he destroyed Shawne Bradley. Remember? When he dropped a stat line of 28 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists not to mention 3 steals, 3 blocks and going 7-8 from the FT line. Remember? When he answered Nowitzki's shot and scored the game winner. Remember? Remember? Remember? Remember? Didn't think so.
He went and literally asked the community what they needed, and he promised to deliver. You can't put a price tag on his willingness to do whatever he can to help. He's also doing little things to spread awareness about the situation to get more athletes to give back. That's priceless.
Both yao and deke have paid more money and visited the places they are helping out waaaay more than mcgrady.
What are you keeping stats for how many times he goes to africa? Dude, please stop. You're making yourself look quite foolish. Some people just don't understand
What have you done to help anybody out??? Do you go volunteer at a food bank? Do you go visit children's hospitals and orphanages? Do you go to foreign countries to help them out?? What have YOU done to criticize him? Have you noticed that people who give don't do it for credit...they do it because they want to help make this world better. Its stupid a** people like you who turn everything into a negative. Deke and Yao donated more and visited their home countries/towns. Of course they would feel more necessary to help out, since they themselves lived in that same situation. They had a little bit more hands on experience as to why the people in their countries need help. My parents are more inclined to help out when we go to India, since they grew up in poverty there themselves. What Tracy McGrady is doing is remarkable. He never lived in Africa, has no family there, no culture there, yet he's going out of his way to help out the people of an entire country. I don't have any respect for you, since you have the audacity to actually criticize somebody for doing something to make the world a better place. Why don't you get off your lazy, obnoxious butt and go do something before you criticize how and how much a person gives!
Not sure where I was going with what I said. Mcgrady is doing great stuff. He really is. I just wish Yao and Deke got as much respect for what they did/doing as mcgrady is getting right now. Mcgrady and giving a damn got thrown into a sentence, but yao and deke werent in that sentence. And they sure as **** should be. I just wanted to let him realize that deke and yao do give a damn.
I bet if you asked the average NBA fan if they knew McGrady was involved in this effort, they would have no idea. Deke and Yao, everyone knows their efforts overseas because they were born overseas. I think you're totally off assuming Deke and Yao don't get respect and McGrady does. The freakin president of the US honored Deke for his efforts in a state of the union address. That is mad respect. And Yao is probably the most respected basketball player in the world. Tracy is easily one of the most criticized and I love Yao but frankly, if you look at the totality of their careers, Yao is way behind McGrady.
Ive gone to peru multiple times in a medical mission to distribute medicine to kids and people there, Ive done a homeless simulation in Philadelphia where I was homeless for the weekend. I regularly go to HAAM and help out. Last week I went to this place in porter called 'Feed my lambs' where I helped make brown bag lunches and delivered them to the elderly in their retirement homes. Ive partaken in '30 hour famines' hosted by the organization World Vision to raise money for children in Africa to bring them food just to name a few things. If you want to know when else I do and how to help out, please PM me. I dont do that stuff so I can brag about it. Mcgrady is doing awesome stuff. Im just not sure if he needs to be bringing all this attention to himself about it.
Im mainly talking about the boards respecting them. I just think when mcgrady does something, people pay alot more attention than yao and deke, and it upsets me.
I haven't seen McGrady try and bring attention to himself for doing work in Darfur. (The number change actually occured last season and we are just now hearing about it). I see him trying to bring attention to the cause. But he's Tracy McGrady.......so even if he cured AIDS, he'd still be demonized. Its pathetic.
