[chron]McGrady fidgets on sidelines as he awaits OK to play

Our team-oriented offense jsut doesn't quite go after the

Kobe, Pau, Bynum, Odom, etc. model

or the

KG, Pierce, Allen, Wallace, etc. model

or the

Parker, Duncan, Ginobili, etc. model

It's the

Brooks, Ariza, Battier, Scola, Hayes model?

 

decry it if you want, but those 5 guys + our bench have a 7-5 record against one of the hardest early season schedules in the NBA.

with $40M in salary sitting on the bench or at home, no less.

 

Thats great but those teams he mentioned have won championships..........................7-5? Am i the only one not overly excited about that?

 

Way too early to make any determinations yet man. I mean look at the Jazz and Spurs below us among other teams.

I mean, don't get me wrong. I am a Rockets fan. But pit our current roster up against any of those teams in a 7 game series. Hey, I'll cheer my ass off. But if I were a betting man, not too confident about putting money on the Rockets. I'll say it again, I sincerely hope they prove me wrong.

 

considering that the highest paid contributing player on the team is shane battier, i think its pretty awesome.

your team is missing its #1 and #2 players and is consistently competing with, and beating good teams.

how can you not be excited about that?

 

Its nice, but I think the poster was making the point that the team doesn't match up with the best just yet. They may get there, but theyre not there right now.

 

I would suppose the same reasons that people have been claiming the Tracy and Yao era was over after the Mavs series...deep down, they don't think it will equate to a championship.

 

i totally understand, but if you were to take the names off the jerseys and simply look at what the rockets have done this season. look at the stats, look at the wins, look at the competition, and even look at the way they've won or lost . . . and theres no denying the rockets have been a good team so far. not a great team, but a good team.

and all that, with half a salary cap. if morey can trade mcgrady for something useful, this has the potential to be a really good team this year.

 

i agree that they dont match up with the best just yet. all i'm trying to say is that if the rockets are THIS competitive with half a salary cap, imagine what possibilities are out there if morey can turn mcgrady's $23M into something useful.

your role players are good enough to beat good teams. that's just awesome.

 

Yeh we're getting huge contributions from 2nd round round picks and guys we traded trash for. Its impressive, but until it equates to consistent post season success, it all doesn't matter. First and foremost we need Yao to get healthy.

 

Yeah, good team. Not great. Agreed.

It is very impressive some of the wins they've gotten this year. Let's also remember the losses though. Let's also thank *whoever* that Kobe had a really bad game against the Rockets. Defense or not, he can score on anyone. He was just off. 7 games against Kobe...*shudders*

I guess, as I've said either here or other threads, I don't think they current play style is conducive to winning a 7 game series. To me, it's too based on gambling for steals and opportunity baskets. Of all the winning teams, when it comes down to it, you have to have a go-to guy right? For us, that was Yao and/or McGrady. It's Kobe, it's Lebron, it's Wade, etc. Let's say they make the playoffs, when one of those games is on the line, who do you want to make the play?

I don't mean to be a debbie downer. I am just reserved in my feelings on this team still. Just like McGrady coming back has to show me something, this current team has to do so as well.

 

i respect that. its the same criticism that phx gets for their style of play. i just have a lot more faith in our management as they build a strong organization as a recruiting tool for "that guy". stars all over the league see what it's like to try to win with a bad supporting cast, and i think that kind of uniquely positions the rockets. the rockets have an owner willing to spend, a great gm, quality draft process, good young roster, good defensive principles, HOF caliber coach, great fan base, great resources . . . all that's missing is a star. who wouldn't want to be that star? if we can get someone young, the entire team will grow together like what is happening in pdx.

i'm not saying morey will go get us a star with a wave of a magic wand or anything, but i do have faith that by building a strong organization, the rockets are well positioned as a "destination" and have attractive pieces to trade if that's what needs to happen.

 

Yeah, and PHX has players too. They are able to play that more run and gun style, and then switch it up and go half court as needed.

I will say it should be interesting to see what happens to McGrady, his contract and the team. In the meantime, there's a team to watch!

 

You are fooled

 

I agree.

I'm not going to pick a side in the Adelman v Tmac argument, because there is obviously a lot of information that we don't know and it would be unfair to criticize someone when we don't know everything.

However, I think people are making knee jerk reaction on how to handle Tmac. If we were making a solid run and were at least borderline title contenders (like we were last year), I would say that we shouldn't ruin the chemistry like you guys are.

But what exactly do we have to lose here? We're a team that is going to flirt with .500 most of the season. We are playing pretty well, but thats because everyone is playing well. What happens when players get injured or slump? We don't have the depth we had last year. What happens when people figure out how to beat us? I think a big part of why we are playing so well is because we are surprising people.

What do we have to lose with giving McGrady a few minutes off the bench? I think letting him play within the week might be a little much, but to say we should just trade the guy because we don't want to risk the chemistry.... cmon. If it works then we're potentially a title contender again. If it doesn't work, we're a lottery team and Tmac expires next year and we never have to see him again. This team is lacking a go to guy, and we know Tmac can be that guy.

 

Then like a bad marriage... It's time for both parties to part ways and move on to the next chapter

 

Here's the thing....if the Rockets want to trade McGrady, assuming they're committed to a new direction, then the best possible strategy is to get the most you can for him before his contract ends.

The way to do that is to build up his "perceived" value. I think Morey and the Rockets are doing everything they can to downplay expectations of Tracy's readiness and rehab so that if he comes back and is even a shell of his former self, his value will likely be higher than the other way around.

Bottomline is that their is some gamesmanship at work here and itll be interesting to see what happens.

 

if youre looking to move on tracy would be more valuable to the rockets as a player in trade bait more than he would be as an expiring contract. if you're tryna collect insurance money than thats another story.

 

This TMac guy spends more time talking to reporters than training. Maybe he should have been a reporter himself.

 

Possibly bc their are tons of reporters asking him tons of questions