You think you got a good idea about what it is when people say a player "makes-the-players-around-him-better", don't you, TMac4Life#1? As a playmaker or facilitator, you could do a lot worse than Tracy McGrady (and we'll all get to see that first-hand in a couple of weeks)..... Having no viable offensive players outside of Yao Ming for the time he's been here, and the Rockets still finishing in the top half of the conference despite him and Yao being out for long stretches, says more about McGrady's ability to carry a team than anybody can say against it.... ....because it takes a tougher mind, to me, to keep expecting players to make shots and plays around you and watching that not happen (and shouldering the brunt of the blame for it), and get back up and try that again and again and again. That shows its own type of relentlessness. Or stupidity. Take your pick. What happens is that players' games aren't so much elevated by their star teammates, as it is simplified by those stars. The stars handle the heavy lifting. They draw the attention and the criticism, from everybody else. Everybody else just has to rise and take advantage of the opportunity. It's easier to say that either Yao or McGrady or the both of them haven't gotten the job done, because they've been the only reasons why the Rockets have even been brought up in discussions about title contenders. But there's only so much anybody can do with marginal talent. The roster turnover in the two season under Daryl Morey and Rick Adelman is testament to that. Unless you believe that McGrady has somehow held the franchise hostage, the way Kobe Bryant did a few seasons ago, demanding a trade and backing out of it...... I think, if McGrady really wants to learn how to con people into doing things his way, he really ought to study Bryant more....
