I agree with you regarding Yao. I truly believe they are building a young, athletic, core around him. Not only will that cover for his shortcomings physically but it also keeps the team flexible in case he goes down again. I definitely believe the Rockets feel this surgery will end the foot issues and allow him to be a part of a team shooting for a Championship next year or the year after. McGrady is where we disagree. I think they are done with him. Where the organization used to say they wouldn't trade him Morey now openly says any time he is asked that they will proceed with Tracy or another player if Tracy isn't up to the task. GM don't say things like that unless they really, really mean it. Personally, I just think Tracy has used up all of his chances here. If he were a little younger and more capable of maturing I could maybe see them giving him another chance but the guy is 30 with a 35 year old body. Physically, his best days are long behind him and I think history tells us 30 year old athletes don't re-invent themselves mentally at that age either. I just don't see him in a recipe for winning a Championship and I think the Rockets agree with me. He would have to do a lot of things he has proven unable to do up to this point to have a chance at staying in Houston past this season.
Nor would I. When I said "half of what he is making now" I didn't stop to think just how much money that would be. I'm thinking DD is right and someone is going to offer him MLE or maybe a bit more. My ending for McGrady's career goes like this: McGrady's deal ends next summer. He gets offers that are all way below what he expects. He ends up signing for around $7 million a year for 3 years with a bottom-feeding team looking to sell some tickets. Half-way through his first season there he realizes how much he hates playing ball for anything less than $20 million a year and suddenly becomes "injured" and retires before that season ends. I'm not joking. I think once he realizes his hard work this summer isn't going to earn him at least $14-$15 million a year for 4-5 years he is going to lose his love for the game really quickly.
Jeff Who, I admire your fanaticism of your boy Tmac, but I highly doubt a student in Poland is in tune with what the Rockets brass is or is not doing regarding Mr. McGrady. For that matter, neither am I .. DD
that is pretty much verbatim how i think his career will flame out as well, although he may get traded by us to some other team first... but i see the same exact no-care attitude in him that you do.....in his comments and his play on the court......he constantly needs a reason to be on the court and play hard......unlike some of us posters here who would play ball outdoors in the snow with multiple nagging injuries just to get that 15min of burn during the long cold winter, tmac has probably never suffered from any basketball withdrawal symptoms his entire life....i recall how casually he would talk about "shutting it down" at the end of seasons.....99% of nba players can't wait to get back on the active roster and on the court with as much playing time as the coach will give them......tmac opts to take every other game off and watch from the sidelines......99% of nba players would play the full 48min if the coach would let them... i find it most ironic that he is probably one of the top talents to ever touch a spalding, but at the same time he has to constantly be cajoled into simply liking the game
I wish all of us would keep what you have said a part of our future posts concerning everyone on this team... I hope that the Rockets and T-Mac can have a successful future together. I'm still a fan of both because to me they are one in the same. Hopefully, we all can get to that point for as long as they are...
First of all. 1) I am McGrady's fan, yes I am. But that doesn't mean I only see TMac and nothing beside that. 2) I am ROCKETS fan as well. Even if Tracy leaves, I will still support the team. 3) I wrote it was MY opinion and that's how I feel. Nothing beside that. Btw DD, can you tell me one thing. One day you write tray is a cancer and he should be traded and few days later you say you hope he gets bak to his old for and you wish him the best, etc.... It's like you had an 'Anti Sonic' button on your keyboard and one day you turn it on and the other you just forget, or whatever. No offense to you...Don't get me wrong And no, I am not bmacpoland...
Sure, I will explain it. 1. I hope Tmac gets healthy for the good of the Rockets - specifically so they can trade him for picks and perhaps some budding pieces. 2. I do wish him the best but want him out of Houston. At the end of the day, all I care about are the Rockets, and I am CONVINCED that Tmac leaving is better for the franchise overall......even if he is healthy, I think the style he plays is great if he is a consistent finisher, but to me, he is Allen Iverson like, a guy who needs volumes of shots to get his, and to me it screws the rest of the team against the better competition. I think he has to go for the Rockets to get better........and since we have 2 injury prone stars, and Les would never trade the cash cow that is Yao....Tmac also has to go in this instance. Wings are easier to replace than 7'6" efficient centers. DD
If you ask me, the McGrady-Yao ship has already sailed and it will not be back. Tracy is not a guy who is gonna lead you to championships and neither is Yao. I just don't belive that surgery will help Yao avoid different injuries in the future. I hope so but it is hard for me to belive in it and I will not do that until I see that. It is great to have a 7-6 guy like Yao who can really dominate the game on the block, but he hasn't been what we tought he would be for us. And it isn't only his fault. Sure, a skilled center like Yao will not be easy to replace, you are not gonna draft many of those guys. But for me, we just have to move on. The same situation is with McGrady. They cannot and the probably don't belive he can do damage in the playoffs with a healthly Yao. It is pretty impossible. We just don't know what we are gonna get from McGrady, will he be even able to play? Nobody knows that. But the good thing is, it is his last year and we will have those 23 millions comming off the book next summer. Should we resing him? No. McGrady and Yao had 5 full seasons to show their ability to lead this team. They failed, and they failed big time. Because in those 5 years, we managed to get out of the freaking first round only once, and without McGrady. For me, the Rockets should start rebuilding. I see no other way to bring another Championship to the Clutch City.
O ok, there must be a lot of McGrady fans in Poland? I've been a lifetime subscriber to this dude. http://www.youtube.com/user/BMACPOLAND1
I guess I will chime in with the same craziness as everyone else. If they were going to trade tracy, he would be gone. His value is his contract, not his play or health. The rox won't get anymore out of tracy in trade than they will now. I will beg DD and Dave 78 to tell me different.
Sorry I pushed the post button too soon. DD u talk about him being iverson of next yr. You're the same guy that talked about the marfket this yr and the effect on wafer,right? That same market also had a effect on iverson also,right? Not to mention, iverson has had off court issues, something tracy doesn't carry around. We can go round and round and truth is,no one knows. The same argument can be made that the rox have won more without yao than with yao. Just from what I gather, I don't think tracy is going anywhere unless he wants to. I don't think he will make 20m, but I don't think it will be mle either. He will be in the 9m range with or without the rox, but like I said, its closer to being with than without, like it or not.
Then why does Morey say Tracy will be moved if a better option comes up? General Managers tend to say "we won't trade so and so" even when the guy is available for trade. When a GM says "yeah we will move him for the right deal" then you can be sure they are actively looking to let him go. So he is still here, so what? The Rockets obviously did not get the type of deal they wanted so they will wait until a team gets desperate when their season isn't going well and they decide the goal is to save a boatload of cash next summer. Plenty of things can/will change between now and the trade deadline. I am surprised that McGrady is still here but I'm glad the Rockets are being patient and waiting for the right deal. I agree that he will only get around $9 million on his next deal (I actually think a little less than that). If he settles for that and becomes a model player on the court and in the locker room then he can come back for all I care. I just doubt he will take that amount of money and if he does I think his ego will tell him to go somewhere else rather than stay here and take a pay cut to play for a team that he used to lead. No, he'll go somewhere and play where he can lead a crummy team to nowhere but with less pressure and more shots.
EXACTLY. even if tracy plays well, it's NOT going to increase his value that much b/c can anyone guarantee he won't get injured again? therefore, his primary value is HIS contract. if the team wants to trade him, it's very easy to do so. unfortunately, morey wants a star or a rising star in return, and apparently, no team is willing to offer that for tracy. the scenario i see is if tracy comes back and play well, the team will resign him for less. if he doesn't, they'll let him walk and get the cap space they need. you can see they still value tracy b/c they're protecting him like he's still their franchise player with this knee injury. they're OVERLY cautious with how they're treating tracy. and when tracy gets back, they want him back to play a big role. the team has FINALLY learned to stop listening to tracy's big mouth (in regards to how he feels). they'll let him practice little by little and see for themselves.
I love how you think you know what the organization and it's management are up to. *see how stupid that sounds calling people out for their opinion on a discussion forum for fans.
The last time the team stopped listening to McGrady, he responded by having season ending surgery without informing the team.
