Be patient with until Mcgrady returns

I think people saw Yao's importance just fine.
Especially Portland.

That's why they ran Jim Boeheim's 2/3 zone for nearly four straight games against Yao.

It's also why the Rockets got a TON of easy baskets (or at least, easy shots). Portland was determined, after just one half of basketball, to not let Yao Ming beat them. And Yao found other ways to get himself involved, anyway. Good teams and good players adjust, adapt, and beat your brains in.

The other Rockets, and more importantly, how they played, mde the difference in that series. Yao's job has always been to be the table-setter.

Just haven't been enough guys here hungry enough to join the party.

You know that, tinman.

 

Unless he gets traded for quality players, Mcgrady is the player we will need most. Heck we might even get out of the first round again. Its a contract year and I have a feeling he'll be playing at a high level once again. We just need him back asap. We can win with this group at home, but it's different on the road. We need a go to guy and a healthy TMac is exactly that.

Look we all hate what he did last season. Its inexcusable to come into the season out of shape. He didn't work hard enough and the Rockets paid the biggest price for it. Who knows..we could have been the champs! But that's in the past. It doesn't look like a trade will transpire so lets stop the hating and hope the guy returns sooner rather than later.

 

McGrady is going to make a lot of people believers again. With Yao out for the season just watch how he plays. Sad to say but it seems like when Yao is out he plays better. Maybe because there is more spacing who knows. Either way the Rockets still have a pretty good winning percentage when McGrady or Yao is out.

 

That is just ignorant. Why would you waive a $23 mill salary? It doesn't come off the books.

 

I'm still curious to see this offense of rick aldelman's.

 

why would you even respond to something so ignorant. I mean its obvious that AntiSonic, TinMan, And Dakota want T-Mac gone.

That post by Antisonic was just dumb. Shouldn't have responded to probably the #1 McGrady hater on this board.

 

But was he lying when he said that? I don't think so. I understand that NBA talent is NBA talent but even the Rockets teams of the past had been overachieving. Outside of Yao, before this season, we never had a consistent third scorer or option. Scola has just begun to become that for us this season.

In which playoff series prior to this season have we held the advantage in a match up by position outside of Center or SG? I can't think of one.

The shutdown thing has been really overblown. Outside of the continuous argument that he should've notified the team, I don't have a problem with it being that I know how much an injury like that impacts your ability to perform at a high level.

During the Hakeem days prior to Barkley, we had a fairly balanced offense and outstanding defense.

 

I care about winning too, so I will pose these questions back to you. How many points did the rest of the Rockets' team score in the fourth quarter? How many total points were scored in the game by the Rockets team? How many other Rockets players scored 10pts? 15pt? In other words, no help = no win...

 

We had Yao, Francis and Mobley. Mobley was the 3rd scorer.

 

mad about the ol rookie status?

 

Yao was dominant then. If I remember correctly, it was the Francis and Mobley shoot, lob and dribble show.

But I hear ya on that.

 

Ooops, Yao was not dominant then...

 

that was one specific regular season game.

I'm tired of people blaming the 'teammates' for a player who is a volume shooter.

it was maybe a decent argument when Tmac was younger, but it's been 12 years in the league. 3 different teams.

And all 3 of those teams made the 2nd round or higher post Tracy.

 

What exactly are we believing again?

 

Strong post dude. Last year's post seasons answered alot of questions about our team and our coach.. and certain players!

 

T mac brought the rockets back from a double digit lead in the first half. No rafer and no teamates stepping up. I watched that game and felt sorry for him. Kobe after shaq left made it out of the first round zero times. Then gasol came and he made it to the finals. So what .

 

Okay i'm a fan of McGrady and i also have alot of hate for Kobe and the Lakers.
But don't go comparing the T-mac of now to the Kobe of now.
A few years ago you had a legit argument but now T-mac has to prove himself again.
I hope McGrady does... I still believe and true rockets fans may still believe but its all up in the air at the moment.

 

Tmac wasn't a 1st option in Toronto, so you really can't say it was his fault that they didn't beat the Knicks in their 1st ever playoff appearance.

In Orlando, Grant Hill was basically Yao/Tmac is now...the highest paid player who isn't able to play due to injury...his was a severe case 47 games in 4 years with Tmac.

Because of that, the only support Tmac had through the years was:
an old Darrell Armstrong,
an old Horace Grant
a rookie Mike Miller, (traded in the middle of the 2002-2003 season)
a very old Patrick Ewing
John Amechi
Don Reid
Michael Doleac
Andrew DeClerque
Monty Williams
young/unproductive Troy Hudson
a fat/drug rehabbing Shawn Kemp (started in the 2003 series vs. Detroit)
Pat Garritty (only one who was there all 4 years),
Pat Burke
Gordon Giricek

In the 2001 season, rookie Mike Miller, Darrell Armstrong, Pat Garritty, and Bo Outlaw were his best supporting cast players.

In the 2002 season, Mike Miller (missed 19 games), Darrell Armstrong, Troy Hudson, and Pat Garritty were his best supporting cast players.

They had no big productive big men...Tmac was the leading rebounder averaging 8 rpg, and the leading blocked shots leader at 1 bpg.

In 2003, Mike Miller was traded after 49 games for Drew Gooden (who only played 19 games for the Magic that season), but other than that Giricek and Garritty were the best support Tmac had along with Gooden for the playoffs.

Then in 2004, the hockey GM, wanna be basketball GM John Gabriel decides to rebuild the team, right after they were 1 game away from pulling off a major 1 vs. 8 seed upset.

He brings in Juwan Howard, Deshaun Stevenson, Tyronne Lue, Kieth Bogans, and other scrubs, and tells Tmac that the Magic are rebuilding, but they want him to play his butt off to help sell tickets so the team doesn't lose $.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/ORL/2004.html

Doc Rivers gets fired during the season, and assistant Johnny Davis takes over for the rest of the year. John Gabriel is also fired during the season, and John Weisbrod (a hockey GM) takes his place. He quit after 1 season.

Well, they get the #1 pick after going 21-61 with that horrendus roster, and draft Dwight Howard. They are also able to draft Jameer Nelson late in the 1st round. They also sign a young, still developing Turkoglu for cheap.

Also, after Tmac leaves, Grant Hill comes back and plays 67 games, averaging 20 ppg in 2004-2005...funny how that luck played out. The most games he was ever able to play with Tmac in a season was 29. That would've changed everything in Orlando if Tmac and Hill had ONE healthy season together.

They trade Tmac to Houston for Francis, Mobley, and Cato. They hire Brian Hill as their new head coach. Weisbrod trades Mobley within a couple of months for an old Doug Christie which infuriates Francis, and things go downhill for him from there. They miss the playoffs.

The next season, Otis Smith is the new GM, they trade Francis for Ariza, trade for Darko, but miss the playoffs once again. Howard, Turkoglu, and Nelson are nowhere near the players they are today at this time.

They basically keep the same team, but draft Reddick to add some more shooting. Grant Hill's contract expires at the end of the season, so they get 20 million+ to use in free agency. The Magic Finally make the playoffs, 3 years after Tmac is traded, but they get swept 4-0 in the 1st round by Detroit. Brian Hill is fired after the season, and Grant Hill goes to the Suns. Turkoglu and Nelson put up similar #'s to the previous season, but they are under contract for cheap.

In 2008, they hire Stan Van Gundy as their new Head coach. They sign Rashard Lewis to a huge contract (with Hill's contract finally off their books). However, Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu improve drastically with the signing...Howard because they have 4 3 point shooters on the floor, and Turkoglu because either he or Lewis will be gaurded by a slower post defender who can't guard the perimeter.

The Magic win 52 games, beat a weak Raptors team in the playoffs (made DH12 look like Wilt Chamberlain in that series), but lost again to the Pistons 4-1 this time. The Magic make it past the 1st round 4 years after Tmac is traded, and Grant Hill is off their books, and with Hedo and Jameer on for really cheap.

This last year, Nelson becomes an all star, Lewis and Hedo are about the same, but Howard becomes the DPOY, and Reddick, Petrius, and Courtney Lee were all pivotal shooting guards for them. They win 59 games, and lose in the Finals.

The Magic got better because they hired a better coach, a better GM, drafted well (2 1st round picks developed into All stars), and allowed a decent, young team to develop and grow.

With the Rockets from 2005 to 2007, JVG and CD built this team horribly and asked Tmac to do way too much. Same with Yao.

The Rockets, in 2008, finally got a better offensive coach in Adelman, a genius GM in Morey, who drafted well (Landry & Brooks), stole Scola away from the Spurs.

The Rockets win 22 straight (2nd all time in NBA history) but Yao gets hurt and is out for the season by March. Plus Rafer and Battier are hurt, along with Tmac, and Tmac almost single handedly carries us to 2 wins vs. Utah, but they eventually beat us.

This year, Scola, Landry, and Brooks all get a lot better. Head is traded and we bring in Wafer in his place. We get Brent Barry, we get Ron Artest, and we trade Rafer during the season for a younger, more attacking point guard in Lowery.

Tmac is out after 35 games, the Rockets draw the Blazers, a young team and a perfect matchup for Yao, and we beat them in 6 games...if a healthy Tmac was there, we probably sweep the Blazers, no way would we lose to them.

As you can see, A LOT of things haven't gone in Tmac's favor in his career...with the Grant Hill situation in Orlando, having no big men production
in Orlando, (lead the team in Rebounding 1 year),

not getting any help outside of Yao in the 2005 & 2007 playoffs,

having Yao & Rafer out for the 2008 playoffs with a better coach and a slightly improved supporting cast,

and being out when the team finally gets a solid supporting cast. Not being able to stay healthy at the same time with Yao since 2006.

Thats why I feel he's had way too much blamed on him. Some of the coaches, general managers (especially) injuries (Hill, Yao, himself),

and just some bad luck (Hill coming back the season after Tmac is traded and plays 67 games & averages 20 ppg),
bad calls vs. Yao in the 2005 playoffs, Finley's foot out of bounds, rest of the team except for Tmac and Yao disappears in game 7 in Dallas
Houston can't get a rebound in the last minute vs. the Jazz in Game 7
Rafer and Yao being out in the 2008 playoffs,
the Rockets drawing the perfect matchup the year Tmac is out of the playoffs.


Trust me, Tmac probably had the least to do with the team's failures...I just showed you MANY factors as to why Tracy McGrady was not able to reach the 2nd round.

 

No I feel sorry for the fans who think that he's on the same level as Kobe.

 

You basically said he's really not that good.

Cause a Sam Cassell could take the worst team in the league, the LA Clippers to the 2nd round.

I enjoy how people make excuses and feel sorry for Tmac.

Did anyone feel sorry for MJ, Kobe, Bird, Magic, Dream ? I think it was the opposite, they made the other team feel sorry for even playing them.

Tmac has everything to do with the team's failures cause he's suppose to the 'best' player on that team.

Maybe he was never the best player.