I agree that Ralph was ahead of his time. His frame and skill set were somewhat similar to KG, but Ralph had more diverse offensive talents. The KG analogy is off base with respect to KG's greatest strenght and Ralph's greatest weakness, intensity. KG is extremely intense all the time - Ralph could disappear for games at a time. By the way, I was at UVa for 3 of 4 of Ralph's years and a season ticket holder while he was a Rocket. I probably saw Ralph play live more than any other person not being paid to do so (or another player).
This is how I feel....100%..... Now, Hakeem had a revelation and started trusting his teamates after he came back from injury, maybe....just maybe....Tracy will too. Though, I would bet against it. Leopards do not change their spots......... DD
Our team roster was unbalanced. Tmac and Yao made up 60% of our scoring load because they had the talent and the others didn't. It was by design. You don't hand off playmaking responsibilities to the role players on THAT roster. And what about Yao? I don't see how it was Tmac's failure to step up all these years and not Yao's, especially in the first Utah series. We put a lot on his shoulders that year, he said he wanted to be a leader, and he struggled against Mehmet Okur. Not to mention he couldn't guard Carlos Boozer at all. But that's not his fault, it's Tmac's obviously. I you don't think Tmac isn't good enough to lead a team by himself I agree with you. But I'm not going to pretend that he's held the team back. Good role players step up by themselves. Garnett was playing with crap for years and was a perennial first round loser. Not his fault. Then they got a role player that had some balls of his own, Cassell, and they were a championship calibur team. Do you blame Garnett for having no success playing next to guys like Jaric, Hoiberg, Hudson, and Olawakandi? Wasn't he their leader?
Outstanding! You should post more when these arguments about the greats from the past come up. Dr of Dunk is always going off on Ralph about wanting to be a point guard (and he certainly earned DoD's wrath on more than one occasion), and the guy did "disappear from games" sometimes. I always thought he pretended to play the point in much the same way that Wilt did some of the things he did... to show he could. It was an ego thing. While he had terrific handles for a center, he wasn't as good as he thought he was. And I also thought the reason he sometimes "took games off" was because he could get away with it in college, he was so dominant. Did he do the same sort of thing at Virginia? I'll add for all the Yao fans here that they have no idea how trumpeted Sampson was during his college career and his entry into the league. The publicity, the sound and fury, was just amazing. That he fell off the public's radar so quickly after getting injured was partly due, IMO, to the incredible draft class of 1984, which is frequently cited as the best ever.
Is it by accident u left kobe and pierce out? I'm sure u never recalled the joy Dream had playing with dirk minnifield,purvis short, and guys like that Like I said,1 minute its about team ball and the next its about picking your teammates up. Hayes went from starting and playing 35 mins to playing in case of a emergency. Ryan Bowen started in the playoffs. I don't care if people want to blame tracy, I think he deserves some of the blame,but the blame balance is out of whack. I blame management as much as I do tracy and yao. Had we drafted or signed younger players and guys with upside,they would be cresting right now as tracy and yao are slowing down. Instead they surrounded our best players with marginal nba talent in their prime. If brewer or gay was drafted in 06, we wouldn't need ariza.
tracy will come back and play at a VERY high level. i have ZERO doubt about that. and i'm sure morey has ZERO doubt about that. the guy has talent. if he can run on 2 legs, he's an all-star, even after microfracture. it's as simple as that. tracy has talent on this team when he comes back. he'll do what he can do to make others better, and himself better. bob sura/jon barry/wesley had a pretty big role when tmac was first here in 04-05. he trusted those guys A LOT (even though they were on their last legs). but it's hard to trust rafer/bobby j/luther. there's a reason rafer is on ANOTHER team already. luther is not even in the league anymore it appears. and bobby is retired right? people have to understand the type of role players we had before morey got here (and this is not a diss on the role players). good role players are hard to get sometimes. now we have them. if you're good, tracy will get you the damn ball. he gave it to hayes plenty of times didn't he? however, b/c he does have talent now, i agree with others that tracy needs to alter his game a little bit: more in the mid/high post and less around the 3pt line. tracy has one of the best mid-range games and he has to use it. people just have to wait and see i guess. this is the same guy who deferred to a yao ming in 04-05 who clearly wasn't in tracy's league. DEFERRED. this guy is unselfish. he will pass the ball if you are able to do something with the ball. tracy's gonna have a great year. i can't wait until he comes back.
i can't emphasize that enough. you think anyone is gonna make sam cassell better? hell freakin' no. he's one of those elite role players that make stars' jobs easier. same with a guy like horry in his prime... we have those now. it was unfortunate tracy was injured last yr. but he has another chance this year.
We also wouldn't have had the 22 game win streak and 3 consecutive years of 50 + wins. Battier/Ariza will provide the D we need. Plus, I will guarantee that Ariza's game will pick up significantly when Mcgrady returns.
daryl morey this morning: It's a league where you need one of those all star players. We are short at the start of the season, but when Tracy is back we will have that thanks for the witty response though. and do you want to wager a tip-jar bet on tracy's return? ur betting against an idiot here.
Be glad to. What're the parameters and amount? Do you want to bet on purely statistics or also on the Rockets W/L record? Either way, list the stats he has to exceed in order for you to win the bet.
I will acknowledge that, but you can not ignore the facts of 11 years and what is it 7 or 8 first round exits? If you are going to be the team leader, dominate the ball, and make most of the decisions, do not be surprised if people question that, if the team fails. Tmac has basically been a failure in the playoffs, he has scored, but only because he took more shots, and played more minutes..... Look, I am hopeful that he comes back and takes on a role that is more about the team helping him, that would be my dream.... But after 11 years, will he suddenly start moving off the ball, playing good D, and attacking the basket? I think he will more than likely fall back to his comfort zone of taking bad shots, making about 40% of them...and probably too many shots.....that is his MO.... I guess we shall see if last year matured him at all. DD
Blame JVG...that was his doing......remember, rookies cause coaches to be fired..... Leeb, whom do you blame for SWTSU never being any good? DD
You could make your point using less ellipses.......................... 50% of your post count is probably made up of excessive periods at the end of your sentences
Nobody ever questioned Dream's competitive nature. We can't say the same thing about McGrady. I really don't know what motivates him to play but whatever it is does not compare to what drove Dream. I'm with what you said in another post. I will eat plate after plate of crow and smile doing it if McGrady comes back and embraces a role that helps the team be more successful now and in the future. I just don't think it will happen.
Dave et all, Let's say Tmac's motivation is money, or to prove everyone he is still a great player. What happens if he has a decent year, does the team resign him, knowing that his motivation will drop because he has a new deal? What about signing him to a 1 year deal for like $15million instead of a 3 year deal at $30 million? Keep him in a contract situation every single year? I guess it depends on how Yao feels about him too, Doc Rocket made it pretty clear that Yao was tired of his act. DD
If its not about the money than what is it? Its not b/c he really cares about the Rox. If it wasn't about the money then why wasn't skillzlab free to all Tracy fans? B/c its about the money. Why do players change their numbers? To sell more jerseys. Its about the money.
the bet is tracy WILL have a positive impact, play at an all-star level (i'll let coaches/players who he plays against this year determine that - it'll be too late for him to earn an all-star berth though). it's hard to list stats b/c it's hard to know how our other players will play. if ariza does pick it up, and budinger grows even more... tracy will dominate more as a playmaker and vice versa. tracy will adjust his game to however his teammates have played when he does return. he's more than capable of doing whatever is asked of him. so it's hard to put up stats. let's just say he'll play at an all-star level. let's keep the bet like how i phrase in the first part. very simple to determine whether who wins the bet. if tracy has a negative impact and we struggle, you win. amount is $50.
