The Giants beat the Patriots to win the Super Bowl The Rays went the the World Series for the 1st time in history The Houston Rockets took the Champs to a Game 7 in the second round of the Playoffs. Understand where im going with this?? If we are able to make it to the playoffs who knows what will or could happen.
A couple of things. 1. No elevation on those jumpers at all, they were almost set shots. but 2. The spin moves were the most encouraging thing, usually if your knee hurts you don't do a lot of spin moves. So, I will ignore the lack of elevation becuase it is just shot around and they are not going full out. DD
Disagree. Not a good situation at all. He's basically untradeable due to his contract. How good he plays is really irrelevant as far as a trade goes. His style of play doesn't at all fit what this team is doing right now, therefore I don't see that adding him really helps them that much. Playing him sends Budinger to the bench, which is a terrible thing. McGrady is basically the antithesis of what this team is all about right now.
how is he untradeable due to his contract? with the state of the nba right (economy wise) there are several teams that covet the largest expiring contract in the NBA even if they dont even play Tmac at all right now. especially if insurance covers a lot of that contract. Morey clearly would get less talent back in return most likely in a trade but if he gets pieces that fit needs for this team for the season going forward I dont think anyone here would be upset over that.
history is usually the best indicator of the future track record for the rockets the past decade: 1 playoff series advancement sure anything can happen but no way this team is going to get even close the WCF let alone the finals with any sort of legitimate size expecting something that is totally out of reach is just setting yourself up for disappointment. IF tmac comes back to the same level he was at in the 07 season and buys into the team concept that is being displayed right now the Rockets can be a solid playoff team just not a contender. tmac coming back to that level is a big enough IF on its own let alone the Rockets being a solid playoff team
Portland's front office sold the same idea to the media and fans about LaFrentz's insured contract. They obviously didn't get a trade offer worth executing. The earlier a team trades for McGrady, the more money they save. If he's playing by Dec/Jan they're not going to save any money after that. Point being, if a team wanted him for that purpose. IMO, he'd be gone by now.
Even assuming Tmac and Yao will both be diminished to near All stars or just a notch below the talent of where they were. You still have to believe this team as it is built currently is better off with being even deeper than it already is. You could then actually play Yao and Tmac only 29 minutes per game every single game. You could bring Tmac off the bench with Budinger, Landry, Hayes, and Lowry and have the best backups in the history of the NBA that put the games out of reach for the starters while you keep Ariza and Battier starting over Tmac and Budinger as their replacements. You could keep everyone fresh and substitute Yao as a practice more often to limit him. That team could potentially be a Championship team so deep as it could be to keep playing a full 48 minutes non stop at the highest level of effort. That's a team I could accept if Tmac came back to a respectable level of play and accept a role. Who could compete with even a diminished Yao and Tmac with Landry, Scola, Ariza, Battier, Brooks, Lowry, Budinger, and now Hayes who is playing well?
Remember they are coming back to a better team with improved players and added Budinger and Ariza in their absence.
If its not his knees, its his shoulder, if its not his shoulder its his back...catch my drift guys? I have 2 posters of this guy mounted in my room as i type this (actually i have a lot of NBA posters), but Mr Mcgrady is done. I hate to admit it, but his tenure in houston was a great dissapointment.
Crap, it didn't post the next paragraph. Well, nice Video Tmac1, looks like you were right in the action . If you guys recall when tmac was a somewhat efficienct shooter, he was never really efficient actually, but he would get a lot of elevation on his jumper. That is what set him apart actually. Since 06 we haven't seen that elevation at all...and don't expect it to miraculously come back. I know he worked so hard this summer, but the truth is that he should have been working this hard all along and he may have been left with more. Whats gone is gone, and as a lazy player that relied solely on his athleticism...you can see how it hurts him
I think he can go, when he was doing those cuts and spin moves, his knee looked really good in the video. If he can go all out already right now, I think he'll be back November 25th. Maybe they are trying to get him in game shape? Maybe they want him to take his time even if he is ready? I hope for the best for him.
I think if his MRI shows everything is good and the area that had the missing cartilage looks filled in they will let him start practices. Probably take about a month of practices before he has his wind back and can play. After that I think his minutes will be limited to see how his knee responds - also think it will take him a month to feel confident on the knee. Don't see him being a major factor until Jan...which will give the Rockets brass a month to decide what to do with him. I don't think he will be traded...he's still too coveted to be used just as an expiring contract and I don't see any contender that has anything we'd want in return for him (some young player with a lot of upside). You look at the contenders...Boston, Cleveland and Orlando in the east, and L.A., Denver, and San Antonio in the west - and it's hard to see what they'd be willing to give up that they don't see as critical to their team's future. If I were Morey I am hoping T-mac looks great - and I will monitor his knee and other body parts like a hawk for now on and if he plays well and stays healthy, I sign him to a one year deal to have one last Yao-T-mac hurray in 2011.
Instead of believing everything you hear you guys should wait and see. T-Mac's coming strong this year, he really seems to be working on it and it looks like he's doing good to me.
I think you are right. He may be (and probably already is) 100% ready physically. I think he may be still struggling with the mental part, though. The team wants to be extremly cautious, because they saw what happend last year and now they want to be 200% sure. Month is probably two long, but 2 weeks seems very likely, we'll see. But the thing is, they want him to be 100% when he comes back (not 90, or even 99). They don't want to limit his minutes etc. When he is back that means he can play even 48 minutes without any problems. The same situation with back to backs.
morey, adelman, and tracy all said that he will ONLY come back if he can handle big minutes and be able to play every game, backs to backs, and participate in all practices. until then, he may look great physically. but they will really evaluate him after 11/23.
