Haven't seen this posted. I might be wrong http://blogs.chron.com/franblinebury/ "Less is more." Tracy McGrady probably didn't know he was quoting Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a German-born architect. Then again, T-Mac and the Rockets are trying to build the NBA equivalent of a skyscraper this season with an offensive philosophy that values simplicity over frills. "We're just playing basketball now," McGrady said following Thursday's workout at the Cooley Pavilion in Austin. "It's how I grew up playing the game. It's how most of us like to play the game. I think I can produce more." By being asked to do less. One of the primary objectives of new head coach Rick Adelman's offense is to make McGrady less of a pack mule and more of a thoroughbred racehorse. At 28, T-Mac has already played 10 NBA seasons and last year under Jeff Van Gundy was asked to do everything but launder the uniforms. Remember his motto going into the playoffs? "It's all on me." Of course, you remember Game 7 at the Toyota Center. "Now it's not all on me," McGrady said. "No. Not with this offense and the talent we have. It's not all on me. We have a few other guys now who can score the ball. "I think being able to play off the ball with the system that we have now, I don't have to take that burden to score the ball so much this year. When it comes down to taking over a ballgame, obviously, it will still be me." Adelman's design and McGrady's hope is that he can be at the end of more plays this season, rather than controlling the majority of them. "If you look at our team last year, we really had nobody else to create shots," McGrady said. "The ball was in my hands 90 percent of the time, creating shots for everybody else on the basketball team. That's just what we had to deal with. "My role was to do a lot. That's what I had to do and I didn't complain about it. It's just that we have so much more talent. We have guys who can create. I can be on the receiving end now. I don't have to have the ball all the time, initiating the offense. That's a luxury we have." No more being "The Facilitator," the one who gets every offensive possession started. Yes, he can pass and he will pass and he has the ability to use screens set by his teammates to still get them wide open layups and dunks. He'll still do those things from time to time. McGrady just shouldn't have to do it all of the time. "I'm really looking forward to this," he said. "It lifts a burden. It makes me freer. "Less is more." It's a philosophy that built skyscrapers. How a real playoff contender? • • • The Rockets will hold their only two-a-day sessions of training camp on Friday and it will mark the debut of Yao Ming. "We need to get him on the court and figure out what we're doing," Adelman said. "A lot of things we kind of skipped over because he wasn't here. I tried to really take advantage of playing Luis (Scola) and Chuck (Hayes) together and see how they play. When Yao gets here, we see how they both play with him. I'm looking forward to getting him on the court." McGrady is also curious to see Yao in the up-tempo game. "We're definitely going to be running," he said. " When you have a 7-6 guy out there, it's going to be interesting to see how he's going to get up and down the court with us. "With his system, I think it will bring out more of Yao's talents. I think you're gonna see some things that we haven't seen from Yao. His passing ability. I think we're going to see a little bit more of that. I think we're going to see Yao shoot the ball a little bit more from the perimeter. It's gonna be a different look for us. • • • Bonzi Wells is making progress in recovering from a groin pull. He took part in most of Thursday's workout, even participating in some 5-on-5 scrimmaging at the end of practice. "He did OK today," said Adelman. "He scrimmaged for a while. He sat out at the end of it, mostly as a precaution. Of course, he should do OK. He's got the freshest legs here. He was very active, very live. Certainly didn't didn't look like he was affected by anything." • • • Adelman acknowledged surprise at how quickly some of the Rockets are adapting to his motion offense, especially Luther Head. "You don't know," Adelman said. "I've really been surprised at a lot of these guys. Some of these guys have really picked it up and are very active in this offense. Luther Head has been terrific the last two days with the way he cuts. It's been a very pleasant surprise watching these guys. Then you've got to kinda rein 'em in. You get a little bit of freedom and it's not that we're just jacking shots up. You've got to do it within the offense. They're doing a nice job to this point. They're very willing to make hard cuts." • • • When practice ended, New York native Rafer Alston was making plans for the evening. "Time to watch the playoffs," he shouted. "Time to watch the Yankees, a team that knows what they're doing. This ain't like watching the Cubs, where you hope they'll win. This is the New York Yankees. They just win." • • • Chuck Hayes was the only minor casualty at practice on Thursday, sitting out at the end with a bruise on top of his left foot. Kirk Snyder landed on his foot when both were jumping. "No problem," Hayes said. "I'm fine. I'll be ready for practice in the morning."
Since McGrady became a star his coaches (Rivers, JVG) have used him as a main scorer and playmaker on the team, so we really don't know how he'll do if he's relieved of the playmaking duties. Perhaps he'll play like he did in January, when he was an unstoppable scorer, or he might play like he did in November, when Yao was clearly the main guy and he sort of stood around. I don't like this "up-tempo" talk; this is clearly not the system for Yao and it's entirely possible that RA promised Alexander that he'd make the offense up-tempo and thus more fun to watch in order to be hired as coach. Not exactly keen on Yao in the high post either, if it helps the offense run more smoothly, great, but I can't imagine it working except in spurts and Yao will be taken out of his most effective area.
let's be real, when u have tracy mcgrady, it's hard to get the ball AWAY form his hands. clyde drexler was not as good of a playmaker as tracy was so clyde can play off the ball when he played w/ adelman. tracy is EASILY a better passer than ALL of our PGs COMBINED. but i don't think we'll be "that fast-tempo". what i predict will happen is tracy will play more of those going around the screens that he was so great at under JVG (but should have done more). i think he'll post up more and play at the high post. i think he won't initiate the offense much from the middle of the floor, which makes it hard for him to penetrate. but the ball will still be in his hands a lot. in 04-05, we had sura and james, who were very good that year. but ye the ball was in tmac's hands A LOT v. dallas in the playoffs. i expect the same thing. francis will replace sura, james will be james... but the ball and decision-making will be determined by tmac a lot still. maybe he doesn't have to COMPLETELY break down a defense to create a play b/c we have great scorers. but tmac is just a coach's favorite. it's like kobe/bron/wade. i don't care who u have. if u have a tmac, he better has the ball. but i just think he'll play less from the top of the key and that's all that matters. it's tough to play from the top of the key.
I'm sure I'll catch hell for this but ever since RA was hired it seems Tmac talks as if Yao is a non-factor. Sure, he mentioned him briefly in this article but most of Tmac's talk about the team either completely fails to mention the NBA's #1 center or just wonder out loud how Yao is going to keep up under the new offense.
what have u been reading? tmac talks about how scola will fit perfectly for yao. he talks about how yao will be more versatile this yr w/ his passing and shooting from the high post and thus gives them more looks. he says having yao will enable us to play the best of both worlds: pound it inside and kill small teams or run w/ the best of them. tmac brags about yao ALL the time. he's the one who publicly says yao is #1 when they played the heat last yr to shaq and shaq is his boy. it's just this article is geared toward tmac that's all.
I agree with Dave78, it does seem a bit patronizing and somewhat demeaning toward Yao. But then again Yao is the same way towards McGrady in the Chinese media (remember the "unstable" comment), where Yao feels more free to express his true feelings. They seem to be good friends and I'm sure they will make it work on the court.
As stated in the other thread, IMO, Tracy's assists and (probably) minutes will go down. I also think the amount of effort he expends while on the floor will decrease. This is good because when he needs to take over, he will have more gas in the tank.
Agree. I still Tmac can only be effective with the ball in his hands. I hope he doesn't get lazy in this new offense. He's not Clyde. His game is modeled more after MJ. I still think he should touch the ball every possession rather than depending on cuts to the hoop. Now he has help at all positions, so he doesn't necessarily have to initiate the offense, since all 5 guys on the floor can pretty much initiate an offense. As far as the up-tempo, we're not going to turn into the Phoenix suns. If we do, then expect Stevie to average a triple-double a game (and by the 3rd category I'm talking about turnovers). With Steve, Yao, and Tracy, that's a lot of turnovers right there, at least 10 a game in an up-tempo system. I expect a lot of halfcourt game, just a lot more movement and less restriction.
MJ was a savvy player who knew when to cruise during games. He didn't dominate the ball as much as people might think, except when he got in those zones where he couldn't miss or in key possessions near the end of games. If Tracy doesn't lose his intensity when cruising and can pick it up when he needs to, there shouldn't be a problem. Wade has that ability just like MJ did.
Gotta love what Adelman is saying about Luther Head... he's a really smart player but isn't really a leader or aggressor..hence he needs a good system and coach he can perform well under. Under JVG he didn't really have any direction as to what to do except 'shoot 3s' or 'use Yao as screen..' ..which is why he looked lost out there sometimes. But under Adelman, he'l probably have lots of 'options' on what to do, and he'll execute them accordingly, and own.
Agree about Tmac, really curious to see how it plays out with him as a finisher. Half of me hopes and thinks that his shooting efficiency as well as ppg will shoot up as he should get several easy lay-ups a game and be required to shoot fadeaways over double teams with the shot clock winding down anymore. The other half of me is really afraid that all the "cruising" and lack of responsibility may result in a disinterested tmac who goes through the motions which we have all seen at times, particularly during stretches when yao was dominating and tmac was not called upon to be as dominant. Unlike MJ and Dwade tmac doesn't appear to have that relentlessness and motivation to where he is constantly attacking even when appearing to cruise. I fear that keeping him constantly involved and relying on him to a large degree to create ala orlando and houston under gundy may be the only way to keep him fully engaged. As far as moving yao to the high post, as others have pointed out, not too crazy about it, would love to see him mix it up as long as the coaching staff remember that they are dealing with THE most dominant low-post scorer in the leage and not vlade divac or brad miller. Regardless of how effective he can be in the high post, it surely can't compare to the automatic bucket that going to him in the low post has evolved into. Sorry for the essay guys, had a lot on my mind.
that's an excuse for tmac when he wasn't in shape and playing tentatively last yr for yao's dominance. we saw v. the suns at the end of the yr that they BOTH can be dominant and tmac can still get his shots when yao goes off.
This ugly side of T-Mac's personality has always been present. Look, if Yao Ming says T-Mac is unstable, I believe him. I think T-Mac is wishy washy, and moody. Last year, T-Mac has often said things demeaning to Yao. This year's no different. And I think some of you are being a little naive when you say they get along. I think Steve Francis and Yao Ming have more genuine warmth and friendship than T-Mac and Yao will ever have. T-Mac just isn't the kind of guy to give much. He's more of a taker than a give. My two cents.
Can you please provide some specific examples. I don't recall tmac being anything but supportive of yao last year. Not saying your wrong, just curious what your referring to.
I hope you're right but I can't remember too many games where yao flat-out dominated and tracy was still able to defer and keep him hot without becoming disinterested and able to keep himself involved and active as well. Over the years it seems like the synergy between mac and yao has been a little off regarding both of them dominating unlike the glory years of shaq and kobe when they would both routinely go off for 30+ in the same game, it seems like with yao and tmac its more of either, or situation.
