Biggest ? heading into the new season...

Really the biggest questions to me in order are:

1) Is Tracy McGrady going to be healthy?
2) If healthy, does Tracy still have "it"
3) Is Yao going to maintain his level of dominance or just revert to being a good center.

The rest isn't relevant after those three to be honest.

 

How does one lose "it" if healthy?

 

well i think if bonzi fits in well we have a legit shot at it otherwise i dont think we are at the caliber of a few other teams...

 

On that list Tmacs back is the biggest question but another one you forgot to put on the list is Sura's comeback...

 

To me that's a minor question mark ... how many people seriously think he'll come back?

 

Other- Will the other players defere to Yao Ming? The game needs to go through Yao Ming. The inside outside game is essential this season!
Sura seems finished!

 

I voted "Other" and my reason is the same as stated from an earlier post from today. Our one weakness is the absence of a big, brusing banger type of 4, the old prototype power forward. I still believe with all of the good and exciting personnel we have that we need a guy like that

 

actually I am worrying about T-mac's shooting%

 

The big question mark is how he will perform even if he come back after missing whole season.

 

Ditto and I'll add that Tmac's defense is going to be the difference in making his FG% go up. Also, it will be the difference between winning a whole lot vs. being a 5-8 seed. We need home court advantage if we want to go deep into the playoffs. A short series allows a contender to refuel, rest and prepare for the next opponent. Also, a short series makes injury risk minimized. How do you get all of that done? Tmac needs to play defense and play it with a passion. Tmac's defense would lead to easy buckets and he'll be a little more tired on offense. Normally being tired is a bad thing, but Tmac's shot selection might be a little more selective if he doesn't have the energy to go for the miracle shot everytime.

I look for Tmac to score less at a higher percentage, play fewer minutes and increase his assists and steals per game.

Line: 23ppg 6reb 6assists 2stl 1.5blks (32 min)

 

Overall health and help at the 4.

 

I have little to no confidence in Mac's back so its not a "?" for me.

Although I do agree if he is 100% (he won't be) it would make the biggest change in our season.

 

The health of our superstars doesn't bother me too much but it seems to me that they didn't have that chemistry there like the first season they played together. I used to object to Yao playing too much screens for TMac in 04-05 season since I thought that would tear down Yao's stamina but I have to admit it was the signature move of the Rockets Duo and it is lethal yet unstoppable in the league.

They played together very few times last season and I didn't notice any other similar setups by both of them in these preseason games. Watching both of them played together on the court now, they were like magnets of the same pole. Now I only hope Yao would set more and more screens for TMac and had that signature move back sooner.

TMac always wants to do something special with his big fella and I remember in his first appearance with Yao in the same All-star team, he even asked Yao to setup a pass to him for an alley-oop like Yao did with Steve Francis in the previous All-star game. I hope TMac doesn't lose his passion now and Yao needs to do something proactively to foster his relationship with TMac. Chinese reports always said that Yao was often the last player left the training court, instead of working hard on his own, I wish Yao would ask TMac to stay behind, even for once, and request to train together and work out some great moves together. I think TMac will be more than happy to do so. Perhaps IC2000 could tell us how these 2 gentlemen work together in trainings nowadays, or they simply work on their own.

 

For me, there isn't a biggest question - there's only one question. Will T-mac's back hold up.

That's it.

 

I agree, I think Yao is fine as of now (unless another freak accident happens), but TMac has been going through this for a long time, hopefully it was just 1 time that is got this bad and it just stays like it did in past and he plays like 70+ games.

That would be fantastic .

 

I can't believe concern for Yao's foul trouble or officiating isn't a poll option.

 

This rocket team = 3 headed monsteres.

 

I would not worry about a thing except the health of T-Mac and Yao. But I'll have to put T-Mac's back on top.

Agree with you though on Bonzi's role but let's face it we are

- a lottery without both T-Mac & Yao
- just a borderline playoff team without a healthy T-Mac or Yao