To be honest, we cannot get anything in fair trade value for this guy, or at least that I know of. The best trade we had on the books was during the summer where a rumor started with detroit (something billups/hamilton for tmac). We can only let this guy rest and pray that he can do more for our team. I was one of those guys that always wanted to trade tmac (even though I liked the guy as a basketball player, but he is too fragile.) I really dont know what we can do with him. He is starting to remind me of Cwebb during his down years after his surgery. All the kings could get for him was a bunch of scrubs and I believe tmac is going in the same route.
So as RR, is coming up with ways to use T-Mac and his current skills; your only suggestion is to trade him... From this post that's the only suggestion you would ever come up with no matter what.
Bad idea. Tmac is known to be a streaky shooter. He used to be a great scorer because when his jumpers aren't falling, he could slash to the basket. If you change Tmac's role on offense to be a spot up shooter, we'll live and die by his shots. You really want to do that?
t-mac would be the LAST guy on our roster who i'd want to be like Peja, just because he can't shoot for ****! Luther Head, Von Wafer, Barry, even Artest are better spot up shooters than T-Mac. t-mac is such an unorthodox player in that he's a SG who supposedly is a good scorer, yet he has a very inconsistent jumpshot and never attacks the basket. he's a walking paradox! it's a wonder how he even gets points in the first place. the closest comparison i have for T-Mac to another star in the league is probably Allen Iverson.
In order to see where RR is coming from, watch McGrady on only catch and shoot jumpers. Dont count hesitations. Don't count yoyos or heat checks. Catch. And. Shoot. He is FAR better than most here are giving him credit for on this. His form is pure, and when he doesnt 'think' he shoots it really well. Its all muscle memory reflex and he is very accurate. If Peja and guys like Ray Allen are 5 star catch n shooters(Allen is 5 star shooter period) then T-Mac is a 4 star catch n shooter.
Exactly he has to buy in he has no desire to run around and the team is very reluctant to just pass to him when he is standing around. He has to create his own space without the ball by using his team mates and find room to score. To me that is alot easier concept to understand, but he can't grasp it to well. When he stands around and they pass him the ball the offense boggs down and becomes stagnant.
And that main problem is not within T-Mac understanding of the offense it's more about a high IQ point guard being able to controll the rock and find him within the flow of the offense and Rafer is not too great at that because all he can do is bring it up, throw it in and stand around waiting to catch and shoot 7 for 19 all season. Brooks though has the speed to just blow by people and shoot better than Rafer.
The money could be better used for other things. It doesn't make sense to spend $20+ Mil for Peja. Why would you want TMac to assume a similar role?
I believe for Mac the game will become much easier for him as a shooter in Ricks system with a PG who can controll the offense and be a threat at same time on the floor. Floor General is needed for tempo which Alston is not really a tempo PG he can be used in Jeffs system to do what Rick needs him to do with what is on the floor. A reason why our defense thrives at times is because Alston really slows the game down to a point it works to our advantage. Bringing in a tempo PG could really hurt our defense unless he plays defense too. My point is Alston is not consistent enough to make Mac a better player because he lacks fundementals shooting consistency and tempo. Alston is a good defender and can controll the rock. He lacks other aspects to make the other guard better.
I remember he was very effective at this. He'd run through a few screens set up to get himself free and hit a nice little midrange jumper at the end. IIRC he did quite a few of this in the last season with Van Gundy. The problem is that it requires some mobility on McGrady's part, which is what is lacking at the moment.
Correct. Alston fundementals are only good enough for a slow down half court offense in which he can start the motion. What he lacks is tempo, shooting consistency and moving off the ball. Once he passes to T-Mac then he must create room for himself and space. Really both of them need to get on a level to where they can thrive together within the half court offense. Tempo is not too important if Alston can use his team mates to get open the problem is he does not demand enough attention to make the game easier for Mac. For Mac once Alston undetstands this much then he can trust Alston enough to give himself easy looks using team mates.
His 3 point shot is night and day different on catch and shoot as well. Adelman had him running off screens too, but like you said its a mobility issue. I think if McGrady gets to a healthy state the mobility wont be an issue any more.
