this cancer was the sole reason we won 22 games in a row...if you just see him play on the court you can clearly see the difference between ariza, brooks, landry, scola and mcgrady. While all of those players can play good off another player, mcgrady is the sole superstar. His vision, his bball iq, his ability to not be stopped. No player has these attributes. Ariza can't dribble fors ****, budinger is not gonna become anything above a spot up shooter, and wafer has several, SEVERAL weaknesses in his game. Mcgrady wants to play, in my opinion its adelman being a b!tch.
If you think this team is going anywhere without a superstar then your crazier than i thought. This team right now is filled with nothing but role players. When games are close and you need a finisher who are you going to go to?? Aaron Brooks?? Plz don't make me laugh. I like Brooks and respect his game but he is not that type of player. You talk about taking bad shots and shooting a horrible fg%.. Hmmm ummm have you been watching Trevor Ariza play buddy?? In the words of you "We don't need that" Why is it that Ariza gets his pass but yet he is doing exactly the same thing McGrady does but the only difference is McGrady can shoot better than him. Dribble and pass better than him. I loved Ariza since his knick days but im sorry. He is not a go 2 guy. He needs to just stay doing what he is use 2.
And if you think McGrady is a superstar still you're crazier than I thought. He has a right to want more minutes. I think the Rockets have mishandled this thing for a while and they should slowly increase his minutes as he earns them. But, he can't disrupt the teams chemistry either. It's a fine line and I hope the organization knows what they're doing.
As I've said earlier, the differences are that Ariza plays better defense, is younger and far cheaper, and is a long-term prospect for Houston unlike McGrady who at worst case will be gone next year. And sure, we could use a superstar. A half-injured 30 year old rusty McGrady is not even an All-Star, much less a superstar. Why can't you Tracy fans understand this? And for the last goddamned time we have to be cautious with a guy coming off microfracture surgery. We give him the minutes you fools want, and guess what? He's injured again by the playoffs, which is actually when we would need a closer (which I don't think he is, but I'll digress) far more than we need him in the regular season.
Plz point to me where i said MCGRADY WAS A SUPERSTAR????? I said this team isn't going anywhere without a superstar!!! Read buddy. read b4 you try to debate with someone.
Yes Aaron Brooks...feel free to laugh, he is out best closer right now.....and our biggest mismatch on the floor. And I don't think we are going anywhere without a star either, but I do think Landry and Brooks have the potential to develop into stars...... And Tracy is no longer one... Wrong thread, but I suffice it to say I agree. DD
sole reason? please take a hike, if you watched any of the 22 games you would probably know he was the sole reason why lost 23 and that was about it.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion so if you believe McGrady is done then thats you. I'll wait to see how he fairs with more mins whenever that may be. Aaron Brooks can cause mismatches I agree but he is also at a disadvantage in the west. Guards can easily back him down. Especially guards in the West. But usually I would say a closer is someone who can get it done. Maybe just maybe i could say landry but I don't want to pass him that torch yet. Brooks I can possibly laugh because at crucial times I've seen him turn the ball over and over. Now im starting to understand why Lowry ends up playing along side with him.
Are you trying to argue that he clearly wasn't the best player in that stretch? He was great in all aspects of the game, including hustle.
No, I don't think so. Yao actually plugs several holes that are currently missing. Here's what I mean: - Yao doesn't stop us from running. In fact, since he's one of the best defensive rebounders in the league he should be able to trigger the fast break. We can use Yao the same way that the Showtime Lakers used Kareem. Trigger the break and if the easy points are there take it. Then when things break down just throw it in to the big guy. - Defense. No matter how much the current Rockets scramble and play smart defense, we still have no stopper at the rim. When teams get the ball inside via penetration, offensive rebounds or post ups, there's not much we can do to stop them. Yao does a great job as the last line of defense and shutting down the lane. Yao provides the missing ingredient that helps our defense get back to where it has been the last couple of years. - Offensively Yao certainly doesn't dominate the ball. The biggest knock on the offense for years has been that Yao doesn't get enough touches or shots. Yao is very efficient and when he does get his touches he scores a high percent of the time. Right now we're primarily a jump shooting team. Having Yao there as the most dominant post up player in the league gives us a high percentage option in addition to all of the things that we are currently doing. - Lastly , teams have to scheme to stop Yao. Players will be open just because Yao is on the floor. Big guys won't leave Yao to rotate over and stop penetration. To me that's the difference. Yao doesn't prevent us from doing the same things that are currently making us successful. He also provides some additional things that we are currently missing. -
Man whats up with you..it seems like like more and more these days all you're doing is bashing on tmac... I am a follower of your messages, but recently i think you're losing your touch dude. Im starting to think this is all you're good for now...Im not sure if we're watching the same games with tmac..If you continue to come into the game with some sour taste in your mouth about tmac..nothing tmac ever does will satisfy you. Im not some diehard fan of tmac either, but I honestly feel that he can contribute more if given the chance... He is better than Ariza on so many levels. Even with his 7 minutes tmac has not slowed down the offense or made it worse in anyway. Ariza is starting to remind me of Artest just without the fun. All i am saying is that watch the games with an open mind.
How could you blame the guy? He has to sit and watch Ariza play 40mpg jacking up shots, playing spotty defense, and stopping the ball at times. McGrady can do those things better. Of course he is frustrated.
I'm not really sure what I voted for because the poll choices contradict themselves. But ariza's averaging like 40 minutes a game, that's insane for someone with such a low shooting percentage. T-Mac definitely has a right to be frustrated. I'd be more worried if he lost his competitive spirit and gave up trying to get more minutes.
Okay, okay.... Can I say something here? First, we all know that Tracy McGrady has the temperment of most talented individual players. His talent and ability is what has made him a fortune playing this game. His ego and self-centeredness is also a large reason why he (or his playoff teams) have not had the success all that prodigious talent of his suggested. Right now, McGrady is PHYSICALLY not that player. I didn't care when he said that he was ready to play in August. I didn't care when he said that he was ready during training camp or at the start of the season. I would have been greatly disappointed in him if he hadn't expected to be ready to play. He spends more time talking about having to work so hard to get back on the court because virtually everybody believes that he's never worked hard a day in his life. That's how talented McGrady is. He has such supreme skill and ability and court sense (offensively), coupled with, at one time, unreal athletic ability (athletic ability that even partially recovered, has him look better in short spurts than most other guys with worlds of playing time and 100% health and youth).... ...that he makes what he can do look extremely easy, even against the best competition in the world night-in and night-out. That ease (and McGrady's knowledge of that ease), more than anything else, is what causes these PR problems with himself or his teammates or the organization. McGrady doesn't do PR himself, I hear. No kidding. And that's where I stop singing McGrady's praises. If there was ever a crossroads in McGrady's career, this is it. A healthy Tracy McGrady changes the equation for the Rockets. Changes the equation for individual players, the team, and the organization. Changes the expectations and the stakes. Stakes that Coach Rick Adelman and GM Daryl Morey have gone out of their way to adjust because of the fact that their two best players would not be here, at least for this season, in any measurable way. A situation ideally suited to revamp, retool, and most importantly, improve the team with the crush of expectation. The madness of last season has been made evident by everybody concerned. Expectations that are established before they are ready to be effectively met are usually disastrous. McGrady, more-or-less a fixture in the Rockets lineup for the past five seasons, believes that he has already earned the right to be on the court. Surprisingly enough, so has Rick Adelman. But what Adelman has decided is that he needs McGrady (if he needs him at all) HEALTHY enough to get the responsibilities he'll have on the court done consistently and at the level Adelman will expect of him. The standard, as always, is different for McGrady than for anybody else. Because of the way last season transpired, Adelman realizes that playing your players injured does not engender trust and confidence among teammates. Citing weaknesses in individual players' games (however high-profile or end-of-the-bench the player may be) is a fan's luxury. Coaches and teammates know what their teammates can and cannot do. What the good teams do is focus on what a guy does to help your club, and get others to help with the things he can't do. Balance, in short. McGrady is frustrated. The reasons for his frustration are probably self-centered, or genuine, or manufactured. I don't know and I don't care. It's not about McGrady earning court time. It's about McGrady being healthy enough to compete every night at a high level on both ends of the floor. It's also about McGrady adjusting how he has played in order to contribute to this team. The onus is on McGrady. Not anybody else. I don't pay a lot of attention to interviews of McGrady anymore, because since the young man doesn't do PR, he won't ever say the thing he's supposed to say. I get beyond how inconsistent McGrady's effort is at times, because I got beyond Shane Battier's on-record disdain for scoring, or Chuck Hayes' inability to make layups, or Aaron Brooks' end-game miscues, for one simple reason. They're Houston Rockets. Everybody's entitled to their opinion of each individual player. But they're a team NOW. They've been a team under some of the most adverse circumstances in recent team history. That....in spite of all the imperfection and hubris...is what I try, myself, to focus on. I don't expect McGrady to change anybody's perception of him. He is who and what he is. If he want's to be here and wants to win here, he's got a line to toe. That's no different than it's been in the past (see Jeff Van Gundy), with the exception of coming back from a potentially career-ending surgery. What has changed is that THESE teammates have earned McGrady (if he stays) performing at his very best. Maybe McGrady's too preoccupied with his contract situation. Maybe he's itching to play a larger role. Maybe he's just wasting everybody's time. I don't know (I don't know a lot today)....
i understand many of you dont like to tmac, but to say he has no reason to be frustrated is ridiculous.
Nice post!!! Yet the issue remains that much of this critique offensively can be said about Brooks and Ariza at various points in the game especially when things bog down (ISOs). This system is a good one but a player that can create for himself, draw doubles and can pass alters that plan some. The pick n rolls that we see from Brooks and whomever are pretty much the same type of pick n roll for Yao and Mac but without the same level of effectiveness for obvious reasons. Again, if the Rockets get a star type player does anyone really believe that we are going to play this same style of basketball? I'm sure as Adelman stated within your quotes, players with those skill sets will alter the system. If either Brooks or Ariza were consistent offensively, we would see that happen with them too. I don't get what's so hard about that. Furthermore, if team chemistry is so important, I am still trying to figure out how trading up to four or five contributing players from our team for whomever doesn't disrupt this sacred chemistry? If I am not mistaken, Webber and Bibby held the ball a lot while under Adelman's system too. Yes, this is a critique T-Mac thread but people still should recognize how they are cherry picking in who they apply their critics. I am not objecting to what people are saying unless they neglect to make those same critics when warranted on others players especially those that they like or deem hard working. If results are what people go by then why are others getting passes? And there won't be as many threads made for others to this magnitude because T-Mac, whether hated or loved, is the talk of this BBS (outside of may be the game threads).
I don't think McGrady has reason to be frustrated. The explanations given for his limited minutes - health, chemistry, evaluation period, etc. - seem pretty reasonable to me. Plus, when he is in the game the offense has been pretty much going through him, so it's not like they're ignoring him or not trying to integrate him. As for this being McGrady's contract year, he still has over half a season to prove himself. A few more minutes now isn't going to make that much of a difference. In fact, rushing back and looking less than 100% now could actually have a negative impact. The only thing that gives me pause is the seeming lack of communication between him and Adelman about his playing time. ("I haven't talked to coach about it" and so on.) But that may be the policy of Adelman and most NBA coaches; after all, a coach can't be explaining playing time decisions to every disgruntled player. Perhaps as a star, McGrady isn't used to being treated like everyone else? I don't know. A little off topic, but it will be interesting to to compare this situation with Yao's when he returns from his injury next season. Will Adelman be as careful about his minutes as he has been with McGrady's?
