Amsterdam, April 30, 2002 - adidas announced today that it has signed a lifetime strategic partnership agreement with Orlando Magic star guard Tracy McGrady. The deal, which is for the duration of McGrady's basketball career and beyond, is the most significant contract adidas has ever signed with a professional athlete. "This is an unprecedented deal for adidas," stated Erich Stamminger, Member of the Executive Board of adidas-Salomon AG, responsible for Global Marketing. "Tracy is one of the most exciting and respected players in the NBA and we are impressed by his passion both on and off the court. We are excited about his future impact on the sport, our brand and our global basketball business." McGrady is currently in the final year of his six-year contract with adidas. Earlier this year adidas introduced the T-MAC, its first signature Tracy McGrady basketball shoe, which quickly gave adidas its first number one selling shoe in the U.S. in almost six years. Since his NBA debut in 1997, McGrady has established himself as one of the league's top players. For the 2001-2002 NBA season McGrady ranked fourth in scoring (25.6) and total points (1,948), third in points per 48 minutes (32.1), fifth in field goal attempts (1,586), fourth in field goals made (715), eighth in free throw attempts (555) and triple-doubles (1). In 2002 McGrady made his second consecutive All-Star appearance, scored 24 points off the bench and had one of the most memorable dunks in All-Star history. "I am thrilled that adidas will be there with me throughout my basketball career and in what lies beyond," stated McGrady. "adidas has always been a company that has supported me, as far back as high school through the ABCD Camp. This is an exciting time in my life and I am happy that adidas has the confidence in me both as a basketball player and as a person to make this long-term commitment. I am excited about the many projects we will work on together in the upcoming years." "We continue to aggressively expand our U.S. basketball presence," added Ross McMullin, President and CEO, adidas America. "In 2001 our basketball sales grew nearly 40%; partnering with Tracy will enable us to build on that momentum and further strengthen our position in the U.S. basketball market for the long term." If Adidas isn't pissed, they should be.
With the huge dollars at play in this sort of thing, I wonder if someone from Adidas makes a call to CD to let him know that they'd be willing to pick up a portion of JVG's salary if the Rox decide to let him go soon. Maybe even, the sooner they do so, the bigger the portion? All done under the table, of course. Sounds ludicrous (yes, hip-hoppers, that's the correct spelling!) on the surface, but Adidas stands to lose millions of dollars if their marquee guy is playing on a boring below-.500 team and is only seen on Sportscenter as an object of derision.
I don't know what the terms of the deal are, but TMac was getting paid $2 million per year on his 1st contract with Adidas. This lifetime contract with Adidas has him collecting royalties on EVERY single pair of shoes sold. It's important that he looks good in front of the shoe buying public.
You know, I really liked Van Gundy and what I saw last year, in terms of demanding discipline and improvement from that crew. But it's alot easier to take all the negative bashing and sour attitude from Van Gundy when you are playing at least 6-8 seed basketball. We are playing horrible, lottery ball and it is painfully obvious that all the "we are mediocre, we play terrible" over and over is draining the players. It's like quicksand the more you struggle to get out the faster you sink. I really don't think we have the role players, nor the team quickness that we can overcome this slide. Simply put teams have exposed us. We are slow, poor rebounders, and not very good with the outside shot. Yao can score, but more and more he is a defensive liability and he just is not an aggressive rebounder. TMac can do more but he can't carry the team. No one else on the roster is someone I would want on my team. Maybe Sura, Deke and Boki, but the rest are throw aways. JJ should be on someone's bench, Mo Tay should be on the end of someone's bench. Howard should be on someone's bench, same for Lue and Spoon. We have lost more rebounding and defensive quickness than I thought by the trade. Still love McGrady long term. But the pieces do not fit at all, including JVG. I am not giving up all hope, but it is because I love the Rockets that I feel so disappointed and critical at this time.
seriously... i care more about the info traded on this board than the actual games. when i created my sig last year about A-Train it was kind of a joke, but now it's getting ridiculous. i'm pissed i bought the nba league pass at this point. i haven't even had the URGE to look at the last couple of rockets games--what a waste. Doc Rocket speaks; we listen. this truly is getting interesting... thanks.
Then I am rooting for us to tank against the Mavericks, if it gets JVG to quit. However, I don't think he will quit again, he would not get another coaching chance, he realizes this is it for him. DD
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/quickie "Fire Gundy!" Rockets fans did their best impression of bitter, instant-history New Yorkers, jeering their underperforming coach as Houston dropped its 4th straight (and 5th straight at home). But is he really to blame? Let's see: From last year, Van Gundy's the same and Yao's the same. The difference is ... Tracy McGrady's arrival. (And perhaps Steve Francis' departure? Ironically, the Magic lead the Southeast.) T-Mac: Arguably, the most talented player in the NBA who actually makes his teams worse. It's a dogfight between him and Vince Carter. So, fans, blame the new guy; it's not time to blame Van (yet).
Regarding Jimy Van Gundy: Can someone in the know please give some details on the state of the Knicks team when Jimy Van Gundy quit the last time? If I recall, it was pretty early in the season, and he just up and quit. Something tells me that this season is eerily similar to that one in NY, but I don't really know the details. And yes, whenever Doc speaks, we all listen. Hopefully he will have something more juicy after the weekend, but in all honesty, was anyone surprised by what he has said in this thread so far? Frankly I would be very surprised if the players were NOT saying such things. Just like everyone else, it seems, I have noticed the negative body language and low effort of the players.. it seems quite obvious that the team has no confidence in itself, nor any in JVG either. Here's a question: While a lot of people like to bash on CD, and he is certainly not totally immune to some criticism, I myself fall into the camp that thinks that CD just does the moves that the coach wants. I think Les has pretty much dictated that, with Rudy in the past and now with JVG. JVG says he wants a certain player or players, then that is what he gets, if possible. So the question is, specifically which players on this team are 'JVG Guys' - guys brought in at the specific desire of JVG? NOT in that group: Yao, MoT, Boki, TMac (don't think for one second that JVG had anything to do with that - that was all TMac himself and Les) and.. umm.. And because of the TMac trade, it's debatable whether you could include Lue, and Howard on that list either. (Gaines doesn't count, the guy was filler, and is apparently worthless). And I am not sure about Deke either - I think he is here more because he was a Georgetown guy, and because he was the best available FA 5 out there. So who does that leave as the 'JVG Guys' - the guys who JVG targeted and had brought in? JJ, Spoon, Padgett, Bowen, Ward, Sura, and Barrett. Looking at that list, can you really fault those 'JVG Guys' for their effort? Honestly, as much as I am not liking JVG right now, those specific players, I think, have at least given an energetic effort when called upon. So where's the big disconnect? I think it may very well be the Big-Money Guys, the Stars, the real nucleus of this team.. those are the guys who will ultimately carry this franchise down the path of success. Yeah, you have to have solid role players, but really it comes down to the Stars. And the Stars don't like playing under Jimy Van Gundy. The 'JVG Guys' seem to play hard for him, but when you play NBA games and the only players who are really playing are the ones who should be spending most of their time on the bench, you wind up with 6-10 records, and it is only going to get worse from there. The role-players love JVG, you've always heard that from the guys who have played under him in the past. Fine. But role-players will love ANY coach who lets them stay on the roster. What we need is a coach that the STARS will play for. Yeah they should be self-motivated. But they know better than even we do that they are stuck in a system that does not fit the players. Credit where credit is due though, JVG is a hell of a defensive coach. But he can not coach offense in this league to save his life. It's been said that the definition of insanity is to constantly repeat the same actions, but expecting different results. It would be INSANE for this team to continue doing the same things but expect to start winning. It is not too late for this season, but there is not much time left before it becomes a lost cause. Les, do the right thing, and bring in Phil Jackson (much as I dislike that guy). Oh BTW, where is Tex Winters nowdays? Is he still coaching in LA? Hope not.
DaDa - The problem is that you don't even have to root for this. I'm going to root for them to kick Dallas' ass, but they're going to get blown out anyway.
Van Grumpy won't quit until after he gets his 300th win. T-MAC and YAO don't want to be the ones to give him that, because then he might stay.
This is truly pathetic--but seeing Doc Rocket post is the first time I felt like the good ol' Rockets--that excitement that I used to have all the time brought back by the legendary poster. Things have gotten that bad in Rocketland. Thanks so much Doc--I will now be checking this site twenty times a day to see what you've added.
I think I remember when JVG quit on New York Knicks couple years back. The Knicks were horrible, in a slump like we have right now, everybody is pissed at the players first, then Van Gundy. Then the team turned around a little bit and get some ugly wins like 2 or 3 games, just when the cloud is lifted, JVG called it quits. I could be wrong, but I remembered something like that happened when he quit on the Knicks.
This season has just made me even more annoyed that we botched the Larry Brown thing when he was interested in the Rockets job. I think Brown would have been perfect.
can't say I'm terribly surprised though when this theory was first brought up , I thought it was bull**** for sure and a product of the frustrating struggle to stay above or at .500 at the time. however, I'm not much of a doubter now. I mean this is the rockets we're talking about, but these very same rockets don't play like this..... like COMPLETE ****.... just doesn't happen. am a bit pissed that they'd play like **** just because they've got a grudge against Van Gundy (not that he's the most likable guy in the world), but for fans to pay the money they pay at those ridiculous prices, they should be ****ing ashamed of themselves. guess we'll wait and see IF Van Gundy is fired, that it'll even make a difference. to me, a new coach can't change Yao being a giant p***y still (only Yao can change that) .... or how our team can get defensive and offensive rebounds...... we'll see how much this new coach really matters. i'll be glad to eat my words... but we'll see.
Quetion for fellow posters, is Van Grumpy the most hated Rocket coach ever? Looking back I don't recall such hatred like this! Help me out fellas, was it Chaney, Fitch or Harris, we all know it couldn't be Rudy.
